Buy/Make Anything Cool Lately (Tinplate Version)

I think this is pretty cool, I just finished redoing an old Flyer Wide gauge caboose today. This time I used a rattle can of Rustoleum Dark Hunter green which came out very nice I think.

Looks good Pete!

Rob do you recognize this caboose?  You should, its the one I got from you.

@Pete in Kansas posted:

Rob do you recognize this caboose?  You should, its the one I got from you.

Figured it was!  Looks great in its new livery!

Looks great - giving me ideas! There are a lot of these around these days.

Jim

Someone wanted me to sell this for them but would be nice to know the manufacture.

There’s a bunch I’ve got to catch up on here, but I’ll start out with two of my favorites:

my first Bassett-Lowke item!! bought at a “flash train meet” about two weeks ago.

NE Gondola. Has a marking that I believes indicates it was made in Northampton?

This one just in the mail this week- Bing American Marketd Penna. Coal & Coke Hopper.  Sides say “The Bing Miniature Railway System” and bottom says “GBN Bavaria”. Further, the wheels and couplers on this seem to be authentic/legitimate.

obviously not geographically accurate, I use the milch-wagen as a transition between tab-slot and Bing type couplers.

NE RR w/ Southern Rail(Bing)

More to come!

Arcade streamlined "Pullman Railplane" cast iron toy, marked for the Century of Progress Expo of 1934.  These came in both short (5") and long (8" as seen here) versions in various colors. Pleased to find one with most of its paint and lettering remaining! Other streamliners seen in the photos are a silver Tootsietoy streamliner, and a Wells/Brimtoy "Golden Streak"

I finally finished my AF Standard Gauge Hoods Milk Car. 

@John Smatlak very, very cool streamliners from multiple manufacturers! Each one cool in its own way. Agreed- the lettering on the Arcade piece is in great condition. Your pictures really demonstrate the diversity of Prewar manufacturing, thanks for sharing!

As I said before- more to come!

to go with my Bassett Lowke North Eastern Railway Gondola, a Bing North Eastern Railway freight car- albeit four wheels and much smaller. Just came in the mail today:

Won this at a local auction- missing handles and bulb covers but otherwise in good shape and working well- American Flyer 12b. Always looking for Postwar transformers like this, Lionel type V, Z or KW to power accessories.

From front to back:

The Gondola and Hopper I posted above. Flea market buy in a parts bin- Lionel Standard Gauge #77 crossing. Not sure what I’m going to turn it into yet. In the back: Prewar Lionel  #815 Sunoco Tankerin decent shape and a somewhat beat up 901 Lake shore gondola

I know I posted this above, but forgot to point out the semaphore in the background- I believe it’s a Prewar American Flyer? 

And then there’s this guy, which may be my most intriguing- I was going to post it in my “help with Bing cast iron shell” thread:

Simply marked Germany. Electric motor(obviously not working). The shells of the loco and tender as well as the remaining wheels on the loco are in nice shape. The thing is- it’s just a hair too small for o gauge and definitely doesn’t fit on s-gauge. I know Bub had a misguided S-gauge endeavor- but the wheelbase wouldn’t align with that. I also know that some German manufacturers in the Prewar days manufactured a smaller o gauge. @Arne and @FRENCHTRAINS - I was gonna post this to you guys anyway, ideas? I ran into a seller at a train meet recently who had a similar one and he gave me his contact info telling me to reach out. 

Fresh from the box and on the rails powered up for the very first time this evening.   Classified as a freight dragger but sharply dressed and fit for the varnish,  PRR 260E by Mth.  This will be one of my favorites for sure.  

@jhz563 Beaut of  a steamer! Looks superb- great get. Early today, as I was finagling a prewar box car with a loosely attached postwar knuckle-coupler to attach it to a MTH S-2 turbine, I thought how much I really wished that I would've bought a MTH Lionel Corp engine. It's not just the sounds and features but the look of the type of engine you posted that would make it fit so much better with prewar rolling stock.Again, great pick-up.

@StevefromPA What a glorious little cutie of a locomotive .... I cant add anything concrete to the argument unfortunately , except it looks "Bub"-ish to me as well , but wondering if maybe its a shell that has been remotored ( obviously in a very early period ?) but it looks to my eye that the drive gear is bigger than the wheels fitted ? This would be rather odd I would think ? so perhaps a period motor that has been modified to fit ?

