Marx trains

Dave,

I don't know if you have access to the Marx group that I have contact with but I will send you a link to the email in your profile. There's a great deal of Marx knowledge there.

Ray

Dave:  Not sure what you mean, but the Marx tinplate 6" passenger cars, Montclair, Bogota, Observation etc were made both pre war and post war.  They came as 4 wheel cars (common) and 8 wheel cars (uncommon and pre-war only).  They were made both lighted and unlighted (mostly unlighted) and the observation sometimes had a lighted drumhead.  The liveries were : Red/ Blk, Red/white, NYC (blue/white), CP (maroon/black), Army (olive drab), Seaboard (note these were Seaboard green / yellow in color but did not say "Seaboard" on the cars), Blue / white, NYC (silver/ blue but non-illuminated.  There were lots of variations, especially in the "red" grouping.  The frames came in black, black with silver lithograph, red with white lithograph, red, and silver .

You could make a reasonably nice collection just with the variations to the 6" passenger cars and (almost forgot) their companion baggage cars which came in even more variations.  Some are very common and easy to pick up while some like the green / yellow or silver/blue NYC are much harder.  8 wheel cars are much more scarce than 4 wheel. Lighted even just lighted drumhead are much more scarce than unlighted.  I use the term "scarce" because Marx, as the largest toy maker in the world, made many, many trains.  Few could be called "rare" if we use the comparison of some of the Lionel/American Flyer standard gauge sets or even worse some of the early Lionel 2 7/8" gauge sets.

One final thought...from 1931-1934 Marx was first the exclusive agent, then a majority stockholder, and then owner of the Girard Model Works of Girard Pa.  They brought out a line of trains called "Joy Line".  They had two passenger cars, a Pullman and an Observation with a green body, black lettering, and a yellow or red roof.  These may be what you are talking about wrt to 5" trains as these were shorter than the subsequent more rounded 6" cars that Girard brought forth in 1934 and which were subsequently made into the Marx 6" line beginning about 1936.

I know nothing about "new" CP sets.  There was a company that sometime after Marx ceased train production purchased the tooling from Marx and produced what typically is called "modern Marx"  I think they folded about 2000.  E-bay still has a lot of their cars.  It may be that this is what is being referred to as "new" CP sets.

Best Wishes

Don

Dave, James and Debby Flynn launched the New Marx, and they are very good people to deal with.  Find one of their auctions on eBay and contact them.  I'll bet they'll be happy to answer your questions.

Some great information!   Let me preface this, by saying, I am handling The sale of the train collection , of Jim Brown of the Badgerland S Gaugers. Although the Bulk of the collection is S gauge, there is some Lionel, Marx , and HO both analog and DCC. I have spent the last 2 1/2 months, doing a physical inventory and valuation.   I  no longer , have any reference, materials on Marx, and have been stumped.  I hope to have it wrapped up and , a list and prices  in the next few weeks .  All the sales  go to his family.  The pricing  will be fair.

@Rayin"S" posted:

Dave,

I don't know if you have access to the Marx group that I have contact with but I will send you a link to the email in your profile. There's a great deal of Marx knowledge there.

Ray

Thank you, the link will help!  I have inventoried and  pricing a lot of S Gauge AF , High rail and scale,. Engines freight cars passenger cars, accessories and buildings and details if you are interested PM me i will mail a list

@palallin posted:

Dave, James and Debby Flynn launched the New Marx, and they are very good people to deal with.  Find one of their auctions on eBay and contact them.  I'll bet they'll be happy to answer your questions.

thank you.  PS I use to wear a grey uniform

@Don McErlean posted:

Dave:  Not sure what you mean, but the Marx tinplate 6" passenger cars, Montclair, Bogota, Observation etc were made both pre war and post war.  They came as 4 wheel cars (common) and 8 wheel cars (uncommon and pre-war only).  They were made both lighted and unlighted (mostly unlighted) and the observation sometimes had a lighted drumhead.  The liveries were : Red/ Blk, Red/white, NYC (blue/white), CP (maroon/black), Army (olive drab), Seaboard (note these were Seaboard green / yellow in color but did not say "Seaboard" on the cars), Blue / white, NYC (silver/ blue but non-illuminated.  There were lots of variations, especially in the "red" grouping.  The frames came in black, black with silver lithograph, red with white lithograph, red, and silver .

