I decided I didn’t like seeing in my monorail cars so I found these clear glass stones at my local craft store and now I have bubble type windows. Let's see your tinplate!
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The German toy train makers exported to many countries. For the export to Netherlands they made tinplate direction indicators as station accessories with Dutch city names. Locally I found a couple of these.
The first one, showing The Hague (Den Haag as it called here in Holland) is by BUB:
This more interesting one, with some speling mistakes, is by Bing:
This one is by the large accessory maker Kibri and shows a Dutch time table:
This last simple one is by a, I assume German, unknown maker:
I do not know whether direction indicators were made by Bing etc. for the US market, but some of you will know?
Regards
Fred
An updated version of my e-book on tinplate accessories can be found here: http://sncf231e.nl/tin-stuff-from-fred-2/
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Lots of work to do on the multi-gauge layout.
Scott Smith
Jim Z posted:Hey Beachhead2,
Here is an overhead shot of my layout as you requested last week. If you are interested in seeing more details, I posted a drawing of the track plan on the weekend tinplate photos/ videos on March 2, 2018.
Jim Z
Excellent, love it. Thank you. I will check out the old post. 
I usually go to my favorite LHS on Fridays. I knew I couldn't make it today so I went yesterday.
Picked up some more vintage (and modern) tin accessories.
This billboard is my favorite. I was totally unfamiliar with these until yesterday. It has lights and a whistle. Very cool.
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Nice haul on the accessories!
I found these on bay,,,the price on the box is 3.00 ,I believe they were from a store on the west coast
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beachhead2 posted:I usually go to my favorite LHS on Fridays. I knew I couldn't make it today so I went yesterday.
This billboard is my favorite. I was totally unfamiliar with these until yesterday. It has lights and a whistle. Very cool.
I have like 8 either steam or diesel ,without or with lights ,I like em
terry hudon posted:beachhead2 posted:This billboard is my favorite. I was totally unfamiliar with these until yesterday. It has lights and a whistle. Very cool.
I have like 8 either steam or diesel ,without or with lights ,I like em
Terry, do you know if there is a list of variations anywhere in a book or on the web?
beachhead2 posted:terry hudon posted:beachhead2 posted:This billboard is my favorite. I was totally unfamiliar with these until yesterday. It has lights and a whistle. Very cool.
I have like 8 either steam or diesel ,without or with lights ,I like em
Terry, do you know if there is a list of variations anywhere in a book or on the web?
good queston, I don't,maybe someone does,,let see
beachhead2 posted:I usually go to my favorite LHS on Fridays. I knew I couldn't make it today so I went yesterday.
This billboard is my favorite. I was totally unfamiliar with these until yesterday. It has lights and a whistle. Very cool.
I want that whistling billboard. I hope they have another when I get there in two weeks. Remember, per Rob E., we will no longer be divulging our secret location!
George
beachhead2 posted:terry hudon posted:beachhead2 posted:This billboard is my favorite. I was totally unfamiliar with these until yesterday. It has lights and a whistle. Very cool.
I have like 8 either steam or diesel ,without or with lights ,I like em
Terry, do you know if there is a list of variations anywhere in a book or on the web?
The billboards are Flyer S gauge. The Standard Catalog of American Flyer Trains by Doyle, Krause Publications lists most of them. https://www.barnesandnoble.com...vid-doyle/1008483596
Steve
As I have become more familiar with Ives (and added some of it to my collection) I have come to appreciate the quality of their lithography. Here is an example for my offering this week.
From the research that I have done on the Ives Train Society website and in the few resources that I have in my train library the cars above were cataloged circa 1922 and the color is known as chocolate brown.
I think that they were pulled by a clockwork steam engine. However I came across this electric outline electric engine.
I can find information on the #3250, however this engine does not match any of the descriptions. I think it is an engine that a previous owner restored and upgraded. It only runs forward, no 3250 had two lights (nor did any of the electrics in this number range), and the only engine that came in this color was a 3252. The work is very nice.
