@Buco Peter, what great new wagons. The Beer Wagon is really great and who doesn't love a tractor on a flat car! I really enjoy your posts about Buco, a company that we hear very little about (nearly nothing ) in the US. Its great to keep up with their production and offerings. Thanks for posting.
Don
Thanks Don......your comment's mean a lot to me.
Stay tuned, as I am embarking on a new project to construct a "one-off" Buco Bell Refrigerator Wagon on an extended Buco bogie axle chassis. I will be using two ordinary short chassis "Bell" wagons, and cutting and combining the two tinplate bodies to fit on the long chassis.
Watch this space!!!
Peter....Buco Australia
Thank you Fatman.....but wait - there's more to come in the not-to-distant future!!!
Oh, and not forgetting.....Merry Christmas to all of my Tinplate Tragic Friends 🎅🎅🎅
Peter....Buco Australia
@Buco...Thanks Mate! for your comment. Will be looking forward to that Refr wagon as your project goes along.
Happy Christmas
Don
Buco is nice to collect and run, and those limited edition cars are great pieces.
Time to run a French model for me, three rail O gauge of a curious train made by a french firm "Batimetal" whish has been made for one year, around 1952, a fun piece.... Loco also pictured side by side to a classic Lionel 10e in standard gauge to show the size, as you can see it is a wide model.
And to all Tinplate friends, have a nice Christmas time and stay safe, Daniel
@FRENCHTRAINS- Wow Daniel, that is a really interesting and neat holiday train. Thanks for posting. May you also have a very happy Christmas and a happy, peaceful, and healthy New Year!
Don
OK I admit it maybe I am taking up too much space today, but we get our mail in the late afternoons and I just got this neat little tinplate station (really more like a passenger shelter, open on one side but roofed over - little like a lean-too)
This station was made by Banner Plastics, a company that was founded when WW II interrupted the delivery of toys from overseas. The founder a Mr. Emanuel Pressner, was a toy importer and found himself out of business so he decided to initiate his own toy manufacturing business. Banner Plastic made toys from both plastic and metal and it was rumored that he used the "drop off" sheets of steel from where they punched large holes in steel sheets to make his toys. If you are familiar with Banner Plastics (note not Banner Toys which is a long established maker of wooden baby toys) you would recognize several very well known trucks from the 1950's made from sheet steel. This station was made in the 1950's and Banner Plastics would continue in business till 1965.
This station is entirely made of lithographed steel sheet. It is not large the base measuring 6 3/4" X 3" and the station house measuring 5"L X 2"W X 2 1/2 " from base to peak of roof. It is open in the front but enclosed on the other 3 sides. Here are some pictures.
Front View - you can see some of the interior. Note I had to over expose the roof to get enough light on the inside. Roof is naturally somewhat dark red.
Here is another view of the inside. Note ticket windows on rear wall, news stand and snack / soda fountain on the left wall and , of course, the station name..."Bannerville" !
Here is the out side of the building. Green and white in color with simulated "grasss" at the base.
OK so that is my "Bannerville" station and it is fully in tinplate!
Best Wishes
Don
@Don McErlean It’s nice to continue to learn about these obscure tinplate manufacturers here on this thread. I’m curious is this printed on both sides of a single sheet? Or is this wrapped around the corner post and just printed on one side? Nice find on your part! Enjoy.
@Rich Wiemann- In regard to your question, there is no evidence, at least on this piece, that there was any lithography on the reverse side before the station was manufactured. In making this station however the walls of the little house were clearly lithographed on both sides as the design on the inside is different from that on the outside and the wall is but 1 sheet thick. What I found interesting was the assertion in the reference I used (Internet) that the basic material for the toy making was just scrap sheet steel obtained from other manufacturers. Thanks for your interest Rich.
Don
New this week a Bing 12/5108 train indicator with electric lighting . Only made 1929.
A similar indicator without lighting is the Bing 1380/0 from 1912
And new:
A crane made by Heinrich Fischer in the late 20s
And a goods depot made by Heinrich Fischer around 1930.
Arne
Arnie - what wonderful finds...the train indicator is really something, I have never seen such before. The Henrich Fischer items are really neat as well. I love the little goods depot, as you can see by my post earlier, I really love these little tinplate structures.
Best Wishes and Happy Holidays
Don
In my collection of windup trains, I only have one lonely Dorfan locomotive. Yesterday, however, a Dorfan 150 set arrived, complete except that the loco (like most Dorfan locos) has a serious case of zinc pest, coupled with a very broken motor. And that is what made the set perfect for me, as my lonely Dorfan locomotive completed the set. I did some minor repairs to the box - two corners were torn, so I glued in cardstock reinforcements to prevent further damage. I also made a few inserts to keep the track and cars separated... not original, but it helps protect the litho. The broken locomotive might make a good project someday...
