Buy/Make Anything Cool Lately (Tinplate Version)

Here are some orange lumber cars.

and the orange Wide Gauge sand car that NWL mentioned that was passed down through our family in the set.

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

Some O gauge orange engines

Very unusual orange 3110

Orange 1218

Orange Empire Express 1090 engine

3012

3112

NWL

Nope, I don't have an orange 3013, just a battered/rusty one in green. There's no number on the underside, instead stamped only "INSP". I was just curious if they ever made a 3013 in orange. The car I have is similar to the one on the right in this photo:

The difference being the one I have is missing a high percentage of its green paint.

PD

@pd posted:

Nope, I don't have an orange 3013, just a battered/rusty one in green. There's no number on the underside, instead stamped only "INSP". I was just curious if they ever made a 3013 in orange. The car I have is similar to the one on the right in this photo:

The difference being the one I have is missing a high percentage of its green paint.

PD

I don't think they ever made a 3013 in orange.  I have never seen or heard of one and I have observed a number of orange 3016 and 3207 gondolas over the past couple of decades.  I would have to think that if they made the 3013 in orange that at least one would have surfaced over the past couple of decades.

That is not to say that you could not have some fun on your own and create one. 

Ok, Orange it is

Ives

Fandor

Lionel

Marx

Just made new lenses for my Marx 439 semaphore

@Robert S. Butler posted:

Ok, Orange it is

Ives

Fandor

Lionel

Marx

I'm always amazed at the quality and longevity of the lithography that was applied to toys as far back as a century ago, particularly the Ives pinstripes.  The only downside is that it can't be repaired or restored - great to see such pristine examples.

@Fatman posted:

Finally - a way to not lose all the little accessories!  That's a neat little handcar

Ives Wide Gauge

Ives Narrow Gauge

Lionel Ives transition era

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

I bought this rusty station covered in sawdust from Cabin Fever Auctions for $20.00

Removed the paint by soaking the station parts in ZEP Driveway Cleaner (Lye)

Removing paint does not remove rust so I spent a lot of time using a Dremel and then I used a primer.

I matched my Blue Comet locomotive for the trim.

It's now at its new home.

Scott Smith

Really nice job on the station, Scott.

Finally picked up original jersey central passenger set. Displayed with conventional classic set and likely repro JC FM  

Also working to complete the military train sets

I just finished this today to go with my AF 4000 that I painted in NYC colors. 

This was delivered today.  I have been looking for this set for quite some time.

A maroon 3020 with matching maroon cars.

Finding the Maroon engine is not as tough as finding the set of 3 maroon cars.  I have two other maroon engines and they both came with a brown baggage, brown coach, and maroon observation car, as shown below

Both sets came with coaches that feature the porthole end lights.

As one of the mismatched color sets came in an original setbox/individual box configuration, I can only assume American Flyer was selling these sets as a creative means of getting rid of the brown cars.

NWL

NWL, NICE!  Looking for a maroon set myself!

Although I’m not a tinplate collector, I couldn’t resist rescuing this Lionel 48W Whistle Station from the local historical society’s community sale. It was the last day of the sale so it was half off, only $7.50!

I did test it out using a spare transformer a bit... the switch/tab for actuating it is no longer present, and the motor that drives the whistle unit now seems to default to “on”... not exactly sure if that’s causation or just correlation. In any case I’m not getting much sound from it, but at least the motor works. The live chassis design is just zany! Now that’s some 1940s electrical engineering...

Here are the other accessories that I got with the set,

This watchman's tower was included too.  It was packed in the box shown but it didn't come in that box.

Unfortunately the box lost its original label.

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

@Redshirt214- neat find and $7.50 is a terrific price. OBTW I checked my similar station and the mechanism for actuation of the whistle was just a flat fiber lever. Likely pretty fragile. Even if the whistle does not function it a neat looking building.

