Fatman: Would it be impertinent to inquire if your anonymous "Dutchman" was once an excellent, and much missed, contributor to this forum? (You may reply by e-mail.)
Dug this Marklin tender out of a bin of "stuff" in the attic...been so long since I had seen it, I couldn't remember what it looked like. Thought it might have been a match for a 970 I picked up recently, but no dice:
At least I had the red/black bit right. I think the correct tender for the 970 is a 9790...maybe? Now this 899 needs a mate (whatever that might be).
PD
NICE, anyhoo! :-)
I just founded in France this little bungalow made by Lionel in the thirties; not perfect, has a lot of scratches but it will stay in as is condition.
Have a nice weekend everyone, Daniel
Attachments
This just arrived in the mail today.
Set 1378 RCT - Ambassador set from either 1934 or 1935 (as the numbers were the same in both years). I suspect my set is from 1934 as it uses the pre-streamliner label and has a Century of Progress set number sticker on it.
Now all I have to do is dig out the appropriate engine to go with the set. I know I have one in a box somewhere.
NWL
@FRENCHTRAINS posted:I just founded in France this little bungalow made by Lionel in the thirties; not perfect, has a lot of scratches but it will stay in as is condition.
Have a nice weekend everyone, Daniel
Nice. That little #189 traveled a long way. Does it still have the light fixture inside ? It's amazing to count up the number of individual stampings that were used to make just one of those little villas or bungalows. .
@Tinplate Art posted:Fatman: Would it be impertinent to inquire if your anonymous "Dutchman" was once an excellent, and much missed, contributor to this forum? (You may reply by e-mail.)
Hi Art .. No it isnt Fred LOL! However interestingly enough , in knowing me Dutchboy! has since connected With Fred ( after we found our delightful "Wester Metaalwarenfabriek" Railmotors and he kindly identified them thru Arne on the forum. ) So in a way this collecting is fostering some amazing connections 
Now Fred knows Dutchboy! too 
Dutchboy! remains anonymous both for his own requested privacy and his workplace requiring a degree of "separation" between man and international "train collecting or any other sort of " fame lol ... 
New arrival. Restored Dorfan STD lumber car.
Steve
Attachments
Images (3)
@pd posted:Dug this Marklin tender out of a bin of "stuff" in the attic...been so long since I had seen it, I couldn't remember what it looked like. Thought it might have been a match for a 970 I picked up recently, but no dice:
At least I had the red/black bit right. I think the correct tender for the 970 is a 9790...maybe? Now this 899 needs a mate (whatever that might be).
PD
Seek and ye shall find ... you need ( funnily enough) an 880 or 890 loco lol
I also bought a 899 tender and had it shipped here to Australia with the intention of using it as a way of pulling all my Marklin rolling stock when I don't have an operational Marklin loco. It worked OK but I found that it's very light and has a tendency to lift off the track with a long consist. I'm thinking of gluing some weight inside or preferably underneath.
Attachments
Images (1)
@G-Man24 posted:Nice. That little #189 traveled a long way. Does it still have the light fixture inside ? It's amazing to count up the number of individual stampings that were used to make just one of those little villas or bungalows. .
Those little houses are very well made and elaborate, they must have need some working time to be assembled.
This one still have the light fixture inside, just the insulation needs to be redone as it falls apart. It must have a long story to tell, but unknown unfortunately, it was discovered with some French JEP models of the same time period. Strange to find this here, first one I saw in many years..... now waiting for another one, who knows.....
Daniel
@Fatman posted:Seek and ye shall find ... you need ( funnily enough) an 880 or 890 loco lol
They say the search is the fun bit
@Fatman posted:Hi Art .. No it isnt Fred LOL! However interestingly enough , in knowing me Dutchboy! has since connected With Fred ( after we found our delightful "Wester Metaalwarenfabriek" Railmotors and he kindly identified them thru Arne on the forum. ) So in a way this collecting is fostering some amazing connections
Dutchboy! remains anonymous both for his own requested privacy and his workplace requiring a degree of "separation" between man and international "train collecting or any other sort of " fame lol ...
Great story about making the connection.
And too bad about not wanting his hobby to be known... Neil Young, Rod Stewart, Frank Sinatra, Tom Snyder, David Letterman, and Jools Holland all "came out" as train nuts. Maybe someday he'll slip out from the inky shadows.
@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:New arrival. Restored Dorfan STD lumber car.
Steve
I really like seeing the proper "restoration" sticker!
