Need Marx Help Please

Good morning,

The Marx 666 is a very good locomotive. It usually (always?) came as a 2-4-2 and typically came with a smoke unit which worked very good. Do you know if the engine runs? If it doesn't, try this:

Remove the boiler shell, there's two screws down low by the side rods that hold the front of the boiler to the frame, the rear is held on in two slots. You may need to remove the boiler front, as the headlight socket is wired to the motor and I don't remember if the socket is attached to the boilerfront or the frame. The front is held on by the two screws on either side of it.

Once you have the motor exposed, there should be two screws holding the brush plate to the motor. Remove those two screws, and take a bit of scotchbrite to the frame where the screw holes are. Then polish the brush plate by the screwholes. At this point you can either put it all back together to test it, or you can replace brushes, clean the commutator, and lube the bearings. If I've never seen the engine run before, I generally put it back together before putting any more time or money into it. One of those screws is the ground  for the motor and if the frame gets corroded, they run poorly or not at all.

The pilot truck attaches to the frame under the smoke unit to a small bracket that is basicly a loop that is staked to the motor mount (the piece that the two screws that hold the boiler onto the motor frame screw into). That may or may not be missing too. I am guessing it is still there, as I would think you would have to remove the truck to remove that bracket, and whoever took the truck off probably didn't need the bracket.

I will have to take a look to see how the trailing truck attaches to the engine.

Anyhow, I am sure I have a beater 666 or ten laying around here. I can most likely spare a few trucks for you. Send me an email with your address and I'll get them out to you. Let me know if you need that pilot truck bracket or not. Shipping should be cheap, so if you just slip a few bucks into a Salvation Army kettle, we can call it even.

J White

The Robert Grossman Co. (http://www.trainpartsformarx.com/) is the best source for Marx parts.  his online catalog is a bit confusing unless you're familiar with Marx parts, but they are very helpful if you just explain your needs in an email.

the 666 is a great Marx locomotive that should have the double reduction gearing making it compatible with most trackwork.

what sort of train do you have?

pictures?

cheers...gary

Good Evening J White and Gary, thanks so much for your responses.  Mr. White I've sent you an e-mail direct and Gary, if I can figure out how to post some pictures, I'll certainly do that.  As for the train, I have the locomotive and tender, a caboose, a flat car, gondola, a box car that are plastic, then I also have a tin plate tank car and reefer along with a tin plate caboose.  The locomotive does intact have the double reduction gearing but I have no idea if it runs or not.  I am assuming at this point in time that it probably doesn't run but I will try and see if it does.  My plans for it and the rest of the train are to clean it up and then put it on a shelf for display.  After I hit the submit button, I'll try and see if I can post the pictures I have taken of everything.

Thank you both again for your help, it is very much appreciated.

     Marx trains in general seem to be practically unkillable. 666s, let's just say they run like, um, . I don't think you will have much of a problem.

Hello SPWills, thanks for your reply, I was able to attach some pictures I took of what I have, next step is to get them cleaned up and looking presentable again.

Thanks for your comments.

JEM

You have a mix of pieces, both tin and plastic. Nothing wrong with that. The 666 almost always came with plastic cars. What is the road name on the tender?

Steve

those look great JEM. hard to beat Marx, especially the tinplate.

Papa, the tender has New York Central on the side.  Thanks for your comments.

Steamer Dave, the cars seem to be in pretty good condition, even the tinplate cars.  The PFE reefer seems to have a price scribbled on it and I quite haven't figured out how I'm going to take it off and not mess with the paint underneath.

Thanks for your comments,

I thought that also but really didn't have a clue.  I also thought that maybe the 3 tinplate cars went with it as a set too.

Any idea when that set was made or sold or any idea when the tinplate stuff was made?

Your plastic set could be anywhere from the early fifties through the middle seventies.

The 3/16 scale tinplate would be from 1941/42 through 1957/58.

The Marx 3/16 "scale" cars, the "tin",was made from 1941 until.....I am not sure.  In

later production, about 1950? (again, I am not sure but others will be) the Reading

caboose was replaced in the freight sets with a red and gray identical stamping

caboose lettered for New York Central.  You have a mix of two sets...maybe somebody

bought part of one and added it to the other because the couplers are compatible, or

bought the 666 set because the #999, or one of the tin stamped engines that less

commonly came with the "tin" cars stopped working.  I do think your 666 loco had a pilot and trailing truck.  As a kid, I removed the trailing truck from my #999 so it

would be different from my brother's #999, as Marx did not make a large array of

wheel arrangements, so no telling what that history is.  The yellow refrigerator car

does not appear in later sets with the NYC caboose (but with Marx you can swear

nothing), so that and the caboose, to me, indicates an earlier 3/16th set.