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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

 

 

 

 

Last edited by Brian Liesberg
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Hi Brian, welcome to the forum, thanks for joining and sharing the pictures.  Wow!  You are doing some impressive work already, caring for and restoring these vintage trains!  Love your comment that it runs better than some of the new ones, amazing as it seems that can certainly be the case.  Looks like you've caught the tinplate bug, and you're in the right place for that...

Wow! you guys are fast!

 

Steve:

Tinplate was made for younger folks wasn't it?

I think that's what makes it so fun though, I love the bright colors, shiny trim and all the little gadgets you can have buzzing and lighting up. I live in San Diego County by the way.

 

Hojack:

I've had experience working on many other antiques (including the real thing ) 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.

 

I'm glad I found a good place to meet other enthusiasts, I can't seem to find many people here in California that are interested in it. They think anything made past last December is an antique  

Last edited by Brian Liesberg

Steve:

Sound fun! I'll let you know the next time I'm in the area, I occasionally see some tinplate when I go to our club meetings (AGTTA) but not as much as HO and postwar lionel /American Flyer.

 

Woojr:

Thanks! The Christmas lights are just regular Walmart brand C7 lights, I haven't ever seen any original Christmas lights for sale (though I bet they have them on ebay).

 

Everyone has a different opinion on restoration vs. original, like I said earlier I like mine to shine but I have nothing against those who like patina. If you want, I got a big box of track with a goldmine of patina if you wanna' trade for some shiny new track

 

Is there a gallery of members' trains? I'd like to see what other people have rolling around!

 

 

Last edited by Brian Liesberg
Been up to AGTTA a while back. Great group, but I agree, not much tin. Hook up with Bob Wall sometime and come up to Anaheim for the TTOS SP meet. He also does our raffles.
 
Steve
 
Originally Posted by Brian Liesberg:

Steve:

Sound fun! I'll let you know the next time I'm in the area, I occasionally see some tinplate when I go to our club meetings (AGTTA) but not as much as HO and postwar lionel /American Flyer.

 

Welcome aboard! Nice work on the sets. This place is great. If its broke someone here can fix it or knows somebody else who can. If you don’t know what it is somebody on this board does. If you cant find something you need or want someone on this board has it or knows where one is, If you need help with something someone on this board will help you. You get the picture I'm sure.

Again welcome aboard grab a handrail and as the Webmaster said Hang On!

Originally Posted by Steve "Papa" Eastman:

Brian

Your welcome to wander a few mile north to Yorba Linda and play trains at my place. Sure we could get forum regular cataincog to join in. Our TTOS division meets in Anaheim and we almost always have some tinplate running. One of our regulars drives up from San Diego for the meets every month.

 

Steve

Yup. sounds good to me since I now have a red 256 Rich Art set that needs some attention and run time.....

Brian

 

Welcome! If you are in San Diego, you're just a few hours on the freeway from beautiful, scenic Tucson, Arizona. If you ever get there, be sure to visit the Gadsden Pacific Toy Train Museum. We have layouts in every gauge from N to 7-1/2" outdoor, including a tinplate layout incorporating both Standard Gauge and 0 gauge. There are two main lines each for Standard and 0 gauges, plus a spectator-operated Standard Gauge trolley. I am the chairman of the Tinplate layout committee and I built most of the Standard Gauge layout. We have open house on the second and fourth Sunday of each month except July and August, and work sessions on Wednesday nights where you can meet the members. If you can visit Tucson, look up my e-mail in my profile and I'll help you plan your trip. 

Hiawatha:

I'll have to come see it sometime! We head out to Tucson a lot to visit some friends and go 4 wheeling, I'll have to check it out the next time I'm up that way (maybe Thanksgiving?). I haven't seen much standard gauge in action so that would be pretty cool!

 

P.S. Cool name, the Hiawatha is my favorite streamliner 

 

Dave:

You guys got a lot of cool trains on the east coast. One of my friends in PA. wants me to come visit and I insisted if I did then we'd have to see the Strasberg R.R. Museum.

 

Steamer:

You might be able to get a glimpse of my 1912 Columbia Eclipse here:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/ph.../5536302648991846801

Gramophones (and radios) were my first hobby, I've had quite a few over the years but the number has dwindled down to just a few now as I have more important things to waste my money on nowadays  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.

 

Last edited by Brian Liesberg

Brian

Welcome aboard 

Glad you joined us. You are now part of the best form for discussing tinplate trains. There is a lot of knowledge here and a bunch of wonderful folks willing to share it. It is very nice to see a young person so very interested in tinplate. You have some very nice trains. Thank you for sharing them with us.

 

Enjoy

 

Frank 

I've already got a lot of helpful replies on my 2nd post, everybody is pretty fast to respond too! Later on I'll have to meet some of you guys and check out some bigger layouts. Speaking of do you guys have layouts? I just set up all my trains (Tinplate, O, On30, & HO) all on the floor, was kinda' curious as to what the preference is?

 

Samplingman:

I do love my gramophones

how'd you know I was into WW1?

Oh! thought I only sent a picture of the Gramophone. No big deal though, nothing in there that I care about getting on the web, that's why I posted the pics up.

 

Awesome set by the way, is that an original Lionel 203 or MTH? I really want to add one of those to my collection at some point. Looks like you got some pretty cool ww1 toys!

 

I like setting up on the floor just because I can re-arrange everything different every time, I would probably enjoy building a layout more than running on it just for that reason.  Nice to see I'm not alone in that aspect, last club meeting I went to I got harassed for not owning a layout

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