Weekend tinplate photos/videos 5/5/17 !

Some tinplate palm trees should be a good fit for summer. Still have a few extras to sell.

Steve

No real tinplate but some paper this weekend:

A few days ago a new book on British Toy Trains by Michael Foster has appeared. Michael Foster is writing a series of 4 books on the lesser known and cheaper budget British tin toy trains. Design and photography of these books is by Michael Bowes (known for Blurp books on tinplate accessories and on Issmaier trains). Book 3 is now available and on its way to me. It describes the products of Brimtoy. Previous books described amongst others Chad Valley and British Marx. The next book, which will appear in 2018 will be about Mettoy.

Here a few pictures of Brimtoy accessories, which I assume will be described in the book:

And from France on its way is a just issued book about Fournereau. Fournereau was a successor of Marescot (who introduced the first scale like model train in France around 1925) and made a series of locomotives and carriages from 1930 until 1960 which are highly regarded in France. So if you like French trains have a look here: http://trains.lrpresse.com/A-1...sme-ferroviaire.aspx. Here is a video showing Marescot/Fournereau train.

Regards

Fred

Found an early Lionel 804 at York last week:

Terra-cotta, rubber-stamped, no journals dates it to 1925. Needs a good cleaning.

PD

First page (at least the first page in the 1931 catalog with trains)

The Dispatcher

Dennis make sure you post those pics on Switcher Saturday!

fresh from the shop, 259E makes a local freight run. This was one of the quickest rebuilds I've done. Picked up the shell for $5 off the bay, $10 1684 motor at a show, trucks from the junk box, and an order from Jeff Kane to finish it off. And the final piece was the tender again off the bay.

Just picked  this up. I am sure I am not the first to do this I removed the Ives couplers and put Lionel couplers on it so I can run it with my other cars.

doc, always wanted to that,,,1st I need to buy the car! I have wanted this refer since I saw it in the catalog,,,so at York I was able to pick it up at sidetrack hobbies ,they always take the time to cut out pictures and put them on the boxes ,makes it so easy to brouse,so I bought it got it home and hummmmmm not the same as the pix,,,i know the catalogue is just a reference but not close,,,just like the pennsy covered standard gon its black not the green in the catalogue,,,,but in the end glad they are making modern tinplate !

terry hudon posted:

doc, always wanted to that,,,1st I need to buy the car! I have wanted this refer since I saw it in the catalog,,,so at York I was able to pick it up at sidetrack hobbies ,they always take the time to cut out pictures and put them on the boxes ,makes it so easy to brouse,so I bought it got it home and hummmmmm not the same as the pix,,,i know the catalogue is just a reference but not close,,,just like the pennsy covered standard gon its black not the green in the catalogue,,,,but in the end glad they are making modern tinplate !

Chris, that beer shed looks well-stocked; makes me thirsty!!

Here's a shot of my prewar O-gauge Blue Comet, running along-side something slightly newer. 

Fred: GREAT trains and video as always! Love that Pacific and the carriages! Learning much about French tinplate from your excellent posts! THANK YOU!

picked up a Joy Line 102 cast iron loco last week that had been sandblasted bare, with the clockwork still inside it. The shell is in the paint shop now, but the clockwork is now working after some gentle air pressure and careful winding and unwinding a few times with a Lionel 1588 key. I'll soak and re-lube the works before re-installing the painted shell. A bell is still intact but I can see no striker mechanism for it.

Chris Lonero posted:

Well it's getting to be that time of year again for summer fun! With that summer fun comes thirst! So have a cold one and Let's see your tinplate!

Would have been better if you represented a real beer.

sncf231e posted:

No real tinplate but some paper this weekend:

A few days ago a new book on British Toy Trains by Michael Foster has appeared. Michael Foster is writing a series of 4 books on the lesser known and cheaper budget British tin toy trains. Design and photography of these books is by Michael Bowes (known for Blurp books on tinplate accessories and on Issmaier trains). Book 3 is now available and on its way to me. It describes the products of Brimtoy. Previous books described amongst others Chad Valley and British Marx. The next book, which will appear in 2018 will be about Mettoy.

Regards

Fred

I have the book on order. Already have volumes 1 & 2.

