Buy/Make Anything Cool Lately (Tinplate Version)

jhz563 posted:

Fresh from the USPS - my first tinplate diesel

It looks better than received already, after 60 seconds worth of scrubbing with a baby wipe!  Looking forward to try it out, and then converting the coupler to something a little more interchangeable.

Behemoths, like the Unique Art Rock Islands

 

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Been a few Std Gauge Roberts Lines trolleys on the bay lately, but this one needs a bit tlc, just up my alley. Pretty straight and will clean up nicely. The window inserts are loose, I’ll just remove them and call it a summer trolley. Both are unpowered so the lead unit will get a Keeler truck mount motor. Another project.

Steve

Those are just too cool Steve....

Mike 

 

jhz563 posted:

Fresh from the USPS - my first tinplate diesel

It looks better than received already, after 60 seconds worth of scrubbing with a baby wipe!  Looking forward to try it out, and then converting the coupler to something a little more interchangeable.

Nice...

Mike 

mackb4 posted:

Greg J. Turinetti posted:

mackb4 posted:

Pretty sure it A. F. ,but what can anyone tell me.

I picked it up at a flea market for $5.00. It's of course been painted and an awful decal added, but I couldn't pass it up.

You have an American Flyer #2005 Triangle Light from 1935 - 1939.

It comes in 2 colors

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

Thanks for the information. 

So is the signal just merely a light that is for aesthetic purposes, or am I missing some sort of lock-on that controls the signal and train movement  ?

Here is the illustration and description from page 16 of the 1936 catalog. (My earlier information that the triangle light appeared in the catalog beginning in 1935 is incorrect.  It first appears in the 1936 catalog.)  

                                    

There is no lock-on needed, the light is operated manually.  I think that the only thing that you are missing is an annoying little sister or brother who needed to be kept busy changing the color of the light while you run your trains. That's why this "New popular signal is almost a necessity for your railroad." 

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

 

Got a great deal on a 249e and 9 800 series cars to-day, only $300! They're all either excellent condition or restored as well.

Also picked up a nice Z transformer to replace my KW.

nice score Brian

Bought a Feb. 1949 issue of "The Model  Craftsman", 100% model railroading it says on the cover. Really fun to read. Cost all of 35 cents, new, and full of ads and info. A Cleveland dealer lists some Lionel prices which seem so low but in 1949 there were a lot of people earning 90 cents per hour. A Lionel Scout set #1111 cost $15.95 with a transformer and 3 cars.  A lot f kit bashing and scratch building went on in those days so there are a lot of ads for parts. There were still shortages from WW II to deal with.

Brian Liesberg posted:

 

Got a great deal on a 249e and 9 800 series cars to-day, only $300! They're all either excellent condition or restored as well.

 

Also picked up a nice Z transformer to replace my KW.

 

Nice haul...ya done good!

Mike 

Well, I have always wanted to build a Tom Snyder inspired layout using Gargraves track, however they quit making standard preformed radius track. They only offer the flex track, and I did not want to bend my own. Tubular is not offered in O84, so I decided to make my own from STD84. I have 9 out 16 made so far. Still have some tweaking to do but wanted to share.

Joe Gozzo

Good stuff Joe

I have a few more projects coming in the mail...

 I got the 800 series freight cars for $50.. Same as always, the project pile gets deeper before the finished pile  does.

A couple of recently acquired O gauge goodies are seen in the attached photos-

A Sakai (Japan) A-48000 streamlined steam loco. Needed a replacement for a missing brush and some wires re-soldered/replaced and runs great. It also needed a broken off corner on the cab roof re-glued (fortunately the seller provided it with the loco). Like the Sakai electric boxcab loco I posted pics of a few weeks ago, this one also uses square motor brushes, so I cut one out of a big brush remnant I had in the junk box.  It has quite a bit of paint loss, so at some point I'll have to decide whether to "dab" or repaint. 

A Bing electric outline loco, not sure on the number on this one. It's also running after a little maintenance. 

The Bing loco is pulling an interesting set of brown Flyer Columbia passenger cars; a 3000 baggage car and two 3001 "Columbia" Pullmans. The 3001 at the rear of the train has the simulated round tail lights and the type III trucks (Ca. 1922-25) , the other two cars have Type IV trucks (Ca. 1924-27). The earlier car is in very nice shape, the other two have a bit of "play wear", although they looked better after I cleaned and polished them. The earlier car just got a cleaning.

what is the vintage on the Sakai?

 

thanks

Unknown to me- although I assume it is Postwar? The model designation is A48000. Stamped on the pickup is "Made in Japan". On the Sakai page of the Binns Road toy train website, http://www.binnsroad.co.uk/railways/sakai/index.html they note a similar engine with "Made in Occupied Japan" stamped on the pickup, but the picture isn't high enough resolution to see that. 

thanks for the info

Dennis Holler posted:

I have a few more projects coming in the mail...

 I got the 800 series freight cars for $50.. Same as always, the project pile gets deeper before the finished pile  does.

now that's a nice haul Dennis. I haven't seen an 820 for $50, let along a bunch like that.

John Smatlak posted:

Unknown to me- although I assume it is Postwar? The model designation is A48000. Stamped on the pickup is "Made in Japan". On the Sakai page of the Binns Road toy train website, http://www.binnsroad.co.uk/railways/sakai/index.html they note a similar engine with "Made in Occupied Japan" stamped on the pickup, but the picture isn't high enough resolution to see that. 

