Tinplate photos 📸 and videos 📽

I was in a tinplate mood this morning, so I pulled down some of my favorite blue trains and gave them a few laps around the layout. I am extremely fond of blue things, particularly shiny blue things.

On the outer mainline, I have my latest modern tinplate acquisition, a MTH PS2 1694 electric. I've never seen many of these MTH reproductions with command control and I didn't know they came in blue and silver until I discovered this fine specimen over the summer. I picked up a set of semi-restored 601 series coaches to run it with a couple months ago.

On the inner mainline I have one of my best running MTH tinplate locomotives, the sturdy and dependable 249e. This locomotive has traction tires, smoke and everything you'd expect from a modern engine with all the looks and charm of the prewar period. I've paired it with some two-tone blue coaches from my MTH American Legacy set.

Last but not least, I have my beloved MTH Blue Streak running on the top level of the layout. This is my favorite tinplate train set and one of my prized possessions. I coveted this set for years after seeing it in the MTH catalog and was so excited to be able to order one when I got out from college and got my first real engineering position.

And of course, here's a video of all three engines chugging, whistling and honking (in the 1694's case) around the layout!

Arnie I have no idea how you find such incredible specimens but thank you for posting.  The loco and shed are beautiful.

Don

I had this French HORNBY set from 1935 since a long time but I just completed it today with the right period transformer which was missing. Always great to have something complete and in great condition.....

Have a great day, Daniel

Daniel what a beautiful set...thanks for posting! 

My offering this week is not nearly as old as Daniel's set, but the Marx Company, starting in 1955, began to make toy versions of the Fairbanks Morse (FM) cab diesel. These were clearly TOYS with little regard for prototypical detail.  As such they were normally played with hard and finding examples that even halfway look good is tricky. The three road names used were Monon, Kansas City Southern and Seaboard.  Marx made both electric and clockwork A units and matching unpowered B units.    The Seaboard FM,  especially the clockwork A diesel, have eluded me for some time although the green and yellow matching passenger coaches are also difficult to find.  According to a recent article in "Classic Toy Trains" ("Spotlight on Marx Diesels from Fairbanks Morse", Robert Wendt, Classic Toy Trains, November 2021) , the Seaboard FM "B" unit is the scarcest item of the three road names produced being made in 1962 only.   This remains on my "hunting" list although the collector value is often listed well beyond my limited budget.  So here for you is a little Seaboard "mixed" train as my offering for this week.  The clockwork #4000 Seaboard FM diesel "A" unit made between 1955-1962, a single green/yellow #558  "Bogota" coach, and the #956 Seaboard caboose.

Here is the full train.  Note that despite the clearly matching green/yellow decoration Marx did not put "Seaboard" on the Bogota coach (or the observation which I also don't have).  The caboose on the other hand is clearly labeled for the road.

A little closer look at the FM unit.  The fact that its clockwork is revealed by the start/stop lever protruding through the roof of the cab.

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Well best wishes for a great week Tinplate fans.

Don

Congratulations Daniel on completing such a beautiful scarce set !

Don, well done .. the SEABOARD is something that has been on my radar for quite a long time now yours is lovely!

Today I have a rather modest offering in comparison , but one I also have had on the "Wanted" list for a bit

Ticking off the last of the series in the collection for me is the third variant of the 1930's Brimtoy Series , the George V version .

No tender as yet unfortunately , but you take your opportunities where you find them .. this was local here in Australia

The George V is the "Upper" end of a Low End series if you get what I mean ? Brimtoy was certainly not competing with any of the serious train manufacturers of the time and was known for its less expensive toy-like creations , but with the George, the Britannia , and the Royal Scot locomotives , they took a pretty cheap mechanism and dressed them in beautiful, much richer, lithography than many of their counterparts of the time .. all flash and little substance lol ! ... Naturally these toys were aimed at different markets to "serious " train models and were not built to last eons , so they fact they do survive after nearly 90 years is testament to them winning hearts more than actual monetary value

Those looking for quality of manufacture turn away now .... before I ruin the illusion for you ...

