Tinplate photos 📸 and videos 📽

Addendum for Fatman.  That Hornby USA loco was also missing its handrails.

Lew

Great stuf everyone! You just missed seeing me there by a week ha @Craignor ! Great vids/pics- TBH I don't collect or operate standard gauge so I've never been around it besides at shows- it was neat seeing those behemoths in action! Hope you had a good time!

@Robert S. Butler what a nice Jep Station! May I ask what year? It doesn't have the lithography that I'd expect from a prewar JEP piece. Either way- love the arrangement of the 3 doors up front- just diffferent than an American litho station in a good way. @lewrail man that is an awesome Marklin tunnel- holy.... thank you for sharing. Also- very nice layout you have set-up!

SteveFromPA - I don't know for sure but based on Frenchtrains comment concerning lewrail's station I would assume it is post-war.

My friends from La Belle France say that JEP station is circa 1960.

Lew

The JEP stations presented by Lew and Robert are post war, those ones where made from1959 to 1964. They differ from the previous models only by a lighter yellow color on the walls and die cast  barriers on each side? The older ones are more yellow and the  barriers are in stamped metal.

Here is a picture of the last model of the famous JEP "Golden Arrow" made in 1948-49 with the period JEP stations and lamp posts.

Daniel

Hi Daniel,

Did the prewar Gares have interior lighting?  I don't think so.

Lew

Hi Lew, pre and post war JEP stations where made with and without lighting units. Most comon lighting is two 20v bulbs and it also existed one with a direct lightning bulb of 110v, not comon and I have never seen one... Lionel has done the same thing for the 122-24 station.

PS, Your tunnel is extremely nice, great piece.

Daniel

Thanks Guys .. yep the hunt goes on ! and I certainly noted all the issues you described with the loco in question, which was a small factor in not mortgaging the farm for it !

But yeah the fact it was for sale at all was the attraction , like I said in 5 years of actively hunting one that was the first I had ever come across

Keep a close eye on yours Lew ... I may or may not have engaged a cat burglar ... LOL!

Well tinplate friends, today I have an item that is not either particularly rare or valuable except through the "back story".  Recently, purely by chance, my wife and I reunited with a couple with whom we had shared a married student apartment block back in University over 50 years ago and had not seen since.  Even more amazing we discovered that we actually were living less than a 2 hr drive apart, so we began a "Zoom" relationship and finally got to meet again.  Turns out, he was trying to sell his son's Lionel trains from the 1950's and so brought them to our house for me to evaluate.  What fun, we worked most of the afternoon evaluating some neat, but mostly common (in the 1950's sense) , Lionel's from the post war era.    In appreciation, he honored me with this item as a gift which though not rare I did not have in my collection.  So now, it not only is a nice add to my Lionel's but it commemorates this reunion and our friendship.

Here it is...the Lionel 154 Highway Crossing Signal.  Made from 1940 through the end of the original Lionel company in 1969.  Its two red lights flash with the passing of a train, controlled either by a special lock on or an isolated track.  This one is all stamped or cast steel, no plastic anywhere, so its to the older side of the production run.   By the MPC era, this entire thing was primarily plastic.

So that is my humble story for today.  Nothing close to the magnificent trains of Arne, Daniel, and Robert Butler but a piece with an interesting sense of personal history.

Best wishes

Don

Hello Don,

Collecting is not a question of price and rarity, I have many modest pieces in the collection but I prefer posting the nicest ones....

I know that is a great pleasure when you have something with a known origin, especially when it comes from a close friend.

All my best wishes, Daniel

Thank you Daniel.
best wishes. Don

I will echo Daniel's sentiments 100% !

