@Fatman posted:

Help required from our fine American comrades

Pretty much whenever I see a US vintage clockwork loco here in Australia, I am gonna try and snatch it, limited budget permitting, so this fellow has to come live with me .

Much like a young Charles Darwin however, I am left to contemplate "The Origin of Species " and as you fine folk here are the Galapagos to my Darwin when it comes to early USA locos I present for your delectation, perusal, and knowledge emanation... the following ...

My mind wants to say Hafner ... but the mech having a normal shaft and key confuses me?

Mind you it is not in hand yet so its hard for me to say if its a swapped mech , but I would find that unlikely , because ..Australia... and just how many mechs are laying around in the 10-30's? not many I would guess ...

So turning it over to you wonderful gaggle of brethren with better knowledge than I !

It's an American Flyer Metzel type casting with rivet detail and 10-spoke cast iron wheels, so it dates to about 1916, possibly 1917.  It would be the tail end of the production of this motor.

NWL

Oh Wow thank you for the excellent news @Nation Wide Lines I looked at Edmonds-Metzel and while the body was good , the mech didnt look the same on the examples I could google up ... and the 10 spoke wheels were nowhere to be seen ... only on other AF versions .

So possibly the last of the Metzels cast bodies fitted with 1916-17 type wheels makes sense? 

Kinda Stoked at that and as always wonder how the heck it got here ... Loco was from a non-train seller and was part of a deceased estate they have had for years .. in fact it was advertised as "Antique 1930's Iron toy clockwork steam engine working OK " I made a cheeky offer and a price was sorted

Thank you for taking a chunk out of out my huge weak spot of early USA locos !

Found a Bing 10/6114 ticket locker (is this the correct name ?) made 1925 - 1932, but in a uncommon french labeling.

Arne

@Fatman posted:

Oh Wow thank you for the excellent news @Nation Wide Lines I looked at Edmonds-Metzel and while the body was good , the mech didnt look the same on the examples I could google up ... and the 10 spoke wheels were nowhere to be seen ... only on other AF versions .

So possibly the last of the Metzels cast bodies fitted with 1916-17 type wheels makes sense? 

Kinda Stoked at that and as always wonder how the heck it got here ... Loco was from a non-train seller and was part of a deceased estate they have had for years .. in fact it was advertised as "Antique 1930's Iron toy clockwork steam engine working OK " I made a cheeky offer and a price was sorted

Thank you for taking a chunk out of out my huge weak spot of early USA locos !

Fatman,

I actually purchased some early Flyer cars c. 1915/1916 out of Australia several years ago and wondered how they got there as well!

Here are photos of what I purchased from down-under

A c. 1915 baggage car

and a c. 1916 coach

I was most surprised by the fact that the two cars were mixed between an early wood wall pattern litho baggage and a later steel wall pattern coach.

NWL

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Let me check my extras. I may have a SF Diner.

Steve

This is an extra diner. Roof has scratches and it has plastic couplers.

Steve

@Nation Wide Lines Wouldnt it be a hoot if your hodge podge of carriages came from the same house as my hodge podge Metzel!!! Only to be virtually reunited on the forum after 100 years !

The Metzel is obviously the shining pinnacle this week , but it is overshadowing some cool finds this week as well ...

I snapped up a fully working Davis-Electra transformer/controller manufactured for ROBILT ...max 20Vac Big Beefy Bugga ! Thanks Nick for parting with it !

And a smattering of wagons/coaches from the Dutch Connection ( cue quirky theme music !)

only marked "Made in US Zone" Beckh? although the bases look Schuhmann? perhaps from the pre-war tooling when Beckh acquired AS and produced directly after the war ?

I particularly like this one tho ... a Gas car

A little Bub tender ...

Unmarked but fairly sure its a Bub Crane car

And a little blue Issmayer

And in "Non-trainyville" I also scored a neat little Hess Dynamobil ... fascinating stored energy flywheel motor power unit that can be attached to pretty much any steam tool accessory to power it safely without handing your kids a bottle of fuel and matches !!! LOL!

Turning the handle imparts huge RPM into a large flywheel inside it and then the stored power can be transfered to the output pully with a simple on/off dog clutch.. I love it !

I acquired one locally a few years ago but it didnt have the litho top cover ...

@Arne posted:

A few news in the collection.

