Marx Train pictures

@laming posted:

Dadgum! That's an example of the very set I asked for back during Christmas of '62!

I should'a bought that set before you snapped it up.

I noticed Item #393954956070 earlier tonight, Andre.  Take a look.

@palallin posted:

I noticed Item #393954956070 earlier tonight, Andre.  Take a look.

That's it.

Steve

Ok Marx H0 experts. The box said 9947, then changed to 9949. Only 9947 is in the set book, but 9949 is in the 1963 wish book. The set book says a 39035 orange bay window caboose. This number nor color is not listed in the price guides. Thoughts?

Steve

Marx H0 set 9959, 1960.

Steve

Marx H0 set 9966, 1960.

Steve

Steve:  In regards to the 9947 vs 9949 as I am sure you know, Marx along with Lionel in the era of the 60's as the toy train market was headed downhill was very "fast and loose" with the official contents of sets.  My thoughts are that Marx especially with a customer so valuable as Sears, simply substituted a different caboose than was the "official" set listing.  Now why?  Well it could be to make the Sears set different than a standard catalogued set, the fact that the original caboose listed was now out of inventory or was perhaps even never made, or the Sears agent just liked red cabooses vice orange.    Once that substitution was made they simply altered the number for their records but did not go to the expense of re-printing the box simply noted the change with a handwritten alteration.  Likely this would be done by the factory as the set was shipped to Sears.  OBTW I noted that not only was the 9949 completely re-written but someone with the same marker also attempted to simply change the "7" to  "9" on the box.

Great sets, I had no idea Marx had produced so many HO sets of such variations.  Thank you for posting.

Best Wishes

Don

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

That's it.

Steve

Wow. IMHO you got it at a great price. Now I'm REALLY kickin' myself!! 

EDIT: Just noticed your set has what I would consider impossible to find rubber tracks on the dozers!!

Andre "Snoozer Loser" Ming

Steve "Papa"...

Check your email.

Displayed and ran some of my Marx H0 at todays TTOS meet.

Steve

My $5.00 purchase at Sunday’s TTOS meet. Needed some good cleaning and oil.

Steve

Steve:  What a Deal!! looks neat and really runs smooth now.

Don

First repaint to an old 999 Marx. Runs really well too!   

@Donnie Kennedy - That 999 really looks sharp.  I like the copper hand rails as well.  Those 999's are great engines and seem like with a little maintenance will run forever.

Best wishes, thanks for posting

Don

@Don McErlean posted:

@Donnie Kennedy - That 999 really looks sharp.  I like the copper hand rails as well.  Those 999's are great engines and seem like with a little maintenance will run forever.

Best wishes, thanks for posting

Don

Thank you! I made the copper rails myself ,as well as the pins holding the rails. I keep going back and tweaking them. Just did the tender. I'll do some more tweaking

Subtle differences. Marx used Matchbox 18A dozers with the green treads on the H0 flatcar. The one on the left has drivers, although decapitated, and repro treads I just installed. The one on the right has no drivers and the treads are originals. Have 3 more to add repro treads on.

Steve

The Marx 3015 Montgomery Wards' set is one of the most impressive postwar trains sets.  Pictures from the Montgomery Wards Christmas catalog

I was fortunate enough to buy a Marx 3015 at York on Saturday afternoon as it was almost ready to be packed up.  At first I thought it as several Marx building sets in a beat up box.  Then I found out what it was and purchased it.  The person I purchased it from said he bought from a family who set it up at most for 2 Christmases.  All the boxes are there and the building are unassembled.

The switches are still in their boxes.  It is great to go to York and find things you haven't seen before.

Carl- WHAT A FANTASTIC SET!! This has to be one of the largest and most complete sets Marx ever produced.  What a find to discover it in the condition that you showed and with all the boxes...unbelievable   I looked it up in my reference book on Montgomery Wards Christmas catalogs ("The Toy Train Department" by Thomas Holland) and found it illustrated with the picture you included in your post, a sort of black, white, and grey illustration of the set's contents.  The advertisement has the notation..."Exclusive at Wards- our greatest value ever in an electric train set--over 170 pieces".  The price in 1952 was $36.95. Fantastic- thanks so much for posting.  I will tell you however that iaw my inflation calculator $37 in 1952 would equal $396.13 today ! So you can tell why that family that owned it took such good care of it...it was an expensive toy when they bought it in 1952.  Anyway thank you for posting, I seriously doubt I would have seen such a set otherwise.