@Greg J. Turinetti -  Wow what a haul with your new set. I have been slowly accumulating the signals you showed over the last 2 years or so. They are usually relatively inexpensive and fun. I have all you pictured having just acquired the “banjo wig-wag” but I am still hunting the clock.

best wishes everyone

Don

To go along with the recent arrival of the maroon Columbia set, a green Illini set was delivered today.  I will admit that this black 3020 was already in my collection.  It matches the 3020 that came with the set that arrived today, but was in much nicer condition.

Side A

Side B

The baggage car is the worst looking car in the set due to the alligatoring of the lithography.

Side A

Side B

The coach is simply spectacular!

Side A

Side B

The tail car, which has the 2 porthole lights, is slightly lower condition than the coach due to a couple of scratches on Side B, but is still stunning.

Side A

Side B

The set dates to 1922, as evidenced by the round bar track trip reverse on the motor.

NWL

@Don McErlean posted:

@Redshirt214- neat find and $7.50 is a terrific price. OBTW I checked my similar station and the mechanism for actuation of the whistle was just a flat fiber lever. Likely pretty fragile. Even if the whistle does not function it a neat looking building.

@Greg J. Turinetti -  Wow what a haul with your new set. I have been slowly accumulating the signals you showed over the last 2 years or so. They are usually relatively inexpensive and fun. I have all you pictured having just acquired the “banjo wig-wag” but I am still hunting the clock.

best wishes everyone

Don

Thanks Don! Yes for that price it was irresistible: the lithography is really nice even with the play wear it’s picked up over the years. Any idea where one might find repro levers? I think I might tinker with it a little more, I should be able to clean it up a bit and get some better pictures.

@Redshirt214_ - I don't have any immediate source for replacement lever's in mind, but the forum has a number of "parts" vendors you might try.  You know as I think about it, the fiber is likely used to insulate the lever from the electric components, perhaps it could be replaced with a simple flat piece of wood.  I was thinking, what about a Popsicle stick?  Anyway its a great building whistle or not.

Happy Holidays

Don

@NationWideLines -  WOW two classic sets in two days, amazing.  They are really super sets thanks for posting.

Don

Have a bunch to show, but this first one deserves its own post!

Got this Bing crossing-warden house with semaphore & working bell from someone selling her father’s collection. It’s in AMAZING shape, and came with a surprise..

front

Rear

Side

If you were wondering where the logo is, it’s actually embossed on the base

as for the surprise, I opened the front door to find this piece of paper

turned out to be the original directions in 6 different languages(not in order but from memory there’s German, English, French, Italian, Spanish & Portuguese)

more to come!

The above Bing crossing with shack is 10/621, I believe. For reference.

now some New locos & structures:

Probably My favorite new building- Bing Crossing Warden House(for my layout, it’s just a house). Cleaned it up quite a bit so it looks nice

Front view from right after I got it


Side view from right after I got it

LOVE this one! Marx 2980 Union Station with red awning and battery powered whistle:

Two Flyer 1096 boxcabs. Love me some boxcabs ha. Marx yard tower is new too!

The one with the bell & pantograph has the original motor, wheels & gears. The one with 2 pantographs has new wheels. Both run pretty nicely!

Sorry, can’t recall if I shared these yet- picked up these Marx 70 ton switchers. Both run great in Forward & Reverse

Marx yard tower

Moskovitch garage:

Unknown Maker- part of a station platform:

Bing(I think)- crossing with guard house. Not in the best shape but I got it for about $20. Missing a figure & a semaphore

Aerial view

Candle Holder:

The bottom just says “Made in Germany”. If this is the Bing crossing I think it is, then it’s circa 1915

Marklin Gauge-Adjustable Grade-level crossing. For gauges 0, 1 and 2

with gauge 2 Basset-Lowke G&N goods wagon

With Marklin o-gauge PRR coaches

@StevefromPA- WOW that is quite a haul.  Beautiful tinplate structures and locomotives.  I have the Marx station, tower, and the two GE 70 tonners but little else.  Fantastic.  This morning I "won" (I think I was the only bidder ) what was advertised as a " German U.S. zone wind up train"  The loco motor was in bad shape but the loco shell, tender, and passenger car looked OK.  The price was $.99 that's right 99 cents so who could resist.  I will post it when it arrives but here is the advertising picture.

