Steve :  I have exactly the same Ives cars only my "set" came with 2 "Parlor" cars and the baggage but no engine.  I could see the information sheet you posted with the data 1914-1918 and the notation IVES 3200 set.  I wondered is that the "set" number or just the number of the locomotive?   Could the original set have had 2 Parlor cars or do you think  my  group just had an extra car?  Sorry for the questions, but I don't have much data on early Ives. 

My set was purchased in a little "mom and pop" hobby store (remember those) in Warminster, Pa (a suburb of Philadelphia) in about 2010-2011.  The store is gone now, lost to being torn down and replaced with a CVS!! 

Anyway thanks for posting, this is the first I have seen these cars anywhere else but my bookcase (LOL)

Respectfully

Don

@Don McErlean posted:

Steve :  I have exactly the same Ives cars only my "set" came with 2 "Parlor" cars and the baggage but no engine.  I could see the information sheet you posted with the data 1914-1918 and the notation IVES 3200 set.  I wondered is that the "set" number or just the number of the locomotive?   Could the original set have had 2 Parlor cars or do you think  my  group just had an extra car?  Sorry for the questions, but I don't have much data on early Ives.

My set was purchased in a little "mom and pop" hobby store (remember those) in Warminster, Pa (a suburb of Philadelphia) in about 2010-2011.  The store is gone now, lost to being torn down and replaced with a CVS!!

Anyway thanks for posting, this is the first I have seen these cars anywhere else but my bookcase (LOL)

Respectfully

Don

Don, you should visit the Ives site, https://www.ivestrains.org/CD/O_Gauge/index.htm

Here is a picture of a boxed set like mine, 1105X

Steve

Last week I showed you my new JEP station.  Today we'll see the Mistral past the station.

Enjoy.

Lew Schneider

Steve:  Thank you for the information and the link, wow what a great source.  Its learning things like this that really make this forum powerful.

Thanks again

Don

@Nation Wide Lines posted:

The Flyer water tank may look like the Bing tank at first glance, but when compared side by side, the construction is completely different. See link, as this has been covered here before.

https://ogrforum.com/...-tank-set-variations

Wow I just read through that whole thread about the water tower variations ...I thought my head was going to explode from all the information lol.  Very impressive presentation NWL.

@Don McErlean posted:

...My set was purchased in a little "mom and pop" hobby store (remember those) in Warminster, Pa (a suburb of Philadelphia) in about 2010-2011.  The store is gone now, lost to being torn down and replaced with a CVS!!

Don

I knew a gentleman by the name of Bill Kelly who lived on Nemoral Street in  Warminster.  As a teenager he worked  for Bill Hurst the speed equipment manufacturer but spent the rest of his career as a machinist at the Budd Railcar Company Red Lion Plant.  He helped develop the tooling they used to pleat the long sheets of stainless on the sides of passenger cars. He's gone now but he was a neat guy. I ended up with his old '32 Ford hot rod coupe, seen here parked in the back of Lev's Drug store , Summerdale Ave, PA in the late 40's. .. but that's a story for another time and place.

Gman24. Neat car!!  I worked for the Navy as an engineer. It was the Naval Air Development Center. Gone now it used to occupy the old Brewster aircraft plant

Don

A couple of finds this week ... a rake of Distler from the early 50's ... this set was paired usually with their rather unusual A/C 3-phase motor locomotives , most noteably their gorgeous Krokodile ( which I dont have .... yet lol )I would like to add Distler 3-phase to the collection but having to have a dedicated track just for them makes little sense at the moment what with currently Gauge1,O,OO and 28mm  in two and 2 rail there just has to be a moment went you say .. whoaaaaa lol

Set photo with Krokodile stolen from Historytoy

And also a couple of cute tippers ... one is def a Keim and the other is also German but I havent searched hard enough today to put a name to it ...

And kinda sorta tinplate related I put in a stoopid low bid for an Australian version of Mecanno .. Buz Builder ...

And it came to me for $2 .. but the kicker is it actually has a fairly rare Australian build DC motor packaged with it ...

SCORE!!!!!

@Fatman posted:

A couple of finds this week ... a rake of Distler from the early 50's ... this set was paired usually with their rather unusual A/C 3-phase motor locomotives , most noteably their gorgeous Krokodile ( which I dont have .... yet lol )I would like to add Distler 3-phase to the collection but having to have a dedicated track just for them makes little sense at the moment what with currently Gauge1,O,OO and 28mm  in two and 2 rail there just has to be a moment went you say .. whoaaaaa lol

...