@Mallard4468 posted:I really like seeing the proper "restoration" sticker.
You beat me to it....I was just thinking the same thought....how to few pics ever show this albeit not everyone belongs or conforms to the TCA standards.
@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:New arrival. Restored Dorfan STD lumber car.
Steve
That's beautiful , possibly better looking than one made in the 30s . Would be cool if there was a repro box with art work on it to go along with the car .
Some typical French railway signals made by LR, not easy to find in good condition, direct painting on metal is not a good thing...
Pre-war models
And post war,
Daniel
Attachments
Daniel what a great Lionel find...I know G-man24 felt it was a #189 Villa made from 1923 -1932 but I thought that it could also be a #912 " Suburban Home" made in a variety of colors from 1932-1942. The 912 was also offered as part of a "landscaped plot" as were many of Lionel's other tinplate homes. Here is a cut from the 1936 catalog. Note the second plot down on the right hand side, to me it resembles the house that you found. However, I also have a cut from the 1927 catalog that shows the #189 Villa and candidly the difference between the houses is not apparent. It is very possible that Lionel continued to make the same structure but with a change in colors or some other detail simply changed the number in 1932.
Here is a cut from the 1927 catalog, showing the #189 Villa in the lower right hand corner. As you can see, the structure or house itself is very hard to differentiate from the #912 Suburban Home. So who knows. Both houses were made in quite a variety of colors and the #189 / #912 combination was made for nearly 20 years...obviously very popular
Anyway Daniel...as always a great find. I also loved the signals you showed as well, although I must admit I do not know the purpose of most of them.
Best wishes
Don
Attachments
Images (2)
Hello Don, many thanks for the documentation, still have to find an original plot which is not really easy here; I think I will have to wait for a next trip to USA but when is anothere big question...
The signals are toys and except the red and white ones which means stop the others are no more than fantasy ones.
Daniel
Here is the latest Märklin pre-war Güterwagen purchase to arrive from Germany - a very nice 4achsig 1853/0 Tarpaulin wagon.
Not sure if the tarpaulin is original as I would have expected it to have MÄRKLIN printed on the side. So possibly a reproduction but an old, stained one.
I certainly didn't expect it to arrive in a box which I'm sure must be reproduction given what looks like photocopied artwork glued to the box plus the catalogue number is incorrect and copied off the 18520 wagon which was used as a base unit for this variant.
Attachments
Images (4)
@Fatman posted:Oh and earlier I hinted at a "Big Find" coming from Europe with the help of Dutchboy , Fatmans trusty companion!
Well he came thru with the goods !
Not so much "train " orientated but falling in my other wheelhouse of vintage kinetic motors , I have shared the Hess Dynamobil before but will include a pic again for reference here ... These items were made in the early 1900's to 30's as an alternative to having your kid head off into the sitting room with a bottle of alcohol and a box of matches to play with a steam engine lol ... much less chance of burning your house to the ground!
They are basicaly a highly geared weighty flywheel which when spun up to speed used the stored inertia to drive steam accessories for a good minute or two after you spun it up ... plus they make a satisfying grrrrrrRRRRRRRRRR.. WHOOOOOOOOOoooooo as they cycle up and wind down
Hess dynamobil
You wind the crank , get it spinning as hard as you can then you can cut in the pulley drive with the lever to transfer the energy to any toy that can be operated by a spring belt ...Magic ! I have a little Carette windmill I power with it .
So Kinda?? Train related as it could sit on any layout lol ...
So to the big reveal !!!
OK ...so Hess went the way of many German toy companies in Nuremburg with the rise of the Nazi's , falling foul of Hitlers "Nuremburg " laws which, when enacted, basically made the German Jewish population stateless by removing their rights as citizens , which in turn meant they could no longer own and operate business's properly compared to "German" citizens ... Hess folded in 1937 and Tipp & Co bought out the tooling etc in a fire sale ...
Tipp & Co then released their own version of the Dynamobil .. the Tippmobil ( how original lol )
Advertised in their 1937 catalogue , but when war was looming, Tipp & Co as the poster child for good little German Toy Manufacturers then concentrated on making toys of German War vehicles , and the Tippmobil was forgotten ... Thats probably a bit harsh on Messers Tipp & Co as there were indeed one of Germany's finest tin toy makers long before the war .
Ladies and Gennermannnns I preeeeesent to youuuuu..
The Tippmobil!
