My Big Little Find At York - Early HO

A great looking set. Can't wait to see it. 

That really is a very cool set Eric. As someone who has never tried HO or Bing that sure makes me want to start looking. Very cool....

I usually don't pay much attention to the smaller stuff, but that is really cool.  Are you going to try to run it?

Thank you for the "likes" and kind comments! I usually consider myself a standard gauge collector and operator, but in addition to my prewar O and modern Hi-Rail here I am with HO. The bottom line is I collect anything that I like and yes I do intend to operate this, if only once. I will take and post videos.

Eric Hofberg

TCA, LCCA, LOTS 

That's a neat set - thanks for sharing!

-Greg

Very nice find ...there were a few of the little Bing sets or pieces spread around at York ...

here is a nice video of one of the table top set running

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AONqtRFBhtE

and another

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QnZQFmac04

Interesting Bing  was exporting for the British and American market..both clockwork and electric

Here are some catalog pges found on the web .    I hope to duplicate this layout design  one day on my layout , still gathering a few bits  to complete.

Bing tabletop trains certainly have   "tinplate" charm in a lilliputian size . 

There is a German/English book about the Bing Table Railway (see https://www.amazon.com//gp/off...&tag=bkfndr76-20) which I bought years ago for a normal price; I had a look in it for your set. 

Your set, which is very nice, looks like set No 3 but with Americanized loco and coaches:

There were many variations in train sets in the Bing Table Railway range, however I do not think there was ever a transformer in a set; a transformer could be had separately; I bought a unboxed simple set once and this came with a transformer. You can see my set and transformer here:

I assume these were expensive toys which were only played with under adult supervision; when I see some Bing Table Railway items they are normally still in a good condition.

Regards

Fred

Carey: Thank you for the catalog information and the links to the videos. It is exactly what I had intended to look for.

Fred: My set is #3 according to the sticker near the label. There is a cutout partially visible in the picture of the power connector track that I and my friends assumed was for the power plug. I will enclose a better picture of the hole. Thank you for the this information and any additional that you can provide.

Eric Hofberg

TCA, LCCA, LOTS

Simply Iconic. Really brings back the memories looking at this picture... thank you for sharing.

chug posted:

I came home with this early Bing table top railway set circa 1921.

The Bing Table Railway book states that Bing Table Railway clockwork sets were introduced in 1922 and electric ones 2 years later in 1924; they stopped making them in 1932. Just a detail, but your set is from between 1924 and 1932.

Regards

Fred

That is really cool! I am always taken by the European signals with the lever to change the aspect. I have a few O Gauge versions by Hornby. Great fun.

I've been meaning to hunt down some 3rail HO to show a neighbor it really existed. Thanks for doing the leg work; this does the trick nicely

Thank you Fred for the link to your video and book !!!   Who would have guessed there is a Bing OO movement out there large enough for a book !   Tinplate is fun no matter the size.

Cheers Carey

chug posted:

There is a cutout partially visible in the picture of the power connector track that I and my friends assumed was for the power plug. 

Eric Hofberg

 

Eric,

I assume that cutout is for the Low voltage controller (Schwachstromregler); see also this set:

And here two pages from the 1930 BING traders catalog (in three languages (but not English ;-(); the low voltage controller can be seen in the second page (just above my finger).

There is no mentioning anywhere that transformers were included in sets, but however it might have been different for export to the USA.

There are two German websites with further information on BING table railways; with Google translate it might be possible to understand these:

http://tischeisenbahn.de/

and

http://www.spur00.de/bing/bing.htm

Regards

Fred

Fred: Thank you! Once again you have provided the information that I was seeking. Now I know the approximate year of manufacture and about the low voltage controller. This is the only boxed tabletop set that I own, but I do have a clockwork European elevated version as well as 2 clockwork American style engines. I need to find some of those freight cars!

Eric Hofberg