And I think it looks great heading up this string of cars.
It also runs great and pulls the cars with ease.
Have a Great Tinplate Weekend
Northwoods Flyer
Greg
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Last week Bluecomet400 mentioned his York trip consisted, in part, of an exercise in fill-in-the-blanks. In addition to the usual fun of York I too had one of those fill-in-the-blank moments.
About 15 years ago I purchased an American Flyer pre-war passenger set from the original owner. As I was taking my purchase out to the car the owner came out with three more items all wrapped in newspaper. He said the items were also part of the set. Since there was a light rain falling I thanked him and quickly put the three items in the car trunk.
When I got home I first unpacked and re-examined my Flyer purchase. One item that didn't belong with the set was one of the early Lionel automatic track sections. I puzzled over this for a minute, set it aside and proceeded to unwrap the three mystery items. Much to my surprise I found that I had three practically brand new Lionel litho freights - #2679 Baby Ruth boxcar, #2667 gondola, and #2682 caboose. A knotted piece of twine was around one of the boxcar couplers and it was obvious that the other end of the knot had been tied so it would fit over the Flyer coupler.
Since the Flyer set was of 1936 vintage my guess is that the owners wanted to add a freight consist and, for whatever reason, didn't realize there was an issue with respect to coupler differences. In any event, the Flyer set joined the rest of the collection and the three Lionel cars went into a storage box.
Late last year I was rummaging through some of my boxes and I came upon the three Lionel cars. I got to wondering if one could re-create a pre-war Lionel set with the three cars and a locomotive. A quick check of my references indicated this was indeed a possibility - set #1130 from 1941 to be exact.
Sooooooo... I put engine #1662 on the to-be-looked-for York list. As luck would have it 15 minutes into the hunt I turned up a boxed engine and tender combination which means set #1130 is now complete.
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Robert,
Nice prewar set!
Tom
Picked up a pair of Wittrock coaches this week. The ambulance coach is pretty rare. Someone put Hornby couplers on it.
These are tough to identify, even the TCA Western website has them paired with a Bub loco and tender and misidentified as Karl Bub.
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Good find of the week, a BING station from the twenties, some cleaning to do and missing parts on the roofs but it will make a great addition to the collection.
And another piece, not railways related but so nice.....
A BING military boat clocwork, from i think the same period, i have to make some reseach about it, limited knowledge for toy boats....
Have a great tinplate weekend, Daniel
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FRED: GREAT vintage direction markers! The Bing is my favorite. BEACHHEAD2: I love that AF whistling billboard! I had the Ringling Brothers version as a child and it was a favorite! GREG: Very NICE Ives set!
DANIEL: WOW - Two nice gems! That is an awesome station!
FRENCHTRAINS posted:Good find of the week, a BING station from the twenties, some cleaning to do and missing parts on the roofs but it will make a great addition to the collection.
And another piece, not railways related but so nice.....
A BING military boat clocwork, from i think the same period, i have to make some reseach about it, limited knowledge for toy boats....
Have a great tinplate weekend, Daniel
A question for both Fred and Daniel abroad,
Where are you finding these interesting items if I can ask, in stores or online or elsewhere?
Thanks,
Tom
CHRIS: Interesting and creative mod on your monorail set!
Tom, that' a very good question.
The majority of the pieces i have came from antique sellers and also some pickers who know that i enjoy those pieces. They are not comon finds even in Europe, you have to know many people and have luck to obtain such pieces at reasonnable price. if they are on an auction site, the well known one, i cannot afford them generally; they sell for big money. There is not so many toy or train shows in Europe than in USA but still some nice pieces may be founded.
For standard gauge trains, some O gauge also from USA, more than ten years ago i have bought some nice pieces on the auction site in your country, but since many years quality ones are very rare. When i was in vacancy time i have visited many "antiques" sellers but trains are, as in Europe, very rare and generally overpriced.