Brimtoy train 124, made 1916

Bub indicators from the 30s, all the same with different names.

Germany

Netherland

France

Danmark

And a unknown indicator for Australia

With Adelaide, Mildura, Albury, Bendigo, Frankston, Geelong, Flinders St

Arne

Hello @Arne and thanks @Fatman for notifying me of the post.

Great work finding the Bonnie Toys (F W Strong) station indicator.

As Fatman noted they are thin on the ground here in Australia. There have been a few more than usual over the last three years or so due to two large Australian collections being sold off. Once the disposal of these collections has been finalised I’m guessing that it will go back to only one or two popping up a year.

Your destination/station indicator is a good example. It is a later version with round die cast base and post. Early ones had a rectangular wooden base and a repurposed 4” timber nail as a post (rare). The Victorian/SA station names are not as common as the Victorian/NSW station names. The rarest ones are those with Queensland station names (have only seen 2 offered for sale)

These date from between 1949 - 1958ish. And follow the post war austerity era tradition of repurposing surplus army stocks into toys, hence the top of the indicator being made from a tin wax match box.

The maker of these signs, a Mr Fredrick W Strauss fled Germany in 1939 but made good use of toolmaking skills he learnt as a toolmaker in the Mercedes Benz factory to make cast hand bag fittings etc... under his new name of Fredrick W Strong.  Post war brought a shortage of imported goods , in particular toy trains were scarce on the ground in the late 40’s (as noted in the newspapers of the time) and ones like Mr Strong stepped in to help fill the toy store shelves. Your sign would have been originally packaged in a red and black cardboard box as a Bonnie Toy Product by F W Strong with a terrier logo (the family’s pet).

Bonnie Toys/F W Strong made several railway accessories including a battery powered signal (rare), crossing gates (common), road signs, power poles (rare) and a mini Sydney harbour bridge (rarer than a live Dodo). The decline of the product can be dated by the introduction of cast metal HO/00 accessories for a short period of time. This seems to indicate the late 1950’s early 1960’s when O gauge died with the importation of 00/H0 models as import restrictions eased. Either way it was all sadly wrapped up by 1966 with the passing of Mr Strong.  (Information thanks to Bruce MacDonald’s book Spring, Spark and Steam and his many articles in the HRCAA journals)

All in all a nice rare period piece to add to your collection. Enjoy!

Kind Regards

Jamie

@Fatman posted:

And a smattering of wagons/coaches from the Dutch Connection ( cue quirky theme music !)

only marked "Made in US Zone" Beckh? although the bases look Schuhmann? perhaps from the pre-war tooling when Beckh acquired AS and produced directly after the war ?

I particularly like this one tho ... a Gas car

Hello Fatman,

your right, all made by Beckh, the white and the brown car was sold under the same number 140/3. made between 1950 and 1960.

The gas car was made by Schuhmann 1935 first and later by Beckh till 1960, number is 140/8.

Arne

A great add to the collection, Kraus Fandor train 1001/4F, made 1937 only.

The engine has a friction wheel with a flint and throws sparks through the chimney when it drives.

The Hornby crew is struggling with how they are going to make up the train for the long distance freight.  Hmmm...

Fantastic find @Arne rare and in excellent condition! beautiful!

While not tinplate I did come across some cast teeny trains as well ..

Made by Crescent and Gaeity Toys in the UK

( just too cute to ignore lol )

The three larger A4 loco's and carriage are Crescent , the bottom left Maroon one is Gaeity, both from the 50's the other two bottom right are Benbros No16a locomotives C1953/4

* Interesting factoid .. two of the young fellows 'Smith & Odell' who made these Crescent trains were taught their diecast trade there ... and went on to create ... Matchbox !!! So there is a fair bet they cast at least one of those trains in their youth  lol

The layout is finally uncovered now that the Leipzig Station platform extension, new LED lighting and additional 20 amp circuits projects have been completed. Many extension cords and ganged outlets have been eliminated adding a measure of safety to the train room. The Grand Station is now prominently featured on its own sub-platform.

WOW JIM!  That looks great!

@jhz563 posted:

WOW JIM!  That looks great!

A second WOW! from me.

George

Jim:  The station is FANTASTIC !!  I love the way you have brought it to life with the people, tables, and other additions.  Thanks for posting1

Don

@jhz563 posted:

The Hornby crew is struggling with how they are going to make up the train for the long distance freight.  Hmmm...