And kinda sorta tinplate related I put in a stoopid low bid for an Australian version of Mecanno .. Buz Builder ...

And it came to me for $2 .. but the kicker is it actually has a fairly rare Australian build DC motor packaged with it ...

SCORE!!!!!

Great find on the Meccano set!  Wow!

A thought re the dedicated wiring...  While I'm not familiar with Distler specifically, if the trains will run on a type of track you already have, you could insert a DPDT switch between the power source and the track - 2 output wires go to the track, and each input goes to a different power source - just toggle to the input you want to use.  DPDT toggle switches are available for about $5 at home centers around here - your mileage may vary on your side of the planet.

@Mallard4468  One could faff about , but in reality the Distler requires all 3 rails to be isolated from each other as EACH rail supplies 1 phase to the motor ... requires a unique power supply as well ... one day if I do get a 3-phase Krokodile then it shall have to have a small track all of its own but for now I will be happy with just the carriages

Here is a Photo of the 3-phase Distler that recently passed thru DutchBoys! hands

A very good concept in all reality ... infinitely variable stable speed between stopped and flat out  and easy reversing ... If it caught on lives would have been a lot simpler for modellers lol

You can see more @Binns Rd http://www.binnsroad.co.uk/rai...s/distler/index.html  Scroll to the bottom 20%

@Fatman posted:

@Mallard4468  One could faff about , but in reality the Distler requires all 3 rails to be isolated from each other as EACH rail supplies 1 phase to the motor ... requires a unique power supply as well ... one day if I do get a 3-phase Krokodile then it shall have to have a small track all of its own but for now I will be happy with just the carriages

Here is a Photo of the 3-phase Distler that recently passed thru DutchBoys! hands

A very good concept in all reality ... infinitely variable stable speed between stopped and flat out  and easy reversing ... If it caught on lives would have been a lot simpler for modellers lol

You can see more @Binns Rd http://www.binnsroad.co.uk/rai...s/distler/index.html  Scroll to the bottom 20%

Amazing that one small manufacturer would do something so completely different.  I'm guessing that the track is hard to find these days, and retrofitting standard 3-rail track would be tedious.

Maybe you should just convert all of your old electrics to MTH DCS.  That would simplify things.

@Mallard4468 posted:

Maybe you should just convert all of your old electrics to MTH DCS.  That would simplify things.

What is this sorcery that thou preachest !!!   Begone Beelzebub!!!

One knows the only true power is in thine wrist

If one must invoke Satan's Lifeblood it can only be done with the holiest of holy's ...20v AC !!

Well hello all tinplate fans...my latest acquisition is not that rare but in the US it is unique for sure.  It is what they label in the UK as "Fibre Service"...I can only assume that it is carrying hay or feed for animals that has to be shipped from the fields where there crops are sown to the pasture where the cows are...at least that is my interpretation.

Here is my "new" Fibre Service Car from Hornby. Yes I am using the UK spelling of fiber which is "fibre" as that is how the car is described by Hornby.

This car, with the blue frame, was made between 1934-1938.  It had a red frame before 1934 and a black frame after 1938.  The fibre load is wood wool tied with red thread (the red color is faint but there).  There was no postwar production for this fellow .

Here he is in my "Imaginary" agricultural train with a Hornby M1 Southern RR Milk Traffic Van  from 1949-1954 and a Hornby LMS Cattle Van from the same period.  So in my world, I now have all I need for my local cattle industry.  I have a car to carry in / out my cows, a car to move the milk, and a car to provide the feed.  What else does a Texas boy need !!

Here is my agricultural train again, this time from the front, showing the Hornby M3 Tank loco from 1939-1941.  Clockwork power of course as was much of Hornby O gauge.

Well tinplaters...that is my story for this week.  Have a great week everyone!

Don

scored a major find last week when I picked this three car Ives hand-painted consist. Dave Bashline, over on the Other Tinplate Facebook page agrees they look original from 1901 or 1902, although I believe the wheels on the coach and baggage cars should also be the red cast iron wheels as seen on the tender. Seller offered the loco on a separate auction that quickly went well beyond my price range. Have also seen these same cars in red rather than green.

here is one possible boxed set they might have come from.

Another odd find was this factory defect Non Pareil gondola I picked up with a partial loco and pullman coach.