Best Wishes

Don

For whatever the Marx logic was, the H0 GP-7’s were UP colors, but were marked for AT&ST. I decided to re-mark one of mine for UP.

Steve

At the Great Train Show a couple of weeks ago I found another H0 Marx powered Flyer Santa Fe diesel. Now have powered A-A’s to pull lots of Marx Santa Fe freights.

Steve

Next on the fixitlist. H0 Hudson time.

Steve

I'm not sure those will fit on the track tomorrow though...

Marx H0 set 9987. Has the searchlight car and electronic dump log car. It is missing the logs, but I have a set of repro’s

Well Marx fans, Steve Eastman has opened the door on Marx HO...I thought about maybe following suit and acquiring some HO but soon realized I would have no place to put it and my skills as a repair man are not nearly as good as Steve's so getting things running might be an issue... SO... I am going back to Marx O gauge.  Steve pointed out in his post of 4/8 the Marx "searchlight" car.  So I am going to add on to that with a couple of my O gauge searchlight cars.  These are all part of what collectors call the Marx "Deluxe" series of cars, although it is doubtful Marx ever classified them that way specifically although some Marx advertising did use the word "deluxe".  However these were the Marx top of the line freight cars, typically about 8 1/2 " long and 2" wide with a lot of operating parts.  They were available in Marx's best sets for such outlets as Sears and Wards and were also sold separately.  They were available from about 1955 through the mid-1960's although some made it all the way to the early 1970's when Quaker Oats took over the Marx train line.

First up is the Marx "B.K.X." 4581 depressed center flatcar with a searchlight on each end and a grey generator in the center.  This one has what Greenberg calls Type G trucks ( sheet metal stamped truck facade) and tilt automatic couplers.  Since Type G trucks are usually found on the earliest of the Deluxe cars, this car is likely from the 1952 -54 time period although dating via the trucks is not fully accurate as some Type G cars were available into the 1970's.

Next is what I think is the most elaborate of the searchlight cars.  The Marx #4583 "G.E.X." rotating searchlight car from 1955.  It was catalog # 05583 in the 1955 catalog.  It has the extra heavy deck and a generator on one end and a wire reel on the other.  The stem holding the searchlight is geared to a vertical drive shaft and which is then connected to a power take off gear from the truck axle so as to rotate as the car moves along the track.  The power that drives the rotation is all mechanical with the truck axle providing the rotating power via the gear train underneath.  This version has Type F trucks, with the plastic detailed truck facade and tilt automatic couplers.

A top view showing the relationship between the generator, searchlight housing, tool box and wire reel.

The generator end showing the detail cast into the generator engine.  Note this car also came with a black generator.

The tool box and simulated wire reel end.

Now, to all my more knowledgeable railroad folks out on the forum, I have no idea what "B.K.X." and "G.E.X." actually stand for and no where in my Marx references are those initials explained.  So if you have an idea please post it ...Thank you!

Best wishes

Don

@Don McErlean posted:

Well Marx fans, Steve Eastman has opened the door on Marx HO...I thought about maybe following suit and acquiring some HO but soon realized I would have no place to put it and my skills as a repair man are not nearly as good as Steve's so getting things running might be an issue... SO... I am going back to Marx O gauge.  Steve pointed out in his post of 4/8 the Marx "searchlight" car.  So I am going to add on to that with a couple of my O gauge searchlight cars.  These are all part of what collectors call the Marx "Deluxe" series of cars, although it is doubtful Marx ever classified them that way specifically although some Marx advertising did use the word "deluxe".  However these were the Marx top of the line freight cars, typically about 8 1/2 " long and 2" wide with a lot of operating parts.  They were available in Marx's best sets for such outlets as Sears and Wards and were also sold separately.  They were available from about 1955 through the mid-1960's although some made it all the way to the early 1970's when Quaker Oats took over the Marx train line.

First up is the Marx "B.K.X." 4581 depressed center flatcar with a searchlight on each end and a grey generator in the center.  This one has what Greenberg calls Type G trucks ( sheet metal stamped truck facade) and tilt automatic couplers.  Since Type G trucks are usually found on the earliest of the Deluxe cars, this car is likely from the 1952 -54 time period although dating via the trucks is not fully accurate as some Type G cars were available into the 1970's.

