Messages

391

Layouts / Re: Terry's Standard Gauge Layout

« on: June 16, 2021, 12:53:02 PM »

I have derailments frequently. Most are from clutter on the track. Otherwise the switches are the biggest cause.  I'm checking everything to make the layout as trouble free as possible.

One thing I've learned is to put the loco on the track by the transformer. I don't know how many miles I walked because I put the train on by the 101 bridges and then walked around the layout to the transformers.

392

General Discussion / Re: Favorite Train

« on: June 15, 2021, 09:32:30 AM »

Ok. There's so much interesting stuff posted here I forget some.

393

General Discussion / Re: Favorite Train

« on: June 14, 2021, 09:39:34 PM »

Show us the Butler Brothers outfit Mike.

394

Layouts / Re: Terry's Standard Gauge Layout

« on: June 14, 2021, 05:01:08 PM »

All one room. The loop the camera is on is 18 by 27.5 feet. It's the outside loop of the mains. The loops with the 381 and 1835 sets are about 12 by 12 feet.

I really like the way your track (Jim) winds around and among the accessories, but I want to run long trains with little supervision. With the 00 and Marklin I'll try to do less of an oval layout.

395

General Discussion / Favorite Train

« on: June 13, 2021, 02:13:51 AM »

Here's an article I wrote for the local club.

My Favorite Train

People come over and ask me “What's your favorite train?

 

I could point at this 1909 Lionel steam loco and claim it was may favorite, but that would leave out these little locos from the late teens and early 1920s:

 

There are a lot of them so they must be special to me. I bought the first one in 1972 from the neighbor. I was nine-years-old. I spent the decades since searching out the different variations, but now they just sit there.

 

And what about these 33 locos? They fascinate me. I have over two dozen of them, and I keep finding new variations. When guests ask about these locos I can see their eyes glass over as I start pointing the differences. Come to think of it, these are usually the last trains I show people when they come over. As a group, they are neat, but individually they are boring.

 

This fancy black loco with it's walnut display board must be special because it has a place of honor over the door. Nope. That's more of a train my dad liked so I keep it.

 

Based on the way these cars are jammed into the shelves, they probably aren't special.

 

This big American Flyer loco is neat. It has bell in it and goes ka-DING. . . ka-DING. . . ka-DING as it goes around the layout. Of all the American Flyer trains I have this is certainly my favorite. But I doubt it's the most favorite. The dog really likes this one because it's loud, but she can write her own article.

Here's another loco on the layout:

 

This 392E is special. It's the first standard gauge steam loco I bought. It came from John Hammons in the mid 1980s. It has a mechanical sound system Lionel called a “Chugger” and I added an American Flyer smoke unit. It has had a place on every standard gauge layout I've ever had. While it's certainly A favorite, it's not THE favorite.

When I'm honest with myself, my favorite train is “The Next One.” It's the search for something interesting that drives me.

What's your favorite train?

396

General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items

« on: June 13, 2021, 01:05:43 AM »

Regarding copyrights  -- We can do whatever we want on the forum under fair use exceptions, and furthermore I am pretty sure everything from before 1926 has no copyright protection because it's aged out. It's in the public domain.

397

General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items

« on: June 12, 2021, 09:45:24 PM »

Here's another toy train picture from the same seller and stash:

 

Looks like a floor toy. Maybe it has a guide rail arrangement? Or maybe it's on a stick so it's straight for display?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114845286178

398

General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items

« on: June 12, 2021, 09:40:28 PM »

Here's two blow ups of the interesting areas:

First the bridges and the 42 loco. 

 

The 42 loco has black painted center hubs and block New York Central lettering. The lettering is very early, and was only done for a short time. The black hubs might mean the loco was "dressed up" for the display.

The smaller bridge does not look to be the same as Jim's.

Check out the combine on the bridge. . . that 7 train set has the combine between the Pullman and the observation. That means they probably hired one of the ancestors of a Liveauctioneer's worker. Seriously it may give a clue to the man setting up the display. If this man grew up in New York City, he might not be familiar with passenger trains. At that time the regional trains were coming into the city underground. Just judging by the man's hairline he is in his early to mid 20s. He might have never seen a passenger set.

That bother's me. I'm thinking these are is is a photo of a Lionel trade display. Maybe at the toy fair?

Here's the back table:

 

You can supersize that by clicking on the hash and square in the right corner of the image.

The second table appears to be the smaller Lionel sets. I played with the brightness and contrast and can see a 33 with a 35 Pullman right behind the man's left elbow. The forward loop looks to have a 36 or 182 observation. - short platform so I bet 36.  Behind that is probably the 182.

I bet those boxes in the back are full of trolleys!

One of us is going to have to buy this negative and have large prints made we can see better.

399

General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items

« on: June 12, 2021, 05:09:55 PM »

That's a neat bridge Jim. You always have something interesting. That doesn't look anything like the illustrations in the Lionel catalogs, but the only illustration of the 103 bridge is actually a picture of the longer 105. The bridges in the photos from the brown archive look like the 105s.

