Russian Tinplate

The boy stepped away from the transformer for a moment.  He's just out of view off to the right of the picture. 

   By the way, the illustrated train layout is the "politically correct" layout which is to say it is the "official" layout for the Russian set. The set came with a designated track plan (the one illustrated) and the set instructions indicate where each specific piece of track and each accessory is supposed to go.

  Each piece of track has a numbered tag indicating its placement in the layout and the wiring harness that is part of the train set is set up so that you can basically assemble the set in just one way.  It would appear that the young owner has violated protocol to some extent because I don't see the outside flagman whose place is on the left side of the train station and the transformer is supposed to be installed about where the two girls are standing.  It also appears that he has altered the location of the road grade crossing and the Moskabel copy of Lionel's #45 gateman.

I enjoyed this illustration especially how the dirt road corkscrews up the mountain to dead end at the peak. What brought a smile to my face were the side of the road barriers that stop at the bottom of the mountain. Yikes. Maybe a helix of superstreets as a modern day variation would do and have some muscle car roaring up the tight curves  The girls clothing ( not being a Soviet era fashion expert) look like U.S fashions from the 1900's or 20's as seen on that eras advertisements here in the states. Thanks for posting this.

I picked up a set a few years ago, no transformer and the box is not original

That's a terrific display! You have the blue locomotive, the passenger cars, the station, the lights and the signals. Very nice!

I have the whole set minus the glass light globes, even the wooden crate they came in.

Scott Smith

That's fantastic! Thanks for the photos, Scott!

Can anyone tell me where I can get a copy of that colored artwork? I have a Stalin era version of this set as well, minus the setbox, and would love to get a copy of that artwork.

The set comes with two passenger cars, a box car, stake car, three lights, three signals, a crossing gate, station, brige, flagman, and a gateman (almost a direct knockoff of a prewar Lionel gateman), track, switches, wiring harness, and transformer. It came in only one configuration, but with different components. Dave's Trains has a wealth of info on this. Really, really cool and odd set from the cold war era Soviet Union.

Thanks.

According to Stephen Ellcock's Facebook page, the original is from a nine-volume set called "Russian Industry Catalogue 1956-1961."

 Unfortunately, I don't know where reproductions can be found, nor if it is a poster.

He has them available

http://www.davestrains.com/index.html

the "peoples"  GG-1, of course invented by the Russians.   bertiejoa

No I just know he has the best site on Soviet trains I've found.

Just came home with most of what is in the picture above. Have not sorted it yet. Track, switches, station, signals, bridge, crossing, crossing shanty, loco, 2 passenger cars, 2 freight cars, street lights. Lots of stuff to sort. The link to Dave's site I'm sure will be of great help. Unfortunately a lot has been repainted so this will be a long term project.

Steve

Here are a few pictures of the pieces.

 These show how the track, switches etc are numbered to be assembled in the correct sequence.

I assume the loops under the track is where the bullet connectors go.

 I am guessing the outer clips should be for cable management to keep thing tidy?

Here is the transformer. Has a sort of Flyer look to it.

Here is the box. I am missing the front and a couple of outer panels need replacing badly.

Steve

The over spay at the base of the door has been touched up. Bad masking on my part.

Here is the bridge and approaches as I got them. The approaches have been hand painted green, including paint on the track. One of the posts is missing and one has a broken tab. The bridge has also been poorly repainted.

Here is a home made replacement post and the one with a broken tab has been repaired.

Here is the completed bridge and approaches. The bottom view shows I matched the original colors fairly well.

Here is the gate crossing. First photo shows how I got it.

Below are pictures of the fence and post where I sanded through to find the original colors.

Here is the completed piece.

The Station, Before

The Station, After

This is the only piece I have done that did not closely match the original color. The building, roof, fences & benches match the original color, but I opted for a lighter green instead of dark green. The lighter green is shown on Dave's website and I liked it better.

Got my locomotive reassembled last night so I took it into work today for a test run the the store layout. You can see the station in the background.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vt9IV6tA78

Steve

That's a great set...thanks for the video, Steve!

Got a call this morning from a friend and co-worker that is in Reno for the LOTS/TTOS combined convention. At one of the home layout tours, a gentleman had some of the Russian items and told my friend he would be selling at the trading hall. My friend was able to pick up the flag man for me. The only major piece I was missing. Won't see it for about a week, but I'm excited.

Steve

I texted my friend to see if he can get contact info on the guy that was selling the Russian stuff. I'll let you know.

Steve

I saw this Russian Christmas card for sale on E-Bay. The loco looks almost like the one in the Russian tin set so I downloaded a copy of the front of it.

Steve

I have always had my eye on this engine! One of these day's I'll find one and pull the trigger!