Tender for Marx 666

97% of the Marx 666 and 1666 locos came with the slope backed tender that we all associate with switch engines. Why Marx put a switcher tender behind a road engine is anybody's guess.

i'm not sure if i'd put the percentage that high, but there certainly are a lot of plastic sets with the slope back tender style.  my guess is that it was the cheapest to produce.  the #666 and later #1666 were more of a 1950's locomotive, a decade which ended producing mostly plastic sets.  but in metal sets, mostly scale sets, the D-truck, wedge tender, sometimes w/ work light, was also a popular coupling with the #666 loco.

the #666 coupler sits a bit higher than the #333 or #999, so with the wedge tender, D trucks (left) provide a better match than the scale B trucks (right).

interesting, thanks for the info.  now I know more hahaha

They did?  That's not what my 1958 Allstate set has.  It uses a "regular" rectangular shaped tender.

George

I believe RoyBoy said "97%" because one never says never or always with Marx.    The fact is though, that most 666s and 1666s did come with the slope tender.  And Penn Central??  How many steam engines do you suppose the PC fielded?  But it's common to find.  Marx is fun.

I didn't know that. 

No kidding?

George

Sure, discussing prototype practice in the same conversation as Marx makes about as

much sense as...it makes no sense at all. But we do it; I do it; Marx can be a relaxing

break from my "correct" Hi-rail concerns. I wish that Marx had truly survived - like Lionel survived to become what it is today - to evolve into a 21st century "tinplate" company (imagine a "realistic-ish" Marx 6-4-4-6 PRR Duplex streamliner - all 031/036 stamped

sheet-metal Art-Deco and the like).

Anyway.

Some thought was given above to Marx putting a switcher sloped-back tender behind a road engine like the 666.

1 - was the 666 (The Beast; love'em) a "road engine"?; it was a 2-4-2, for goodness'

sake.

2 - sloped-back tenders were used for vision, of course, and could be found on transfer

locos, too - and the ATSF 2-10-10-2 Mallets, you know (they often pulled trains over

the road backwards - really). Chinese 2-8-2's, as used right this minute, typically/always have sloped-back tenders, even on commuter runs. 

3 - the sloped-back tender just looks right with The Beast.

4 - it's Marx (hmmmm...Marx...China...Marxism...coincidence?...I dunno); they offered

Penn Central steamers. 

Yeah, I wish Marx had survived as well.  That set got me started in this hobby and holds a spot in my heart.

George

goofy sure is the right work for those couplers AND the Penn central steamer hahaha  but hey, this hobby is supposed to be fun and I don't care if I run my General next to a Mark 666 next to an Amtrak superliner hahaha.  Merry Christmas all, Happy Holidays and keep playing.

Lionel coffin tenders can be modified to look good behind 666/1666.

As for those couplers some of you guys call "goofy", consider:  1)They work - easy coupling and uncoupling.  2)From the side, at least, they are much more to scale than L or AF couplers of the era.  3)If they start unwanted uncoupling, all that is needed is to remove the spring, bend it a little, and reinstall it, a 60-second job. 

With wishes that Marx trains survived, if they had, I think they would have had to

change for the market....i.e. convert to knuckle couplers (operating ones), and there

were Marx accessory Lionel compatible knuckle coupler that snapped on car axles.

This is like the catalog fantasies, but I'd think if Marx trains had survived, they would

be something like pre-Bachmann Williams. (what is the status of "New Marx", I didn't

notice them in the yellow hall this last time?)  Of course, the cheap plastic last efforts

of Marx would not have made it to this day.  In a sense, K-Line was the continuation

of Marx, and note how its products became better and better models through its life

span.  Maybe K-Line rather than Williams is the better forecaster of the possibilities,

since they used some of the old Marx molds.  My Marx tilt/fork couplers when a kid

worked much better than my cousin's prewar Lionel "latch" couplers.  I don't remember that, as with Marx, I could just back up the engine and couple up, with

out manual assistance with the latch ones, but it has been a few decades.

Colorado hirailer, you and I think alike.

Joe's Trains was the last owner and producer of a very limited line of New Marx, but now I see that that website no longer exists.  Anybody know anything beyond that?

The 1951 style tender was very common with the 666. The SP was made by the zillions it seems. Came in a few roadnames and looks really nice with the 666 or 1666.

Joe's Trains is still putting boxcars and stock cars together with any residual litho sheets he has. Mainly the series 4 cars, orange WP cars and Rio Grande. Al Schindler will gladly take orders for them. He is a dealer for Grossman Marx parts also. Now that Joe has had some time to digest what he bought and the low sales of the series 4 cars, just my opinion, but I would bet he does not spend the capitol to get new roadnames designed and printed along with funding the repairs need to get the tooling in better shape. The tooling has been around quite a while now.

Steve

Yep, here's my SP style Marx tender.

And a better look at those funky horned couplers.

George

Steve, thanks for the update on new Marx.  Al is a good guy to deal with.

That All State tender is what I got in 1959 with 666 in my first train set.   Marx built, natch.

Yes, mine was a very big deal.  This "Allstate" set had nine pieces of rolling stock in the kit:  engine, tender, autorack w/ 4 plastic red & yellow cars, 3-dome tanker, TTOFC, B&M box car, flatcar, crane, caboose.  There was also a blue Marx transformer, track, and track clips.  I seem to recall the 666 locomotive may have originally used pellets?  Is that right?

Some trackside accessories (signs, plastic crossing gate) were also part of that Christmas (1958).  I was 4 at the time.  My mother still maintains that my father and grandfather were the ones who really wanted the train set! 

George

Marx smoke units always used liquid. They had a smoke fluid bottle with a steel rod in the top. The fluid was transferred to the smoke unit by jabbing the rod into the smokestack. Marx had a pretty rugged heater element to withstand kid's jabbing.

Thanks RoyBoy!  I guess I didn't remember that correctly.  I know we've always run liquid smoke in the 666 and it still smokes like crazy.  Heavy, rugged, metal gearing - that thing just keeps on running! 

George

My 666 ran it's last run on the morning of Christmas 1964. It was used to pull a train of mixed Marx and Lionel cars around the living room floor early that morning.  A few minutes later I opened up my main present that year....and from my point of view, my only present.  A nearly new Lionel UP yellow 2023 Alco FA set, in near mint shape, with original box, instructions...the whole bit!  About a year later, one of the kids took the neglected steamer out and played with it in the neighbor's sand box. Thus ending the short, sad, unappreciated life of one of Girard's finest !   The smoke unit was OK, the rest was ....well.....less than optimal.

rugged is an appropriate word for the Marx smoke unit.  it can be run dry for years, but as soon as you hit it with a drop, the smoke picks up right where it left off.  certainly not as voluminous as the modern fan units, but clearly rivaled Lionel's tablet system.

Thanks for that photo 'flyer, it's all coming back to me now.  I have (or had) that green bottle of Marx Locomotive Smoke fluid.  What wonderful memories that trainset holds for me.   

And I agree, the smoke output is instantaneous and pretty good, even after years on the shelf.

George

OK gang, here's my first train set - a Marx Allstate set purchased for Christmas 1958.

I haven't had this entire train set on tracks in over 40 years!

George

Here is my first Marx & O gauge set.

Steve