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Following on from Fred just bought another Lord Nelson locomotive to undergo some refurbishment and fitment of spare front and rear wheel assemblies , and side valves  ( all of which I think I have ... crosses fingers)

Bought pretty much everything in the above photo with the exception of the lower left 2 wagons and the black loco ( wallet was sighing , had to look after it for once )

Marx KCS A-B-A freight

  I purchased a boxed Marx set awhile back which was not complete.  I'm pretty sure the missing gondola was supposed to be a Wabash but since I already have one of the Marx smaller tinplate diesel sets with that included in the consist I decided to add a C&O gondola instead. 

   There is a separate section in the box which I know would have held plastic telephone poles and other lineside accessories.  It was empty, so rather than hunting for those pieces I decided it would be more interesting to find a B unit which I did. As a result, the set is not an "as issued" but it is an "as I wish it had been issued" .  It runs well and looks great scorching the broadloom ballast. 

Marx_KCS_Freight_Set

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  • Marx_KCS_Freight_Set
Last edited by Robert S. Butler
sncf231e posted:

My latest station is this one from JDN (Distler Nürnberg). It is marked Foreign Made so it is supposedly made pre-war for export; in the 1938 Distler catalogue is has number 115. It is a large lithographed tinplate station with measurements 50 * 17 * 24.

Regards

Fred

Beautiful station! For us, is this considered for O gauge or Standard gauge?

Robert S. Butler posted:

I'm assuming everyone is just having fun with respect to the AD switch on the side of the Ives engine but in the off chance you're not - it is an AC/DC switch for back in the day when you could be running with one type of current or the other.

Sam,

I can’t find too much information about this switch. What I did find is that it is called a resistance switch. I would assume an open frame motor could run on AC or DC without this switch as long as the voltage was similar. Also, I doubt they had technology back then to put a true rectifier or power transformer circuit in the engine. So, was this just switching on a resistance load so that higher voltage DC power wouldn’t burn up the motor or make the engine go too fast? How much DC voltage was it designed for?

thanks,

George

George,

   Welllll, lessee - From the Ives 1916 catalog we have the following:

  " Instructions for Electrical Trains and Trackage

      All electrical Locomotives with the exception of Nos. 1129, 3239 and 3240 are constructed so that they will operate on 3 1/2 volt Direct Current or on 8 volt Alternating current.  Nos 1129, 3239 and 3240 are large locomotives for No. 1 gauge track and large locomotives for No. 1 gauge track and require with the ordinary amount of trackage about 14 volts, Alternating Current and 8 volts, Direct Current."

  Now, Ives offered both AC and DC transformers for running trains and it was this piece of information, coupled with instructions from a old train collector offered to me decades ago, which led me to understand the purpose of the AD switch had to do with powering the locomotive.  Howsomeever, I spent some more time reading through the 1916 catalog this morning and I found the following on page 10.

  "No. 1114 Electric Train. Consisting of No. 1118 Locomotive, 7 1/2 inches long; No 17 Tender with Coal; No. 60 Baggage Car; No. 61 Chair Car; No 62 Parlor Car. The locomotive has reverse and headlight with resistance coil to prevent bulb from blowing out, when our 204 or 206 Transformer is used, on Alternating Current [that is powered by house current] (110 volts 60 cycles).  "

   So, it seems that long ago "received wisdom" was sort of correct - if you want to run using a standard AC transformer put the switch on "A" ,not to protect the motor, but to protect the headlight.

i don't think i could even put together a good paragraph with all my combined Ives knowledge, so thanks for the input/ research, Robert.  keeping in the spirit of the string, here are the 204 & 206 transformers you mentioned...