Mega HUGE props to Dutchboy for finding this on a local Netherlands buy and sell site and alerting me to its existence ... as this was a huge find for me , and the seller did not know its history either and lets just say it was purchased for 1/10th of the only other one I have seen for sale ..errr currently on ebay
A mark of the man I am proud to call my friend is that HE found it , alerted me , purchased it for me with money I transferred to him at exactly the advertised price , and will ship it to me along with the other stuff I have bought from him when we have a full box ... He could have sooo easily bought it , marked it up 500% and then said "Look what I have got ! " knowing full well I would be interested still ( he Bought me a Hess one in the same manner ) A true Gentleman and a friend .
https://www.hesstintoys.com/dyna9.html I became aware of the Tipp & Co variant thru my research on Hess Dynamobils which pointed me to this marvelous site
Thank you DutchBoy ! ( he must remain completely anonymous due to his work , but he gets full credit as best I can )
Very cool- thanks for posting this (and the link to the Hess toys website). That Tippmobil generator gadget would look awesome inside my power station!
@Mallard4468 posted:Great story about making the connection.
And too bad about not wanting his hobby to be known... Neil Young, Rod Stewart, Frank Sinatra, Tom Snyder, David Letterman, and Jools Holland all "came out" as train nuts. Maybe someday he'll slip out from the inky shadows.
Its not about"coming out " as a train nut lol ... just that the nature of his career means privacy of person and whereabouts can be important 
I just completed restoration of my Grandfather’s 4692-X-r/c American Flyer (Iron Monarch) set, which I believe was manufactured in 1930. My 90 year old Grandfather told me it was his father’s set but doesn’t remember ever seeing it run. Thanks to exceptional rewiring, new wheels, cleaning and lubrication performed by Joe Mania, my Grandfather was able to finally see this set run. It brought a big smile and quite a few tears to his face, which made it well worth the time. Set runs like it is brand new again.
Attachments
Images (10)
@Fatman posted:Its not about"coming out " as a train nut lol ... just that the nature of his career means privacy of person and whereabouts can be important
@Don McErlean No great mystery, I think, here, Don. #189 is the number of the villa as sold by itself, and #912 is the number of the plot which includes the house. Same villa but two different products. Daniel's color scheme is also listed in the TCA book as a variation of the #189. It may or may not have come with a scenic plot. I am not home, but when I am, I will double check the book to see if it gives any details of which color schemes for the villas were used in the plots.
This villa was based on either Mario Caruso's home or his brother's- I forget which.
Will: Got it! Thanks, I should have looked in the TCA reference but it wasn't handy so I used David Doyle's "Guide to Lionel Prewar Trains" which was where I found the catalog cuts. Makes sense to have 2 different numbers one with and one without the plot. Thanks for the information, I like to be always learning.
Best Regards
Don
Hello Tinplate fans, goobernuts what a super American Flyer set! Well today, I am back to illustrating my modest taste in Tinplate line side accessories. This one attributed to Hafner and most likely pre-war. According to the TCA Western Div website page, Hafner used Bing to make their line side structures up until Bing left the market around 1930. Subsequent to that, Hafner's first offering was a set of three structures, all numbered #1200. there was a passenger station, a freight station, and a passenger platform. According to the TCA data, these items were all available separately but never assigned individual numbers. I have previously posted the station but have been looking for the other two parts of the set. I recently found one on e-bay and its a fair example, although I believe the freight platform has been repainted. Here is the #1200 freight station with the loading platform in front and the large sliding door. These came in many colors and with various lithograph decoration on the sides of the house.
Here is the end view, it has the same name as the station, "Glen Ellen" which is a real place and is in fact a suburb of the city of Chicago where Hafner trains was located. I have also seen these freight stations with just plain ends and no name.
For comparison, here is the #1200 Glen Ellen station, you can see the variation in the lithography on the front side however, the design on the ends is identical in this set. In addition, the passenger station is much closer to white/ blue in the litho color scheme whereas the freight station is more of a yellow cream/red combination. Hey ... these guys were making toys not collectables! (LOL)
Hey that's my input for today. Best wishes for a good week everyone.
Don
Attachments
Images (3)
Here's a Lionel No. 66 Semaphore (1915-1926) which came as one of the accessories on my 199 Scenic Railway and stands 14" tall. It is operated manually with the red upper arm alternating between a red and green celluloid disc over the lamp and the lower green arm which alternates between green and amber. The arms operate independently.
It was intended (in this case) to sit alongside a single set of rails on a curve leading to a signal crossing. It offers no control over the track power and the lamps are always lit.