Steve

Hi friends,

Today we journey to merrie olde England and visit the Ashford Depot on the Southern Railway.  A Bing 4-6-0 Super Clockwork 773 named King Arthur is out in front followed by 3 Hornby L-1 A 759s, a Schools Class Eton #900 and a smaller A179. The "A" of course stands for Ashford. Note that one of the L-1s is different from the other two, because it was from the first production group.

Lew Schneider

NJCJOE posted:

Chris Lonero posted:

Well it's getting to be that time of year again for summer fun! With that summer fun comes thirst! So have a cold one and Let's see your tinplate!

Would have been better if you represented a real beer.

For those of us in Boston it's a very real beer!  

terry hudon posted:

doc, always wanted to that,,,1st I need to buy the car! I have wanted this refer since I saw it in the catalog,,,so at York I was able to pick it up at sidetrack hobbies ,they always take the time to cut out pictures and put them on the boxes ,makes it so easy to brouse,so I bought it got it home and hummmmmm not the same as the pix,,,i know the catalogue is just a reference but not close,,,just like the pennsy covered standard gon its black not the green in the catalogue,,,,but in the end glad they are making modern tinplate !

Yeah, I learned the same thing with my red 1685/1687 pass cars. The on line picks showed a good vibrant red but what showed up was nearly pink.  It gives me pause with buying any more lionel corp mth stuff.

Today i will not present you models from Euro countries, just a recent buy near a friend in your country, a Lionel 392e loco in black with copper trim. It will complete my gun metal one with six wheels tender. That one comes from the Chicago area and is not in too bad condition and an important thing for me is that it is all original.

The only problem is that the tender is missing.... I have a 384T one with copper journals, could it match perfectly with my engine ? It has a green stripe and i don't know if 392e locos sold with the 384T tender had or not a green stripe. I have seen 384t tenders all black but not really sure if originals or not.   TCA book, Doyle and even Greensberg are not of great precision about this.

Many thanks and have a great tinplate weekend,    Daniel

This is a Brimtoy set that I've had for awhile, but I lacked a reference book. Steve can that Brimtoy book be ordered from a U.S. vendor?

Eric Hofberg

Daniel,

The last black 392E that I owned came with an all black 384T tender which was original, but I have seen them with 384T tenders with green stripes too. The green stripe version is a bit more common. According to my reference books either tender is correct.

Eric Hofberg

TCA, LCCA

chug posted:

This is a Brimtoy set that I've had for awhile, but I lacked a reference book. Steve can that Brimtoy book be ordered from a U.S. vendor?

Eric Hofberg

looks like the green version of a 355BR set that would have come with an oval of track and a depot. The 355BR had a red engine and tender but the same coach. Have been the 6220s in green, blue and red, blue being the toughest to find.

FRENCHTRAINS posted:

Today i will not present you models from Euro countries, just a recent buy near a friend in your country, a Lionel 392e loco in black with copper trim. It will complete my gun metal one with six wheels tender. That one comes from the Chicago area and is not in too bad condition and an important thing for me is that it is all original.

The only problem is that the tender is missing.... I have a 384T one with copper journals, could it match perfectly with my engine ? It has a green stripe and i don't know if 392e locos sold with the 384T tender had or not a green stripe. I have seen 384t tenders all black but not really sure if originals or not.   TCA book, Doyle and even Greensberg are not of great precision about this.

Many thanks and have a great tinplate weekend,    Daniel

That's a very nice looking engine Daniel, It should clean up nicely as well!  Great purchase!

Jim O'C posted:

chug posted:

This is a Brimtoy set that I've had for awhile, but I lacked a reference book. Steve can that Brimtoy book be ordered from a U.S. vendor?

Eric Hofberg

looks like the green version of a 355BR set that would have come with an oval of track and a depot. The 355BR had a red engine and tender but the same coach. Have been the 6220s in green, blue and red, blue being the toughest to find.

Jim,

That is a great set! Thanks for the info, but my set didn't come with a depot as you'll see from the pictures.

Eric Hofberg

FRENCHTRAINS posted:

Today i will not present you models from Euro countries, just a recent buy near a friend in your country, a Lionel 392e loco in black with copper trim. It will complete my gun metal one with six wheels tender. That one comes from the Chicago area and is not in too bad condition and an important thing for me is that it is all original.