John, Sold of all my Sakai a few years ago except the A48000 and tender and also a Banjo type with no tender. Someone had repainted the A48000 and tender black. I repainted the tender, but never got around to the loco. I also had decals made for the tender.......................someday I'll get it done and sell them.

Steve

Here is my latest find, or perhaps revelation. I don't know if anyone is interested, but I have

talked about how all the Marx and AF streamliners from the 30's era all used leftover

steam type motors with spoked wheels for power, cheap, but unrealistic. For Marx this

continued into the postwar era apparently as a lot of the smaller diesels use steam type

motors. I recently saw a Marx 6000 Southern Pacific diesel and it actually had disk wheels. 

Granted it was still on the cheap type motor, but a step in the right direction. I bought one on the 

bay. I took the motor out and tried it in an AF Comet. As we used to say in my hot rod days,

it was bolt in. I set the Comet body on the marx motor aligned the holes and put the 

screw in. Hooked up the headlight, and everything ran fine. Modern motor now, more realistic

and best is an upgraded reverse unit. This mean of course that it will fit AF tinplate zephyrs

and green diamonds.

And no trains were harmed in the process.

John Smatlak posted:

Unknown to me- although I assume it is Postwar? The model designation is A48000. Stamped on the pickup is "Made in Japan". On the Sakai page of the Binns Road toy train website, http://www.binnsroad.co.uk/railways/sakai/index.html they note a similar engine with "Made in Occupied Japan" stamped on the pickup, but the picture isn't high enough resolution to see that. 

Here is a picture with the text on the pickup from my Sakai A-48000:

My loco body is in a very good condition, but the wheels were changed. 

It does run:

Regards

Fred

How did you make it  run so well?Awesome!

Sncf231e- did you put those red wheels on yourself?  Those are really nice, any idea where they came from?

I was wondering the same thing- the red wheels look really sharp. Another interesting thing about the Sakai A-48000 is that only the rear two driving wheels are powered, the third is just along for the ride.

Last Christmas Santa Claus brought a standard gauge Rich Art McKeen to our house; an awesome model but with one curious omission. All McKeen motor cars were originally built with a center headlight on their knife-edge front end. It was part of their defining visual character- adding to that Jules Verne "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" look of the thing. For some reason this was omitted from the model, but this has now been rectified on ours- a center headlight has been added along with a red marker bulb inside the rear end. Enjoy.

A photo of the McKeen as received, showing what it looked like before the nose headlight was added:

Nice, the Nevada State Railroad Museum just down  the street from me has a fully restored and

operational Mckeen car that they operate most weekends.

jhz563 posted:

Sncf231e- did you put those red wheels on yourself?  Those are really nice, any idea where they came from?

No, I did not put these red wheels on myself. I bought it like that from someone who owned it a long time and did not know much about it, he was surprised when I told him the wheels were not original. I just oiled it a bit and it went very good.

Regards

Fred

I got these really cool magnets for my AF whistling billboard.

Before:

After:

George

The Mickey And Donald billboard might date from the time of the Civil War Centennial.Note Donalds Reb kepi and butternut uniform.

beardog posted:

Nice, the Nevada State Railroad Museum just down  the street from me has a fully restored and

operational Mckeen car that they operate most weekends.

Yes- it's awesome! I visited in 2011 and got to ride it, and I also visited while restoration was underway, what a project that was. Way back I also saw the McKeen body once when it was still inside the local hardware store! NSRM is a great museum.

Hmm, they must have repainted it, it is burgandy now

For anybody looking to make custom 2814R reefers like my Goetz car, MTH has listed a few from new old stock on eBay at a very reasonable price with free shipping. There are a couple of club cars and a Lionel decorated car. Also great for parts or if you just want to run a long consist of tinplate.

George

Now adding ties to std42.

TrainLover160, I'm new around here so forgive my ignorance but, where did you get those ties? Did you make them yourself or are they commercially available?

Mike   

I have a suggestion on adding ties. Measure your ties, then get weatherstripping that is closest to the 

dimension, cut the weather stripping to length, stick it to your layout and set the track on top of it. 

Another option, cut scraps of wood to the size of your ties, soak them in ordinary RIT dye for a day or two.

Then hot glue them to your track. Both these options are pretty cheap and look good, especially if

you ballast the track. 

Trainlover160 posted:

Well, I have always wanted to build a Tom Snyder inspired layout using Gargraves track, however they quit making standard preformed radius track. They only offer the flex track, and I did not want to bend my own. Tubular is not offered in O84, so I decided to make my own from STD84. I have 9 out 16 made so far. Still have some tweaking to do but wanted to share.

Joe Gozzo

Joe, if you run out of ties, the USA Track guys make a similar product  with different radii.

Jim

Dennis Holler posted:

Dennis Holler posted:

Jim Waterman posted:

George S posted:

Dennis Holler posted:

Got a couple of cars to repaint, sorry, I needed a 2814 Reefer for my new Goetz decals, much like the one George created. Now I just have to find the paint.  Haven't located the Krylon Georgia red clay color locally yet!

I got the Krylon Covermaxx Gloss Georgia Clay from Amazon.  Here's the link: https://www.amazon.com/Krylon-...eorgia/dp/B013LT5BYQ

only one left in stock!