Ives Transformer-No-204-

Ives 206 transformer

the 206 looks like multi-tapped fixed voltage transformer that used a rheostat downstream ...?  whereas the 204 looks like it provides a number of discrete voltage ranges in 1 volt steps.

if i can find my multi-meter, i'll have to check to see if that switch still throws in some resistance.

cheers...gary

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  • Ives Transformer-No-204-
  • Ives 206 transformer
Robert S. Butler posted:

George,

   Welllll, lessee - From the Ives 1916 catalog we have the following:

  " Instructions for Electrical Trains and Trackage

      All electrical Locomotives with the exception of Nos. 1129, 3239 and 3240 are constructed so that they will operate on 3 1/2 volt Direct Current or on 8 volt Alternating current.  Nos 1129, 3239 and 3240 are large locomotives for No. 1 gauge track and large locomotives for No. 1 gauge track and require with the ordinary amount of trackage about 14 volts, Alternating Current and 8 volts, Direct Current."

  Now, Ives offered both AC and DC transformers for running trains and it was this piece of information, coupled with instructions from a old train collector offered to me decades ago, which led me to understand the purpose of the AD switch had to do with powering the locomotive.  Howsomeever, I spent some more time reading through the 1916 catalog this morning and I found the following on page 10.

  "No. 1114 Electric Train. Consisting of No. 1118 Locomotive, 7 1/2 inches long; No 17 Tender with Coal; No. 60 Baggage Car; No. 61 Chair Car; No 62 Parlor Car. The locomotive has reverse and headlight with resistance coil to prevent bulb from blowing out, when our 204 or 206 Transformer is used, on Alternating Current [that is powered by house current] (110 volts 60 cycles).  "

   So, it seems that long ago "received wisdom" was sort of correct - if you want to run using a standard AC transformer put the switch on "A" ,not to protect the motor, but to protect the headlight.

Wow. I didn’t even know they made AC and DC transformers back then an the voltages seem very low. It sure would be nice to have access to old catalogs online. 

George

Robert S. Butler posted:

Marx KCS A-B-A freight

  I purchased a boxed Marx set awhile back which was not complete.  I'm pretty sure the missing gondola was supposed to be a Wabash but since I already have one of the Marx smaller tinplate diesel sets with that included in the consist I decided to add a C&O gondola instead. 

   There is a separate section in the box which I know would have held plastic telephone poles and other lineside accessories.  It was empty, so rather than hunting for those pieces I decided it would be more interesting to find a B unit which I did. As a result, the set is not an "as issued" but it is an "as I wish it had been issued" .  It runs well and looks great scorching the broadloom ballast. 

Marx_KCS_Freight_Set

With all the Marx tin that I have or has passed through my hands, I just got my first KCS 7” caboose as part of an unboxed operator quality A-B set with the small motor. I’d rather have the C&O gondola though.

Steve

George S posted:
Robert S. Butler posted:

George,

   Welllll, lessee - From the Ives 1916 catalog we have the following:

  " Instructions for Electrical Trains and Trackage

      All electrical Locomotives with the exception of Nos. 1129, 3239 and 3240 are constructed so that they will operate on 3 1/2 volt Direct Current or on 8 volt Alternating current.  Nos 1129, 3239 and 3240 are large locomotives for No. 1 gauge track and large locomotives for No. 1 gauge track and require with the ordinary amount of trackage about 14 volts, Alternating Current and 8 volts, Direct Current."

  Now, Ives offered both AC and DC transformers for running trains and it was this piece of information, coupled with instructions from a old train collector offered to me decades ago, which led me to understand the purpose of the AD switch had to do with powering the locomotive.  Howsomeever, I spent some more time reading through the 1916 catalog this morning and I found the following on page 10.

  "No. 1114 Electric Train. Consisting of No. 1118 Locomotive, 7 1/2 inches long; No 17 Tender with Coal; No. 60 Baggage Car; No. 61 Chair Car; No 62 Parlor Car. The locomotive has reverse and headlight with resistance coil to prevent bulb from blowing out, when our 204 or 206 Transformer is used, on Alternating Current [that is powered by house current] (110 volts 60 cycles).  "

   So, it seems that long ago "received wisdom" was sort of correct - if you want to run using a standard AC transformer put the switch on "A" ,not to protect the motor, but to protect the headlight.

Wow. I didn’t even know they made AC and DC transformers back then an the voltages seem very low. It sure would be nice to have access to old catalogs online. 

George

You have to keep in mind the time period. There were probably more homes without electricity than with it, especially away from the big cities. Battery power and a rheostat were quite common.

Steve

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