Topics

1

Layouts / Terry's American OO layout 1934-40

« on: December 17, 2023, 02:51:46 PM »

I have started the 00 layout. Outside 3rd rail with trains made from 1934-40. My locos are by Lionel, Nason, and Scalecraft. I have cars by the three loco makers and by Famaco and Eastern.

The idea is to build a layout using 1930s techniques. Open framework with handlaid track on ballasted plywood is the start. The track plan is a twice around with the high and low points at the back. This means the forward edge has both loops at the same height so the town-site is flat.

Here's a track plan:

 

I decided to test the trains to make sure they'll go up the grade. The raise is 3" overall - so that's about 1.5" in 10 feet. Overall grade is about 1.25%.

Here's a video of a Nason 4-4-2 Atlantic loco and a Nason Interurban running around the layout. There is a section of temporary track in the back that the trains won't go through.

None of these locos ran after sitting for decades. The original 3rd rail layout was taken apart in the mid 1950s. So far they all run after disassembly, cleaning and lubing.

2

Collector Corner / Odd 1963 Boxed Lionel 3662 Milk Car set

« on: November 10, 2023, 09:47:33 PM »

I got this interesting milk car set the other day. Box is different and has prewar or early postwar label. The car and platform are brand new and unused. The parts envelope is sealed. The outer box is clean.

It's sad no one ever got to play with this fun car, but the condition makes it easier to understand.

Here's an unboxing of the set:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think this set was put togther by Madison Hardware in late 1963. The box was made in Brooklyn in September 1963. 

I think I have the cardboard peices and the parts in the box correctly. Nothing would be damaged with it packed this way, and the cardboard has marks from the staples and the car rubbing against it.

I'll add a reply with comparison photos to regular car set.

3

Collector Corner / 1932 Lionel Standard Set 370E

« on: September 07, 2023, 05:29:45 PM »

I bought this wonderful set earlier this week from the original owner's son. He lives in Tucson and called about old Lionel Standard Gauge trains. He said there was a steam loco and three cars plus some other cars including a floodlight car. When he told what he wanted, I asked him to send me some pictures with his cell phone. He wanted a lot, but he said the trains were gorgeous. If he was down the street from me, I would have went over without thinking, but he's a 200+ mile round trip.

When his granddaughter sent me the photos a few days later, I called to set up a meeting time.  I told him if both sides of the trains looked like the sides in the pictures and there was no casting damage I'd pay his price.

He came back with his price was just for the loco, and wanted a higher price for all the trains. When I balked, he said he had someone else interested in the trains. I told him he should see the other guy and then call me.

Another few days later and he was back. He said the other collector had offered him $300 more than my topline price, but he'd sell me the trains if I'd raise my offer by $200. I figured he was lying and I could talk him down a few hundred and get back to where I wanted to be so I made an appointment.

Call me stupid, but once I saw the set, I wasn't leaving without it.

 

A gorgeous set with a few original owner changes - The loco has a chugger unit added, the tender has an early banana whistle unit added, and the observation deck has been cut so a coupler could be added.  One original pilot wheel deteriorated, and has been replaced by a turned steel wheel. The boiler front has expanded and won't open without breaking.

I oiled the set and put it on the track. It runs great. Here's a video of it running alongside my other 392E pulling a bunch of 500 series freight cars:

This 1932 set comes with the new for '32 392E steamer, the 384T tender with green stripes, and passenger cars 310 baggage, 309 pullman, and 312 observation in two tone brown. These cars are called "Baby State Cars."

 

Car boxes are all dated 1931, loco box dated 1932, tender box not dated. Note tender box has X. This might refer to a different drawbar for the 392E loco rather than the 384?

4

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


 

 

 

5

Collector Corner / When Did Madison Hardware Start Buying Obsolete Trains?

« on: December 04, 2022, 06:07:15 PM »

I've been looking for information about when Madison hardware started buying the defective and obsolete trains from Lionel. We know Madison had lots of stuff they fixed up and sold during World War 2 - here's a link for photos of most of the Madison wartime  items.

