Hi!
I just joined up and though I'd introduce myself. My name is Brian, I'm 21 and (obviously) I collect model trains, and take an interest in tinplate.
I just recently started collecting tinplate last year when I got a Lionel No. 164 outfit as a gift for my birthday, which quickly expanded to a 259e locomotive and freight. I really enjoy tinplate, it has a lot more "fun" atmosphere to it than a scale model (not to say I don't like scale models too) and luckily for me tend to be cheaper than many of the scale models as well.
Here's my 154, it's mostly original, I found some paint that was the exact color and used it as touch up paint for scratches and dings, and completely repainted one of the passenger cars and the locomotive truck because they were in rough shape. The motor runs smoother than most modern sets I have. On the inside of the cab is written August, 1917.
Here is my 252e, it's not in as good of shape but it still runs decent. I found a whistling mechanism and installed it in the tender, the mechanical whistle sounds amazing by the way! I repainted the little green gondolas behind it, bought them and a beat up caboose for $40 and all the really needed was a fresh coat of green paint, the trucks are still sporting the original gloss black without a scratch!
Scenery is kind of assorted between Lionel & MTH (but mostly Lionel) and a few old tinplate toys I threw in 
Little thing me and my friends did during a Christmas event at our local RR. 1920's style Christmas starring prewar Lionel trains (although the gramophone in the corner seemed to be attracting more people).
Anyhow, I thought joining up on a tinplate forum would be a good way to meet some people with the same interests and get some good tips and tricks for a newbie
-Brian
) prior to starting my tinplate collection. I love history, I don't like to see it rotting away. I know some people like "patina" but I don't want people to look at this stuff now and think "oh what a rusty piece of junk" I want them to see a shiny new Lionel set and think "Wow! so that's what MADE IN USA means!" or see how much pride people used to take in their work.
Anyhow I bought it down the street for $80, it wasn't working and the finish was flaking off (hard to see in the pics but it looked like the aftermath of a bad sunburn) so I took it all apart, had to replace a couple gears and a bearing and order a new decal (they didn't make the original but I was told this decal was still correct for this model) and a reproducer kit. All in all it was a fun little project.
