Messages

391

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.

392

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

393

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.

394

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.

395

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.

396

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.

397

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.

398

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

« on: June 07, 2021, 11:34:46 PM »

Mr Dog sent me his old Gopro camera to play with. THANKS!

Here's my 3rd attempt. The first one was 3 seconds of my forehead. The second was about a minute of me trying to get the dog to do somethiong, but she wants nothing to do with the camera.

I put the camera on the roof of a 517 caboose looking backwards.

399

General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items

« on: June 04, 2021, 03:37:32 PM »

Here's somethiong for Mike. It's in Michigan!

Upside down 600 pullman in brown!

 

Looks like the frame and motor from the 150 is under the Marx Commodore Vandy body on the  right.

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/103926094_lot-of-9-2-engines-and-7-misc-cars

If you're bidding. everything other than the lionel 600 cars and the motor is worth about $60. Add another $35 if the  diecast 3/16" O tender has sound in it.

400

General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items

« on: June 03, 2021, 11:36:56 PM »

Here's something interesting:

 

1935 Lionel 35th anniversary paperweight paper clip holder.  Usually these are missing the planes.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254999185601

401

How To and Technical Information / Fixing bent diecast steam loco cab roofs

« on: June 03, 2021, 05:38:28 PM »

I bought this really clean 226E earlier this week from the original owner's son.

 

I have a 226E on the layout that my grandfather bought for my dad for his first Christmas in 1939, which I'm going to put on  a shelf by my dad's other trains.

I'm going to put this on the layout - it is gorgoeus, but one cab roof corner is broken.

 

 

 

Usually to repair these, I put the corner on the corner of a sturdy table and push down with my palm until it's bent back close enough.

I was wondering what other people do for these?

402

General Discussion / Re: Lionel streamline 1700E painted like a Flying Yankee

« on: May 31, 2021, 12:42:18 PM »

I bet your souffles never rise right.

Some of us were talking recently about drying paint. One guy has a big toaster oven he bought at Goodwill for $2. He makes custom trucks out of Tonkas. He sets the oven at 200 degrees and puts the freshly painted item in it. He leaves it in for an hour with the oven on, then turns the oven off.

I just use my kitchen oven and after putting the freshly painted train in, I turn off the oven and ignore it for at least 24 hours.

403

Collector Corner / Re: Some Interesting Lionel Items

« on: May 30, 2021, 02:22:11 PM »

The green car has been around here for years. Some of the cars seem out of series, but there are too many to be explained away by collectors making changes.

Most of the trains I buy are original owners or their children who moved to AZ.  I ask questions when I buy trains. Some observations:

The pattern is the train owner moved out of his parent's house and left the train. When he was in his fifties, his parents  moved out of their house and sent him the trains. Going even further, if the trains are boxed and certainly if there is a setbox the originial owner was an only child. Usually a setbox means a grandmother lived with the familiy when the man was a child.

These trains were from a NJ operator who passed and ended up with the son in AZ.  He went to a local coffee meet - no sales just a bunch of train guys hanging out and drinking coffee - and the club people told him to contact my freind and I  through our AZ train show website. The old man was playing with the trains and repainting them in odd colors. Ruins them for collectors, but he had fun. I bought some items he hadn't painted on yet.

404

Collector Corner / Re: Some Interesting Lionel Items

« on: May 29, 2021, 11:18:50 PM »

I bought four Lionel 100 series cars today when I went and looked at trains. The guy had a bunch of overpriced repainted standard gauge which I didn't buy. I did get four cars for $60, and I also got a variation of the 83 signal with a mohave base and some loco wheels and parts for another $40.

I bought a 116 dump and three 112 gondolas.  Two gondolas and a dump were different and I didn't have the signal. I have six with maroon bases but none with mohave!

One of the cars was a gray gondola with black lettering. I looked at all my 100 series cars. Most of them have no stamps on the bottoms, but when they do it matches the ink on the side. I did find a dark green 116 hopper, a light gray 116, and a dark gray 112 gondola with black lettering.

 

 

I think the green hopper is late teens, but the two gray cars are mid-20s cars based on the trucks having dimples.

I also found two orange 32 baggage cars - one with the understamp in black, one in gold.  I have two sets of orange cars all cars have gold lettering on the bodies. The 35 pullmans have no stamps on the bottom, 5 cars - 1X baggage, 2X combine and 2X observation have black stamps. Only the one baggage has a gold stamp. and is an odd car in another way.

 

The 32 bagagge with gold lettering on the bottom has extra doors on the vestibules. This is a commonly found factory error, that I think only comes on the orange cars.  The regular black bottom stamped car has no doors on the ends.

 

I also looked at my other 0 cars. I have no O gauge cars with black understamps. I have early body 610 cars in mohave with oil labels, and a matching observation with a gold stamp on the bottom.

405

General Discussion / Re: The ebay rant.

« on: May 29, 2021, 07:31:27 AM »

Jim, That sucks.

There is a point where you describe the loco as being so poor so you don't have to take it back that you end up getting no money for it.

The problems with the MTH locos were so bad I now buy them with the intention of selling them as "Untested - for repair."  I'm basically giving them away, but I buy them to sell for nothing.

With that said, there is no other option. I get good prices on a lot of my eBay sales. Rather than obsessing on the few bad apples, I try to remember that most of my buyers just want trains to play with.

I don't even get upset about the poor feedback anymore. I have ebay remove some of it, but I think having a few negatives warns off some of the game players.

Jim - you should talk to an eBay rep in the morning about this. MORNING calls are taken by US based representatives and they are more agreeable than the off shore reps. I've had eBay give me the money in these situations and remove the feedback. It's worth the 15 minutes on the phone.

The last time I got money like this it was a buyer who bought an HO train to run on Lionel O gauge track and then complained it wouldn't run on her track. She wanted to send it back at my cost. Ebay forced me to take it back, and when  I talked to a rep in Texas because I wanted the round trip shipping, the rep gave me the entire transaction amount and credited me the return shipping. I got to sell the train again.

Ebay moved the "have a rep call you" link into the bottom of the automated agent bar.