The only problem is that the tender is missing.... I have a 384T one with copper journals, could it match perfectly with my engine ? It has a green stripe and i don't know if 392e locos sold with the 384T tender had or not a green stripe. I have seen 384t tenders all black but not really sure if originals or not.   TCA book, Doyle and even Greensberg are not of great precision about this.

Many thanks and have a great tinplate weekend,    Daniel

Beautiful 392, Daniel! I'm not sure about the green stripe question, but I just checked mine and there's no green stripe on the tender. 

John

Lew those look great!

chug posted:

This is a Brimtoy set that I've had for awhile, but I lacked a reference book. Steve can that Brimtoy book be ordered from a U.S. vendor?

Eric Hofberg

Eric, not that I'm aware of. An acquaintance of mine is placing a bulk order for a few of us. Cost with shipping is about $50.00. If you want, I can see if an extra book can be added to the order.

Steve

chug posted:

Daniel,

The last black 392E that I owned came with an all black 384T tender which was original, but I have seen them with 384T tenders with green stripes too. The green stripe version is a bit more common. According to my reference books either tender is correct.

Eric Hofberg

TCA, LCCA

Thanks very much Eric for your informative post. So i will use the 384 T with green stripe with that loco, a major advantage is that the paint of the two pieces matches perfectly.

Very best, Daniel

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

chug posted:

This is a Brimtoy set that I've had for awhile, but I lacked a reference book. Steve can that Brimtoy book be ordered from a U.S. vendor?

Eric Hofberg

Eric, not that I'm aware of. An acquaintance of mine is placing a bulk order for a few of us. Cost with shipping is about $50.00. If you want, I can see if an extra book can be added to the order.

Steve

The book can be ordered directly via email at Michael Foster (see his email address in the flyer) and payed for via Paypal to Michael Bowes.

Regards

Fred

chug posted:

Jim O'C posted:

chug posted:

 

Jim,

That is a great set! Thanks for the info, but my set didn't come with a depot as you'll see from the pictures.

Eric Hofberg

The number of variations in Brimtoy sets is large; I have a set with 2 coaches (see it run here: https:https://youtu.be/TyeXASwNJ5o//youtu.be/TyeXASwNJ5o):

Jim's and my set are postwar; Eric's set might be prewar or anyway earlier having the LMS  lettering. The book will give more insights.

Regards

Fred

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

chug posted:

This is a Brimtoy set that I've had for awhile, but I lacked a reference book. Steve can that Brimtoy book be ordered from a U.S. vendor?

Eric Hofberg

Eric, not that I'm aware of. An acquaintance of mine is placing a bulk order for a few of us. Cost with shipping is about $50.00. If you want, I can see if an extra book can be added to the order.

Steve

Steve,

Thank you for your kind offer of adding the book to your order, but I'll order it direct as Fred suggested rather than cause the additional bother.

Eric Hofberg

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Some tinplate palm trees should be a good fit for summer. Still have a few extras to sell.

Steve

Hey, I love the palm trees but I'm interested in the little battery operating train station on the side.  I had one when I was a little kid and I believe it was the power supply for an HO train.  Do you know where I could buy one of these and who makes it?  Frank  (frank.ranzino@gmail.com)

Frank

I have a white version of the train station I think you are asking about. Steve would know for sure who made the one he has but I think the company is called Rosko Toys. If this link works it will take you to a set that was sold that included the train station tower.  If the link does not work then google "ROSKO toy train set". Hope this helps.

Dean

Well, it finally happened. Diseasels have finally made it to my railroad.

Went to a train show today and picked up a dirty but not too rusty set of Marx 6000 "F" units with matching caboose. Motor is locked up, but it does growl and the light works when the power is on.

Forgot to mention, windups are coming to the layout too.

I also picked up a Marx clockwork drive for $5 today. Needs cleaned and one rear wheel falls off, but it seems to run pretty good. Now I need to find a body shell to mount it in!

pd posted:

Found an early Lionel 804 at York last week:

Terra-cotta, rubber-stamped, no journals dates it to 1925. Needs a good cleaning.

