Messages

46

General Discussion / Re: Recent Additions

« on: April 07, 2023, 12:35:51 PM »

Running it up on me!

Thanks for saving your money for York.  I'll say a wish that you find something good.

The comments on the video seem to be that the 2332 GG1s are worth more than $75 each. The last one I had went for $100.  I sold a red brushplate  loco for $150 on ebay about a year ago.  I can't see why anyone would want a beat up single motor for $100, when they can get a K-line loco with TMCC and two motors new in the box for a few dollars more.

I do have a 2332 with 3 madison cars downstairs, but my grandfather bought the set for my dad in 1949.

47

General Discussion / Re: Recent Additions

« on: April 05, 2023, 10:53:12 PM »

I saw this lot of Lionel trains on Liveauctions a few weeks ago:

 

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/148026245_lionel-o-gauge-model-train-assortment

Thinking there was something good there, I got more photos from the auction house. After looking at the additional photos, I decided I wanted the neat little loco.  I took into account the 20% buyer's premium and the $180-240 shipping estimate the auction house gave me, and with a consideration of how much I could get for the unwanted junk in the lot I bid.

My goal was to get the little green loco for less than $1500. (I paid $1650 decades ago for the pea green 38, and have NEVER regretted spending the money.)

I got this big box in the mail:

 

 

My freind has been telling me I should do some train videos with me talking because you can make money doing youtube videos. So I had him come obver and I unboxed the lot with the camera rolling.

Here's the video:

Here's the Pea Green 152:

 

152j1 Pea green, stamped brass handrails and brass tone strap headlight, type 5 motor with brush tubes, black fiber with corp plate. Holes for 153 reverse.

The dark green 152 with brass trim turned out to be an overlooked variation. I wouldn't have bought thisw because of the condition, but since it came with the other one I'll keep it.


 

152g2 Dark green, stamped brass handrails and brass toine headlight, and  type 5 motor with brush tubes, black fiber with corp plate. Holes for 153 reverse.

Mike found the odd green 153 a few month ago and we were curious about the color shades.  This pea green 152 engine is a little different shade than the 38, but is almost an exact match for the 821 stock car. That's a very late 821 with slots in the trucks and unpainted door handles.

Here's some color comparison shots of the 152 and other items.

 

 

 

I think I did good.

48

Collector Corner / Re: TIN PLATE TOWER

« on: March 28, 2023, 01:18:37 PM »

Looks like a German semaphore missing the arms. You can see the levers at the base and the hole near the top for the semaphore blades. Wires would connect the blades to the levers.

My impression is it's too heavy to be Kibri so either Marklin or Bing. Probably made between 1915 and 35.

Here's an ebay listing with simnilar signals.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/225474377956

49

General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items

« on: March 23, 2023, 05:02:55 PM »

I saw this 154 set and almost jumped on it. If it was a buy it now listing, I'd be waiting for the disapointment.

 

 

My first impression was it's a 152 with the number 154 on the side. Looking more closely and lining up some items from my shelves to compare, it's a 154 cab on a 152 frame.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/234942399273

50

General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items

« on: March 20, 2023, 06:55:30 PM »

Here's something cool:

 

 

A rusty 38. That has great patina. If that was a VW bug from the 1960s someone would buy it and buff it out.

You can still grab it for about a hundred + tax delivered.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/195659707709

51

General Discussion / Re: Armature vs. Commutator

« on: March 18, 2023, 07:42:46 PM »

Cue ELO song here...

The brushes are not a part of the armature.

The armature is the complete assembly that turns. This is made up of the wound segments (the poles), the commutator, and the armature shaft with a gear on one end. 

The commutator is the part with segments that the brushes rub against. The number of segments is equal to the number of poles on the armature. These are ODD numbers above 2. A commutator can be flat(disk) or a drum.

Each commutator segment connects to a pole in front and a pole behind. Two segments complete a winding to energize a pole. This magnetic force causes the armature to turn.

The three parts of an electric motor are field or magnet, armature, and brushes.

52

Collector Corner / Re: Lionel 1951 Santa Fe Freight Set 2175W

« on: March 10, 2023, 06:05:05 PM »

This is a crisp like new set with the boxes and all items except the wires for the track bundles, the battery and the envelope that held the lockon and wires. The grease would have been inside the powered A unit box. A battery is needed to run the horn.  I think the battewry was also inside the A unit box.

Here's pictures of the poster:

 

 

This set was used for Christmas in 1951 and 1952, and then packed away. Over the years people opened the box and examined the cars to see what was in the box. The locos were in the bottom of the carton so they weren't touched. The son lived in the house the parents had bought in the 1940s until a few months ago. The trains were found in a closet when the house was cleaned out.

I used to find gorgeous trains like this frequently. Now, not so often.

53

Collector Corner / Lionel 1951 Santa Fe Freight Set 2175W

« on: March 03, 2023, 04:06:42 PM »

This is the top of the line set from 1951.  Set conatins a 2343 Santa Fe F3 AA pair and five cars.  This set was $70 new in 1951. The same set with a 6555 metal single dome tank car was offered in 1950 for $57.50, but the Korean war had put a premium on metal and caused rapid inflation.

Hewre's pictures of the set:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boxes for the AA set. The locos were wrapped in oilpaper, then placed into diecut inserts which are then slid into the outer box. The paperboard outer box for the dummy A unit is almost always missing some tabs. This set has all tabls.