As you can see, one side was correct while the other was mis-stamped.

My Hafner red 1110 with headlight visor also arrived last week.

Now only short the blue version to complete the trio.

Jim O'C :  Great finds for certain.  I have a very small collection of Hafner, including some early passenger cars (that are very close to the American Flyer cars of the same period) and a couple of 1010 powered freights. I like Hafner although you don't see too much of it for sale or auction.  Your Ives set is amazing, just to think those have survived nearly 120 years is unbelievable.

By the way, one of the things that struck me in your set from 1902 was the design of the baggage car.  It has two end panels and an "open" passage to represent the loading door (I imagine).  What was interesting is that I have the 1915-1925 Ives #50 baggage car and although it does not resemble the early one too much what is the same is the basic design.  Two end panels and an open passage in the center.  I have not seen this design in other than Ives and here they were using the same basic design approach some 20 years later.  What works .... works I guess.

Best wishes and great finds, thanks for posting

Don

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

This is supposedly a piece of shiplap from the Ives building. I suspect they are somewhat common, but I’d love to know the story behind them.
TIA

Steve

Hi Papa

Ives filed for bankruptcy in 1928 and was bought out by Lionel and American Flyer. The factory closed in 1930.  Why would the ending date be 1997? I hope for your sake the article is genuine but such a piece of lumber and tag would be easy to fake and mass produce.

But thank you for sharing your tinplate on OGR

@Tim Ring posted:

Hi Papa

Ives filed for bankruptcy in 1928 and was bought out by Lionel and American Flyer. The factory closed in 1930.  Why would the ending date be 1997? I hope for your sake the article is genuine but such a piece of lumber and tag would be easy to fake and mass produce.

But thank you for sharing your tinplate on OGR

Being as I didn’t pay anything for it, I got my money’s worth.

@Tim Ring posted:

Hi Papa

Ives filed for bankruptcy in 1928 and was bought out by Lionel and American Flyer. The factory closed in 1930.  Why would the ending date be 1997? I hope for your sake the article is genuine but such a piece of lumber and tag would be easy to fake and mass produce.

But thank you for sharing your tinplate on OGR

I'm guessing that the 1997 date refers to the demolition of the building, or the year in which the siding was removed. 

Glad that Steve didn't overpay for the item.

Ahhh but the dreams and hope that such a bit of lumber provides are indeed priceless!

Every lotto ticket is worth a million bucks until the draw proves it false !

I have a few more goodies coming from The Netherlands in the next week or three but waiting on photos lol ... so this post is about all I have to contribute today

Excellent write up Don .. I love reading them .. and great finds Jim O'C .. the very early stuff is amazing !

Fatman:  Thanks for the compliment.  I too learn so much from your descriptions and stories of manufacturers I often have never heard of...my stories come from my brain which is why they are often filled with holes !! 

Don

While looking to some cars I bought many years ago and never done anything to, I realised that i have a strange looking 813 cattle car with bogies not at the usual space.... maybe twenty years to realise this....

They make look the car shorter,  it seems all original and has never been restored or modified, so why did Lionel produced this type of car,  I saw in Mac Comas's book that it was a 1926 year produced car and is qualified as rare ... so many things today are called rare.   I would be curious to know a little more about it.

and a regular 815 that was in the same bunch of cars with a 217 caboose to compare the space between bogies.

Daniel

Daniel :  According to my reference material : Greenbergs Guide to Lionel Trains, O gauge, Volume 1: 1915-1928 the 810-820 series cars did at first have a short wheelbase  In 1926 they were made with a distance of 4 7/8 " from truck center to truck center and in 1927 through 1934 this was changed to 5 1/2 ".  Both frames were flat on the bottom.  The reference does not provide any reason for the change.  So this does confirm your finding that this variation was indeed produced by Lionel for the 1926 year.  The Greenberg reference lists the same value, Good $30 and Excellent $100 for both the 1926 short wheelbase version and the 1927 -30 long wheelbase version.  Obviously since the short wheelbase version was only produced for one year, it would be more scarce.

Best wishes...great find

Don

@Fatman posted:

Here is a Photo of the 3-phase Distler that recently passed thru DutchBoys! hands

A very good concept in all reality ... infinitely variable stable speed between stopped and flat out  and easy reversing ... If it caught on lives would have been a lot simpler for modellers lol

You can see more @Binns Rd http://www.binnsroad.co.uk/rai...s/distler/index.html  Scroll to the bottom 20%

Just when I thought I had seen it all. I was reading through the link you posted and those little 3-phase motors and transformers are really neat.