You could make a reasonably nice collection just with the variations to the 6" passenger cars and (almost forgot) their companion baggage cars which came in even more variations.  Some are very common and easy to pick up while some like the green / yellow or silver/blue NYC are much harder.  8 wheel cars are much more scarce than 4 wheel. Lighted even just lighted drumhead are much more scarce than unlighted.  I use the term "scarce" because Marx, as the largest toy maker in the world, made many, many trains.  Few could be called "rare" if we use the comparison of some of the Lionel/American Flyer standard gauge sets or even worse some of the early Lionel 2 7/8" gauge sets.

One final thought...from 1931-1934 Marx was first the exclusive agent, then a majority stockholder, and then owner of the Girard Model Works of Girard Pa.  They brought out a line of trains called "Joy Line".  They had two passenger cars, a Pullman and an Observation with a green body, black lettering, and a yellow or red roof.  These may be what you are talking about wrt to 5" trains as these were shorter than the subsequent more rounded 6" cars that Girard brought forth in 1934 and which were subsequently made into the Marx 6" line beginning about 1936.

I know nothing about "new" CP sets.  There was a company that sometime after Marx ceased train production purchased the tooling from Marx and produced what typically is called "modern Marx"  I think they folded about 2000.  E-bay still has a lot of their cars.  It may be that this is what is being referred to as "new" CP sets.

Best Wishes

Don

Don , thank you, dont know much about marx

Dave, did that collection ever have a 226e and tender?

@Dave Koehler posted:

PS I use to wear a grey uniform

I'll be happy to help you come back to the good side

Their eBay username is jdpltd

@Donnie Kennedy posted:

Dave, did that collection ever have a 226e and tender?

Donnie,  He had one (with the big tender) I saw it a year ago June, was on his inventory list I received last spring but when we started doing a physical inventory, it wasn't there. I hope to finish the inventory by the 30th hopefully it shows up

@palallin posted:

I'll be happy to help you come back to the good side

Their eBay username is jdpltd

Thank you, got a message off to them. I retired 10 years ago, bad arthritis, but I always did look better in CSA grey, field grey, and Jager green

Dave,

Keep me in the loop on that please. I or someone I know may be interested in it. I don't think you can have too many nice prewar engines!

@Donnie Kennedy posted:

Dave,

Keep me in the loop on that please. I or someone I know may be interested in it. I don't think you can have too many nice prewar engines!

Will do, back when I collected lionel, that was one of the engines that eluded me

Donnie, the flowchart/decision tree for having too many nice prewar engines is as follows

                                                                                             Yes - go buy another nice prewar engine

Do you think you need another nice prewar engine? - |

                                                                                              No - You must be mistaken - go buy another nice prewar engine

@Robert S. Butler : Your logic is impeccable.  Another way to look at this dilemma is to focus on the "rule book"

Rule 1 :  All nice prewar engines should be purchased

Rule 2:  In case of doubt, see Rule 1.

Best wishes

Don

All those rules make logical  sense to me! Now to see if the bank account agrees. It's been a rough week. New well pump (no water for 24hrs) and to add insult to injury , the garage door opener stopped working. I was able to install that yesterday. So, unfortunately due to adulting the ol train budget is cut into. Such is life. Good thing prewar has been around 90 plus years! Have a great weekend guys.

@Donnie Kennedy posted:

All those rules make logical  sense to me! Now to see if the bank account agrees. It's been a rough week. New well pump (no water for 24hrs) and to add insult to injury , the garage door opener stopped working. I was able to install that yesterday. So, unfortunately due to adulting the ol train budget is cut into. Such is life. Good thing prewar has been around 90 plus years! Have a great weekend guys.

Donnie

Having your beautiful family makes it easier to put rules 1 and 2 on the back burner.

Ray

@Rayin"S" posted:

Donnie

Having your beautiful family makes it easier to put rules 1 and 2 on the back burner.

Ray

Ray, I couldn't agree more! I am truly blessed with a wonderful loving family and the Lord above. Have a great day!

@Dave Koehler posted:

Thank you, the link will help!  I have inventoried and  pricing a lot of S Gauge AF , High rail and scale,. Engines freight cars passenger cars, accessories and buildings and details if you are interested PM me i will mail a list

Dave,

I would very much like to have you send me a list, not sure what you mean by PM.

Ray