My question is how would a model engineer operate this accessory so as to simulate a prototypical signal in operation ? What would be the appropriate position of the arms for a train being halted vs a train with the go ahead ? Perhaps it was simply a toy and I'm overthinking it but it seems Lionel would always try and incorporate and promote some measure of realism with their trackside accessories.
Attachments
Images (5)
@goobernuts posted:I just completed restoration of my Grandfather’s 4692-X-r/c American Flyer (Iron Monarch) set, which I believe was manufactured in 1930. My 90 year old Grandfather told me it was his father’s set but doesn’t remember ever seeing it run. Thanks to exceptional rewiring, new wheels, cleaning and lubrication performed by Joe Mania, my Grandfather was able to finally see this set run. It brought a big smile and quite a few tears to his face, which made it well worth the time. Set runs like it is brand new again.
Applause and my compliments to you for such a very nice gesture and a job well done! Thank you for sharing these photos! This brightened my day.
Yeah! What he said
EXCELLENT Flyer restoration! That dual Lionel semaphore is awesome!
American Flyer are great looking models, I just have one that I bought at the York TCA meet some years ago and I enjoy to run it. It is very similar to the previous model posted, loco is stamped 4692 and tender 4693; as it has nickeled trucks maybe it was made for the same set.... now I will have to find a matching passenger set.
Have a nice weekend, Daniel
Attachments
@G-Man24 posted:Here's a Lionel No. 66 Semaphore (1915-1926) which came as one of the accessories on my 199 Scenic Railway and stands 14" tall. It is operated manually with the red upper arm alternating between a red and green celluloid disc over the lamp and the lower green arm which alternates between green and amber. The arms operate independently.
It was intended (in this case) to sit alongside a single set of rails on a curve leading to a signal crossing. It offers no control over the track power and the lamps are always lit.
My question is how would a model engineer operate this accessory so as to simulate a prototypical signal in operation ? What would be the appropriate position of the arms for a train being halted vs a train with the go ahead ? Perhaps it was simply a toy and I'm overthinking it but it seems Lionel would always try and incorporate and promote some measure of realism with their trackside accessories.
Love your scenic railway!! Green-go. Red-stop. Yellow-caution. But seriously that is a question for the "real" train forum. I would google it. Here is some help:
@Will posted:Love your scenic railway!! Green-go. Red-stop. Yellow-caution. But seriously that is a question for the "real" train forum. I would google it. Here is some help:
Thanks for the link Will. Just so there's no confusion that photo with the semaphore is not my Scenic Railway but a reference photo . Hope to have photos of my completed layout soon.
Gman24: that is some signal. While I am no expert in this area, (taking a risk here) I believe that the two semaphores represent a "near" and a "distant" warning. Hence the engineer might get a "green" near signal meaning OK to proceed but a "yellow" distant signal meaning he needed to be prepared to stop or slow down in some reasonably short distance. I have been told that the distance to stop is specified by the particular Railway's rules and some times is defined as "the length of the train". Its position just ahead of a blind curve on the layout lends some credibility to this view, the distant signal could be telling the engineer to slow down for a curve coming up or for some obstacle he can't see because its around the curve.
My offering today is a picture of a Hornby Branch Line train. These used to be common in the UK ( and the US) but are long gone for the most part today. They went from village to village or perhaps from village to larger town. They were never fancy, never fast, sometimes the tree branches overhung the right of way and rubbed against the windows. This one is a mixed train. Having one passenger coach and a Milk Traffic Van likely picking up empties from the morning milk delivery. Stopping here at the passenger depot in "Small Town" on my layout (today representing "Small Heath" in the UK).
The engine here is a Hornby type 101 shell where the engine has been converted to electric drive via installing a Marx motor mechanism. The Coach is a Type # 31 1st/2nd class coach in the "blood and custard" color scheme dating from about 1956 but lasting into the middle 60's. The Milk Traffic van is a No 1 SR Milk Traffic Van first offered in 1949 however this one has plastic wheels, thus dating it from 1951or later, it was dropped from the line in 1954.
Frenchtrains / Daniel : You have discovered the fun of prewar American Flyer...they numbered the loco with one number, the tender with another and sometimes the combination with a third number!! Great loco however.
Best wishes to all for a great weekend.
