Messages

361

Layouts / Re: Terry's Standard Gauge Layout

« on: June 30, 2021, 12:23:48 AM »

I think the track lighting with small hoods and small 40 watt bulbs results in the lowest amount of glare.

I've been modifing Lionel switches so they make closer sidings.  I cut the switch machine part off and also cut the straight off at the frog. Then I put the switch machine onto the other side and painted everything.

I think you can never have enough lights on the layout so I made sure the lights work. The switches don't work, but that wouldn't have been much more work.

Here's some photos:

 

 

 

I need to cut track, but it's too late at night to fire up the chop saw in the garage.

I'll put a bunch of freight cars on the sidings.

362

Classifieds / Re: Parts requests

« on: June 29, 2021, 05:17:16 PM »

Parts I need:

Slide on headlights. I need 2 of them.

Teledyne unit for operating coupler in tender of 228 semi-scale switcher.

E-unit for semi-scale switcher - same part is used for 00 locos.

Frame for postwar Lionel GP 7 or 9. Black for use with 2338 Milwaukee. I need a very nice original for an orange cab loco I'm putting back together. I'll buy a whole geep to get a nice frame.

363

General Discussion / Re: ALL BRANDS

« on: June 29, 2021, 01:17:43 PM »

Jim mentioned that it needs to "work."  I take that to mean it goes together in his mind.

I watched Jim's video with the Bing station with the ornamental roof. I take from his comment's that he found the station and liked it, and then put it on the layout with things that "work" with it and did the video.

That sounds like fun.

When I first started buying trains I had a small O layout with a Lionel felt tunnel in one corner. About 4 foot square. It looked like pegboard from me bringing home accessories and mounting them on the layout.

I'm trying to recapture that feeling with the Marklin and S gauge.  I've never played with either of those, so they're new.

364

General Discussion / Re: Flood light tower

« on: June 29, 2021, 01:07:24 PM »

The 4 light towers were made in aluminum, green, red,  and yellow. The red and yellow were made in much lower quantities. The red doesn't bring as large a premium as the yellow because the red towers were also used for the common as dirt beacons. The yellow is unique to the 395 floodlight from only the early years of 1949/50. (My dates might be wrong, but are close.)

365

General Discussion / Re: put my 257 tender back to what it is suppose to be

« on: June 29, 2021, 01:01:32 PM »

that's the correct tender.

366

General Discussion / Re: Flood light tower

« on: June 28, 2021, 09:39:21 PM »

Marx made cool towers with two lights:

 

I sell these for 10-20 each.  They made a different early version with a box at the base that was originally for a D cell battery. They come in lots of colors.

I know there are some around here somewhere.  I might dig some out on Friday if you're interested. Jim might have some for sale too.

367

General Discussion / Re: put my 257 tender back to what it is suppose to be

« on: June 28, 2021, 09:36:35 PM »

That loco is a 259E, and should have a gunmetal 2689T or 1689T. 

368

General Discussion / Re: ALL BRANDS

« on: June 28, 2021, 09:29:41 PM »

I had some dealer layouts over the years, but don't have one now.

I have lots of buildings. I started keeping Marklin HO because I liked the buildings. They were originally made using the rubble from WW2. A whole craft industry arose in the late 1940s early '50s of people making buildings to sell to servicemen. Some can be very expensive - $3-500 each, but most are in the $5-40 range. I only have the cheap ones.

I also have US made buildings from the 30s, 40s and 50s from kits for the 00. Mostly printed cardboard sides or wood siding with many having full interiors. The ones I have were built by men for their train layouts when they were new. I built a few of them from vintage kits. 

I have Schoenhut along with the Lionel tin buildings on my O gauge layout, and the Lionel scenic plots that are on the standard layout. 

I spent years with clutter and and quantity, and now I want quality and openspace.

369

General Discussion / Re: ALL BRANDS

« on: June 28, 2021, 06:36:02 PM »

I collect Lionel trains introduced before 1925. Mostly at this point I'm looking for trains from before  1911.  I have a bunch of trains from the late 1920s thru WW2 that are left over from my earlier collecting efforts. Those are on the layouts, and I'm thinning them out so I only have the ones I want to play with.

My dad and I collected only Lionel prewar from the mid 1970s thru the early 1990s. In the early 1990s it became difficult to find Lionel trains we didn't have. The ones we needed were either rare or expensive.

At that time, we started collecting other American prewar trains --  mostly just keeping trains we got from the public, but we did buy IVES transition stuff and the better quality AF trains from other collectors or at shows.

We also tried to get an electric train in 3-rail O gauge from every country that made them. As far as I know we had every country but Argentina. 

I also did binge-and-purge collecting. I bought boxed prewar Marx sets for about 15 years, then sold them all in 2009/2010. I bought every David O King trolley I could find from about 1997 to 2012 and then sold them all.

I also put aside interesting items when I get them from the public so I can play with them later. I have AF S gauge, Marklin 00,  and Postwar Lionel that all came from the public. I'll start a Marklin layout soon on the area I'm currently using for a table.