George

So is that 'Georgia Clay' color a good match for 'Boxcar Red' (what Floquil used to call that brownish color that many boxcars were painted in the 40's and early 50's)? Anybody got a good rattle can match for PRR Tuscan Red (or Brunswick Green for that matter?)

Jim

Judging from George's first reefer repaint, the Georgia clay looks to be a pretty decent flat brown/red like as used as boxcar red or reefer red.  On the PRR colors, I've still not seen anything real close.  I do have some of the FLoquil colors for the red and green but have yet to try and air brush them.

Maybe all the PRR nutz out there could talk Harry Henning into working up colors for both PRR red and green

I use the Scalecoat PRR Tuscan and Brunswick Green paints - good match to the prototype.

Jim

beardog posted:

I have a suggestion on adding ties. Measure your ties, then get weatherstripping that is closest to the 

dimension, cut the weather stripping to length, stick it to your layout and set the track on top of it. 

Another option, cut scraps of wood to the size of your ties, soak them in ordinary RIT dye for a day or two.

Then hot glue them to your track. Both these options are pretty cheap and look good, especially if

you ballast the track. 

Duly noted BearDog. Great suggestions. I'll probably try both and see which I like best...

Mike 

LoadMaster posted:

TrainLover160, I'm new around here so forgive my ignorance but, where did you get those ties? Did you make them yourself or are they commercially available?

Mike   

Loadmaster,

I bought the ogauge ties new  on ebay. 48 new ties with insulators for $23.99. I made O84 radius from USA STD84. Repurposed std ties on my std42 ti strengthen it. Kirk at USA TRACK will sell you std ties and insulators. I bought extra insulators since I do not like reusing them. Good thing as most of them were ripped.

Hope this answers what you needed.

Joe Gozzo

Thanks Joe, that gives me another option. Thank you for the information!

Mike 

Always glad to help, my train buddy found the new ties on ebay. Saved me from destroying other track.

Trainlover160 posted:

Always glad to help, my train buddy found the new ties on ebay. Saved me from destroying other track.

Mike 

Been working on this a while.  Bought a junker 440 Signal bridge.  ... the idea was to copy (Hojack?) and make some nifty cantilevered signals. Measured twice and cut once, stripping the old paint was a bear, priming, painting.  Rewiring still to come .

But... they turned out pretty well.  Colors are rattle cans from Menards.  the terra cotta is spot on.

 

I love signals, my layout doesn't have any but I really like them. Nice work. We were "antiquing", more like garage sales but found an Ertl made bank  that ws a freight wagon with  tank in the back. It was the kind of thing I look for now for my layout. Was going to be a beer wagon but ditched the tank, the horses and canopy over the front seat. Just a freight wagon now with my own, smaller horses. Did find a Flying Yankee Lionel 617 set that I like but debating that. Really want it but would have to look at its condition closer especially zinc pest.

Rob English posted:

Been working on this a while.  Bought a junker 440 Signal bridge.  ... the idea was to copy (Hojack?) and make some nifty cantilevered signals. Measured twice and cut once, stripping the old paint was a bear, priming, painting.  Rewiring still to come .

But... they turned out pretty well.  Colors are rattle cans from Menards.  the terra cotta is spot on.

 

 

That was a nifty idea. Looking good...

Mike 

Rob English posted:

Been working on this a while.  Bought a junker 440 Signal bridge.  ... the idea was to copy (Hojack?) and make some nifty cantilevered signals. Measured twice and cut once, stripping the old paint was a bear, priming, painting.  Rewiring still to come .

But... they turned out pretty well.  Colors are rattle cans from Menards.  the terra cotta is spot on.

 

Beautiful job Rob, and love the idea!!.  Makes me want to try myself, however, I cant think of a time that I have ever seen a basket case 440 Signal at a train show or on the internet.

Joe Gozzo

I added the green stripe to my AF engine.  

I ordered some new siderod screws. The wheels seem to bind in one spot. I need to get it on the track and adjust that. Last thing will be making and installing the brass piping below the frame.

George

Gilbert 3/16 O Gauge Pre War. Gorgeous locomotive.

LionelTin posted:

Gilbert 3/16 O Gauge Pre War. Gorgeous locomotive.

Wow - that looks great!  I didn't even know this was out there.  Getting interested in tin and prewar has really broaden my horizon in this hobby.  Love the poxbox drivers.

I have two pre-war AF steamers plus some cars. I really like them.

Well, what the heck Jim and JHZ563.  Let's pour some gasoline on the toy train desire fire. 

Should we try for a conflagration?  Think of it as the Chicago (Flyer) Fire.  

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

 

 

Dirty rotten scoundrels!

 

Rob English posted:

Dirty rotten scoundrels!

 

What he said...! 

Mike 

I've always had a thing for AF prewar.  They made some great trains in addition to the Challenger above.

Dennis Holler posted:

I've always had a thing for AF prewar.  They made some great trains in addition to the Challenger above.

Dennis, these are really nice.  what numbers are they? - I can't tell from the pictures.  They look like they have a postwar vibe as opposed to prewar tin.  (Challenger - what Challenger? I see a northern marked for UP, unless this is a flyer thing I don't know about)

Greg,

 I tend to like the larger, non-streamlined pieces.  And I am steadfastly sticking to O gauge. (For as long as I can hold out)

What are the ones from your picture I put red boxes around?

The last thing is that I prefer 6 and 7 cars or more in my trains as opposed to short 3 car trains.  So if any of these are considered to be better pullers than others please let me know.  