 

 

Paperwork includes instruction sheets, a billboard sheet, insrtuction manual and a poster


 

 

 

54

General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items

« on: February 25, 2023, 05:26:42 PM »

Stout just uploaded an April 2023 auction of Very Early Toy Trains - Howard, Voltamp, Marklin, Knapp and more.

The Lionel is crap, but the other trains are fantastic. If I had deep pockets I'd be after a bunch of those trains.  Well worth a few minutes.

https://www.invaluable.com/catalog/4esjqy5hzs?page=1&size=48


Here's something I like:

 

 

Knapp electric auto. It looks like it would connect to a pair of wires on one side and then run in circles around the battery

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/early-and-larger-knapp-electric-automobile-808-c-51b476683d?objectID=177831616&algIndex=upcoming_lots_lotNumber_asc_prod&queryID=ec5bc19c6438c8549208f5d314942bb9

Here's an IVES Brute - check out the three motors:

 

 

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/gorgeous-and-incredible-ives-articulated-locomoti-807-c-15949a1a3d?objectID=177831626&algIndex=upcoming_lots_lotNumber_asc_prod&queryID=e0a3590a976c4ef1eb7e6c06578150a8

55

General Discussion / Re: Recent Additions

« on: February 25, 2023, 05:19:34 PM »

I don't have a single Olive green gondola in O or STD. I saw a 116 dump car on eBay years ago.

You have a rare car there Mike. Nice find.

56

General Discussion / Re: Different Lionel 603 prewar passenger cars

« on: February 11, 2023, 06:45:21 PM »

Jim will be able to tell just by shaking the box and giving it a good sniff.

57

General Discussion / Re: Different Lionel 603 prewar passenger cars

« on: February 11, 2023, 12:41:56 PM »

I'd have to hold it in my hand, but my first impression is they are repainted. The white inserts came with the Red Comet cars, but the red here looks more like the dark red from the early 603 red/blakc cars or maybe the vermillion roofs on the 600/601/602 red/vermillion cars. The fact that there's no wear or scratches on the underside of teh car where the loose truck goes is another tip off of a repaint.

There are two sets of weird red cars I know of in 607/608 with lights. One is darker red with brass trim, the other is light red with nickel trim. But I haven't heard of them being made in the unlighted 603/604 cars.

Post more pictures.

58

General Discussion / Re: Prewar 248 box cab.

« on: February 05, 2023, 04:04:41 PM »

You're on the normal progression. You start out with the diecast and plastic realistic looking trains, but then an older metal one catches your eye.

You think to yourself, "Just one as a small distraction" and buy the first one.

Next year you'll be looking at your diecast trains and thinking to yourself, If I just sell that hudson I could get a 256 set with the money.

Welcome to the hobby.

59

General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items

« on: February 03, 2023, 08:42:12 PM »

Stout has Clem Clement's trains up for auction later this month. Clem was into weird homemade and short run trains - mostly standard gauge, but there's  some interesting trains in other gauges.
He also has some nice Transition stuff. It's worth spending some time looking.

Here's a few lots with interesting stuff that Stout isn't calling out:

517 caboose with 4 LL plates and number on bottom:

 

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/lionel-prewar-standard-gauge-512-gondola-520-sear-74d435690d

Note that the 520 floodlight car in the 517 caboose lot may be a terra cotta base overpainted in a slightly darker shade of 45n green. There's a boxed 212 in the darker shade of green in another listing.


Odd sheet brass representation of the big hopper I have. Clem saw mine at the TCA convention in 2009.

 

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/three-custom-plated-standard-gauge-freight-cars-1066-c-9434146b97?objectID=177396295&algIndex=upcoming_lots_lotNumber_asc_prod&queryID=72b37aa49b7a29040074d16ec86a0f2c

Late bright red 217 caboose with brass plates. One of the rarest 200 series freight cars. There's also a 217 in red/peacock with a peacock capula in another listing.

 

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/lionel-prewar-standard-gauge-216-hopper-220-searc-3eb41b3930

Here's the whole listing:

https://www.invaluable.com/catalog/8qjvzqh3u0?page=1&size=192

I find it interesting to look at the handmade bastards and try to figure out what they started life as. In Antique Furniture a "Bastard" is a peice that was made from the remains of other peices. I see one of the steam locos started as a C&F powered unit, and many of the interurbans were Lionel Passenger cars.
 

60

General Discussion / Re: Recent Additions

« on: January 26, 2023, 03:05:19 PM »

I haven't bought many new items for the collection lately. I grabbed the 38 loco in the front because it was cheap and has a interesting nickel plate on the end door.

 

The lower loco in the photo above is the new one. (The upper one has reversed lettering, and since I don't have that loco with regular lettering this is a variation on that point too!)

Here's a photo of the ends showing the two types of plates:

 

I have a round cab 53 loco with the same nickel plate, and I've seen one other black 38 loco with the nickel plate in the almost 10 years I've been looking for the nickel plates. The round cab 53 was made in 1920 and 21, and has all the same features as these two black 38 locos.

Looking at my list of 38 locos, these are the last black 38 locos. They also made gray locos in this trim/feature variation. If this plate is good for dating, it means all the colors of the 38 except dark olive, black, and gray were made after 1920/21.