My best pieces came from the York train show and also some friends in USA, i have also visited some other train shows on the east coast with nice finds. York is of course at the top but just needs "some" money.... there is so many pieces that it is hard to make a choice.
A great part of the fun, for me, in train collecting is hunting to find something to add to the collection. The best piece for the lowest price, not so easy....
All my best wishes, Daniel
DANIEL: THANKS for your explanation! You are obviously an informed and careful collector and the items you share with us reflect your good taste!
Thanks Tinplate Art, one of the most, if not THE most important thing in every collecting fields is always try to learn something and accumulate a maximum of knowledge on the subject, it will allows you to make some great deals. Daniel
FRENCHTRAINS posted:Tom, that' a very good question.
The majority of the pieces i have came from antique sellers and also some pickers who know that i enjoy those pieces. They are not comon finds even in Europe, you have to know many people and have luck to obtain such pieces at reasonnable price. if they are on an auction site, the well known one, i cannot afford them generally; they sell for big money. There is not so many toy or train shows in Europe than in USA but still some nice pieces may be founded.
For standard gauge trains, some O gauge also from USA, more than ten years ago i have bought some nice pieces on the auction site in your country, but since many years quality ones are very rare. When i was in vacancy time i have visited many "antiques" sellers but trains are, as in Europe, very rare and generally overpriced.
My best pieces came from the York train show and also some friends in USA, i have also visited some other train shows on the east coast with nice finds. York is of course at the top but just needs "some" money.... there is so many pieces that it is hard to make a choice.
A great part of the fun, for me, in train collecting is hunting to find something to add to the collection. The best piece for the lowest price, not so easy....
All my best wishes, Daniel
Daniel,
Thank you!
Tom
George S posted:I want that whistling billboard. I hope they have another when I get there in two weeks. Remember, per Rob E., we will no longer be divulging our secret location!
George
Atta boy George!
NOT sharing is not what we were taught in Kindergarten! LOL!
Wow...What about camaraderie??? 
Tom
PS-Just like there is no crying in baseball, there should be no secrets among tinplaters. At least, that's how I feel now that I have no room for more stuff. 
Tom
MNCW posted:FRENCHTRAINS posted:A question for both Fred and Daniel abroad,
Where are you finding these interesting items if I can ask, in stores or online or elsewhere?
Thanks,
Tom
Tom,
I cannot remember having found something in a store. I do look at auctions catalogues and bid sometimes; I watch the online auction site (eBay, but also local ones) and much of the tinplate I have found at model-train swap-meets/shows in my country, where most of the merchandise is newer H0/N gauge stuff, so I have to search. And even more then Daniel I like low prices (The Dutch are known to be frugal).
Regards
Fred
TRUE collectors like Fred and Daniel have to work hard to hunt down their treasures, unlike the rest of us operators and collectors here in the US. We are really "spoiled" here with all the access to hobby shops and train shows in our many states!
Tinplate Art posted:TRUE collectors like Fred and Daniel have to work hard to hunt down their treasures, unlike the rest of us operators and collectors here in the US. We are really "spoiled" here with all the access to hobby shops and train shows in our many states!
Plus in Europe in general I would think that a lot of prewar trains were probably either destroyed or re-cycled ffor the war effort. We had a larger population And no bombings so much more available in general.
Dennis: Good points!
beautiful stuff guys! Greg I'm look at those same Ives cars. Coulda have some of them at the last show I was at for a good price, but my "walk around one more time" bit me....they were gone.
I had a mentor who told me "The time to buy an antique (train) is when you see it." I have pretty much followed that advice. The times that I haven't usually ended up in disappointment. One of the good things about collecting mass produced toys is that another one will eventually show up.
Northwoods Flyer
Greg
yup...and usually in better condition for a better price.Learned that on the bay.
Didn't get much time for trains this week, but did get the trucks on the Dump car.
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