@Fatman  regarding the motor and it’s fit- I’m not sure. But I did have someone who’s been around in terms of repairs look at it and he’s seen these types of motors before.

I should’ve included more of my talk with the seller at the recent meet. He walked passed me and had a bright, lime green colored loco just like mine(of course no PRR) with the same window types. So I hailed him down. He’s also a seller who, while I don’t know him, we eventually recognized each other from other meets. Anyway, He said it won’t run on normal O gauge(1 1/4) because the track is too wide for it but that the wheels are too far apart for it to be S. Also simply said it was ” old” but was mass produced.  Apparently, he was able to assemble the track on which it worked but it was a headache to do so. I’m gonna reach out to him and hopefully come back here with some answers.

my guesses: either 1 1/8 Märklin or Bub, Or an Early German non-standard-O 25,28,30mm track gauge. This I’ve gleaned from historytoy, charles cooper’s railway track museum, section 12.4 of this resource 

https://s3.amazonaws.com/content.

Charles cooper’s railwaypages 

and this site with dialogue between the owner and Mr. Cooper.

http://www.silogic.com/trains/...ee-Rail%20Track.html

@StevefromPA

I think you are definitely onto it ! ... And looking at the loco you have it does indeed share the same oversize gear to wheel fitment .. the pickup on yours looks to be fairly rudimentary tho and that might push it more into the Bub camp yet again ? with the cheaper tin motor sideplates it was surely built to a budget , yet it has really nice lithography and body stamping ... curiouser and curiouser !

@StevefromPA posted:

And then there’s this guy, which may be my most intriguing- I was going to post it in my “help with Bing cast iron shell” thread:

Simply marked Germany. Electric motor(obviously not working). The shells of the loco and tender as well as the remaining wheels on the loco are in nice shape. The thing is- it’s just a hair too small for o gauge and definitely doesn’t fit on s-gauge. I know Bub had a misguided S-gauge endeavor- but the wheelbase wouldn’t align with that. I also know that some German manufacturers in the Prewar days manufactured a smaller o gauge. @Arne and @FRENCHTRAINS - I was gonna post this to you guys anyway, ideas? I ran into a seller at a train meet recently who had a similar one and he gave me his contact info telling me to reach out. 

Steve,

unmarked but not unknown.  Here a similar loco with train, marked with FANDOR.

Arne

@Arne so it’s not the prewar Bing 28mm which I had hoped. @Fatman - you were right regarding the motor- my loco is clearly clockwork(has the little semi circle for the key to turn to mechanism). The wheels on the motor have 6 spokes but that’s moot as the motor doesn’t go with that loco. So looks like a Fandor loco shell, unknown electric motor, and the tender’s lithography matches up with Fandor posted by Arne- the wheels on mine are quite literally “groovy”- but wheels are wheels. Just a hodge podge of Prewar Something- mainly Fandor. thank you for clearing this matter up for me, both Arne and Fatman, greatly appreciate the assistance. 

@StevefromPA posted:

@jhz563 Beaut of  a steamer! Looks superb- great get. Early today, as I was finagling a prewar box car with a loosely attached postwar knuckle-coupler to attach it to a MTH S-2 turbine, I thought how much I really wished that I would've bought a MTH Lionel Corp engine. It's not just the sounds and features but the look of the type of engine you posted that would make it fit so much better with prewar rolling stock.Again, great pick-up.

Hey Steve,  

I made my transition car from a 2812 gondola by swapping out one of the trucks.  

I had an idea for you - sent you an email.  

Love that Fandor project you picked up, I have a Hornby about the same size.

@StevefromPA posted:

@Arne so it’s not the prewar Bing 28mm which I had hoped. @Fatman - you were right regarding the motor- my loco is clearly clockwork(has the little semi circle for the key to turn to mechanism). The wheels on the motor have 6 spokes but that’s moot as the motor doesn’t go with that loco. So looks like a Fandor loco shell, unknown electric motor, and the tender’s lithography matches up with Fandor posted by Arne- the wheels on mine are quite literally “groovy”- but wheels are wheels. Just a hodge podge of Prewar Something- mainly Fandor. thank you for clearing this matter up for me, both Arne and Fatman, greatly appreciate the assistance. 