( under the hood)

  Built to a price point for sure ! But yep she still runs !

Fatman thank you for the compliment on my Seaboard.  I would point out that your new "George V" sports the same marvelous green and gold livery.  I really like the Brimtoy items, I have two , a "Britannia" and a "Silver Streak (but like you no tender).  Now I must also search for the George V.

Best wishes

Don

I like the Brimtoy trains too. I couldn´t get to the passenger coaches at the moment, so here´s the George V with a freight train.

Arne

Arnie...great post, beautiful set.   I was wondering are the station and the freight cars also Brimtoy?  Thanks

Don

Don,

yes, it´s Brimtoy No S4 Junction Station 26 1/2" long. And the short freight cars are Brimtoy too.

Arne

I am sure I have posted these before ( probably in this very same mega-thread) but for comparison here are the other two

Britannia

Royal Scot

Bing Large and Small

   Even though the Bing catalogs did give size dimensions it is easy to overlook the print and just look at the illustrations.  If you do this it can come as something of a shock when you first see items in the flesh that heretofore you had only looked at in catalogs.  Case in point the size difference between a Bing crane ca 1907-1911 (on the left) and one from ca 1926 (on the right). 

  My uncertainty with respect to dating the crane on the left is because I'm sure it was made after 1906 but I'm also sure it does not match the catalog illustration for 1912 and later and I don't have any catalog information between those two dates (the book Bing Modellbhanen by Jeanmarie does have some information between these two years but no illustrations of cranes)  The 1912 and later have cranes illustrated with a raised square base on the car frame to support the crane cab.

Not for the purists,  bit having fun tonight. Mth challenger and lionel transition car, followed by mostly mth coal drag on the outside.   Ets loco and gon with decidedly English coaches on the inside.   I do enjoy the mix and match🙂

jhz :  Neat trains and you have a great collection of coal hoppers for sure.  I liked the English passenger coaches who made them?  Best wishes...glad you migrated over to the "tinplate" site for this post,  although Switcher Saturday is one of my favorites.  

Don

@Don McErlean posted:

jhz :  Neat trains and you have a great collection of coal hoppers for sure.  I liked the English passenger coaches who made them?  Best wishes...glad you migrated over to the "tinplate" site for this post,  although Switcher Saturday is one of my favorites.  

Don

Hi Don!  I love tinplate.   I have this demented dream of acquiring one of every 2816 hopper that mth produced.   If I could get the Christmas Express one without buying the whole set I would be about done!  Pulling them all at once requires some modern day distributed power operations.

The coaches technically belong to my wife.  They are from the Hogwarts set! 

kHz. Hog warts set!  No kidding. I have that set so those coaches are coming out to be pulled by some of my Hornby. Good luck on the Christmas coal hopper

best regards

Don

When there is no new trains to find it is always nice to discover some accessories that have been stored in a box since a long time.

The telegraph pole is from Karl Bub around 1925-30 and all the others are Marklin from the thirties, the electro magnet signal is still in working condition but unfortunately the most interesting piece is the destination board, which is in French, where the base is missing.... I absolutely need to find one.

Daniel

Daniel : those are really interesting signals, thanks for posting.

Don

Nearly four decades since my grandparents passed away, we finally retrieved my grandfather's Flyer set from the stuff remaining in the attic and basement. Been looking for this for a very long time:

The Suburban from 1926, quite a bit of surface corrosion, but the wheels look good and the motor turns freely. Hoping to have this back in running order soon. To be honest, just having it sitting on a shelf would be fine too. Lots of memories in this box.

