The Copper Torch

I was hanging out at the Statue Of Liberty on Sunday. The park staff that actually manage the island are as valuable and as great as the actual monument itself. I really did enjoy listening to them and Liberty herself is just always incredible. Check out the pic of the retired copper torch. Again, those things made out of metal just seem to go on forever....

Marc

Memorial Day

Sorry for the lack of posts. Lately I've become less and less interested in the acquisition of trains vastly more interested in either using them or seeing the real thing. Summer is always ideal for the real McCoy and there are at least two trolley museums that are begging for my attention.

These pics are from the Liberty State Park Station in New Jersey. This is where the actual Blue Comet left from for Atlantic City. The tracks are completely overgrown now. It's kind of strange seeing them, very much like seeing pictures of the Titanic. Really quite beautiful but a little haunting, even in plain daylight.

The building is not quite as nice as Ellis Island or a station like Grand Central, still though, the roof and design seem very European. It really is a wonderful structure and makes you wish you could really board a train there and go someplace exciting (like Atlantic City in the 1930's). The actual windows are all original and the garden and waterfront area is tremendous. They do have some Jersey Central trains there however they are rather underwhelming.

If you are a real train watcher/spotter there are some places in NJ where you can see some real gems. I have seen a GG1 and some very old heavyweights under construction right off of 287 down the pike from Morristown and Parsippany. I got off their one day to grab some lunch and there were tons of old passenger cars on sidings and a GG1 under some kind of rennovation. It was all "off limits" however there was so much stuff there you could see it in plain view from the road.

Anyway, that's about it for now. Keep looking for those trains!

Marc

Great collection! Check out this new Youtube...

Wow, gotta redo the train room now...



Marc

See it in action: the 255E Steamer

http://www.mthtrains.com/news/467

The beautiful Taylor presents an exciting new (prewar) engine from The Lionel Corporation. I'm not a huge fan of bright orange trains, I do like gunmetal however. Go check it out and let me know if you get one of these. Always great to see new tinplate.

Marc

We've lost a Giant in Toy Trains

We've lost a giant in toy trains, Margaret McCoy. As part of the McCoy team, some of the most innovative, imaginative and wonderful toy trains ever produced came from the mind of Margaret. Make no mistake, she was a key partner in McCoy Trains of Washington State (aka The Chicken Coop). Her honesty, integrity and giving nature will be missed the world over.

Margaret passed away on 3/13/11 at 8:30 am. I'll send out further details as I find them out. In the meantime, we will forever miss one of the great ladies of toy trains.

Marc

Edison WGHS from Feb. 26th, 2011

One thing about the SGMA, those guys sure are right; Standard Gauge needs a big layout and a ton of room to really shine (ha, funny, shine). I did really enjoy the mix of trains the guys had at the show, there was some plain vanilla, some eclectic, some passenger and a ton of freight. One constant: friendly discussion all around from highly curious onlookers and the experts in the SGMA area. Kids went completely nuts for the stuff too. I saw quite a few folks at N, S, HO and O gauge and G gauge layouts. But the SGMA layout was constantly packed. Was great meeting the gang as well, they are just great guys. Can't tell what's better, the people in the booth or the trains. Probably both.

Marc

More WGHS Pics

More pics from the SGMA. I saw Mr. Kelly taking pics and movies thus I am guessing we'll be seeing great stuff from him shortly as well....

Mickey @ SGMA in Edison

WGHS This weekend

Big Show in Edison this weekend. Good to see all of the SGMA guys doing their thing. Was also really nice to see all of the vendors there like Lionel, MTH and Aristocraft (to name a few). Turnout was just insane.

Boucher Blue Comet - WGHS in Edison/Feb. 2011

My friend Jim Kelly's gorgeous Boucher Blue Comet at the WGH Show this weekend in Edison, NJ.
Marc

Eggliners in Edison this weekend (Feb.26, 2011)

Took a quick Youtube of these cute little Aristocraft Eggliners running amok in NJ this weekend. The WGHS was fairly large, and really crowded. Half of me likes people playing with toy trains, the other half of me gets crazy navigating the crowds. More pics and movies coming...