PD

That looks like a great find.  In good shape, and the lettering is clean and clear.  Is it that way on the other side also?  I have two of those, and one has the lettering really clear and crisp on both sides...the other one has the "tank" almost rubbed off on both sides ( I'm sure from some happy little hands playing with it back in the 20's), and the other lettering is faded a bit.  Congrats on the good find.

Several years ago I stumbled across an Estate Sale being run by a House Sale Service.  It literally had hundreds of trains on the walls and in a room added to the house to be a train room.  I found some nice things to add to my collection, including some very nice Ives pieces and some Lionel too.  I made one impulse purchase just because it was cute and I recognized the names on it: Hornby and Meccano.

I will be the first to admit that I know very little about either of these companies.  I don't think that it is very old.  I am hoping that someone can tell me something about its history; just the typical identifying information will do.

Unfortunately it came without its key.  I know that it runs.  It was fully wound when I bought it and I did run it on my O gauge track at home. I'd like to know how to get a key for it.

Here is a size comparison with American Flyer Equipment.

I am hoping that someone who reads this thread or participates by posting can help me identify this cute set.

Greg   

Northwoods Flyer

Hi Greg,

Your nice find looks like a Hornby MO clockwork passenger set.  Post War.  Although the entry level set for Hornby, they actually ran very well, probably doing 80 to 100 feet on a wind.  

Just be careful the first time you run it.  Do a half wind run, then a three quarter wind run before doing a full wind run.   Doing a full wind run first time is say 60-70 years could cause the spring to break.

Enjoy!          'Hornby - British and Guaranteed'

Cheers Pete

PW53inVa posted:

Frank

I have a white version of the train station I think you are asking about. Steve would know for sure who made the one he has but I think the company is called Rosko Toys. If this link works it will take you to a set that was sold that included the train station tower.  If the link does not work then google "ROSKO toy train set". Hope this helps.

Dean

Thanks for all the information and interested in ones that are for sale. I'd like to see the white version.  Would you have a picture of it? 

Frank

I started a new project today.  Started stretching a Commodore Vanderbilt.  Started with the tender.  It still needs some finishing, but you get the idea.  It's about the length of a 2226W tender now.

handyandy posted:

Well, it finally happened. Diseasels have finally made it to my railroad.

Went to a train show today and picked up a dirty but not too rusty set of Marx 6000 "F" units with matching caboose. Motor is locked up, but it does growl and the light works when the power is on.

say it isn't so!

I did that with my 221's tender..need to wrap it up too.Looks good Dennis.

Greg J. Turinetti posted:

Several years ago I stumbled across an Estate Sale being run by a House Sale Service.  It literally had hundreds of trains on the walls and in a room added to the house to be a train room.  I found some nice things to add to my collection, including some very nice Ives pieces and some Lionel too.  I made one impulse purchase just because it was cute and I recognized the names on it: Hornby and Meccano.

 

I am hoping that someone who reads this thread or participates by posting can help me identify this cute set.

Greg   

Northwoods Flyer

 

Greg,

This was one of the latest Hornby 0 gauge offerings made from 1954 till 1968. This type was generally catalogued as M0 however Hornby changed their numbering in the end and this is a No. 20 set. Hornby made these trains with either two coaches or two freight cars (gondolas). The first examples of these small trains were made by Hornby in 1930; these types were not compatible with the larger Hornby trains but ran on the same gauge. Here are some boxed examples:

On your pictures you seem to have the tender the wrong way round

Regards

Fred

Hello Greg,

Nice little Hornby set, i have no more to add after Fred's post which is totally right. As you seem to enjoy old original catalogs with your sets i enclosed a pdf. file with the british Hornby catalog for 1958 with your set illustrated.  Also the servicing manual for the loco.

Unfortunately i don't have a spare key for this model but if you look on ebay in Great Britain you can easily find the correct one.

Daniel

Greg J. Turinetti posted:

 

Unfortunately it came without its key.  I know that it runs.  It was fully wound when I bought it and I did run it on my O gauge track at home. I'd like to know how to get a key for it.