You might have gathered by now ( with all my rabbiting on ) that quite often what appeals to me is the richness of the tale a piece paints , I was not chasing the mythical USA made Hornby this week because of its commercial worth, if that was the case it would have come home with me, as at some point , if inclined, I could have turned around and commercialised on it even at the price it eventually sold for ,but I dont "accumulate to speculate"  ...for me its the story that particular white whale ( or in fact any toy ) tells ... In that case , the attempt by Frank Hornby to establish the brand in the USA and the failure due to spectacularly bad timing ( Great Depression) The FM collection is built on history and stories far more than $'s

Collecting is whatever you make it

I can 100% understand that such a piece such as your Highway Crossing Signal could sit at the pinnacle of the "McErlean Managerie " because it is rich in history and personal connection and although you can try and put a commercial value on such things, that value pales in terms of its real significance

See how I just took two whole paragraphs to basically say what Dan summed up in a neat tiny sentence ? Thats rabbiting folks ! Thanks for putting up with it

Thank you Farman I really appreciate your thoughts.

Don

Well, yesterday I got the bug to unpack my Hellgate. It had been packed away in its original box for at least 15 to 20 years. It is now being positional on original layout and will be elevated approx. 15".

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner !

Super find this week with a quick no questions asked Buy it Now on the UK ePay website

Was most amused as the new set this week was advertised as a "Playa" O Gauge Clockwork Train set ...

Naturally my thoughts went to reproduction(?) especially looking at the condition of the set , but after some due dilligence I confirmed that this was indeed a 1958-ish Paya 839-2 clockwork set !

I dont know what has happened with this set because its pretty much "Mint in Box " and appears to be 100% zincpest free , which sets it well above many Paya offerings out there ... The only thing missing is the in box platform for the key and key itself .

The 839-2 set is one of the lower end toy like models of Paya introduced as the economic replacement for the gorgeous Fantasma models ... in true Paya style the sets were based around a basic combination and the elaborateness of inclusions determined the price point .

The 839-2 is not the bottom of the rung but close ( lol )

Pretty happy with this one

@Don McErlean posted:

Thank you Farman I really appreciate your thoughts.

Don

In this typo I am rather glad you left out the "T" Don

Fartman!!! nannna nannaaa naaannnna nnnaaaaanaaaaaa FartMan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofn8-3SWd8M  <--- only go there if you have a puerile sense oh humour

( you have been warned )

@Fatman posted:

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner !

Super find this week with a quick no questions asked Buy it Now on the UK ePay website

Was most amused as the new set this week was advertised as a "Playa" O Gauge Clockwork Train set ...

Naturally my thoughts went to reproduction(?) espescially looking at the condition of the set , but after some due dilligence I confirmed that this was indeed a 1958-ish Paya 839-2 clockwork set !

You were the lucky beneficiary of a sloppy (or ill-informed) description.  I'm always amazed by the lack of proofreading, especially when money is at stake.

@Mallard4468 posted:

You were the lucky beneficiary of a sloppy (or ill-informed) description.  I'm always amazed by the lack of proofreading, especially when money is at stake.

To be fair to the seller, if he wasnt educated on the more "obscure" brands of tin toy makers like Paya , he is dealing with a trademark that can be kinda confusing

I can see where he could get Playa out of it

And yep I was lucky to grab it , but the luck came from having an awful lot of dedicated searches spitting me out emails every day LOL So even tho Playa wasnt one of them it caught the attention of a couple regardless .

Float like a butterfly sting like a bee 

Nice catch @Fatman many times sellers don't have the right knowledge of their stuff so some good deals may happen.  I just had a similar opportunity in Germany on Ebay with two lamp posts described as Lionel from 1926. If the date is not bad they are definitely something else....

The first one is an IVES model, not yet received but seems in good condition, I am not sure about the paint is right or not, and the two bulbs have a more Marklin or Bing look but maybe someone knows better than me. Finding IVES pieces in the old Europe is rare so not too bad and for half the price of a simple Lionel one from the same period even if I would have preferred a Lionel one....

The second one is an American Flyer model, as the previous one not sure about the paint but for me it looks nice... even if more common than the IVES model.

Have a nice weekend,  Daniel

Hi Fatman,

If you put the L back into Paya you can go to the BEACH.

Eagerly awaiting two Hornby items just acquired in auction.  Here they are. Lew

Lew