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Well Paul, I am not sure I can support your views of cars and people being without breakdown.  I have a Ford Explorer with 257,000 miles on it and will admit that it sometimes gives me the opportunity to demonstrate my repair skills (or lack thereof).  From the perspective of people, at 77,  I will admit to sometimes feeling like Penn Central just after the merger with all that deferred maintenance to take care of....

Well today to celebrate Santa Fe Sunday, I have an interesting offering from Marx.  Think back to the late prewar period, Lionel and American Flyer (now Gilbert Flyer since 1939) are having success with their scale trains, so Marx feels the pressure to enter the scale market.  He begins  with freight cars, most likely to be pulled by the 999 near scale steamer.  He hopes to have a full line by Christmas 1942and begins to bring out the cars in late 41.  Of course the war interrupts everything although he did put out the 1941 Christmas line which had the beginnings of the scale trains.  He selects 3/16" scale or "S" like American Flyer but never abandons 0 gauge.  Thus he is sort of like pre-war  Gilbert Flyer, S scale but 0 gauge however he never moves to S gauge trucks / track  like Flyer.  He produces scale freight cars from 41-42 and then 46- 55.  He produces S scale passenger cars longer, in fact all the way to 1970 when the company is taken over by Quaker Oats.

So today is an interesting freight car.  It is a Marx 3/16 " Scale Freight with 0 gauge trucks.  Made between 1946-47, it is a fully sheet metal, lithographed freight, a Santa Fe stock car.

In this first view, note the scale trucks and the fact that the slatted sides are in fact punched out as is the door.  These are real slats not just lithographed lines.   Officially this is the Marx #13549 ATSF stock car.

Marx scale stock car side

In this picture you can get a more clear picture of the fact that the slats in the side and door are in fact punched out and not just embossed or lithographed.  The car is 7 5/8" long and 2 1/2 " high.  For Marx especially it is very close to properly scaled for S scale and the history of these cars is that in the early 50's they were close enough to scale that many S modelers converted the trucks and couplers and used them with their American Flyer S gauge trains.

Marx scale stock car quarter view

Here you can see that Marx continued the full multi-color litho treatment even onto the roof of the car.  In my opinion, of all the Marx lines, these 3/16" scale cars are just about the highest quality trains Marx produced.

Marx scale stock car top view

Well best wishes for a fine "Santa Fe" Sunday and hope you have a great week.

Don

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  • Marx scale stock car side
  • Marx scale stock car quarter view
  • Marx scale stock car top view

Well I am getting off to a late start today as its nearly 4 pm here in Central Texas, but Christmas shopping etc took up the morning.  Thought I might post a few pictures of my Marx #1998, Santa Fe, Alco S3 in black made between 1955-1962.  Included as well is the Santa Fe #1972 caboose from 1974, the #3280 Santa Fe box car from 1956 and #4587 Santa Fe work caboose from 1962.

Marx Santa Fe Switcher Marx SF train 2Marx SF train

Well here's hoping everyone gets off to a great week.  Best Wishes

Don

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  • Marx Santa Fe Switcher
  • Marx SF train 2
  • Marx SF train

Well Santa Fe Sunday, seems to have dropped off the posting list today, so I will try to keep us going with a very simple and humble offering.  This is the Marx, lightweight, 4 wheel Santa Fe boxcar from 1974.  These were the lowest cost line that Marx offered, and were in fact also offered in 8 wheel with a sheet metal floor / frame and two 8 wheel trucks with little change in the body of the car or its printing.  These cars are hollow inside with the outline of the trucks just a facade cast into the bottom of the car body.  But this seems ok for a slow week with everyone still recovering from Christmas and two pro football games last night .