PD

@pd posted:

Nearly four decades since my grandparents passed away, we finally retrieved my grandfather's Flyer set from the stuff remaining in the attic and basement. Been looking for this for a very long time:

The Suburban from 1926, quite a bit of surface corrosion, but the wheels look good and the motor turns freely. Hoping to have this back in running order soon. To be honest, just having it sitting on a shelf would be fine too. Lots of memories in this box.

PD

That actually looks like a 1927 Suburban set.  The reason I say this is that the engine has 2 brass pantographs on it, which is a characteristic of 1927 engines.  The 1926 engines had cast pantographs on them, similar to below

NWL

The 2021 version of Radiator Springs is up and running. This is one of nine layouts for this years MUZEO display opening on Nov 27.

Steve

Steve - that is an amazing layout and I'll bet the young folks will love it.  Super job!

Don

@Don McErlean posted:

Steve - that is an amazing layout and I'll bet the young folks will love it.  Super job!

Don

A group of Disney mgmt types were on a advanced tour of the displays and I was told they went nuts when my layout was plugged in for them even though it was not done yet. Finished it up this morning.

Steve

@Nation Wide Lines posted:

That actually looks like a 1927 Suburban set.  The reason I say this is that the engine has 2 brass pantographs on it, which is a characteristic of 1927 engines.  The 1926 engines had cast pantographs on them, similar to below

NWL

Yeah, I would agree, although the 1927 catalog describes the pantographs as being the stamped version but nickel-plated. I'm just hopeful we can get the surface corrosion cleaned up and back in running order.

@pd posted:

Yeah, I would agree, although the 1927 catalog describes the pantographs as being the stamped version but nickel-plated. I'm just hopeful we can get the surface corrosion cleaned up and back in running order.

I seem to have misspoke.  You are correct that they would be nickel plated pantographs on the 1927 engine.  I just looked at my 1096 engines and they are a mix of brass and nickel, but the ones with 2 pantographs are nickel plated.  The later ones that have a bell and a pantograph are more often brass than nickel.  I believe that Flyer changed from nickel plated to brass plated in 1928.

Rearranged a few sets on the layout around the station.  They are all original except of course the Chromed 265E and matching 2613/14/15 cars. I was just able to purchase the Chrome Streak cars together with the Chromed 265E so I have matched the 618/619 with a correct 1935 version of the Black 265E with Chrome rims and no firebox int eh cab etc.  Nice Blue Comet a found a few years ago and the Blue Streak is a nice set of cars with a piced together engine and tender.  You can't see but the engine shell is a mess!!!  1936 Red Comet on the other side, forgot I need to reinstall the observation platform lol.  Fun stuff!

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

A group of Disney mgmt types were on a advanced tour of the displays and I was told they went nuts when my layout was plugged in for them even though it was not done yet. Finished it up this morning.

Steve

Steve we can only hope that might prompt them to rethink canceling the project with only three buildings left to complete the town. I guess we can dream. Nice display.   Terry

@Dennis Holler posted:

Rearranged a few sets on the layout around the station.  They are all original except of course the Chromed 265E and matching 2613/14/15 cars. I was just able to purchase the Chrome Streak cars together with the Chromed 265E so I have matched the 618/619 with a correct 1935 version of the Black 265E with Chrome rims and no firebox int eh cab etc.  Nice Blue Comet a found a few years ago and the Blue Streak is a nice set of cars with a piced together engine and tender.  You can't see but the engine shell is a mess!!!  1936 Red Comet on the other side, forgot I need to reinstall the observation platform lol.  Fun stuff!

@Dennis Holler: I LOVE that all-chrome Commodore Vanderbilt! Thanks for putting up the pictures for us, you've got several of my favorite prewar sets in this one shot

My latest tinplate acquisition is this awesome Hafner set that I just picked up at a local train show. It's an M10000 in copper and green!

The clockwork is the pretty standard Hafner mechanism, it drops out of the locomotive with one little screw. The motor was pretty gummed up when I first got it but after a thorough cleaning and lubrication everything came unstuck and it now runs like a rabbit.