Happy holidays...Best Wishes

Don

Thanks @Don McErlean ! Granted those pick-ups stretch back to late October but all acquired in a relatively short span(got really lucky!) and I haven’t even posted my rolling stock yet! I too love the little Marx station- was debating between that version & two of its variations but I’m very pleased with the one I chose.

Under a buck for that loco was a great price! I’m 99% sure that’s by Heinrich Wimmer of Nuremberg(HWN). I’m that sure because I’m pretty sure I have the same loco!

man’s I assume the picture below is of the passenger car?

It actually doubles as a wood flat and has an alternate Santa Fe stock car body

@StevefromPA- Wow Steve THANK YOU - You are correct it appears my 99 cent toy train is HWN as the loco, passenger car , and tender are an exact match to your pictures.  However, I did not know about the multi-use of the passenger car platform.  I will be sure to check that out when it arrives.  Thanks again for posting.

Don

@StevefromPA posted:

Thanks @Don McErlean ! Granted those pick-ups stretch back to late October but all acquired in a relatively short span(got really lucky!) and I haven’t even posted my rolling stock yet! I too love the little Marx station- was debating between that version & two of its variations but I’m very pleased with the one I chose.

Under a buck for that loco was a great price! I’m 99% sure that’s by Heinrich Wimmer of Nuremberg(HWN). I’m that sure because I’m pretty sure I have the same loco!

man’s I assume the picture below is of the passenger car?

It actually doubles as a wood flat and has an alternate Santa Fe stock car body

Dang, I love lithograph!

Thanks for sharing these beautiful examples

@StevefromPA posted:

The above Bing crossing with shack is 10/621, I believe. For reference.

now some New locos & structures:

Bing(I think)- crossing with guard house. Not in the best shape but I got it for about $20. Missing a figure & a semaphore

Aerial view

Candle Holder:

The bottom just says “Made in Germany”. If this is the Bing crossing I think it is, then it’s circa 1915

It´s not Bing, made by Karl Bub, model 772 made 1924-1928

Arne

@StevefromPA posted:

Unknown Maker- part of a station platform:

Homemade, the fence was a railing from a bing footbridge from around 1900  and the bench was made by Kraus Fandor around 1920

Arne

Here's one you don't see very often.  At York in October I picked up a brass Roberts Lines trolley from the TCA sales table.

After cleaning and lubrication, it runs acceptably.  It has some broken solder joints, the roof doesn't fit particularly well, and it would benefit from new pickup rollers.  Based on discussions with a couple of the MESG and SGMA guys, it sounds like Roberts Lines items were not known for their overall quality.  I'd call the condition at least Very Good (maybe Excellent since the flaws possibly came that way from the manufacturer?).

I'm considering painting it, and have started another thread asking for opinions - https://ogrforum.com/...lley-opinions-wanted

An update on my Whistle Station! Last weekend, I took the time to completely disassemble and clean the station, and it's motor. I used some De-ox-it on it, which helped improve electrical connection. I also finally figured out what was up with the wiring: so whenever the old switch on the station itself broke off or was removed, the previous owner soldered a new wire to the chassis, which means that the station is now controlled by a separate button on a control panel. Which I was thinking of doing anyways as a repair, so that's one less thing to do! Now I just need to wire up a button between it and an accessory transformer.

I used some vice grips to reseat the rivets that seal up the plate on the one side of the whistle assembly, and that seems to gave gotten the seal on the gasket back to factory specs. I think I may have been a little too conservative with the power I was giving it earlier, because with it turned up to 3/4 power vs 1/2 power on the transformer, the whistle now sounds loud and clear! It really, really wants a full 12 volts, and excepts no substitutes!

I was nervous about bending the tinplate tabs, so this time I didn't bend them all the way back flat when I put the body back on. Hopefully that will make it easier to service later on. For the moment, I've placed it on the long back 8' as a kind of country whistle stop... let me know what you think of how it looks!

