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Strummer,



   let me tell you a humorous personal story to give you a perspective on "common".  In the world of Bing boxcars the most "common" car is the Erie.

Bing_Car_Boxcar_Tuscan_Erie

I started collecting Bing many years ago and right off the bat I managed to get a Santa Fe, a P&R, and a Swift Reefer.

Bing_Car_Boxcar_Santa_Fe_American_Roof

Bing_Car_Boxcar_PandR

Bing_Car_Reefer_Swift



Everyone I knew who collected Bing (at that time they numbered around 10) had an Erie car but did not have any of the cars I had managed to find during my initial search. They all admired my initial find and assured me that in short order it would be joined by an Erie boxcar because it was an easy car to find.  Over a period of about 15 years I managed to find every one of the boxcars and reefers except the Erie ....and every year my friends would assure me it was THE most common car .  Somewhere in year 16 I finally managed to get the Erie car....so, as I said, if you are still looking for one it isn't common.   ...and please, don't interpret this post as my taking umbrage at your posts  - I'm just having some Sunday fun.

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I've been working on a small tinplate-style station to add to the Christmas display. Loosely based on the Dorfan 425, but with quite a few modifications in length, height, and window/door layout (the original is rather undersized):

I drew and printed a set of windows using MS Excel; those will go in after the glitter gets applied. Yup, glitter...it's going to be epic.

PD

Last edited by pd

Been looking for this book for nearly a year, while I found several examples for sale the price was just too high.  E-bay prices were $85 -125 per copy and that was just out of my reach.  Last month, I saw one seller who listed the book at only $49 with $4 shipping, a deal too good to pass up.  It arrived yesterday afternoon and it is in perfect, like new condition.  When you look at the book it covers 3 lines of toy trains: Carlisle & Finch (which I will never see and couldn't afford even if I did see them), Dorfan (much more likely) and Hafner (of which I already have some sets and pieces.)  Prior to this book the only reference to Hafner that I could find was a 2 page offering by the Western Div of TCA...good for what it was but very brief.  This book contains nearly 100 pages plus tables of production offerings on Hafner...including lots of beautiful color pictures.  I expect most serious tinplater's already have this reference but its new to me!! 

Early American Toy Trains Book

Best Wishes

Don

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  • Early American Toy Trains Book

@pd- That station really looks sharp, the glitter really sets it off and makes it part of the winter scene, although we never have snow here in central Texas (2X in over 15 years).

In answer to your question on the book I showed, mine is a "first edition" and it is dated 1993 by Greenberg Publishing Company.  I don't know if there are any later editions, but from what I have observed on the e-bay I think not.  From my perspective, while the $ values for the items (some have listed values some do not) may have changed, the products offered are from companies long out of production hence they should be fine and more or less complete.  Hafner is the company that of the three lasted longest and it went out of the train business in 1951 selling its train line to Wyandotte  ("All Metal Products Company) who continued to make trains till about1956.  Hafner-Wyandotte went bankrupt and the assets were bought by Marx who did bring out a line of trains for a short time. Most reference cite that Marx moved the line to Mexico where it was produced for a limited time under the name "Plastimarx" ,   Marx then went through its own bankruptcy.  Anyway my point is that the products offered will be relatively unaffected by the 1993 publishing date although you would have to take the value cited as a guess.

Sorry, that is probably much more than you wanted to know

Best wishes

Don

Been looking for this book for nearly a year, while I found several examples for sale the price was just too high.  E-bay prices were $85 -125 per copy and that was just out of my reach.  Last month, I saw one seller who listed the book at only $49 with $4 shipping, a deal too good to pass up.  It arrived yesterday afternoon and it is in perfect, like new condition.  When you look at the book it covers 3 lines of toy trains: Carlisle & Finch (which I will never see and couldn't afford even if I did see them), Dorfan (much more likely) and Hafner (of which I already have some sets and pieces.)  Prior to this book the only reference to Hafner that I could find was a 2 page offering by the Western Div of TCA...good for what it was but very brief.  This book contains nearly 100 pages plus tables of production offerings on Hafner...including lots of beautiful color pictures.  I expect most serious tinplater's already have this reference but its new to me!! 

Early American Toy Trains Book

Best Wishes

Don

I've got to stop following this thread - it's bad for my wallet.  I've been into tinplate for decades, and I wasn't aware of this book.

Last edited by Mallard4468

I have this Hafner reference on CD which I purchased directly from the author, Gary Konow, who died in 2013.

Wyandotte toys are good and safe 1920-1957

https://openlibrary.org/books/...ys_are_good_and_safe.

looks like Kurt Guild? marketed a 2nd edition?

Includes Hafner, plastimarx, etc, Very detailed. Many great photos but they are not shareable. All links to internal data files on the disc. I think papa Steve Eastman has a copy as well.

Last edited by Jim O'C

Got some cool tin over the last couple weeks! My focus is now 90% prewar & tinplate vs 10% modern(basically the opposite of a year ago lol). this post has some cool accessories- mainly buildings/structures

Let’s start w/ some “modern tin”. Flynn Marx “Queen’s cafe”- such a simple design but so cool + very small footprint!DD881E9A-9249-482B-9F9A-35102CAC6032

At Queen’s Cafe, worker Takes the garbage out back to the weathered artissta dumpster007C404A-F948-4366-8AE7-AEBA6F3490CB

another New Marx accessory- but by Ameritrains. :Union Oil Co. oil tanks (item came with the box w/ Ameritrains label on front )E7A36E4A-E1D6-46D9-A856-3D6B64FFA28D

Going Postwar-This Skyline watch tower has been converted into a 2 story apartment on the RA&P(Richmond, Allentown & Philadelphia) RR4276CFB1-A87F-425A-9CC4-8A22405DA3CA

Now for a prewar(?) accessory- Hornby Series Plate Layer’s Hut. Ordered this from Across the Pond & love this little building- it’s in great shape, small footprint, and  Came with the Box. 9782DC14-08AB-4C01-B645-4BB395ADF617

Obtained 3  #56 Lamps for a GREAT deal! One 156 platform base green, one “olive” green(actually already have one, by the bridge with the moss)- sorry but I’ve never learned all the Lionel colors. Finally, up front is a black street lamp- which is my favorite. 2 of the 3 have the finials…and there’s the platelayers hut.

40C5A432-195B-41FC-A24A-ADEC5226E07A

ideally I’d have a pedestrian crossover here  but I’ve tried 3 different ones and haven’t liked them

That’s it for accessories, hopefully I can post some rolling stock!

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  • 4276CFB1-A87F-425A-9CC4-8A22405DA3CA
  • 40C5A432-195B-41FC-A24A-ADEC5226E07A
  • 9782DC14-08AB-4C01-B645-4BB395ADF617
Last edited by StevefromPA
@StevefromPA posted:

@pd love the station! Thought it looked familiar! I think you definitely captured the essence of a what a great tinplate station looks like and what a single level Dorfan 425 can look like!

Thanks, Steve. It was a fun project. The roof is a bit taller/steeper than I wanted, but it's not an exact repro anyway. I'm hoping to find a decent battery-powered interior lighting solution soon.

Onto another project now. This one's a bit crazy.

PD

Last edited by pd

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