Thank guys and gals

jhz563 posted:

Greg,

 I tend to like the larger, non-streamlined pieces.  And I am steadfastly sticking to O gauge. (For as long as I can hold out)

What are the ones from your picture I put red boxes around?

The last thing is that I prefer 6 and 7 cars or more in my trains as opposed to short 3 car trains.  So if any of these are considered to be better pullers than others please let me know.  

Thank guys and gals

JHZ563,

You ask what on the surface sounds like a simple question, however we run into the craziness of American Flyer's numbering system.  Here goes:

The top engine and its tender are known as the 4622-6 Combination (1938).

4322-6 Type XV Locomotive (Type XV was used as an Atlantic or a Pacific - confusing eh?)

1623 Type XIII tender

Lower engine and tender are the 1680 Combination  (1936-1937)

1681 Type XII Locomotive  (Type XII boiler casting is what Flyer called their Hudson)

1623 Type XII tender

This is the 3310 engine and tender combination (1934)

3315 Type IX locomotive   (it has a ringing bell and those snazzy brass running boards)

3194 Type IX tender (only available in 1934)

I have changed the display since the photo that I posted was taken.  I am not sure which engine was in front of the 3315.  I can't quite make it out in the photo and I don't remember what I had there.    It is matched up in a box somewhere with appropriate passenger cars.

As far as pulling power; most of these engines are over 75 years old, so I would say that it depends on how well they are maintained and serviced.  I think that with work any of them could pull a consist of the length that you describe.  However, remember that my main interest is collecting and identifying equipment and learning its history.  I am not primarily an operator.  I always consider it a bonus when an example of an engine that I have acquired runs well.  I have raised my standard for buying a prewar engine since I began collecting.  If it doesn't run I will think twice about buying it.  There are still thousands of them out there.  Others might comment on their experience with the pulling power of Flyer engines.

I hope this answers some of your questions.

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

 

jhz563 posted:

Dennis Holler posted:

I've always had a thing for AF prewar.  They made some great trains in addition to the Challenger above.

Dennis, these are really nice.  what numbers are they? - I can't tell from the pictures.  They look like they have a postwar vibe as opposed to prewar tin.  (Challenger - what Challenger? I see a northern marked for UP, unless this is a flyer thing I don't know about)

Greg,

 I tend to like the larger, non-streamlined pieces.  And I am steadfastly sticking to O gauge. (For as long as I can hold out)

What are the ones from your picture I put red boxes around?

The last thing is that I prefer 6 and 7 cars or more in my trains as opposed to short 3 car trains.  So if any of these are considered to be better pullers than others please let me know.  

Thank guys and gals

Yeah, Flyer called that Northern a Challenger.  I have the early numbered 806 on the cab(534) catalog number. My engines above are a 559 which was the forefather of the postwar 312 in S gauge and behind that is a 531 Hudson which turn into the S gauge 322. 

These are all called 3/16ths O Flyer by many of us and I've discovered over time that quite a few of us have some 3/16ths O Flyer.  It's unique and interesting to me.

Stole this ETS VW pickup today for $20.  Runs great.

Steve

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Stole this ETS VW pickup today for $20.  Runs great.

Steve

That is just too cool!

Mike 

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Stole this ETS VW pickup today for $20.  Runs great.

Steve

Steve, Great find! I used to have the MTH VW Bug. Ihave not been able to find it. I think I sold it years ago. Should have kept it!

Joe

Picked up this neat 263E motor that someone had installed scale drive wheels on.  The cool thing is that they machined the new axles to use the normal steel gear so the motor would operate as original.  Got this and three other prewar motors for about $6. I really wanted to use the motor to build another 263E, but they builder did a nice job on the wheel install.  I might take a look at moving them to something more common like a 249E frame so the 263E can be, well.. a 263E... I'll have to look again, but it almost looks like it has been two railed as well.

 

Just got this little Lionel Tinplate caboose #1682 that I believe came with the Gunmetal Set. Got this for twelve dollars and it was in pretty good shape with maybe a little cleanup required.

Santa postman has been busy the last few days augmenting the streamliner collection. 

The small Joustra set in the foreground is a life lesson. "Don't bid on french lanquage

auctions when you have been drinking whiskey". All my other Joustra streamliners

are O gauge, no one mentioned they made S gauge too. 

Shown are an Amt 3160 Santa Fe coach, a Marx M10005 in red and silver, a Hafner red and 

chrome set and the Joustra set. 

I found these pieces laying on the ground at a garage sale, the woman said "take them. 

When I got home I found it on the internet. This has to be one of the most insidious

devices ever devised to torture parents. Now I know why it is incomplete, broken and 

she gave it to me. It is a lionel railroad crossing savings bank. When a child puts a coin

in it, the lights flash, bells go off, and it whistles. Give one of these to the kids of the

neighbor you dislike along with a couple hundred pennies. 

There is a youtube video of it. 

Just type in lionel savings bank on youtube, turn up the volume and stand back

Just finished restoring this Lionel 814r.

George

beautiful George! I'd been happy with the "before"

Steve, looks like we need to get the 084 out again soon! Very nice!

POC914NUT posted:

Steve, looks like we need to get the 084 out again soon! Very nice!

Eric, I’m ready. It hits the walls on my layout.