Marc

The Prewar Times?

The Prewar Times seems to have disappeared! Josh, if you are out there, drop me a note and let me know what happened?

Marc

Probably the best collection I've ever seen....

In case you missed CBS Sunday Morning today, this is probably the best collection I've ever seen. Can anyone spot me about $20 million to pick this up?



My God, this is really something.

marc

Marx Yahoo Group

Just a quick note - for those of you that like all trains made out of tin, go join the Marx Yahoo Group. The pics are really neat and the tinplate is colorful, lithographed and just plain fun (and they are ridiculously affordable).

I know, a short post but worth the visit. I've been running some Marx lately and I'm not disappointed at all.

Marc

New Tinplate Times is Out!

Check out Mr. Kelly's wonderful new online magazine. I'm growing to love these Marklin trains more and more; Jim has a wonderful article on German Tinplate. He also has the REAL and whole story and several McKeens that have showed up in the last few months that are breathtaking and true works of art. Not trivial creations by any means.

Go check it out HERE.

Marc

Wooden Train

Yes, I know we are all slaves to the tinplate master. However when you see something like this, you just have to scratch your head and think "how did they do that"? Check out this youtube. I gotta tell ya, youtube is great, there is no way (in the olden days of magazines and static pictures) that you could have gotten a sense of how awesome these trains are. The boom crane is really amazing. And to have all of those little handmade switchers around.....

And all of that wooden track just blows me away. I know I scream when I have to go out to the trainstore to buy the metal stuff! I'll stop babbling, just check this out.

Marc



PS You may want to check out some of the other European beauties at Modelspoor 2010. They have an absolutely fantastic tinplate trolley layout with some truly amazing catenary.

Breaking news... New Lionel Electric Trains Catalog for 2011 out!

That was fast. I really like some of the "out of box" thinking like the pink sets. The O gauge sets are absolutely fantastic. This catalog is outstanding. I'm impressed MTH.

The choices in freight and traditional passenger cars is simply outstanding. Check out the catalog here.

Definitely worth the wait.

Marc

Magnificent Marklin Collection

I was looking around the Tinplate and Marklin Forums last night and I saw this.... Possibly the largest Prewar Marklin collection there is. This is (from what I can tell from the forums) only one collector! And not all of the collection is being shown!

This is currently on the 4th floor at Sotheby's in NYC. It's a closed sale, meaning that this probably will go to a very high roller. People with way plain old ridiculous amounts of cash. My guess is that this is a $10 million plus collection, just from what I am seeing here.

What a marvel this must be to see all of these toys running.

Oh yes, before you continue perusing all of these pics, let me give credit where credit is due: I absolutely did not take these pictures. These came off the Marklin forum, the link is above. The guy that took these was "Mechman".

If I feel well enough (had some surgery a few weeks ago and still just barely sea-worthy), I may go into NYC to see if I can see this collection. Apparently Sotheby's would prefer this not be photographed.

Looks like a "once in a lifetime" viewing of prewar Marklin though. What an amazing collection....
Marc

Happy 2011

Stopped off at New England Toy Train today and took a few pics from the upcoming auction. Goodness for 2011. There's more coming!

Some things we have to look forward to in 2011:

Multiple York Meets
Two new MTH Catalogs
MTH delivering stuff from their 2010 catalog
A couple of awesome SGMA showings

And some of the best prewar auctions in history!

Any thoughts on new and exciting things for 2011?

More pics on the way! Happy New Year!

Marc

New York City Nostalgia Train

Every year around this time New York City does some really fun stuff around the holidays, particularly with the transit system. Yesterday was no exception; NYC Transit ran old subways and buses. No surprise, many of the riders liked the old stuff better (go figure)! Here is a fantastic Youtube...



By the way, here is what driving around New York City in 1928 looked like (not a whole lot different than today...)



Marc