Don
Attachments
Images (2)
@Don McErlean posted:Gman24: that is some signal. While I am no expert in this area, (taking a risk here) I believe that the two semaphores represent a "near" and a "distant" warning. Hence the engineer might get a "green" near signal meaning OK to proceed but a "yellow" distant signal meaning he needed to be prepared to stop or slow down in some reasonably short distance. I have been told that the distance to stop is specified by the particular Railway's rules and some times is defined as "the length of the train". Its position just ahead of a blind curve on the layout lends some credibility to this view, the distant signal could be telling the engineer to slow down for a curve coming up or for some obstacle he can't see because its around the curve.
Don
That's as good an explanation as any, thanks Don. That little Hornby train is great!
@FRENCHTRAINS posted:American Flyer are great looking models, I just have one that I bought at the York TCA meet some years ago and I enjoy to run it. It is very similar to the previous model posted, loco is stamped 4692 and tender 4693; as it has nickeled trucks maybe it was made for the same set.... now I will have to find a matching passenger set.
Have a nice weekend, Daniel
I love that style tender with the barrel back shape.
Super Stoked to announce I have managed to cross another off the bucket list
I will probably throw this in a post of its own in the tinplate section, but this thread and the people in it are my first love on this forum ... now enough soppiness and on with the show !
Thanks to a bit of cross forum negotitation elsewhere ( the Sakai peeps) I became aware of this one going up for sale and staked and battled til she were mine ...
Its a rather unusual locomotive from the Brimtoy company in the UK , and it is rather a mystery to the collecting community with a few theories bandied about but no actual evidence of when, why, and how it was made ... All shall be expounded on later but for now .... PICS ! ( cos thats why you are here right ?)
Brimtoy 6201 locomotive tender and carriage set ! ( and possibly THE best condition I have seen anywhere )
Brimtoy/Wells logo in "shakyvision"
But get a load of this eyeful
Look at the beautiful carriage connections
( I believe they also came in 3 carriage form , but 2 is all we get here )
Now to the mystery/undocumented/what the? component... anyone recognise the motor in this big bad boy?
Yes it appears to be "Marx" or at least of Marx origins ... And here is where the speculation begins .. perhaps the best reference to this loco can be found at http://toyandtrainguides.com/m...british/brmtymrx.htm
I include this photo from there for those too lazy to click ( lol )
You can see that apart from the mainspring key shaft and sideplate attachments the Brimtoy motor is very similar ...It appears the Brimtoy would MUCH more servicable as it can be easily pulled apart .
Now the Marxtin folk have speculated on Marx actually owning Brimtoy at some stage ..if that were true there WOULD be a record of it , and none such exists , so the claim that Marx owned "everything toy-wise " (lol) is just smoke and mirrors and patriotism IMHO
However if we apply company history we can see that both Marx and Chad Valley at one stage had their bases not too far from each other in Birmingham and surrounds , Brimtoy and Chad Valley often co-operated over the years with esp railway accesories , but then in 1948 British Marx set off to establish a new Factory in Swansea ( Wales ) as after the war the UK was looking to provide employment in the other areas of the UK , reinforcing the UNITED in Kingdom, so no doubt there were incentives for many manufacturers to head into the "provinces" such as Wales Ireland and Scotland .
My personal theory on this loco is that it became part of a joint comercial agreement between Marx and Brimtoy in a "You scratch my back , I'll scratch yours" scenario .. where British Marx contracted Brimtoy to supply some accessories for their sets ( like tinplate stations etc) and in return Brimtoy just might have placed an order with Marx for motor components etc .. An exercise in helping Marx establish in Wales ( as eventually Brimtoy did too a decade and a bit later ) .. now as to the body .. I reckon it bears more than a passing resemblence to the Unique Arts American locos... which it is rumoured Marx bought the tooling of... now Marx never used that tooling themsleves .. but perhaps it was loaned to Brimtoy for the purposes of this 6201 , or Marx used the tooling to form shells for Brimtoy as part of the exercise???
I have no proof of this , but it just kind of makes sense in the new prosperity after the war , rather than fight each other , many companies banded together to increase each others productivity and everyone benefitted .
More toys , more sales. more moolah for everyone ! At least for the short few years in the late 40's early fifties .
I can find no exact dates for the years this set was produced but I would guess @ 1950-54 , I have seen an ad for it but no reference date was attached to it sadly ... Still it remains that not too many of these are out there , for instance a search at Vectis ( one of the UK's premier toy and train auction sites) lists only 4 examples crossing thru them in the last 20 years and TWO of those four were the ones from the Michael D Foster collection sale last year after writing the book on them
Huge thanks to Bryan P for letting this come to live with me 