I saw a brochure or mailer that Lionel sent out offering trains at big discounts on obsolete trains in February 1934 on eBay. Pete Charles let me post photos of it here.

 

 

 

 

Lionel was using the 4U sets as contest prizes into the late 1930s. This folder shows how the expected demand for the bild-a-locos didn't materialize. These were last cataloged in 1929.

The rest of the items are either IVES leftovers or obsolete Lionel items.

So this might say Madison wasn't buying obsolete trains from Lionel in 1934.   Was this because Lionel was in bankruptcy at the time and couldn't do special deals, or maybe because with the depression on, Madison didn't have the cash flow?

QUESTION --  was Lionel selling items in their showroom to the public as a regular thing? 

Are there any ads offering trains for sale to the public at the Lionel showroom in the teens and twenties?

6

How To and Technical Information / Cleaning American Flyer Rubber Roadbed

« on: July 10, 2022, 02:33:32 PM »

I have a lot of rubber roadbed, and decided For my American Flyer S gauge layout, I had set aside some dealer cartons of rubber roadbed, but I also had some nice flexible black roadbed that had brown paint on it.

Figuring that if I could use get the paint off the used roadbed, I could sell the dealer cartons, I tried cleaning them with oven cleaner. It worked very well.

Before I start - aluminum reacts to oven cleaner. Never use oven cleaner with anything made of aluminum.

Here's a video on removing paint from 1950s vintage American Flyer Rubber roadbed using oven cleaner and a brush.

I also did pictures of each step.

Here's the roadbed as I got it:

I found the Walmart oven cleaner worked much better than the dollar store grill cleaner. I had to respray and soak a few of the pieces I used dollar store spray on.

 

I put a trash bag into a plastic garbage can and then wearing a rubber glove I sprayed each peice with oven cleaner and put it into the bag.

Actually, after spraying two sections I stopped and set up a fan to blow away the fumes from the oven cleaner. Then I went back to spraying them and putting them into the bag:

 

 

I filled the bucket up, and then tied the bag shut. Tying the bag keeps the oven cleaner from evaporating too fast. It allows it to work longer.

After waiting overnight, I opened the bag and took out the sections. Each was scrubbed as needed with a brush. Here's some pictures of a section as I clean it:


From Bucket:
 

Uncleaned:
 

Half scrubbed:

The stiff green brush worked better than the softer yellow brush. I think the green brush came attached to a mop.

Final result:

 

After scrubbing each section I put it into a sink of water and rinsed it well. Then I put the roadbed into a plastic tub and poured off the water. I set the tub on the patio. It's 115 degrees outside today so it quickly dried.

Once they are dried, I looked at each section. Some had small specks that I picked off with a fingernail. A few sections didn't come clean so I repeated the process shown above on them.

This rubber roadbed will look great on my  American Flyer S gauge layout.

7

Collector Corner / American Flyer 652 Pullman with prototype knuckle coupler.

« on: June 19, 2022, 03:39:50 PM »

I got this car a few weeks ago along with a single green combine. The combine has regular link trucks. This car has an odd truck.

 

 

 

This is a sheet metal truck with a knuckle coupler attached in the same manner as a later diecast truck. This truck is not shown in the Greenberg book.

Maybe it's a prototype?

8

Layouts / Terry's American Flyer S Gauge Layout

« on: June 19, 2022, 03:24:14 PM »

Since I'm tired of having wood stacked up in my living room I decided to get all the layouts framed out so I can get rid of the unwanted wood.  In the east end of the basement I have an 18 foot by 10 foot area reserved for a 00 layout with a few circles of S gauge underneath. I'll start a thread for the 00 layout later.

The goal is to be able to run two trains around, and have other complete trains parked. The outside loop has the siding nearer the window, and will have passenger trains.

The inside loop has sidings toward the standard layout and also has a few sidings.