Rubber bands? Zip ties? Twisty ties? Paper clips?

George

@George S posted:

Rubber bands? Zip ties? Twisty ties? Paper clips?

George

Paper clip work for most cases.  Marx twist couplers present a unique challenge for sure!

Mr JKE your Leipzig made my heart Leap-Zig ! ... wonderful !

Coming South to Casa Fatmanos is a nice pair of Heinrich Wimmer 8-wheel carriages carrying both the Made in US Zone AND HWN logos Missing one pair of wheels , but luckily I got that big 99c box full last week LOL!

The Standard Gauge track got finished (two straight pieces had to be cut to fit the table size) and screwed down to the table, and then wired for the MTH Z400 transformer yesterday. A little test run video made. Loving the purple, orange & blue, and apple green cars for Halloween! The O-31 tubular track circle is expected today! Showing the 'finished' Standard Gauge area, before the track got sorted.

@Arne posted:

Found a Bing 10/6114 ticket locker (is this the correct name ?) made 1925 - 1932, but in a uncommon french labeling.

Arne

Love these. Would be so cool to find one with the tickets.

I have the British locker with tickets. It says "Booking office" instead of Billets and looks very similar to this one. 

Here’s a SpookyHalloween pic you won’t see everyday- smoke hovering in the Foyer that drifted over towards the windows. (MTH Proto) Smoke from my MTH Ives 1134 engine on my Halloween Layout.

Not anything exotic..... just the clickety clack of vintage Tinplate traveling the never ending loop.

Marx - KCS Diesel - production (on the left) and factory hand painted prototype (on the right)

Adding a construction scene to the layout.  Found these cute Linemar construction toys to go with the orange barrels I picked up at York a couple of years ago.

The digger is cute and has a lithographed operator inside.

Still need to figure out how and where to place the items.

NWL

@Nation Wide Lines posted:

Adding a construction scene to the layout.  Found these cute Linemar construction toys to go with the orange barrels I picked up at York a couple of years ago.

The digger is cute and has a lithographed operator inside.

Still need to figure out how and where to place the items.

NWL

NWL, Love these!

Proud recipient of this very nice station.  I don't know much about the manufacturer,  Heinrich Wimmer Nurnberg, although apparently they collaborate with Karl Bub on at least one occasion.  My found this online and had it shipped from the Netherlands.

I have to tell,  the litho for the flower boxes is so good I had to check to see if they were embossed.   They are not,  just amazing graphics.

Happy Halloween! Ghosts and ghouls inhabit this early Marklin No. 1940 hand-painted station from 1898-1903.

I had some success with the Cabin Fever Auction of MTH stuff last week.

Hamilton Flyer car samples ($91.00 each)

3 300 Series passenger cars ($40.00). These will be painted for the Polar Express.

A set of 4 400 series cars for $200.00

Scott Smith

JKE: I add to the above chorus impressed by your customized display of that MASTERPIECE original Marklin Leipzig station! VERY nice, indeed!

The beast has arrived. Waterman Train Shops STD Gauge GG1 congressional set. Glad I ordered the 30” passenger cars.

Steve

@Tinplate Art posted:

JKE: I add to the above chorus impressed by your customized display of that MTH MASTERPIECE station! VERY nice, indeed!

Art, I think that's an original Marklin Leipzig.

@MikeH posted:

Art, I think that's an original Marklin Leipzig.

good thing you have a garage to put it in,,,,zowie

FEF

Steve

OOPS, my bad! SORRY about that, JKE! THANKS for the correction, MikeH. (Still, MTH did a fine  job with their repro.)

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

The beast has arrived. Waterman Train Shops STD Gauge GG1 congressional set. Glad I ordered the 30” passenger cars.

Steve

Where did you get that miniature version of the Hellgate bridge? 

This was my second major goof on the forum in two days! Maybe I am either not paying enough attention or I am not able to participate in a lucid manner! On my real trains thread, I mis-identified a well know CSX radio frequency as 137.000 instead of the correct 161.370! Time to hang it up? :-( :-(

I started on this forum in 2001, and I am now 78, so maybe I should just follow and not post incorrectly?

@Tinplate Art posted:

I started on this forum in 2001, and I am now 78, so maybe I should just follow and not post incorrectly?

Art, I wouldn't worry about it.  Nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes.  Keep posting!