Tinplate photos 📸 and videos 📽

@Fatman- What a great find, fun, colorful, and part of our hobby's great history!  Hard to beat that.  Oh yea, as far as "tipping you over the edge" - well, my friend, always glad to help .  OK, going back to our series of posts on my TRENEX HO engine, I have finally figured it out.  Yes, as per the box that Fatman kindly posted, this is a BATTERY locomotive.  I took the engine apart and found the battery compartment, not really all that hard once you know where it is, UNDER the grey plastic roof.  What I was calling a "switch" in the center of the roof is actually a "latch" which when slid forward, locks the roof in place.  By chance I slid it backward and lo and behold, the roof came free revealing the battery compartment.  It takes a lot of power...Two (2) R-6 1/6V cylindrical batteries and a single 6F-22 9 volt battery.  I also opened the locomotive body to reveal the motor and a very complex (to me) circuit board.  By following the wires, it does appear that it was possible to run this off of catenary by using pantographs.  There is a metal contact that is wired to the motor under the plastic pantograph mounting.  What I find is that this is a reasonably sophisticated locomotive much more complex than I imagined at first.

Here is the cab raised off of the frame to reveal the motor.  Note the rather complex circuit board and the blue/yellow twisted pair go to the base of the pantograph.  Another smart design feature is that the motor, quite heavy, sits directly over the driving axle providing extra weight for traction.  Smart design.

Here is the roof removed showing the battery compartment.  The two 1.6 Volt batteries sit in the middle and the 9 volt sits in the left end.  The metallic "button" appears to be a contact that would allow the pantograph to provide power to the motor.

Well folks, that's it for me today.  Best wishes to everyone.

Don

@Don McErlean  I think you might be surprised once you power it up ... what you refer to as a "metallic button" is , I think actually a little speaker assembly !!! I am gonna point out I dont KNOW this .. but thats what it looks like to me ... if ever you needed encouragement to try it out with batteries , you will now LOL ! .. I am furiously googling currently but I reckon I am onto something .. it being a rudimentary 1980-ish sound file on those chips .. which would also be why it needs a separate 9V battery , the two 1.5V cells would do the motive power and the 9V to run the little circuit board ...

Prove me wrong LOLOLOLOL

OK the search is narrowing !!! .. I found the set here ( with pass carriages)

the wording on the box  ... " arranca y para silbato con estación que habla" translates to start and stop whistle with talking station so I was incorrect .. the metal disc is indeed a MICROPHONE ... with which I presume you can start and stop the train with the whistle !!! ( is there a whistle in your box ? )

This would have blown a kids mind back then LOL !

Fatman!  Start and Stop the train with a whistle, now I am going to have to try that!

Thanks...Don

As a child, I had a similar whistling train too, made by Lego in 1968.

Found a movie on Youtube.

Arne

New this week, 2 interesting coaches with 4 windows, made by Issmayer around 1910.

With a matching Issmayer loco.

And also new, a loco made by Heinrich Fischer from the 1920.

Arne

@Arne cool trains .. you sparked my interest with the Lego tho .. I hope you still have it ?

googled on ePay ... one set in box ... @ 2000Euros !!!

That's some expensive Lego !

Listed under " 1968# RARE LEGO Trains 118 Electronic Train Full Boxed Holy Grail Set #[NO] "

Find of the week, a very rare station 571 by Karl Bub. I´ve been looking for this for almost 10 years.

Only in the Bub catalog 1933.

Mark hidden in advertising

Arne

@Arne-Beautiful!!  What a fabulous find!
Don

Fantastic pick up @Arne  and in such good condition too! Got to love it when a piece you have been looking for forever arrives!

Hi folks,

Not much new here, been busy with work mostly the last few weeks. One item I did pick up was this large Bing signal. The only problem is she tilts like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Looking at her, she does not appear to have been bent or damaged. I wonder did they come out of the factory like this? To be honest I do not like the idea of trying to straighten her out. Naturally I could put some shims under the base, but I am open to any and all suggestions. Miketg

Hello Miketg,

sorry, but it´s not Bing. That´s model 507/3 made by Karl Bub. Made 1924-1928.

Arne

Thanks Arne! Greatly appreciated!

My knowledge of early German tinplate manufactures is something that is still a work in progress. Also it feels like the base is full of small lead balls for weight. I’d that correct?

Miketg

I keep trying not to buy stuff ( Still waiting for new car to arrive , shes anchored offshore the last couple of weeks because our stupid quarantine at the ports is all backed up lol )

However a local auction here in Aussie came up with a quite reasonable buy it now , so I pulled the trigger !

Something I have wanted for a fair while as I already have several carriages and a tender in the collection . This was optimistically labelled as a "Marklin" lol but as soon as I saw it I knew it to be .... Pionerexspressen ( Denmark)  and even better its the No.1 loco set with a first model Freezer wagon and stamped passenger carriages , only missing the tender , which as I said I already have , so this makes it a complete rake ... Woot Woot!

A little bit "Ruff n Ready" but you know this doesnt rule me out

Although over the years in collecting I have never had the need for powered 2-rail track ... now I do ! ( bugga!) ... I might see when it gets here and convert it to run a battery tender instead and just use it on the clockwork loop ?

That is rather fantastic, FM, as is that station Arne tracked down. Lithographed pieces are a favorite here, so the photos/descriptions are very much appreciated.

Not much happening here. Picked up a few odds-n-ends at the April York meet...here's a sample:

I sent the two Lionel 2620 searchlight cars purchased last year to a mate in Missouri, so rounded up one more, this in need of some work (a new lens, rewire, and a good polish). The Lionel 2657 cab was in near mint condition, so I couldn't leave that behind. The two "UNCOUPLE HERE" signs were new to me...not sure of the manufacturer. Maybe Marx?

PD

@pd posted:

That is rather fantastic, FM, as is that station Arne tracked down. Lithographed pieces are a favorite here, so the photos/descriptions are very much appreciated.

Not much happening here. Picked up a few odds-n-ends at the April York meet...here's a sample:

I sent the two Lionel 2620 searchlight cars purchased last year to a mate in Missouri, so rounded up one more, this in need of some work (a new lens, rewire, and a good polish). The Lionel 2657 cab was in near mint condition, so I couldn't leave that behind. The two "UNCOUPLE HERE" signs were new to me...not sure of the manufacturer. Maybe Marx?

PD

Signs are definitely Marx.
Steve

Kinda figured that, given the way the bases are made. Thanks for the info.

PD

Hello everyone, just picked up a couple of small items this week. The two small windmills  and well are French, but I cannot identify the taller windmill. Any ideas? Thanks, Miketg.

@Fatman_- What a great set.  I have the one Pioneer-Exprssen red coach like your foreground set with the "automatic" couplers and a "Kole Vogon" in white but with black lithographed lettering and what appears to be  lithographed simulated wood slat sides (really just very light vertical black lines in the white) .  I picked up both in a "antique" store in Denmark while on a business trip there quite awhile ago (1980's by my recollection).  My Kole Vogon has the tab/slot type couplers as yours does. Since you labeled yours a "first model" I assume that mine must be a "second" model or later. I have never even seen a locomotive before much less had any chance to acquire one.  But to me, the great find is the catalog.  That is just priceless.  Best of luck mate, what a GREAT find.

Don

Thanks Don ...

Heres a few more pics of the engine from the sale ... Set is still in transit ..

Other pages of catalogue