Here's some pictures:

 

 

 

The masking tape defines an area 6 foot 4 inches by 10 feet. The four posts are where the legs will be for the 00 layout.

I think the layout will be done with glued down grass rather than carpet. I'd have to buy carpet for about $70, and if I spilled on it while working on the 00 layout it would make a mess. With grass, I can just glue more grass down over damaged areas!

9

Layouts / Terry's 1950s Marklin Layout

« on: March 06, 2022, 04:05:18 PM »

I like the German HO wood buildings made in the early 1950s, so I started keeping them. Along the way, I also acquired a few Marklin trains to run around the buildings. I put up a 3' 10" by 10' 6" table in on corner a year ago. Now that the Standard Gauge layout is wired and running, I've been playing with the Marklin.

Here's the first running last weekend:

Here's the layout after a week of toying with it and unpacking boxes:

I never played with Marklin before so it's engrossing. I find myself looking over at the clock and thinking "I should have been in bed hours ago."

The trains run great. Or they are visibly broken.

The track sucks. It's hard to connect it together, and comes apart easily if it's moved at all. In the second video the track is all tacked down with hot melt glue. The glue peels off so I can move the track.

Here's another train. . .

I couldn't get this fantastic Marklin DL800 to run when I tested it earlier this week. The center collectors snag on the teeth of the center rail. The ST800 streamliner set has the same problem. I realized a few hours ago that I might be able to run the train the other direction. It works, but only runs one way.

Here is the DL800 pulling the same string of cars as the Crocodile:

The noise is the collector sliding on the center rail  teeth. The streamliner has the pickups in different directions so it always snags. I might be able to reverse the pickup so it runs.

10

General Discussion / MOVED: 6044-1x nestles boxcar

« on: February 20, 2022, 12:20:09 PM »

This topic has been moved to Collector Corner.

https://www.train99.com/forum/index.php?topic=268.0

11

How To and Technical Information / Cleaning Lionel Prewar Tinplate Trains

« on: February 15, 2022, 11:54:15 PM »

Here's a video that shows the two cars below being cleaned.

Before cleaning:

 

 

 

After cleaning:

 

 

 

Here's the video:

Tips For Cleaning Trains.

• Clean cheap trains until you've gotten some experience.
• Never let the trains sit in water.
• Never clean trains with flaking paint.
• Never wash white, aluminum, or silver trains in water. The paint just comes off.
• Always test a small area of the inside or underside of the car before cleaning the whole car.
• You don't need to take the trim off to clean the car. The soft bristles of the brush will clean around the trim, and any dirt that is left, would be there anyway.
• Never put soap or cleaner on a dry car this will cause etching. Dip the car in water, then apply the cleaner.
• Rinse often.
• Soft bristle toothbrushes – dollar store has them cheap. Don't use medium bristles. You want the cleaner to do the work, not the brush.
• It's better to scrub gently twice than to wipe off the paint by scrubbing hard.
  
  
• Wax – Howard Feed-N-Wax www.Howardproducts.com They have it in the paint department at Ace Hardware and some Lowe's and Home Depot locations. 

And a photo of the dog just because:

 

12

General Discussion / Market report - shows, sales, and people.

« on: February 15, 2022, 03:01:33 PM »

Here's a thread for show reports and comments on the toy train marketplace.

Here in AZ we are having shows, but the buyers aren't back. Before the pandemic, there would be lines of 50-200 people waiting to get into the show at the opening time. Now there are no lines and the shows are letting people in early to hide the fact.

Sales are terrible. I have 5 tables at this weekend's show and at a show in March, and then I'm done. I will never do 5-10 tables of trains again.

I had 3 tables in Sun City last weekend and sold $89 worth of trains. The tables cost $60, so with the gas and time I lost money. I bought a Hubley cast iron auto for the layout and visited with some people on the west side after the show so the day was OK. But I am thinking I could have went over in the car and saved the effort of taking trains to sell. Just split a table with a friend so I can get in early.