Ultimately, very happy with my first tinplate tune-up project. Somewhere I have a tinplate tunnel I need to fish out, so that hopefully you guys can take a look at it. I *think* it's a Lionel 118, but can't identify it and it has no external markings. It's been around for a while but sitting in storage.

@Redshirt214 -- If you can post a video, when you have time, we can get a sense of the beautiful "Tinplate Music" (i just thought of that phrase) coming out of your Whistle Station.

Looks like you picked a nice location for it.

Yes, be careful of the tabs!

Tom

@Redshirt214 posted:

An update on my Whistle Station! Last weekend, I took the time to completely disassemble and clean the station, and it's motor. I used some De-ox-it on it, which helped improve electrical connection. I also finally figured out what was up with the wiring: so whenever the old switch on the station itself broke off or was removed, the previous owner soldered a new wire to the chassis, which means that the station is now controlled by a separate button on a control panel. Which I was thinking of doing anyways as a repair, so that's one less thing to do! Now I just need to wire up a button between it and an accessory transformer.

I used some vice grips to reseat the rivets that seal up the plate on the one side of the whistle assembly, and that seems to gave gotten the seal on the gasket back to factory specs. I think I may have been a little too conservative with the power I was giving it earlier, because with it turned up to 3/4 power vs 1/2 power on the transformer, the whistle now sounds loud and clear! It really, really wants a full 12 volts, and excepts no substitutes!

I was nervous about bending the tinplate tabs, so this time I didn't bend them all the way back flat when I put the body back on. Hopefully that will make it easier to service later on. For the moment, I've placed it on the long back 8' as a kind of country whistle stop... let me know what you think of how it looks!

Ultimately, very happy with my first tinplate tune-up project. Somewhere I have a tinplate tunnel I need to fish out, so that hopefully you guys can take a look at it. I *think* it's a Lionel 118, but can't identify it and it has no external markings. It's been around for a while but sitting in storage.

I just picked up this same shack, but the motor is so loud, it almost drowns out whistle.  Is you motor very loud?

Yes, the motor is super loud! The somewhat anemic whistle sound seems to be a common issue... I suspect the reason Lionel adopted a different type of whistle system later on is related to that issue. I sort of smooshed the rivets back together because previous threads have said sometimes the gasket between the plate & body of the whistle unit gets leaky, so you might try that. I just assumed loud motors come with the territory in tinplate?

I was just happy to get a something other that whirring out of it! I’ll gladly post a video,for some reason during testing last week I completely forgot that was a thing I really ought to do.

The VintageHubby has at last been moving forward with the creating HIS Standard Gauge/Wide Gauge layout on the floor in the large basement room. USA Track large(st) curves (84? 87? not certain) were bought many months ago. This layout will be a two track rounded off rectangle. One of the engines and tenders will be the original AF Wide Gauge 1931 engine and 1931-1932 tender I bought from Dave Corbett, in October 2020. Just placed the straights track order from USA Track yesterday. This layout will feature some of T VH's large collection of original Barclay WWI soldiers and accessories. These will be the peeps for the layout. I may create some watercolor landscape paintings to use as free-standing backdrops in a couple of the corners.

@Carey TeaRose posted:

The VintageHubby has at last been moving forward with the creating HIS Standard Gauge/Wide Gauge layout on the floor in the large basement room. USA Track large(st) curves (84? 87? not certain) were bought many months ago. This layout will be a two track rounded off rectangle. One of the engines and tenders will be the original AF Wide Gauge 1931 engine and 1931-1932 tender I bought from Dave Corbett, in October 2020. Just placed the straights track order from USA Track yesterday. This layout will feature some of T VH's large collection of original Barclay WWI soldiers and accessories. These will be the peeps for the layout. I may create some watercolor landscape paintings to use as free-standing backdrops in a couple of the corners.

Carey,

Nice to see that you are finally making some progress on that layout. 

Make sure you put some insulation or something to deaden the sound, down between the plywood and track.

NWL

I bought a nice original Lionel Standard Gauge 402E passenger set from Toystrainsandotherstuff LLC at their auction last Saturday. I have wanted one of these sets for awhile. It's my Christmas present!