Mountain railway gondola Redux

Here is the original Mountain railway that Tucher and Walther used for inspiration. From a German company called Doll and made in the 20's-30's. Lighthouse from the same people.

Mountain Railway Gondola

Picked up this cute little Tucher and Walther Railway Gondola. I thought it looked more like one of those "transfer warehouses" from MTH. Whatever it is, I thought it was kind of neat. Has a little wheel on the other side to hitch up a little steam engine to make the cars go in and out of the buildings. Now I just have to make some layout space...

Marc

Erector Type 1 Airport Beacon

I always set this up when we do SGMA displays - it's a unique and very old Erector model that is partially home made. It probably dates from the 1930s based on the type of Erector parts used for the tower. Erector works great with Standard Gauge. I also collect Erector so I really appreciate the way the two work together.

Weekend Experiment

I wanted a new standard gauge building however I also wanted something DIFFERENT. I've always wanted sky scrapers in standard gauge. So I goofed around on the web, did some research... Voila! I found this at Amazon.com for under $60! This is almost uniquely ideal for any standard gauge layout. It's all metal, it's the right color and style... A perfect weekend project for a budget conscious train nut...

If anyone has any Erector layout buildings they have pictures of, please send them to me for immediate posting.

Who'd of thought in 2010 I'd find an Erector Empire State building!

Marc

Beautiful AF Pocahontas Cars!

I've actually been downsizing my Standard Guage collection during the past few years. I've sold off some big sets and a lot of single items, locos and cars. My interests have shifted toward early American 2 inch gauge and Marklin gauge 0 and gauge 1. With limited space (and a linited train budget) I have to concentrate on where my interests lie. Last winter I was about to part with my boxed AF "Shasta" locomotive until I took it off the shelf and looked at it again closely. It is such a masterpiece that I couldn't bear to sell it, even though I did not have the "Pocahontas" passenger cars that go with it. So I put the loco back on the shelf. Recently, I purchased three Pocohantas cars on EBAY. Now I'm really glad that I saved the Shasta because these cars are just georgeous. I can't wait to get this set rolling on the layout. The colors are really great.

New Trolley Line

Now that Joe Mania is reproducing Carlisle and finch trolley poles I finally have the ability to put an overhead wire on my layout. I chose the elevated line on my layout which is easier to access than the lower line, which has a tunnel. Putting the poles up and stringing the wire was pretty straightforward. But the poles are only half the battle. The other half is getting a sprung trolley pole mounted on a streetcar. This requires drilling a hole in the roof. I wasn't about to do that with any of my original Carlisle and Finch streetcars (note: the trolley pole is what formally makes a streetcar a “trolley”. The streetcars which used underground conduits like in New York, Washington and London really can’t be called trolleys). Fortunately, I have a home made streetcar that was perfect for this purpose. The sprung base and pole came from a 1 gauge brass kit supplied by a company called Light Rail Products (http://www.lightrailproducts.com/021-030/023_trolley_base_kit.htm). The kit went together very easily. The wheel, however, was scale and far too small for the large wire that I used. I was able to make a wheel and harp from some brass and a very small tackle pulley bought from a local hardware store. The pulley wheel had to be extensively reshaped with a moto tool to make a trolley wheel that tracked on the overhead wire. The pole was wired into the motor, and after a fair amount of adjustment, the thing runs very reliably around the layout.

Ives Discussion

Summer is a slow time for toy trains for me. But there are a few things happening that keep trains on my agenda. On the 0 Gauge RR tinplate forum, there is a great discussion thread about Ives trains. As my friend Rob pointed out, many of of the participants in the discussion are younger collectors, a good thing for the hobby. I've picked up a few treasures over the Spring and Summer monthes including a great Marklin 0 gauge loco, a Voltamp stationary motor in wonderful condition, three AF Wide Gauge Pocohantas cars, and this rare Voltamp 2" gauge 8 wheel trolley, once owned and restored by the famous 2" gauge collector Dick Hopkins:

The inside of a SG Roundhouse

Mike Miller sent me this neat pic of what it looks like to be in a Lionel roundhouse with an idling 408e. It's a rare shot and one with some serious imagination.

I remember (when I was much younger) seeing a fully refurbished GE Electric Loco and cars in Grand Central. The funny thing is that this 408e in a roundhouse looks about the same! Very cool.

Marc

Clint's incredible bowling lane layout

Check out Clint Jefferies wonderful layout. This has a really neat story to it and is very unusual. Just click on the title of this post to go to Clint's website. I didn't check with him to see if I could post his pictures, thus I am going to leave all of the pics on his website and let everyone check them out for themselves.

Really nice layout Clint! You are on to something special!

Marc

LOTS Show in Cromwell, CT

Went to the Connecticut Yankee Trainshow in Cromwell, CT yesterday. There was a l ittle bit of prewar, a TON of postwar. Couple of neat layouts. I took a few Youtbues if you want to see them. All O gauge stuff. Made me want to see the SGMA layout all the much more. Interestingly, there was NO and I mean NO Lionel Corporation stuff on the tables. Go figure.

Marc

Bungling Brothers

Yes, I know the picture quality is mediocre. I've been under the gun all week from my job and I had a camera in my hand and a train on the track. The camera wasn't good and neither was the light. And as you can tell, my train room is THRASHED. However I do like the Pride Lines Bungling Bros. train. Not sure of how many of these were produced. I've never seen another train like it.

The locomotive goes ridiculously fast at extremely low voltages. It really needs the cars behind it to slow it down. I tried running it without the cars (big mistake) and at 6 volts my tunnel acted like a big catchers mitt.

I bought the extra car with this (the last car). It's a pretty neat little train. I wonder if there are any variations of this?

Marc

I guess I must be gettng noticed!

Folks, please remember, this is (as far as I know), the only Standard Gauge Blog. I recently was pelted with a couple of email notes for "automated updates" from the standard gauge blog (which the site already does). When I went out to check, someone had created a "ghost" of my website.

This was an attempt to get web traffic at my expense. Now for me, I don't do this for money, I do it because I like trains. However when I get redirected to a website that asks me about "Diabetic Nursing Supplies, Information on the Celtic Cross and Snorting Xanax" I have to believe that someone is attempting to use my name and blog as a money making resource.

I know times are tough but man, is that lame. This is about trains, a little bit about antiques and nostalgia and nothing to do with Xanax. So this is still the Standard Gauge Blog, this is not about the Celtic Cross (although I do watch stuff about it on the History Channel) and don't fall for any crap on the world wide web.

Marc

This is just a nice picture...

I just liked this pic and had to post it (part of the Strasburg RailRoad).

Marc

Random Greatness

This just goes past random goodness and is well into the realm of random greatness.

To quote Homer Simpson.... "MMMM, Marklin Wheel of Wonder...." I know it's a display, but these kinds of things are just amazing, especially to see up close.
Marc

More Layout Random Goodness

You know you can click on these and blow them up, right? By the way, these shots were taken with a ridiculously expensive Nikon Digital SLR (one that I can't afford). They really get the detail nicely.

Marc

Layout Random Goodness...

Best thing since sliced bread....

Flyer Random Goodness

More random goodness

How brilliant is this little train? Still looking for more pics in the 12 terabyte archive I have...

Marc

Random Picture Goodness

Just sifting through the picture archives and came across this pic my father in law took at the museum. The little Voltamp mining train up top is what caught my attention. More random goodness coming up!
Marc