Marx SF boxcar front quarterMarx SF boxcar rear quarter

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  • Marx SF boxcar front quarter
  • Marx SF boxcar front quarter
  • Marx SF boxcar  rear quarter

For openers on Santa Fe Sunday:

the following photos show the slight yet noticable difference in Lionel F7’s with a K-Line F7b in the consist.  I once had a K-Line ABA set, and I disliked them only because of the tethers. When I bought an addition B unit for the set the tether plugs did not match. The ABA set later sold to the Lone Star Hi-Railers, but I kept the errant B.  It will probably be up for grabs at the Club’s next train show in March 2022.14AB782E-91E8-4AE7-A023-767F218CAC42184C0335-D73E-419D-957A-C8479FD13C8AB96178D4-0572-4B33-BD84-F5CF8ECF86960C58B00F-B7A1-44E0-895C-069A291AEDE711BC36B6-76F0-441E-9515-D7B265DC59CF

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  • 14AB782E-91E8-4AE7-A023-767F218CAC42
  • 184C0335-D73E-419D-957A-C8479FD13C8A
  • B96178D4-0572-4B33-BD84-F5CF8ECF8696
  • 0C58B00F-B7A1-44E0-895C-069A291AEDE7
  • 11BC36B6-76F0-441E-9515-D7B265DC59CF
@Rob Leese posted:

For openers on Santa Fe Sunday:

the following photos show the slight yet noticable difference in Lionel F7’s with a K-Line F7b in the consist.  I once had a K-Line ABA set, and I disliked them only because of the tethers. When I bought an addition B unit for the set the tether plugs did not match. The ABA set later sold to the Lone Star Hi-Railers, but I kept the errant B.  It will probably be up for grabs at the Club’s next train show in March 2022.14AB782E-91E8-4AE7-A023-767F218CAC4211BC36B6-76F0-441E-9515-D7B265DC59CF

Hello Robert, first, very nice models! I'm curious though about your Lionel SF F7 A units. Are the two A units from an ABA set 2007 catalog 6-24589. Do you have the Lionel B unit, and your just showing the difference between the K-Line? Secondly, I've never seen a Lionel F3 or F7 with the lift hooks on the front and rear of each A unit. That's a pretty cool feature. Thanks for posting!

@WesternPacific2217

Yes, this is the Lionel 6-24589 set.  The Lionel B unit included with the set can be seen next to 333L in the top photo, and in the second photo with the taller Lionel unit being to the left.

These Lionel models are a much more accurate portrayal of Santa Fe's F unit fleet as compared to the zillions of 2343 models.  And I may differ from a lot of AT&SF modelers, but I like the solid silver paint on the sides as opposed to the models with simulated stainless steel side panels.

Finally getting to participate in Santa Fe Sunday with minutes to spare! Started getting into Western RRs a couple months back and the AT&SF caught me big time! Considering

So here're my two ATSF command control engines and some of my most recent rolling stock pick ups:



This was my first Santa Fe Legacy engine: Lionel GP35 Kodachrome always wanted a Kodachrome And I love the strobe light! Lionel ATSF 40' flat with removable load following behind:

Lnl ATSF Kodachrome GP35 & 40' flat with load



Had to pick up the matching caboose(by Atlas) when I saw it  was available. Love this 50' Boxcar with double doors and opening end doors- really cool. I usually like more modern boxcars but was too neat to pass up

Atlas SF boose Koda Kline CBQ ps-5 gon AtSF DD 50'



What's this Mailbox boxcar doing here? Check the reporting mark! Big fan of patches/overstamps/merger stuff. Behind it is a 40' hy cube. Both Atlas trainman

Atlas Santa Fe patched Railbox BoxC & 40' Hy Cube

I hope some BNSF is ok... I love the end GEEPs- specifically GP20 and later. Lionel Legacy Santa Fe GP35 with BNSF stamp(again-merger/stamp stuff ) with an MTH BNSF 40' high cube and Christmas Eve arrival Lionel BNSF 2 bay covered hopper following along(really sharp  looking!)

