Which do you like Marx best or Lionel?

I have to say Marx. Most of my non-tin O-gauge rolling stock is Lionel, but nearly all of my lokies are Marx. And nearly all of my tin is Marx.

Not sure exactly why I like Marx better. Could be prices or it could be that it's different than what you usually see in 3-rail O-gauge. Maybe it's the E-units. I get annoyed with Lionel's 3 position reverser sometimes. Or it could be that I just plain think the 3/16" scale tin and the 999 are just really cool.

Seems to me the question is akin to which one of your children do you like best!

I don't have a lot of either, but I do enjoy the pre-war Lionel tinplate.  Also have a couple of sets of New Marx (1990's) that I also enjoy. 

I think the simple pre-war tinplate is cool, but I also like the litho on the Marx items.

Jim

Hands down... Lionel.  Marx was made to fit a specific price point.  Louis capitalized on more frugal buyers to split Lionel/Flyer/Ives's pie into smaller wedges.

There are some fun Marx trains...don't get me wrong.  But Lionel made better, more endearing products IMO.  Marx was more....crude in its build, simpler and fairly robust for the price.  Bright colors and low price points were attractive to buyers.

Hooo..boy..sounds like this could be a Ford vs. Chevy argument....the first electric

train I was exposed to was my cousin's prewar Lionel set with the "latch?" couplers...

I played with it, and so...what did I want for Christmas?...an electric train...I got

a Marx #25000 3/16 set with the nonperforated spoked pilot.  My brother got one

later, a #25249 (with one less car) and we had two to run.  We lived on Depot Rd.

in a very small town, and hung out at the station.  I thought our Marx 3/16 was

much more realistic than my cousin's Lionel as those 3/16 cars looked like what

rolled through town.  Someone mentioned they thought Marx was crude...we thought our cousin's set, after we'd seen ours, was crude and toy-like, and considered our 3/16 Marx to be more of a model. Unfortunately, about the only items we added to the sets were a pair of #21 tin diesels and a set of the red "Bogota" series passenger

cars (which I still dislike, as I had seen the grey NYC 3/16 passenger cars but not when I had enough money). I don't/didn't like the #21's either...too bulky for 0-27 track, and I did a childhood "kitbash" on them.  I don't think as a child I ever saw the plastic #1095's or other roadname diesels, nor the #1998's, and worse, I never saw the #333 or #1829 steamers.  I have, when I discovered they existed, since acquired

examples of them.

After I got my #25000 set, the two other kids my age in town, cousins, each got an AF Atlantic two rail set, so all three brands operated in a tiny tank town.

Today my Marx is regarded by me as "collectible" and is shelved, the verious Lionel compatible brands are run, for they can always be replaced by more and newer.  I

would take the Marx into the nursing home and sell off the Lionel compatible.

Nice post....The story was a nice addition!  I highlighted this part of your post, to say that this is interesting... Here in the midwest, a nice piece of Marx is nary to be found, it was nearly all run to death...and the Lionel trains are treasured enough to want to be buried with them.  They were more expensive than Marx, and kids were required to treat them with more respect I guess.

Mercury sets are cool....copper queen especially.

This is the tin plate forum, not plastiplate...  just kidding of course!!!

To Lionel's chagrin, they were hard pressed to make their stuff smoke like Marx, Flyer or anyone else for that matter.

At least the Wm Crooks coaches are tin litho.

I have seen a number of Marx drivers well rotted, but still overall a small %.

Steve

Lionel was my first set, and I love 'em.   The 2nd, 3rd and 4th were Marx.  It was just a couple years ago that I realized that I have the most fun with my Marxes.  The wide range of series, the colors, the whimsy, the ease of repairing, the reliability all combine into something very enjoyable but that is hard to describe.

Two other fellows and I gave a presentation on Marx to our train club last night, and somebody shouted out, "There's the Marx Brothers!" 

Think the 333 with lithographed scale freight cars is a great example of the Toymaker's Art.  Charming, unlike Lionel postwar offerings.  And looks like a train, unlike Lionel prewar Tinplate most resembling costume jewelry.

Hard call but I think I will have to vot for Lionel as I really like the Lionel prewar streamliners.  I also really like prewar Hornby.

Marx didn't make Std. Gauge. Lionel Tinplate followed by Flyer, Ives and Dorfan. Sorry no Marx in the line-up.

If we can go off topic, I would say Bing and Marklin no matter what gauge.

Roland

I know the question is about trains, but I own no Marx trains (although this forum is tempting me).

However, on my tinplate layout I do have a small number of Marx signals and bells which I really enjoy.

Here's a pic:

No fair pulling out the big guns Roland!

But I feel so limited with only Lionel and Marx. At least include other American companies. Ives and Flyer as well as Dorfan in gauge 0.

Roland

That is the original post so any tinplate goes.

I guess he could not list everything in the title.

Although I appreciate Marx products from a historical perspective, Lionel and MTH "Tinplate Traditions", and the current LCT offerings are at the TOP of my list! 

Although I like both, I prefer Lionel. I just like the look of them more, and they seem more robust.

well, yes, that goes without saying.   When Lionel was selling train sets for $35, Marx would sell their version for something like $1.50.   But that's part of the Marx Mystique.

johnstrains, you're right on about the Marx accessories.  Pure inventiveness, out-of-the-box thinking.  "Radio Train Control" by shouting into the tower?  Are you kidding?  The coal dumping station is my favorite.  Wham!!  Lionel had a much more elaborate system, but hardly as big a hit!

Okay, it is time for me to fess up.  When I got my Marx set in 1948 a friend of my got a Lionel set with all the bells and whistles.The large wheels on all the rolling stock just did not appeal to me.  My Marx cars looked much more like the real stuff.  I do have some Lionel pre-war, but it usually is in a box.

Marx is King in my house.

Al

Aside from a few years when I went HO nuts, I've never owned any trains but Marx.  Don't see any reason to at this stage of the game

There is something by Marx for every taste, in IMHO.  From the whimsical 6-inch line you can move on to the plastic 4-wheel or steel 7-inch line, 4 or 8 wheel.  Both are still entertainingly toylike.  From there progress, if that is the right word, to the plastic 8-wheel, the deluxe series of which closely approximates Lionel of the era.  And then if more scale is your interest, go with the elegant 3/16 scale line, which rivalled American Flyer.

Battery powered?  Clockwork?  Electric?  Steam engines?  Diesels?  They got 'em!

And how about those plastic buildings.  They were at least as nice as Plasticville's. 

It is hard to tell a Marx litho building in the background.

Parents got me Marx because the 666 had a SP tender.

333 and 666 smoke like a Deere runs!

Marx should have gone 2R S!

I have only a small sampling of tinplate Lionel. I've got much more Marx. Can't say I like one better than the other. They get about equal run time. I do have a Lionel 1689T tender that I replaced the latch coupler with a combination coupler allowing me to run a Lionel engine with Marx cars, (The torpedo looks more natural than a 259) though it's too wide to look right.

J White

Looks great from the side though, eh J. White?