Steve,

this is 0 gauge, but very small and cheap.

the Bing 28 mm train was sold as 0 gauge too.

Here the Bing and the Fandor train as 0 gauge.

The Bing coaches was made in 2 sizes, but both was made as 0 gauge

Here a example for the different in 0 gauge, the smallest and the biggest 4-wheel Bing coach.

Arne

@Pete in Kansas posted:

I finally finished my AF Standard Gauge Hoods Milk Car. 

really nice! How did you do the markings?

Jim

Highball Graphics decals.  

Got this cool bridge recently.   Unfortunately for the moment my tracks are too far apart to capture both loops at once. 

This is Modern STD Gauge, but not tin. It’s a battery, remote control set. Still for less than $100.00 it should be fun.

Steve

What I bought and what I got.

Wow ! Very hard to press a "like" on that post @Steve "Papa" Eastman so I didnt !

Was the package it came in used as a substitute ball in a local football match? I mean you can see there is some zincpest in the first photo but its turned into Hiroshima in transit

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

What I bought and what I got.

 

That stinks.  Hope it wasn't from a fellow TCA member or someone on the forum.

Good luck on getting a resolution.  Please post when it's resolved, and 'out' the culprit.

Looks like the wheels had a case of the Zinc Pest, did the steam chest also? If so, that would make it more likely to crater like that with a little bouncing. Not making excuses, just thinking out loud. The rest looks great, I assume you were planning on having to change the wheels already. Are there repro cylinders for that loco?

Wow-bummer Steve. Over the last 7 mos I have gotten 2 locos from e-bay with unexpected zinc pest but in both cases it was just one drive wheel. Loco looks good otherwise so may still be rescued if repairable. Still rotten seller trick though 

Don

I knew it was missing the front truck and that the drivers were bad. I ordered new drivers as soon as I won the auction. The seller wrapped each piece ok, but the two pieces barely fit in the box he used so no cushioning from anything touching the box. He is reimbursing me the cost of the parts to fix it. Hard to find engine so I did not want to return it.

Steve

Sounds fair. Good to know seller made honest attempt to rectify situation. 

OBTW. Can you reveal the source for the wheels.    I need some 

Don

@Don McErlean posted:

Sounds fair. Good to know seller made honest attempt to rectify situation. 

OBTW. Can you reveal the source for the wheels.    I need some 

Don

Henning’s makes the for the 6 wheel McCoy motor.

Steve

These are known to have zinc pest and it was visible on the wheels in the auction photo.  Caveat emptor!  I'm pretty sure it would have crumbled the first time you handled it, even if it had been properly cushioned for shipping.  Good thing replacement parts are available!

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

 Hard to find engine so I did not want to return it.

Steve

DING DING, that's he key!  Found myself in that situation a few times as well and understand!

some of these situations you make the best of and roll through it and figure out how to fix it.  I remember you having to make some parts for a few other McCoy locos as well.  

With this addition my collection is nearly complete...cue mad scientist laugh..muw ha ha ha!!!!

Not sure why but I managed to pick up this early Marklin Gauge 1 airplane flat car of course without the airplane. lol.  Will have to try my hand at making the plane.  Maybe I'll make a WW I fighter instead.

I'm not sure of the time frame for this car and I think it's the only 1 gauge Marklin I have right now....  That may be a problem lol

@jhz563 posted:

 

 

You better be ready with a Quadruple header to pull that coal drag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@Dennis Holler posted:

You better be ready with a Quadruple header to pull that coal drag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fortunately the loaded train is downhill and empties uphill!!

This is why I love having my tinplate dcs equipped.   Distributed power prevents string-line incidents, even when the train is shiny!!

I think I got a about 12 cars behind my LCT 263E before I got nervous. I don’t want to start stripping gears. And they are prone if overloaded. George S just went through that on a std loco. Scared me a little! Lol

@Dennis Holler posted:

I think I got a about 12 cars behind my LCT 263E before I got nervous. I don’t want to start stripping gears. And they are prone if overloaded. George S just went through that on a std loco. Scared me a little! Lol

That's about the max I would do.  Fortunately I have an mth NYC Hudson with tinplate coupler to put on the lead.  I have modified a black/brass 263e to have a front coupler for a lashup.   If I need a pusher on the end I can use a transition car and put just about any other engine on the tail.  Maybe next year I can make another front coupler model for another 260e or 263e.