@WindupGuy- What a set!! I am not sure that I have even seen a Dorfan box before...which is strange since I lived, for the first 17 years of my life, in a suburb of Newark, N.J. Based on your pictures, I looked in my "Dorfan" reference, which is not very elaborate, and date your set to around 1925 especially from the #355 Pullman's. What an outstanding set, now approaching 100 years old. Super find.
Best wishes and Happy Holiday's
Don
@Don McErlean Many thanks for looking it up in your reference, I was curious about the age of the set. I don't have a lot of boxed sets in my collection - I tend to concentrate on the locos - but I just couldn't pass this one up. It's amazing that the box survived all these years.
The loco in the picture is the one I already had. The loco from the set has a lot of issues. The body has a lot of broken parts, and cracking all over the remainder. I'm afraid it's too far gone to salvage, too many missing pieces. The motor is a mess, lots of problems. I believe I can salvage the motor, although it will be a lot of work. I'm putting it aside for a future project - perhaps I can make a "Dorfan-esque" body to put on the repaired motor. But, that will need to wait until I retire.
A "new" trainset makes for a Merry Christmas indeed!
Hey Wind up Guy - James - Your set just sparked my curiosity, so I looked at the set # reference. Set #150 is listed as a mechanical set (so...good for you "wind up guy" ) using the Number 155 engine and tender. Description of the No 155 is as follows..." 1925-1930 Die cast bright red-enameled 6 1/4" body, clockwork motor ; pressed steel wheels; no drive rods; embossed "MADE IN USA"under pilot; Type 1 tender. Similar to #50 that is electrically powered." Except for the loco color everything you showed matches the set description including the two #355 Pullmans and the cross over track.
Its a superb set...just matching up a loco and the cars to rescue the set is super. As for the original loco...well Dorfan was famous for "zinc pest" and the damage it did to their locos and cars so having another appropriate loco is really good.
Best to you and Happy Holidays
Don
It's been a while, but here, ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure is the result of my latest tinplate project I was rabbiting on about, at the beginning of the month.
It is the building of an "extended" version Buco "Bell Khulwagen".
Here is the 1952 Buco catalogue showcasing the various two axle freight cars manufactured by Bucherer of Switzerland. It is the only catalogue they produced with an English translation.....they were mainly in German and French. (sorry about the stickers at the top of the catalogue....they were from two Buco tee shirts I bought from the new Buco company last year) This is my workshop catalogue, and not my pristine 1952 collectors catalogue!!!!
Below is the page illustrating all of the two axle freight cars they made in 1952, and then a close-up of the actual "Bell" refrigerated wagon, with its catalogue number.
And now, the two doner wagons that agreed to be cannibalized. They are well worn members of my collection, and have "patina" (I call it surface rust and poor paintwork), but I wasn't about to repaint them and lose their lithographed signage. Before you purists want to burn me at the stake for cannibalizing rare tinplate wagons, they are still readily available second-hand, and even brand new from Buco SpurO in Switzerland.
I did purchase a new long petrol tanker chassis, and a matching long freight car roof from Buco SpurO to mount the project on. The chassis came with the buffers already attached, and threaded mounts for the drop-link couplers, and the attachment for the bogie wheel frames. I had all of the other components (drop-link couplers, trucks, side frames, wheels, axles) in my spare parts bin.
I then proceeded to remove the bodies of the Bell wagons from their respective chassis', and then accurately measure and cut the tinplate walls of the bodies to get the two halves to match the existing stamped rib format, ensuring both sliding doors and tracks on each side were preserved and operational.
I carefully cut and then re-joined them on the diagonal so as to increase the structural integrity of the tinplate shell, and increase the rigidity of the walls when remounted on the chassis platform. You can see where the join is at the very edge of the door opening, on the R/H sliding door, in the photo below.
I then cut the roof to match the length of the wagon, with access ladders at both ends of the car now, and re-painted the standard silver roof in an off white color to match the car body. See photos below.
You can see the chassis' of the doner wagons on a siding in the photo above. This will form the basis for yet another "Buco project". Watch this space.
Peter.....Buco Australia.
@Buco-great project and super results.
Don
Thank you Don.......once again your comments are very much appreciated!!!
Peter....Buco Australia.
What a ripper Peter !!! Well done looks grouse!
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