The fact that your bridge is built to use Lionel track at a time when only Lionel was making standard track is important.   (I don't know the length of a section of IVES 1 gauge track. Is that the same or different?)

Speaking of bridges - I put the later standard bridges - 101? -  just the center sections - sunk into the layout at the river. Everything except the 400E goes through them. The 400E steamchest brushes a green pillar, and then deflects into the other side and gets wedged. I added 1/4" stripes of wood between the sides and the base to get it to clear.

400

General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items

« on: June 10, 2021, 08:52:08 PM »

Here's something interesting - old photo negatives from an archive.

First shows a european large gauge live steam loco with tender and a pullman:

 

The second looks like a Lionel display from the early teens. The round cab 42 with black lettering and the two large posters with the 1913 Lionel catalog artwork provide a good clue about the date.

 

Here's a link to the auction:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114845573165

401

Collector Corner / Lionel Outfit 1296 Macy's Special 1932

« on: June 10, 2021, 04:34:16 PM »

Here's a set I've never heard of before that includes a loco that I've never seen before. There is a picture of a similar loco in the latest Greenberg O gauge book.

 

Outfit 1296 Special with a Macy's Sticker on it. Cars and loco are not marked for Macy's. This is a GORGEOUS set. It doesn't appear to have been run much.

 

 

 

Here's the box and the paperwork. The locobox is a 252 box that was printed for a different colored loco and was overstickered. Note that there is a second square of tape over a red letter on the top edge label end. Maybe this was a 252E box?

 

 

 


Here's the paperwork. Generic transformer instructions, a blue layout sheet, and the instruction booklet.

 

 

 

 

I think this set is from 1932. Lionel started using this busy set box label in 1929, the bottom  half of the box is labeled 294B which was a 252 in olive with matching 529/529/530 cars made in 1929 and '30. The instructions book and paperwork are not dated, but the instruction book back cover offers The Lionel Magazine with a 400E on the cover.  The 400E was new in 1931. The loco and car boxes  all show a type B transformer which was new in 1932. In 1933 Lionel started using the Ex-IVES trucks with two triangles on the side in place of these trucks with the single large rectangle.


Here's another photo of the set:

 

I still have the regular cataloged versions of this set and will post pictures in the near future of them for comparison.

402

Collector Corner / Re: 1927 American Flyer President's Special Set Blue Litho

« on: June 09, 2021, 10:18:39 AM »

These cars won't go through the MTH switches on the layout. The flex trucks hang up.  On the shelf with the brown set it looked neat. On the layout by the Lionel Blue Comet, not so much. It is now in the meet pile.

I put the red Hamiltonian cars on with a red bipolar, but the cars derail on the curves. A four car Pocohantas is running on that loop now. It has the mechanical bell like the steamer. The dog and I both like the bell.

403

Collector Corner / Re: 1927 American Flyer President's Special Set Blue Litho

« on: June 08, 2021, 02:26:51 PM »

It came from a collector about 25 years ago. Nick Grippe. Nick joined the TCA in 1964. He had only really clean trains. He didn't have a collection with variations, more of an accumulation of neat trains that caught his eye when he had money in his pocket. He did sales for the Union Pacific. All the AZ train meets in the 1970s had door prizes and give-a-ways from the UP courtesy of Nick.

404

General Discussion / Re: Did you run your trains today?

« on: June 08, 2021, 02:13:05 PM »

I have a circuit in the ceiling for fans I plan on putting track lighting on. I don't realize how dark it is because I set the spots on the tripods aimed at where I'm working.

We're coming up on a stretch of 110-118 degree days that are perfect for working in the basement.

I did manage to clip the start of the video off so I'm learning.

405

Collector Corner / 1927 American Flyer President's Special Set Blue Litho

« on: June 08, 2021, 02:21:39 AM »

Here's an interesting boxed set.  American Flyer's top of the line passenger set from 1927: Set 1466 - The President's Special.

 

 

 

The set is a 4687 12-wheeled Loco and three cars. I have all the boxes and set components except the loco box. The loco was in a Lionel 402 or 408E box.

Some interesting peripherals that are rarely seen are the red shelf card - this is two pieces of cardboard so you can stick it on the track or stand it on a shelf by the set when it's for sale in a store.

And more commonly seen but still neat are the reverse unit instructions on the yellow card, and the motor oiling instructions on the red card.

 

 

 

These two cards were tied to the locomotive when it was shipped from the factory.

The cars came wrapped in waxed paper in flimsy cardboard boxes with the number and description stamped on the end. The blue cars have six-wheel flex trucks. The earlier buff or tan cars had four-wheel flex trucks.

The three cars are 4090 Baggage, 4091 West Point Passenger and 4092 Annapolis observation.

 

 

 

The whole group came in a large carton with some track:

 

Here's a few more photos:

 

 

We collectors tend to compare this set with Lionel's blue comet, but the blue comet was 3 years in the future. The top of the line Lionel set in 1927 was the 408E with four 418 series passenger cars.