Next is what I think is the most elaborate of the searchlight cars.  The Marx #4583 "G.E.X." rotating searchlight car from 1955.  It was catalog # 05583 in the 1955 catalog.  It has the extra heavy deck and a generator on one end and a wire reel on the other.  The stem holding the searchlight is geared to a vertical drive shaft and which is then connected to a power take off gear from the truck axle so as to rotate as the car moves along the track.  The power that drives the rotation is all mechanical with the truck axle providing the rotating power via the gear train underneath.  This version has Type F trucks, with the plastic detailed truck facade and tilt automatic couplers.

A top view showing the relationship between the generator, searchlight housing, tool box and wire reel.

The generator end showing the detail cast into the generator engine.  Note this car also came with a black generator.

The tool box and simulated wire reel end.

Now, to all my more knowledgeable railroad folks out on the forum, I have no idea what "B.K.X." and "G.E.X." actually stand for and no where in my Marx references are those initials explained.  So if you have an idea please post it ...Thank you!

Best wishes

Don

Just forward that H0 to me and I’ll bring most of it back to life.

Steve

Steve...WHAT A DEAL!  Thanks for the comment.

Don

Don, I keep an eye out for floodlight cars. I need to find one for my tossed-salad work train, but I don't want one like the one I already have in my 999 set.  Both of the cars you have come up for sale but usually for more than I want to pay, especially the rotating one.  (Call me cheap, I don't care )  You found some spiffy examples!

palallin - Thanks for the compliment on the searchlight cars.  I checked what I paid for mine and both were just north of $40 (USD) including that infamous e-bay "shipping".  The Lionel ones are usually higher though and more complex.  Well keep hunting and good luck.

Best wishes

Don

Just picked these up.  Very nice and they appear unrun.

Lookin' good Soo Line - one GAEX down and one to go...

I would like to buy a Marx Side Smoker if anyone might have one to sell.

Thanks Dave

Soo Line : Those new cars are beauties. Great finds.

Don

Got this 1666 sound o power loco and tender! Cleaned up the tender and rewired the ground. Added the front flags because the tabs were broken that hold hand rail. Got the smoke unit working as well. Nice little piece of Marx history.

Donnie :  Thanks for the audio in your video.  As long as I have been collecting Marx while I had seen "sound o power" units I had actually never heard one.  Great find.

Don

Donnie, do you know who made those cool-looking piers you have holding up your elevated track?

@palallin posted:

Donnie, do you know who made those cool-looking piers you have holding up your elevated track?

Ah yes. Those are mth subway elevated tressel. 8 come in a box. They were very hard to find. Here's the part # 40-1148 O MTH RailKing Subway Trestle Bridge w/Steel Elevated Support-Silver. I found them a year ago at T K hobby outside of Columbus, Ohio.

"Sound of Power"... now that is surprisingly cool! Sounds pretty good!

Any of you know how Marx did that?

Andre

@Donnie Kennedy posted:

Ah yes. Those are mth subway elevated tressel. 8 come in a box. They were very hard to find. Here's the part # 40-1148 O MTH RailKing Subway Trestle Bridge w/Steel Elevated Support-Silver. I found them a year ago at T K hobby outside of Columbus, Ohio.

Thank you!

@laming posted:

"Sound of Power"... now that is surprisingly cool! Sounds pretty good!

Any of you know how Marx did that?

Andre

Didn't they use a rolling wheel that was divided into sectors and some basic electronic geegaws to generate static that we interrupted by the gaps between the segments to make the chuff?  My memory may be betraying me, but I think I read something to that effect somewhere.

@laming posted:

"Sound of Power"... now that is surprisingly cool! Sounds pretty good!

Any of you know how Marx did that?

Andre

Simplicity, it has a white noise generator board. There is a wheel in the center with a gap. That gap controls the break in the sound.

Steve

This is my favorite Marx engine even if it does not look like one.  It has a Marx 1998 frame and motor with a 1 inch cut out of a junk Lionel SW 1 switcher diesel engine body.  We think the 1998 is by far the best running Marx engine and it wins the race through the oval and figure 8, with 027 track and Marx 1590 switches every time.  The engine painted for Bauxite and Northern Railroad, a private owned short line railroad from ALCOAs Bauxite, AR alumina/chemical plant to the railroads main line.  More than you wanted to know !

Charlie