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Dallas, thank you...Glad you enjoyed the picture.  I amassed my rather varied collection by having both sons and a grandson who liked trains, so we went to a lot of train shows / antique shows/ collectable shows and I never forgot to look "under" the tables.  I had a wife who loved antique oak furniture (we had a business refinishing same for awhile) so we "dragged" ourselves to a lot of flea markets ... and I always was on the lookout for trains .  

Best wishes and thank you again for your comments

Don

You are welcome Don......and thank you for sharing your methods of gathering.

@Don McErlean, well, I’m sure you are with your wife and please know that you all are in our prayers for her health, please place a picture of a rare caboose when you have a free moment, you always come up with an oldie but a goodie, @W&W, Craig, your observation cars are gorgeous, also you have a beautiful layout, Wow., @Sitka,those are beautiful cabooses in a uniquely cool tunnel and your train room is amazing, Cool, Today is Valentine’s Day so Happy Valentine’s Day to You All. Happy Railroading Everyone 0E0C51CF-D984-4DB1-B1EB-82286FD2D2669D87C9B7-2647-493D-B799-332BCA5424DE1162328A-E614-4037-8B11-CC1C8325562B63FC1442-4D64-4951-B06B-3EF8C3987EADB3E4E784-4D56-441C-A193-DAB85C73D2334DF7DA2C-A0CF-4CF2-96F6-F189EB7D6C5E

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@leapinlarry - Larry thank you for your thoughts and prayers for my wife.  Unfortunately she is still in the hospital fighting (she is a fighter) this latest escalation of her cancer.  The doctors have some tricks to try and hopefully she may be home soon.  But since its T.E.T even though its nearly 2300 hrs I thought I would try and post something on one of my favorite threads...I am not sure how "rare" it is, and with Marx I always say "scarce" as he made so many trains perhaps "rare" is too much to describe most of his offerings.  However, in the spirit of "Tail Ends" this one is at least "old" dating from the very beginnings of Marx trains- dating from 1937-1938 not long after Marx assumed control of the Girard Model works and brought out his first designs for what became the 6" line of 4 wheel metal lithographed cars that would actually stay in the Marx line up till the end in the 1970's.

Here is the Marx #556 caboose with the red/cream frame and square ends...this dates this gal to the 1937-38 time period.

Marx 556 red frame caboose side view

Here is the non-railing end which also contains the only coupler (tab / slot at this early time).  Note the "punched out" portholes on either side of the door and the punched out door window.  In later years these would be replaced by lithographed openings which could be made at a much lower cost than puchout's

Marx 556 red frame caboose non railing end

Here is the all important platform end ... Again to save cost, why put a coupler on the back side of something that is going to be at the back of the train? ...so no rear coupler.  My example here has a bit of damage at the rear corner of the roof, which I generously refer to as "patina" !!

Marx 556 ref frame caboose railing end

Thanks everyone for keeping my wife in your thoughts and prayers. We appreciate all who can add her to your prayer chain. her name is Sally.

All the best

Don

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@Don McErlean, I knew you would chime in, Yes, you all are on a large prayer list and thank you for the kind words. Our wives are very important to us and our family, just let her know to keep fighting the fight, we will do our part. That red tinplate caboose is beautiful, Marx makes a memorable product, thanks for posting. I’m on the left, Don is on the right, we met at the TCA National Convention in Nashville last July 2022. He’s a very kind gentleman and was the life of the party… Happy Railroading Everyone 2A4DD604-F269-477A-AE9F-3E7CB238AD968539DBE3-24CC-4C21-AFD2-5978A639418F7854E2B2-0EE9-4A03-81B8-76EAB77488C2

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@leapinlarry - Larry thank you for your thoughts and prayers for my wife.  Unfortunately she is still in the hospital fighting (she is a fighter) this latest escalation of her cancer.  The doctors have some tricks to try and hopefully she may be home soon. 

Thanks everyone for keeping my wife in your thoughts and prayers. We appreciate all who can add her to your prayer chain. her name is Sally.

All the best

Don

Praying that Sally be given strength and healing Don.

Praying that you and the family stay strong and steadfast in your trials .  God speed Don.

@leapinlarry - Larry thank you for your thoughts and prayers for my wife.  Unfortunately she is still in the hospital fighting (she is a fighter) this latest escalation of her cancer.  The doctors have some tricks to try and hopefully she may be home soon.

Here is the Marx #556 caboose with the red/cream frame and square ends...this dates this gal to the 1937-38 time period.

Marx 556 red frame caboose side view

Thanks everyone for keeping my wife in your thoughts and prayers. We appreciate all who can add her to your prayer chain. her name is Sally.

All the best

Don

@Don McErlean

Don,

You and Sally are in my thoughts.

It takes a true model railroader to fully appreciate the artwork of the 1930s. Humble but beautiful.

Best wishes to you and Sally.

MELGAR

@Rob Leese posted:

Wishing to join those "elite few" whom are fashionably late for T E T, I post the following:



And I asked myself, "how am I going to achieve this?"

Tonight, I think I metaphorically pulled the rabbit out of the hat:

Streak1Streak2Streak3

Some fine day in the future I will finish this project and post the results.

All photos, my own.

Hi Rob, the interior of your observation car model looks mighty familiar, is it a K-Line? I have a K-Line Aluminum 15" California Zephyr with the same interior that I painted and carpeted. I also replaced the incandescent lights with LED's. You have a great start on a fun project! Enjoy!

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