@Don McErlean posted:

This car, with the blue frame, was made between 1934-1938.  It had a red frame before 1934 and a black frame after 1938.  The fibre load is wood wool tied with red thread (the red color is faint but there).  There was no postwar production for this fellow .

Here he is in my "Imaginary" agricultural train with a Hornby M1 Southern RR Milk Traffic Van  from 1949-1954 and a Hornby LMS Cattle Van from the same period.  So in my world, I now have all I need for my local cattle industry.  I have a car to carry in / out my cows, a car to move the milk, and a car to provide the feed.  What else does a Texas boy need !!

Don

Don that Ag train with the old hay wagon is great. Amazing to find it completely intact including the fine thread binding.

The standard gage train I ran as a kid threw so many sparks that thing would have burst into flames on the first loop !

Don, Many Thanks.  Interesting  car and 95 years old so may be there is no real explanation to the fact that the wheel base  has been made shorter.

You have a nice "agricultural train" the original fibre loads are not an easy find. Hornby has also produced one for the french Market, this one is from 1930 and is the first model.

All my best wishes, Daniel

Trains and Pizza day in the backyard
Steve

https://youtu.be/rrjM1ldcAn4

  Looks like a terrific afternoon @ the Eastman ranch

Just in , some photos of the next little lot to come South from the Netherlands ...

A beautiful clockwork Bub Dutch Railways NS1101 set with both blue and green carriage sets ... one green is missing wheels ... but we have spares here in Aussieland waiting for her

Keeping the Bub from being lonely , a nice Distler set  is coming with him

And lastly Locally comes the weird-arse finds you are all coming to expect from me ( lol )

Seller here in Aus listed this on ePay as a "Car or Train Height Changer" and funnily enough in his round about way he got it 100% right  !

Its actually from a Johann Hoefler train set ... where the trolleybus runs around an inclined broken oval , hooning up the incline into the curve, into the above pictured elevator , where it halts and descends under its own weight , to drive off and head round again

I currently have him looking for the track bits as its an estate sale he is clearing out , but even if they dont turn up it shouldnt be hard to find some track to fit ( 26-28mm if memory is correct , smaller than O )

Stolen web pic of complete set

I love these kinds of quirky value added things

@Fatman posted:

  Looks like a terrific afternoon @ the Eastman ranch

Just in , some photos of the next little lot to come South from the Netherlands ...

A beautiful clockwork Bub Dutch Railways NS1101 set with both blue and green carriage sets ... one green is missing wheels ... but we have spares here in Aussieland waiting for her

Keeping the Bub from being lonely , a nice Distler set  is coming with him

And lastly Locally comes the weird-arse finds you are all coming to expect from me ( lol )

Seller here in Aus listed this on ePay as a "Car or Train Height Changer" and funnily enough in his round about way he got it 100% right  !

Its actually from a Johann Hoefler train set ... where the trolleybus runs around an inclined broken oval , hooning up the incline into the curve, into the above pictured elevator , where it halts and descends under its own weight , to drive off and head round again

I currently have him looking for the track bits as its an estate sale he is clearing out , but even if they dont turn up it shouldnt be hard to find some track to fit ( 26-28mm if memory is correct , smaller than O )

I love these kinds of quirky value added things

Wow, he shots, he scores, goooooooooooooaaaalll!  Love all those find!!!

Steve:  Your outdoor day looks like great fun...the Standard Gauge is gorgeous, maybe an outside loop will give me a chance to run mine.  I have been unable due to space to run any of it inside in quite a few years.

Gerry, you commented on the sparks from your std gauge set setting my "hay wagon" on fire...reminded me of the first time I put Std Gauge around the Christmas tree many years ago and the sparks shot out under the driver wheels (as per usual) and it so scared my two boys (5 and 7 in those days) that they refused to run the train!!   (PS they got over it !).

Fatman you are amazing, the finds you come up with are just beyond belief.  The Hofler elevator train was fabulous.  I had to call my entire family over to the lap top to watch the "You Tube" video.  What a hoot!!  The two clockwork electric engines and carriages from your Dutch contact are equally fantastic.  I have been trying to locate one of those "B-B" electric engines by Hornby for awhile but the ones I see are so expensive, plus shipping from UK nearly doubles the price...oh well its the hunt that counts right!.