Here's the set put together on the track. Looks nice!

The previous owner told me that the tail car is very hard to find. I've only been collecting Hafner since last year but I would believe it. I haven't seen many of these M10000 sets for sale, even the Flying Yankee ones are not super common compared to the typical steam engine sets.

And of course, because I'm one of those crazy people who insists on running everything that they collect (even, GASP, rare prewar trains!), here's the Youtube video of the set spinning around my layout.

Ken that is a great Hafner find.  I have only seen one other even offered for sale and it was in really bad shape.  Great job getting it running again.

Don

Great find and clean up on the Copper set Ken .. she's a beaut !

A small Hornby set recently acquired, I believe early 1950s vintage:

This completes a personal trifecta of small clockwork sets (Bing, Marklin, and Hornby). Now I just need to build a small set-up to run them on.

PD

pd:  That is a fabulous set.  According to my reference..."The Hornby Companion Series, The Hornby 0'gauge System" by Chris and Julia Graebe, New Cavendish Books, London 1985.  The LMS 101 Tank Engine was one first locomotives to return after the war and was one  of the more readily available engines postwar (wartime shortages continued to hinder production of the Hornby line) and was available from 1947 -1954,  There is listed a "101 Tank Engine Passenger Set" but the book does not list the contents.  However the LMS / LNER No 1 passenger coaches that you have shown in your picture are likely candidates.  These coaches were available post war from Nov 47 to Mar 59 mostly in the color scheme you pictured although there were some other liveries.  The postwar versions are known by their light grey roofs.  So my reference would confirm your feeling that your set was from the 1950's although it could be as early as 1947.  GREAT FIND!!!

Best wishes

Don

Thanks for that info, Don. According to McCrindell's book, they made a version of the 2270 before the war as well, but that had some slight differences in the paint scheme, along with red-painted spoked wheels. The graphics on the coaches have a very postwar look about them.

What a treat

Hi Dennis,  your chrome set is awesome, whish i could fine one... great video, thumbs up.

Daniel

Nothing new so running some Lionel Standard Gauge in France during a cold weather.....

The State set is Lionel Classic and the 381e is a Williams repro, only the motor is an original Lionel BAL.

Daniel

Hello Tinplate fans.  Back in early November I posted some pictures of my Marx Seaboard FM clockwork and a small train consisting of one coach and a Seaboard caboose.  At the time I commented that I did not have the matching Observation car so was using the caboose on my "mixed" train.  Well, just before Thanksgiving, I managed to acquire a matching observation car.  So here are some updated pictures of my Seaboard train.

So here is the matching Observation car, Marx 558 Green/Yellow Observation.  Since these were obviously made to match the # 4000 Seaboard FM diesel, this puts their manufacture between 1955-1962

Here is the observation car with the matching "Bogota" pullman

Finally here is the full train.  Now all I have to find is the green / yellow "Montclair" Pullman and I will have the full set.  I saw one the other day on e-bay but the asking price was out of my range (and it was missing  both wheel/axle sets although those are not too hard to replace).

Well that's it for me this week.  Best wishes to all and hope you have a happy and successful week.  By the way, Dennis and Daniel, super trains and great pictures / videos.  Thanks for posting.

Don

Don, the Seaboard passenger set is looking nice!  I did the same thing, finding the Seaboard cars and locos piece by piece.  After you find the last passenger car, don't forget that there is an unpowered Seaboard loco as well...  :-D 

Windupguy: thanks for the compliment. Yup that unpowered A unit has to be on the “hunt” list.  Even harder to find is an unpowered B unit in Seaboard colors.  I keep looking and hoping that’s part of the fun.

Best wishes

Fon

News in the collection.

Karl Bub luggage storage, No 1728, made 1931-1936. The rarer hand painted colour.

Issmayer signal box small from the 20s. The stairs are only printed, not bend.

Issmayer signal box bigger from the 20s

Arne