Steve

Did you make the o84 as I know they didn't sell it I had to make mine. Whether that's the standard gauge of the O gauge Hiawatha can't wait to see it

Joe Gozzo

Trainlover160 posted:

Did you make the o84 as I know they didn't sell it I had to make mine. Whether that's the standard gauge of the O gauge Hiawatha can't wait to see it

Joe Gozzo

Joe, the Hiawatha is Standard Gauge. Eric has some 84” track to throw down on tables at the SW meet.

Steve

Another junker refurbished. The cream color is a Rustoleum rattle can. The photo doesn't show the color quite right, the "brown" is actually a custom match Lionel #150 red rattle can left over from a resto.  Them cows will get googly eyed when climbing aboard

Rob English posted:

Been working on this a while.  Bought a junker 440 Signal bridge.  ... the idea was to copy (Hojack?) and make some nifty cantilevered signals. Measured twice and cut once, stripping the old paint was a bear, priming, painting.  Rewiring still to come .

But... they turned out pretty well.  Colors are rattle cans from Menards.  the terra cotta is spot on.

 

I think thats a great idea and job !   I just might have to make one for myself.

Two interesting Bing items I picked up recently; a Bing station "facade" and a Bing crane. After receiving the station and researching it, I came to the realization that it is supposed to have a train shed (canopy) behind it, see attached photo from the internet. But it also works well as a "flat". Posed with these items in two of the photos is my Marklin CS66/13020 electric loco.

John S - nice finds!  That Marklin engine is interesting, I have never seen a 4-4-2 electric before.

Recently I picked up this Flyer set, which I will admit I know little about and would love some more info

Three of the four cars had working lights bulbs!  The one that didn't was missing the bulb, and it has a darker colored roof that doesn't match the other three.  The curly Q couplers are kinda neat, it's shame they don't really mate with anything else.

The engine light bulb is out but otherwise the loco is in good shape.  Even the brush plate has been recently cleaned when I received it. 

Neat find- Prewar Flyer is very cool. Looking in Greenberg's guide to American Flyer Prewar O Gauge (page 62), it appears your new engine is a  1938 4615-4 / 4315-4 Type XVI locomotive with 3301 Type VI tender. Would have been easier if they just put numbers on the engines! I'm not a Prewar Flyer expert, but that appears to be it based on the photo in the book.

John Smatlak posted:

Neat find- Prewar Flyer is very cool. Looking in Greenberg's guide to American Flyer Prewar O Gauge (page 62), it appears your new engine is a  1938 4615-4 / 4315-4 Type XVI locomotive with 3301 Type VI tender. Would have been easier if they just put numbers on the engines! I'm not a Prewar Flyer expert, but that appears to be it based on the photo in the book.

Thanks a bunch John!  I don’t have that guide and my online searches weren’t turning up anything helpful.

Robert S. Butler posted:

Well, what the heck Jim and JHZ563.  Let's pour some gasoline on the toy train desire fire. 

What is that silver piece in the middle? Absolutely gorgeous! Stoke my desire-fire more! 

SteamWolf posted:

Robert S. Butler posted:

Well, what the heck Jim and JHZ563.  Let's pour some gasoline on the toy train desire fire. 

What is that silver piece in the middle? Absolutely gorgeous! Stoke my desire-fire more! 

American Flyer Aeolus, 1935

one just sold on the bay just north of a grand, it is an AF holy grail set

this little buddy,i have had on layaway at pat's trains,brought it home fri,runs like a champ,lights work,i really like it,,,,when he said ,hey I have something you would like,,,i should have run,,,,,now its mine,,also picked up this af bumper,,

terry hudon posted:

this little buddy,i have had on layaway at pat's trains,brought it home fri,runs like a champ,lights work,i really like it,,,,when he said ,hey I have something you would like,,,i should have run,,,,,now its mine,,also picked up this af bumper,,

The bumper is Marx.

Steve

nice Flyer locomotive, I have one of the Marx bumpers.

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

SteamWolf posted:

Robert S. Butler posted:

Well, what the heck Jim and JHZ563.  Let's pour some gasoline on the toy train desire fire. 

What is that silver piece in the middle? Absolutely gorgeous! Stoke my desire-fire more! 

American Flyer Aeolus, 1935

Thanks! Will keep my eyes peeled! 

SteamWolf posted:

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

SteamWolf posted:

Robert S. Butler posted:

Well, what the heck Jim and JHZ563.  Let's pour some gasoline on the toy train desire fire. 

What is that silver piece in the middle? Absolutely gorgeous! Stoke my desire-fire more! 

American Flyer Aeolus, 1935

Thanks! Will keep my eyes peeled! 

put this in the wrong place. one just sold on the bay for north of a grand

jhz563 posted:

 

Recently I picked up this Flyer set, which I will admit I know little about and would love some more info

  The curly Q couplers are kinda neat, it's shame they don't really mate with anything else.

The curly Q couplers mate with postwar knuckle couplers.

Antique Store finds include a Flyer Caboose for my scrap yard in progress. $20 for all

 

Joe Gozzo

After a long wait, my brand new 263e, possibly the only one I’ll ever own.  This beast is gorgeous!! I finally have something that looks right with my 2816 hoppers🙂.

Once I enjoy this for a few months as delivered I will probably pop the top and start adding weights for better traction!

Found exactly what I was looking for today. A nice, inexpensive stool I can sit on by my transformers nd watch my layout. hign enough to see and low enough to go under the layout.

jhz563 posted:

After a long wait, my brand new 263e, possibly the only one I’ll ever own.  This beast is gorgeous!! I finally have something that looks right with my 2816 hoppers🙂.