Best wishes everyone

Don

@Fatman posted:

Seller here in Aus listed this on ePay as a "Car or Train Height Changer" and funnily enough in his round about way he got it 100% right  !

Its actually from a Johann Hoefler train set ... where the trolleybus runs around an inclined broken oval , hooning up the incline into the curve, into the above pictured elevator , where it halts and descends under its own weight , to drive off and head round again

I currently have him looking for the track bits as its an estate sale he is clearing out , but even if they dont turn up it shouldnt be hard to find some track to fit ( 26-28mm if memory is correct , smaller than O )

Stolen web pic of complete set

Odd that a passenger set in such good condition would be missing its wheels.

And re the level-changer, thanks for showing me yet another thing I'd never seen before.

Well tinplate fans I cannot come up with anything close to the postings of Fatman today, but I am going back to a subject that I posted on before...signals.  Today, I have two Marx No. 312 Manual Semaphore's.  These boys are right out of the F.W.Woolworth "Timely Table of Railroad Accessories" from 1938.  This store catalog covered most of the Marx line including trains and accessories.  The price of this semaphore in 1938 was $0.10 or 10 cents.  It is all sheet steel (no plastic) and is operated via a link from the base.  It stands about 7" high from base to tip.  Not too realistic I suppose but I love the "pre-war" look of them and the Marx simplicity.

One nice thing, this was taken with my new phone camera and it is a much more clear picture than my old phone camera, so I suppose that is an improvement.  My photo skills started when I earned my Boy Scout merit badge with my Kodak Brownie, 620 film camera in about 1953...have not improved much since. 

Best Wishes

Don

@Fatman posted:

And lastly Locally comes the weird-arse finds you are all coming to expect from me ( lol )

Its actually from a Johann Hoefler train set ... where the trolleybus runs around an inclined broken oval , hooning up the incline into the curve, into the above pictured elevator , where it halts and descends under its own weight , to drive off and head round again

That little toy is really neat what a clever mechanism the way it holds the car in place until it reaches bottom. The guy that thought of that was a genius.

The old crinkle finish paint looks to be in superb condition. Great addition to your collection.

Daniel, thank you for the picture of your fibre wagon from French Hornby.  As you said the red frame was the first version followed by my blue one and then the black.  I had not seen a red one before so thanks for posting.

Best Regards

Don

Marx litho animal flats.

Steve

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Marx litho animal flats.

Steve

Yet another item I'd never seen...

Not a lot of meat on those guys, though.

@Mallard4468 posted:

Yet another item I'd never seen...

Not a lot of meat on those guys, though.

Talk about lean steaks!

A video from last night;

Scott Smith

Just one little  Streamliner for the O gauge collection so far this week ( courtesy of DutchBoy!)

Thinking its a Karl Bub but am having the devil of a time confirming it ...

But the real excitement for me was a tip off ( Thanks Gavin! ) to a OO Distler Tischbahn set here in Australia !

Sadly missing the locomotive ( but I have a few Bings until I find a Distler to match) but with box ( part?) , and 4 carriages and track all at a price not to be argued with ! It took me all of 0.3 seconds to commit to buying this lot !

Such a blatant copy of Bing lol ..... but then all the manufacturers were soon fighting for the "Miniature" Railway market ... Bing, Bub, Distler, Mignon, Paya(Rico) .... Although the true collection will always be O , for some wonderful reason I really like these OO's of the 20's/30's ... the technical leap to make these in such times was truly a revolution IMHO. ( A bit like CD vs Casette tapes lol )

Hi Tinplate fans...Fatman, as usual what a great find.  Candidly I never realized that the 00 market was so competitive in the 1930's although I do know that Lionel tried to get a foothold in the late 1939's with a fabulous model of the NYC J-3 Hudson (which today costs far more than I can spend so it will remain on the desired list).  Steve- what a find...the Marx animals just illustrates the genius of Mr. Marx and his toy company.  Never saw them before but they are just great!

Speaking of Marx, today I have a small sampling of some of the variations of what was a quite common car. The 551 NYC type wagon top tender, often called the Commodore Vanderbilt type tender.  It came in many styles and my reference shows 20 different type of varieties starting in 1934 and extending to 1956.  

Here are two of the more scarce configurations.  The 1950-53 Red Stripe variation and the 1939-41 copper / black stripe variation.

Here are some close ups.

Best wishes

Don