I also have a large quantity of American 00 trains by makers like Lionel, Nason, ScaleCraft, Famoco and others. Trains made from 1935 to 1952.  I've been buying 00 (Pronounced "double O") since I was in high school. I'm going to do a 7 by 13 layout with handlaid track using all the techniques of the 1930 era.

I bought this house with the big basement so I can spend the next 10-15 years playing with the trains. I'm having fun.

370

General Discussion / Re: Flood light tower

« on: June 28, 2021, 06:05:47 PM »

$44 postpaid isn't a bad price if you want it now. If that's 44 plus postage, you can do better.

About $25-30 postpaid is the swwet spot on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_stpos=85210&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&_sadis=15&_from=R40&_nkw=lionel+395&_sacat=0&_sop=15

371

General Discussion / Re: Flood light tower

« on: June 28, 2021, 01:12:23 PM »

Postwar version is 395. That has 6 volt bulbs in it. A nice yellow postwar one is worth $60-75. Any other color or year is $15-30

372

Layouts / track lights

« on: June 28, 2021, 12:16:25 AM »

I've been putting the track lights in, but it's been difficult because The local Home Depots only have a few parts in each store. Some of them say they have parts online, but don't have them when I get there.

 I need 4 more feet of track and about 15 heads.  I also need to figure out the lights.

Here's some photos:

Without the track lights:

 

Same view with the track lights:

 

The 9 set with three 65 watt bulbs aimed at it:

 

A few shots with the camera flash and the track lights. See the glare on the ceiling?

 

 

 

Here's some shots with the camera flash off:

 

 
This picture shows 65 watt bulbs on the right and two 40 watt bulbs on the left. I can't see  a difference.

These are all LED bulbs so the watts are the equivalence listed on the box. The 65 watt bulbs are 50 cents each. The 40 watt bulbs are $4  each.  I'll try hooking a dimmer into the circuit and see what happens. The 40 watts are the dimmest ones I can find.

I'm sure some of the glare is the low ceiling - only 94 inches. Some might be the ceiling is painted high gloss white like the doors and trim.

373

General Discussion / Re: LiveAuctioneers

« on: June 26, 2021, 08:52:26 PM »

I buy a lot through liveauctioneers. The buyer's fees are different based on the house and the auction itself. Lately, they have been trending downward from the high 20s into the mid and low 20s.

Sometimes the auction house will want a credit card number to bid. I have never had one charge it. I almost always pay with check. Some auction houses will take payment through an online service - auctionhelper.com was a recent one I used.

If I have no prior relationship with the house, I always use a credit card. the credit card gives me the abilty to fight BS.

My mohave 156 came from an auction house in the midwest. They shipped it by UPS to a PO BOX and UPS left it somewhere. Tracking showed "left at front desk." I don't have a front desk.

I emailed a few times, then one phone call saying I'd do a chargeback unless I had the train in hand in 48 hours got action.  They had UPS to go to where the train was left based on the GPS tag on the confirmation. The UPS guy got the train and brought it to my house.

When the house bills for shipping after payment, I make the shipping payment with a credit card through paypal.

Also some don't do shipping, but deliver to local shippers. I've used this a few times and have always been amazed at the quality of the packing. I paid for it, but it's well worth it if the item is desirable. Just factor an extra $75-150 into your bid depending on the size.

The last time I used an outside shipper I sent them a note saying I wanted the Lionel car packed really well and NOT wrapped directly in plastic, and they could put everything else in a bag and use enough wadding to keep it from damaging the Lionel car.

Another time I told them the boxes were more valuable than the trains and they wrapped each box in tissue paper and then put them in the set box which was wrapped in tissue paper and bubble wrap, then the trains were nestled in peanuts above the setbox. They charged $25 labor and materials. They also charged UPS retail rates for the shipping.

Some houses give a discount for bidding directly through them, some also give a discount for paying by check or money order rather by credit card. You have to go to the auction house's website to see this. It won't be shown on the liveauctioneers website.

My preferred method is to bid by email sent to the auctioneer. That way the people bidding before the auction can't respond to my bid. If I can't do that, I bid though liveauctioneers late the night before the auction.
 
There is also a site called https://www.invaluable.com/

There is a big overlap between the two, but enough on only one platform to make it worth checking both.

374

General Discussion / Re: Recent Additions

« on: June 26, 2021, 01:18:23 PM »

There is just something about these little cars. One is not enough. Always room for one more - actually there was. The shelf holds 5 cars and only had 4.

Jim has a standard gauge gondola on ebay that I don't have. It has a different data stamp than the two of that color and roadname that I already have. It's neat, but at $160 my mind says I already have a dozen 112 gondolas. If I resist the urge to buy the mid priced variations I can afford good stuff every few months.

Like this:

 

375

General Discussion / Re: Recent Additions

« on: June 25, 2021, 10:30:47 PM »

I just got this 801 caboose today. My first caboose with clipped corners:

 

It turns out I have the same brown caboose without the corners clipped. Here's the two together.

 

 

They are the same, but the one I had doesn't have clipped corners.

These are version D in the Greenberg on page 322, but no brown caboose is listed without clipped corners.