Once I enjoy this for a few months as delivered I will probably pop the top and start adding weights for better traction!

Hmm, better traction? Is it slipping? My 260e can pull a boat load of cars, and it's already pretty heavy.

George

George S posted:

jhz563 posted:

After a long wait, my brand new 263e, possibly the only one I’ll ever own.  This beast is gorgeous!! I finally have something that looks right with my 2816 hoppers🙂.

Once I enjoy this for a few months as delivered I will probably pop the top and start adding weights for better traction!

Hmm, better traction? Is it slipping? My 260e can pull a boat load of cars, and it's already pretty heavy.

George

Yup, 6 hoppers and a caboose and it slips a bunch.   I might need to clean the track again soon.  I have this train running on Gargraves track.  I am wondering if tubular track would work better.

jhz563 posted:

George S posted:

jhz563 posted:

After a long wait, my brand new 263e, possibly the only one I’ll ever own.  This beast is gorgeous!! I finally have something that looks right with my 2816 hoppers🙂.

Once I enjoy this for a few months as delivered I will probably pop the top and start adding weights for better traction!

Hmm, better traction? Is it slipping? My 260e can pull a boat load of cars, and it's already pretty heavy.

George

Yup, 6 hoppers and a caboose and it slips a bunch.   I might need to clean the track again soon.  I have this train running on Gargraves track.  I am wondering if tubular track would work better.

Those drivers look different than my 260e. I thought these engines were very similar except for the 12 wheel tender. Mine has nickel covered rims. Does yours have traction tires? 

Other things to consider would be binding of the side rods or front / rear trucks. I use Fastrack. Not sure if the Gargraves profile could be causing issues. How tight are your curves?

The PS3 engine should be able to pull a lot more cars than that. Also, check that the wheels on the hoppers and caboose are all spinning freely. 

George

I found this Kibri Hellgate Bridge.  Its really cool.  I can't find anything about it.  Does anyone have any info on this bridge.

Also picked up these four lighted houses that appear to be made from some wooden cigar boxes. There is one "El Producto" sticker inside one of the houses.

 

Joe,

Those cigar box houses are great.  I would have snapped them up in a heartbeat

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

Not “tin” but they are metal. Very nice, but dusty. Couldn’t pass them up at $20 per car. 

Steve

Steve,

What are those?

Joe Lyons posted:

Steve,

What are those?

Joe, they are postwar Lionel 2500 series aluminum passenger cars.

Steve

Joe Lyons posted:

I found this Kibri Hellgate Bridge.  Its really cool.  I can't find anything about it.  Does anyone have any info on this bridge.

 

 

 

 

I do not have any info on this item, but I wonder whether it is a Kibri item. Kibri items normally have the Kibri name stamped somewhere (e.g. at the back or the bottom of an item). I have never seen a paper Kibri trademark like this; it looks like a cut-out of a box of a postwar Kibri item. At the Kibri archive (http://www.fleischmann-toys.de.../Bruecken/index.html) I do not see a bridge like this.

Regards

Fred

sncf231e posted:

Joe Lyons posted:

I found this Kibri Hellgate Bridge.  Its really cool.  I can't find anything about it.  Does anyone have any info on this bridge.

 

 

 

 

I do not have any info on this item, but I wonder whether it is a Kibri item. Kibri items normally have the Kibri name stamped somewhere (e.g. at the back or the bottom of an item). I have never seen a paper Kibri trademark like this; it looks like a cut-out of a box of a postwar Kibri item. At the Kibri archive (http://www.fleischmann-toys.de.../Bruecken/index.html) I do not see a bridge like this.

Regards

Fred

It's an amazing item. Clearly not Lionel. It's handpainted for sure, which I would say would be pre-war. You may be right about the Kibri logo, but we should check the rest of the item. If it is custom, it is terrific!

George

I guess my first question is that kibri logo a paper label or is someone just assuming

that?

The logo is paper and I can not find it stamped anywhere else.

I picked up this pile of (junk) parts recently.  Mostly 3/16ths Flyer 0 with a couple of 545 locos that have most of the parts and 4 good motor frames.  Amongst the parts were a handful of cast figures, a complete Lionel E unit, a pair of Ives loco wheels, and some Lionel switch parts. Also showing exactly how he shipped it.  I guess when its this junky it doesn't matter much but I feel I was lucky the loco shells made it safe and sound.  Oh yeah, also got a couple of boxes of unused light bulbs and two unused Lionel knuckle coupler conversion packs in the two manila envelopes.  It's a lot of great parts for someone like myself who like working on this ... junk lol

If this was on the bay, I would be leaving negative feedback

nice haul Dennis...wonder if he stood on the other end of the room and just tossed the stuff in!

It was and it's not the only time this has happened.  Got this load stuffed in a suitcase.. I got this one mainly just for the early diecast Virginian hopper, but it was two complete sets, a 4605 with 310 and a 49 set with a 290.  I gave this guy a lot of ______ for this pack job.

Steamer posted:

nice haul Dennis...wonder if he stood on the other end of the room and just tossed the stuff in!

He might have, but it was stuffed in pretty tight!  I was really surprised the steamer shells didn't break as fragile as some of those are.

well they are just old toys...right? and he did go the extra effort to lay on a couple pieces of Styrofoam.....

