Those Battery Tin Trains...

Very neat!  Interesting to see two-rail, track powered tinplate.  Even though I prefer the windups, I do have a few Marx 591 and 401 battery powered locomotives (using onboard D cells) that I like to run on the clockwork layout... but I have never got around to making a decent video of them.  Sometimes I let a battery loco circle on an inside track while I run clockworks on another track.  Also have a Marx "Meteor" set that is battery powered, but uses a 6 volt lantern battery in a power pack connected to conventional 3 rail track - obviously, it won't run on my layout. 

Here is a short video of a small layout I built... it shows a Marx battery 591 as well as a windup:

Way cool..its amazing how their speeds are coordinated with two entirely different power sources

Mettoy in England made some battery powered locomotives, this was about 50 or more years ago.   I have one, it is shown on page 6 of the New Zealand Hornby website (which is not restricted to Hornby)   http://hornbynz.tripod.com/

I look after this site which maybe some of you may like to have a look at.

 You know you guys probably made the prices of wind ups and battery operated trains go up on the Bay with those videos

What can I say?  They're worth every penny!  

Edit:  It's supposed to be a snowy, icy mess here in the Ozarks tomorrow... it may be the perfect day to make a battery train video.    It doesn't even matter if the power goes out - the trains are powered by batteries and springs, and the video camera is all charged up!

Colin

The site was wonderful, full of eye candy and a concise summary of this aspect of the hobby.The community here in the states interested in clockworks and battery  trains is such a small minority ( or seems to be) that information is difficult to obtain or is simply not there, except occasionally at Tinplate Times, a site I am sure you already know about. 

What is interesting to me, is that tinplate battery trains are the precursors to the sophisticated lithium battery driven and RC controlled world of G gauge trains in a line of evolution. I suspect O gauge has this potential to rid itself of hard wiring..maybe even go outdoors due to this, although this seems more common in the UK. Windups and battery trains of mine have gone outdoors for short visits with temporary Hornby track and are a lot of fun. 

James

great minds run in the same direction..I created the same sort of portable layout and while not a battery video..I think these vest pocket layouts are a lot of fun. Mine is a layout separately created for them distinct from the main layout that is housed in another room...

Another way cool battery job..

Love your creativity, James! i am always interested in tinplate clockwork and battery-powered designs.

Colin, thanks for the tinplate link. 

Colin, let me offer my compliments on your website, also.  Very interesting!

Electroliner, I really like your clockwork layout!  Lots of action and interest in a small space - neat video.

As promised, we are getting some inclement winter weather today (thunder sleet at the moment - that's right, a thunderstorm that is dropping sleet like crazy!).  So, I shot a little video of my Marx 591 and 401 battery operated locomotives running around the clockwork layout.  There are actually four different locomotives in the video, two different 591's and two different 401's.  Some of the batteries were, shall we say, "perkier" than others... you'll see the difference in speeds in the video.  Hope you enjoy it...

James,

Man.. That is simply one way cool..video and layout..enjoyed the music to boot. 

Thumbs up.