 

 

Greg   

Northwoods Flyer

 

Greg,

This needs a very small key, 3/32 inch (2.4 mm); I have only one original myself. See however this solution for all your winding problems:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Pron...d:g:7mwAAOxy66pRx3Ao

This next one is a bit expensive, but looks to be the correct type (but should be measured first):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HORN...5:g:lrQAAOSwtGlZC39O

Regards

Fred

Pete, Daniel, and Fred;

Thank you very much for the wealth of information that you provided on my little set.  Its great to see that we have an international gathering here with fantastic resources and information about tinplate trains. Most of all I appreciate the willingness of all participants to share their knowledge and experience

Fred,

I warned you that I knew very little about Hornby, but how embarrassing to get the tender backwards.     Here is another photo just to show I do learn something new all the time from this thread.

Thank you too for pointing me to a source for a key.  I will be ordering a set of those star keys. I fear however that I am on a slippery slope now.  This can only mean hunting for more clockwork engines.  Of course some of my American Flyer clockworks are missing their keys too.    I enjoy your postings and your videos.  Posting videos is on my list of things to learn.

Daniel,

Thank you for posting the catalog and the servicing diagrams.  I do enjoy posting documentation for the trains that I have in my collection and now I have an aid to finding more Hornby.    Your postings are always interesting and I find myself thinking ..."I'd like one of those too."

I am sure that it is obvious that I like collecting variations of my beloved American Flyer trains.

Did I mention that I have a variation for this Hornby set too?

I told you I was on a slippery slope.

Have a great rest of your Tinplate Weekend

Greg

Greg, be carefull, Hornby trains are very adictives .... As American Flyer could be for me....

You begin with a set and finish with a storage room where it is sometime difficult to find what you are searching for .....

And it is just a small part of the disaster ......

Daniel

I have that problem Daniel, only I have it with projects   Every shoebox is full of a loco and tender, or a set of passenger cars, all tinplate and most all in pieces waiting for me.... Sometimes I think I collect projects instead of trains.

Steamer posted:

handyandy posted:

Well, it finally happened. Diseasels have finally made it to my railroad.

Went to a train show today and picked up a dirty but not too rusty set of Marx 6000 "F" units with matching caboose. Motor is locked up, but it does growl and the light works when the power is on.

say it isn't so!

I'm really fighting the urge to 'bash the powered unit into a tinplate styled McKeen car. Since the litho is still pretty good and I have the dummy and caboose to match I will wait until I find a junkier loco to kitbash.

Frank

Here are a few pics of the white version of the switch tower.

Dean

Thank you very much for your time. If you know anyone selling one, could you let me know. 

Frank

Dennis Holler posted:

I have that problem Daniel, only I have it with projects   Every shoebox is full of a loco and tender, or a set of passenger cars, all tinplate and most all in pieces waiting for me.... Sometimes I think I collect projects instead of trains.

that's quite the problem Dennis...I've been doing some of the same...I've got more than enough trains that are ready to go, so I've been on the hunt for projects.

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Some tinplate palm trees should be a good fit for summer. Still have a few extras to sell.

Steve

I'm interested in some palm trees how much are they?

Nick from Dayton Ohio posted:

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Some tinplate palm trees should be a good fit for summer. Still have a few extras to sell.

Steve

I'm interested in some palm trees how much are they?

$15.00 for a pair, $25.00 for two pairs.

steve

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Nick from Dayton Ohio posted:

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Some tinplate palm trees should be a good fit for summer. Still have a few extras to sell.

Steve

I'm interested in some palm trees how much are they?

$15.00 for a pair, $25.00 for two pairs.

 

steve

Ok cool. How do we make this happen?

I just found some pictures of my Fathers 261 Lionel running around the Christmas tree in 1934,  one from 1968 and some recent photos on my layout. It still runs great and is in it's original condition. The cars have been restored.

I'm interested in some palm trees how much are they?

$15.00 for a pair, $25.00 for two pairs.

 

steve

Ok cool. How do we make this happen?

Nick, I don't see your e-mail info in your profile. Contact me at gigeastman@hotmail.com so we can continue this off the forum.

Steve

Frank Ranzino posted:

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Some tinplate palm trees should be a good fit for summer. Still have a few extras to sell.

Steve

Hey, I love the palm trees but I'm interested in the little battery operating train station on the side.  I had one when I was a little kid and I believe it was the power supply for an HO train.  Do you know where I could buy one of these and who makes it?  Frank  (frank.ranzino@gmail.com)

Frank, pulled mine off the layout to dust today. The is a sticker that says ROSKO Tested, but it has the TN trademark in litho on the building. TN is for Nomura Toys.