I picked up this pile of (junk) parts recently.  Mostly 3/16ths Flyer 0 with a couple of 545 locos that have most of the parts and 4 good motor frames.  Amongst the parts were a handful of cast figures, a complete Lionel E unit, a pair of Ives loco wheels, and some Lionel switch parts. Also showing exactly how he shipped it.  I guess when its this junky it doesn't matter much but I feel I was lucky the loco shells made it safe and sound.  Oh yeah, also got a couple of boxes of unused light bulbs and two unused Lionel knuckle coupler conversion packs in the two manila envelopes.  It's a lot of great parts for someone like myself who like working on this ... junk lol

Nice haul Dennis...even if it is junk (tongue in cheek)!   

Mike 

 

Finally got a nice (for me anyway) set of Blue Comet cars 2613/4/5.  Not super expensive, about half of a set of MTH cars.  Just need to clean them up, looks like the roofs will shine bright.

Picked up a Lionel 256 at the Pomona show on Saturday. Needed some work, I already re-wired it. It looks fairly decent, some issues with the paint here & there but nothing too big.

What it really needs is some new rollers.

Brian Liesberg posted:

Picked up a Lionel 256 at the Pomona show on Saturday. Needed some work, I already re-wired it. It looks fairly decent, some issues with the paint here & there but nothing too big.

What it really needs is some new rollers.

Glad you got it. I thought it was pretty nice overall, but I already have a Repro set plus some extra cars.

Steve

The guy could have definitely done a lot better job on the restoration. The wiring was absolutely atrocious, some weren't even wires! I found what looked like safety wire with heat shrink over it that was obviously way too big and had holes worn in it so it was shorting to the frame. Lots of tabs for the windows/doors were broken off inside and the inserts very poorly superglued into place. Very worn brushes & bushings. I still think the price was worth it but am disappointed a bit in the condition of the locomotive.

As for the cars I think they look great, my only beef with them is that the plastic inserts for the windows are missing. There's no clear plastic, and the blue tinted parts have been replaced by thick beige paper. But I can't say there were any other problems with the cars, the paint job is excellent and the stamping looks professional.

It's almost as if 2 different people restored the locomotive and the cars. 

Went to the Chryslers at Carlisle, PA swap meet last Friday and a guy there had a tent full of pre and postwar trains.  Scored these Ives STD gauge passenger cars, easy restoration, that will look great behind my 1134.

another reason I need to get to Carlisle. nice score!

Got my 263e working great, I didn’t know about simply applying zip ties to the uncoupling shoes.  The mechanism must drag on the axles somehow.

I also am loving the flexibility of the American Flyer curly couplers.  (Although the ETS and American Flyer gondolas aren’t getting along!)

I saw that thread on the shoes & zip ties. After a bit I thought it must have too strong a shoe spring, hit the axle, or rubs the sides of center rails. The wheel flanges should keep it off the outer.

The A∃OLUS is a favorite of mine. My Marx Crusader bash would have been the  A∃OLUS if I had more mirrored stainless on hand. (It is  A∃OLUS )

Finally got around to going through this set, oiling the axles etc. The box took a couple of staples to repair some that had torn through. Everything is nicer than the EBay pictures. There is so much track I doubt it all came with it. Motor works well. Box says set #200. Everything here is duplicate for me, but my unboxed set has the black 1110.

Steve

terry hudon posted:

this little buddy,i have had on layaway at pat's trains,brought it home fri,runs like a champ,lights work,i really like it,,,,when he said ,hey I have something you would like,,,i should have run,,,,,now its mine,,also picked up this af bumper,,

Hey, Terry

I told you it was a good looking Engine. These 0-6-0 are hard to beat.

Pat

Several recent interesting small items have appeared on the layout:

1) 1939 Wyandotte Roi-Tan Cigars promo piece- advertising Sophie Tucker's CBS radio show.

2) Two different Flyer crossing signals. The Flyer crossing signals are "S" gauge but I must say I think they look great with O scale tinplate. Not that I don't like the "Big" Lionel crossing gates and signals, but they really are "big".

3) Also new is the brick roadway under the viaduct, found a short roll of the brick material at a recent TTOS meet; I'm wondering what others have used to create brick streets on their layouts?

4) And lastly, visible in the background is an interesting scratch-built transformer array that makes a perfect complement to the Lionel power station. It's stamped on the underside of the wooden base- it appears to say "Dube's Railroad Miniatures" in Marrietta PA. Very "old school" O gauge model railroading I thought.

Ejoy!

 

"A Cavalcade" 

Could you link to or tell us more about your #1 "electric Zepher" train too? ...Please 

Many of you know my home  and travel layouts are 5 rail track. Was shocked to find a bunch of 36" straights already assembled on E-Bay. 29 pieces already assembled. Made from old KMT track, a bit of tarnish, but all are good plus some extra rails and few O ties. Price with shipping was amazing.

Steve

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Many of you know my home  and travel layouts are 5 rail track. Was shocked to find a bunch of 36" straights already assembled on E-Bay. 29 pieces already assembled. Made from old KMT track, a bit of tarnish, but all are good plus some extra rails and few O ties. Price with shipping was amazing.

Steve

Nice find steve!!

A set of refurbishable 314X-series Flyer coaches:

Initially I was thinking a strip/repaint was in order for the 3141 and 3142...now I'm thinking a bit of clean-up and polish and they'll be back to being presentable.