Lnl GP35 Santa Fe BNSF stamp BNSF Hy BoxC & 2 bay covered hopper

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  • Lnl ATSF Kodachrome GP35 & 40' flat with load
  • Atlas Santa Fe patched Railbox BoxC & 40' Hy Cube
  • Atlas SF boose Koda Kline CBQ ps-5 gon AtSF DD 50'
  • Lnl GP35 Santa Fe BNSF stamp BNSF Hy BoxC & 2 bay covered hopper
@StevefromPA posted:

Finally getting to participate in Santa Fe Sunday with minutes to spare! Started getting into Western RRs a couple months back and the AT&SF caught me big time! Considering

So here're my two ATSF command control engines and some of my most recent rolling stock pick ups:



This was my first Santa Fe Legacy engine: Lionel GP35 Kodachrome always wanted a Kodachrome And I love the strobe light! Lionel ATSF 40' flat with removable load following behind:

Lnl ATSF Kodachrome GP35 & 40' flat with load



Had to pick up the matching caboose(by Atlas) when I saw it  was available. Love this 50' Boxcar with double doors and opening end doors- really cool. I usually like more modern boxcars but was too neat to pass up





What's this Mailbox boxcar doing here? Check the reporting mark! Big fan of patches/overstamps/merger stuff. Behind it is a 40' hy cube. Both Atlas trainman



I hope some BNSF is ok... I love the end GEEPs- specifically GP20 and later. Lionel Legacy Santa Fe GP35 with BNSF stamp(again-merger/stamp stuff ) with an MTH BNSF 40' high cube and Christmas Eve arrival Lionel BNSF 2 bay covered hopper following along(really sharp  looking!)



Steve, love the SF Kodachrome merger model paint scheme, looks awesome. Here's another one you might add to your layout one day with SP for Southern Pacific. Santa Fe and Southern Pacific began a merger in 1983 and prematurely painted some locomotives, I think 6 in all, with SF, SP, and SPSF. Obviously the merger failed in 1986 as the U.S. ICC board rejected the proposed merger, saying that the anti-competitive problems outweighed the public benefits of joining the rail systems.

This would be a cool addition to your SF Lionel model. 2005 catalog 6-28225 TMCC.

I don't think Lionel ever made a model of the SPSF paint scheme, can't find one, but here's the real thing.

But what a cool paint scheme, and probably a rare find.

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  • mceclip0
  • mceclip1
Last edited by WesternPacific2217

@WesternPacific2217 I was going to say I think the Espee only did about four(definitely single digits) Kodachrome schemes. The Lionel SP Kodachrome  with TMCC you posted is awesome and one I've seen online- although unfortunately never found one for sale and Have been actively looking for it. I'd like a Kodachrome SP unit to go with the Kodachrome SF GP35. I'm now considering some of the Weaver Kodachrome diesels, buying one and upgrading them to ERR...I don't believe anyone has ever made an o scale SPSF unit- with the exception of custom jobs

@GG1 4877 thanks for that link!! Not sure if I'll get that SD40-2(as nice as it is!) BUT I've been looking for those Amtrak Genesis units so I'm even more happy that you shared that link to the 3rd Rail website! Thanks!

Well here we are 1/2/22 the first "official" Sunday in the new year.  We normally have lots of "war bonnets" but today it seems a bit sparse, so I thought I would dig out my Marx interpretation of that famous livery.  This is the Mark # 1095 Santa Fe E-7 made in 1952 so now 70 years ago this new years.  Along with that AA engine is a Marx Santa Fe #3152 Full Dome car from about 1958.  Note the Marx characteristic full color passengers in the dome.  It was always rumored that Marx used real people that he knew from his business for these pictures but not really confirmed.  

Here is that famous "war bonnet" livery on the cab of the E-7 by Marx.

Marx SF E-7 front view

A sort of total length view of this little one car train.  Must be late in the passenger business as there is only one car.

Marx SF E-7 and dome car full train

A front quarter view of this short train.

Marx SF E-7 and dome car front quarter

Here is a close up of the Marx #3152 Santa Fe full vista dome.

Marx SF full dome car



Well happy "Santa Fe" Sunday everyone.  Best wishes

Don

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Images (4)
  • Marx SF E-7 front view
  • Marx SF E-7 and dome car full train
  • Marx SF E-7 and dome car front quarter
  • Marx SF full dome car

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