Steve

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Frank Ranzino posted:

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Some tinplate palm trees should be a good fit for summer. Still have a few extras to sell.

Steve

Hey, I love the palm trees but I'm interested in the little battery operating train station on the side.  I had one when I was a little kid and I believe it was the power supply for an HO train.  Do you know where I could buy one of these and who makes it?  Frank  (frank.ranzino@gmail.com)

Frank, pulled mine off the layout to dust today. The is a sticker that says ROSKO Tested, but it has the TN trademark in litho on the building. TN is for Nomura Toys.

Steve

 

Most of the TN came with the Plainville battery station and I have seen them included with Rosko and several other brands. The taller stations are harder to find than the Plainville stations. I think they will work with the Distler Santa Fe passenger sets too.

Tail End Tuesday. Daddy and Junior.

Steve

@gene maag posted:

I just found some pictures of my Fathers 261 Lionel running around the Christmas tree in 1934,  one from 1968 and some recent photos on my layout. It still runs great and is in it's original condition. The cars have been restored.

I love to see old pictures, but the two older ones you posted are quite small. Can you make them any bigger to see the details? It looks like you scanned the entire scanner bed. You should be able to just select the image with a bounding box and then set the resolution to 300dpi.

Edit: I just realized the thread is from 2017! Steve resurrected it, accidentally, maybe?

Oooops on my part. Sorry folks.

Steve

Greetings friends,

Decided to take some Hornby tinplate off the shelves and run a long freight trains.  Here are some

photos.  Lew

Lovely to see some English Hornby running in America.  The photos you shared don't show off the loco pulling them.  Is it a Hornby loco too?  I live in Australia and my 90yo Dad and I have over 1500 items of Hornby and love them all.   Dad runs Hornby tin plate track - have a look on Youtube - search for "NRBL Peterg" and you'll find some videos of the layout, the control panel, the bridges, the turntable and much more.    Dad has just released a series of videos on How to repair Hornby clockwork trains, a series on Eletric trains and one on how to Cast and Machine the Wheels.   Let me know if you would like the info.  Cheers Pete

@Dennis Holler posted:

I started a new project today.  Started stretching a Commodore Vanderbilt.  Started with the tender.  It still needs some finishing, but you get the idea.  It's about the length of a 2226W tender now.

Ha old thread resurrection time!   I remember this.  Dennis did you ever get these finished to your liking?  Last I remember seeing them the loco shell was stretched and you were working out mechanical details.

Nice to see the tinplate photos back on the main forum - I miss that, and usually don't find it in whatever the other category is.

Jim

Hi Jim @Jim Waterman  its lurking at the photos section https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...te-photos-and-videos

unfortunately this is a long dead thread that was resurrected... but we are still cluttering up the place in our "prison"

@PeteDownUnder  feel free to pop over and you will see out megathread on all things tinplatey and lubberlee !

I would also be interested in your dads videos , I subscribed to his channel , but the vids you mention were not for public viewing or somewhere else? ??

the listing I found was https://www.youtube.com/channe...o8VfYKjA2-ICw/videos

( loved the bridges vid ... very clever use of different technology ... yer dads a genius )

@Jim Waterman posted:

Nice to see the tinplate photos back on the main forum - I miss that, and usually don't find it in whatever the other category is.

Jim

I'm guessing it's only temporary, since this was a resurrection of a very old thread. 

Hi Fatman,  Yep Dad's amazing.  Did you look at the controller video?  All those blue tubes go out to the Hornby tinplate points (switches in the US) which have air driven cylinders underneath them to move the points, while the O ring seals help to provide the detent to hold them in position.

I don't know what the Forum rules are, but give me your email and I'll send you the invitation to the private content.  If you wish to proceed after reviewing the document, a small charge applies and then you can watch the various 120 minutes of content as often as you like AND you get email access to Dad to answer any and all of your questions re maintenance and repairs to all the tinplate Hornby, Bing, Fleishmann, Bassett Locke, Fleet, Lionel, American Flyer, Ives etc. model trains including clockwork, electric and live steam O gauge.  Dad has fixed trains as old as 1870!   He supplies parts and does repairs for people all over Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and twice now, enthusiasts in the US.   Cheers Pete