PD

look pretty good as is, so it shouldn't take much. nice find.

We rode to the TCA Convention in Rhode Island on the Acela Express, and crossed through the Hell Gate Bridge twice, a first time for me, I was thrilled and had to own one. 

Got these cool little Fleischmann tank cars in the mail today.  They look great with traditional Marx, even the a piece of wire is needed to “couple” them together.

Appearantly made on different sides of the wall!

 

 

jhz563 posted:

Got these cool little Fleischmann tank cars in the mail today.  They look great with traditional Marx, even the a piece of wire is needed to “couple” them together.

Appearantly made on different sides of the wall!

I think that's the same side of the wall during different periods, when they were named differently. I would think "US Zone" would be very close to the end of the war, and "Western Germany" would be later. Western Germany was formed in 1949 with the unification of the US, UK and French zones.

George

I believe US zone was used from the end of the war til the unification. I have had KBN pieces

from prewar, MADE IN GERMANY, then postwar MADE IN US ZONE GERMANY, and MADE IN

WESTERN GERMANY.

George S posted:

jhz563 posted:

Got these cool little Fleischmann tank cars in the mail today.  They look great with traditional Marx, even the a piece of wire is needed to “couple” them together.

Appearantly made on different sides of the wall!

I think that's the same side of the wall during different periods, when they were named differently. I would think "US Zone" would be very close to the end of the war, and "Western Germany" would be later. Western Germany was formed in 1949 with the unification of the US, UK and French zones.

George

I guess that makes more sense, Eastern Germany would have been the other side.

jhz563 posted:

George S posted:

jhz563 posted:

Got these cool little Fleischmann tank cars in the mail today.  They look great with traditional Marx, even the a piece of wire is needed to “couple” them together.

Appearantly made on different sides of the wall!

I think that's the same side of the wall during different periods, when they were named differently. I would think "US Zone" would be very close to the end of the war, and "Western Germany" would be later. Western Germany was formed in 1949 with the unification of the US, UK and French zones.

George

I guess that makes more sense, Eastern Germany would have been the other side.

Yep, but pretty cool to have both stampings. I enjoy being able to explain the origin of these old trains when I show them.

George

Got another MTH 814 reefer to either keep as is or repaint.  $17.50 plus shipping...  I can't hardly

believe that.  That's three MTH 814 or 2814 reefers I've been able to pickup for pretty cheap...  I've got a set of Goetz decals thanks to Stan (thanks George for setting that up!) just need to get it moved up the to do list. 

 

Dennis Holler posted:

Got another MTH 814 reefer to either keep as is or repaint.  $17.50 plus shipping...  I can't hardly

believe that.  That's three MTH 814 or 2814 reefers I've been able to pickup for pretty cheap...  I've got a set of Goetz decals thanks to Stan (thanks George for setting that up!) just need to get it moved up the to do list. 

 

That's a great deal! You are making me feel bad for how much I spent on mine. You might not even need to repaint the roof on that one and certainly not the frame!

Actually, I think I had a roof like that and just painted right over it. If it's the satin finish, it's just as good as primer. Just wash it first.

George

wow Dennis...that's a steal! Might have to start following you around.....

Cleaned these up and repainted the roofs. There was really no paint left on them.

Notice the journals and the gold frame on the observation car. The middle car is actually brown. 

George

I found a 6 or 7" tin plate car pattern on Little Glitter Houses site. Likely mentioned already. I have a mini brake (bender) about 2ft long too, so it's just a matter of time now

Picked up a nice Dorfan 411 double span bridge at today’s TTOS meet.

Steve

I recently picked up this New Marx production flat car with load

to go with the prototype flatcar with load which I purchased several years back.

Great looking cars George and Love the bridge Steve.  Great stuff every where.

I have the contents of an un-cataloged prewar set with a Black 259E, 1685/1687 on there way on the Post.  I've seen the set and set box before but now can't find the reference I saw before on line   I also know there are a couple of variations of the Red cars with shade of the Reds changing over the prewar years.  I think these are the earlier version but would be happy to know for sure.

 

ok, you guys are going to laugh me off the forum on this one...  I won all this crap from a single auction for ONE dollar ($1).  Learn from me you don't always want to put a minimal bid on something  just to watch it! I'm going to laugh my butt off if any of those engine's/motor's run... Anybody want a gang car or a Kusan Alco?   Bout the only thing I think I want to keep is the 253 shell...  Lots of bashing opportunities! 

Ahhh the good ole dollar box lot! Geez Dennis look at all the good opportunities just laying there...and no not interested.

Nice looking Kusan Alco,

interested in the gang car and the burlington alco dennis

 

what I want to know is who is collecting the couplas off the tin plate cabin cars?

"I'd buy that for a dollar" if it was "Running,..man"

...or dead

To the faster runner: Heads up Beardog, The Kusan is likely DC, if she runs.(Great Gramps was a Kusan man) I think those became RMT molds fyi.

I may want the blue flat. I'll have to look later. I like to run red, white, then blue on occasion, I think I'm short a blue car for OCD compliance. What I've been meaning to ask you about are car wheels; you always seem to have a billion on a stick for cleaning, fast angle w/axles, and old straight axle both. I can cut straight axles, wheels are what would do it. I keep robbing them from cars for my bashes.

yeah, could be 2 rail, but I have  seen  both ways. Just like burlington because I grew up

with it in my backyard, literally. Just figured I could use the gang car to repower  something.