My friend and I host First Saturday parking lot shows. These run from 7-9.30 AM. A grocery store lets us use their lot as long as we're gone by 10 am. There's a restaurant there too. We get 10-15 sellers and about 30-40 tables worth of trains a month. The people who show up to these shows are buyers. There is no charge for buyers or sellers. We are getting people who never sold at a show bringing trains down. These are fun because I put no effort into them, and I'm home by 10.15 in the morning.

I think we're caught in a downward spiral. The buyers don't show up so sellers decide not to do the work of hauling in lots of trains. Then the buyers see the empty tables and think twice about coming out next time.

Most of the AZ shows used to have lots of items that were donated to the clubs for sale. During the pandemic the shows started selling on eBay. Now it's just the junk at the shows. That also hurts. Everyone used to stack up near the club tables in a feeding frenzy. Now there is no reason to even look.

One last point. I'm seeing a lot of HO brass. The market is gone for it. I sold my brass when I bought the house. It's down a lot from what I got 3 years ago. Same thing for the Fine Scale Miniatures kits. I'm seeing tables covered with this stuff. I think the sellers are hoping some unaware modeller will come out and grab them at last decade's prices. This is also hurting because it's the same trains on offer at every show.

13

Collector Corner / 1953 Lionel 027 Outfit 1501S with 2026 Smoking Steam Loco

« on: February 11, 2022, 03:07:13 PM »

Here's a cheap smoking Lionel set from 1953.  Original cost was $24.95 making this the cheapest 1953 set with smoke. 

Smoking 2026 with 2-6-4 wheel arrangement. 6066T tender without whistle.  The cars are former Scout cars with the better Lionel knuckle couplers installed on the Scout trucks. A 6032 Gondola, 6035 Sunoco Tank car, and a 6037 SP style caboose round out the set.

 

 

 

 

 

14

Collector Corner / 1947 Lionel 1435WS 2025 Freight Set with Smoke and Whistle

« on: January 27, 2022, 11:51:09 PM »

1947 Postwar 1435WS freight set with smoke and whistle fresh from the original owner.

This is the first version of the set.   The 2025 loco has an aluminum stack and the 2025 number on the boiler front.  The box and insert for the loco are missing. The metal 2472 caboose is an early set component. According to the Greenberg sets book, later sets came with plastic cabooses.

The tender is a 2466WX with the extra railings.  Oddly, this tender has flying shoe trucks, and is in a box with the American Toys logo. None of the other boxes have the logo. I'd say this was swapped out at some point, but it came from the original owner, and he only had the one set.

The cars are gorgeous.  The 2452X gondola is missing the box insert.  The 2454 box car is the common Baby Ruth car.  All these cars have box inserts rather than coupler protection flaps. Within a few months of this set, the inserts starting being dropped.

This is a neat original train that has never been cleaned.  A great example of an early smoking O27 set. It even ran, and the wiring on the tender is still pliable.

Here's some photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15

Collector Corner / American Flyer tin Litho Burlington Zephyr With Mechanical Whistle 1936

« on: January 15, 2022, 07:01:10 PM »

I got this neat set months ago, and just now got around to it. The tin litho Zephyrs came in a few different versions - wind up or electric, and with or without a mechanical whistle. This has a mechanical whistle that tweets as the train runs. (The whistle is explainedin the video below.)

This set has the power car with a rear truck, and only one truck on the observation. Earlier sets have only a motor on the power car, and two trucks on the observation.

The boxes shown in the back are sleeves for the cars. Numbers are 555 for the observation and 584 for the coaches. The setbox label is not readable, but the number ends in a 3 or an 8.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a video of the train running with the mechanical whistle explained:

The clunk just before the loco comes into view at the far end of the layout is the gears hitting the Lionel 072 switch frog. This has wheel gears like Marx, and does not like Lionel switches. At slow speeds it will get through the switches with a bit of noise. At higher speeds it derails.