Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Report On Early Lionel Steamers On Line
On January 14, 2012 eighteen tinplate toy train collectors met in Alexandria, VA to systematically
gather data about early Lionel Standard Gauge steam engines. Read the results of
their investigation focusing on early Lionel No. 5 locomotives on Tinplate Times:
http://www.tinplatetimes.com/Tinplate%20History/GreenbergSteam/steam.htm
or
http://www.tinplatetimes.com
Monday, February 20, 2012
Early Lionel Study Group: Open Invitation
From Bruce C. Greenberg, PhD...the author of the Greenberg's Guides:
Please join the Standard Gauge Study Group to study Early Lionel Electrics: 33, 34, 38, 42, 50, 53, 54, 1910, 1911 and 1912...
Place: 5233 Bessley Place , Alexandria , VA 220304
Time: Sunday March 4, 2012 10 am to 4 pm
Please invite your train friends to join us.
Rsvp to Bruce Greenberg, 703-461-6991 or brucecgreenberg1(at)gmail.com
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Ives Armatures on eBay
Just perusing ebay, check out this auction from Mr. Bob Hannon:
http://r.ebay.com/xO9Q6d
It's for newly wound Ives Armatures. I remember speaking with Jim Cohen many times about armatures (or lack thereof) and Jim couldn't say enough good things about Bob. I have some of Bob's armatures in a few of my Jim Cohen trains and they are as good as anything from the Ives or Lionel factory.
There are quite a few things that can go wrong with an original standard gauge engine. More often than not the key item that effects performance and is hardest to replace IS the armature. Winding these things is almost an art form. Not trivial by any means. It can be done by a dedicated hobbyist however I've seen Bob's work and it is stellar. Read is his return policy on eBay and you'll get a good sense of how ethical he is.
Above is a pic for the auction. I'd recommend you get to know this guy if you have a few original items. One or two of these armatures sitting around in a desk or repair shop is a great idea. Maybe it is time for a couple of new armatures anyway in some of my old Ives boxcabs!!
Marc
http://r.ebay.com/xO9Q6d
It's for newly wound Ives Armatures. I remember speaking with Jim Cohen many times about armatures (or lack thereof) and Jim couldn't say enough good things about Bob. I have some of Bob's armatures in a few of my Jim Cohen trains and they are as good as anything from the Ives or Lionel factory.
There are quite a few things that can go wrong with an original standard gauge engine. More often than not the key item that effects performance and is hardest to replace IS the armature. Winding these things is almost an art form. Not trivial by any means. It can be done by a dedicated hobbyist however I've seen Bob's work and it is stellar. Read is his return policy on eBay and you'll get a good sense of how ethical he is.
Marc
Friday, January 27, 2012
Stubby Trains
So a minor confession: I really love stubby trains. These are trains that are truncated or shortened. Shorter, designed atypically with one truck and made to work in a very small space and with very tight curves. There are prototypes for truncated or shortened trains. Mining was the most common (plenty of mining trains can be seen elsewhere on this blog). Mine cars and mining trains have been modeled extensively in the toy train world and actually for a very long time in standard gauge.
What set me off on this discussion/tangent was that one of my relatives sent me some RMT trains over the holidays. I have to say, they are really nice. Ok, full disclosure: I like all toy trains, not just standard gauge. I have quite a few Postwar trains from Lionel, MTH and so on. I am so ashamed! Ok, not really.
The RMT trains are really nice, mostly because I do not have a layout with a huge footprint and I tend to like trains that I can whip around the layout quick and not have them fly off the track. The RMT trains are well done, they have substantial attention to detail, they are unique and they run extremely well. I got to thinking though, how interesting it is that standard gauge never really embraced the modified trains like O gauge seems to. Check out the New York Central set with the one truck passenger cars. I am probably going to pick up a few more of these cars. They have people inside and are really well articulated.
By the way, for the Youtube videos I'd recommend watching them directly on Youtube. For some reason the software Google uses for the web log (Blog) truncates the video for the web page. You'll get a better idea of how nice these trains are if you can blow up the video to your full screen size.
So after I really ran the RMT New York Central Set, I started thinking about the standard gauge "Shorty's" that I have. Somewhere I have a McCoy Black Diamond set I have to try out. But I use the below sets all of the time. These are mostly from Joe Finelli. He is a very talented artist/train maker and he has made several of these sets and put them out on eBay and sold them to TCA Members and collectors.
Check out the coal train.
Here is a Pride Lines Voltamp Set. It runs like a champ and was one of John's last creations. He will be missed, this set has it all, classic styling, great running and a prototype to match it from the early days of railroading. The colors on it are fantastic.
The neat thing about shorty's (truncated trains) is that they look great even when there isn't a substantial amount of rolling stock or passenger traffic. And by the way, I've seen plenty of pictures of Steeple Cabs pulling a single car or caboose, so the train is still in the land of prototypical (if that's how you are so inclined).
There are quite a few "shorty" standard gauge trains out there. They are not easy to come by and some are quite rare. Carlisle and Finch isn't standard gauge however it definitely could be considered a "shorty". I'll post some more shorty's and movies shortly (pardon the pun). I'll also discuss the history in a bit more detail and post quite a few more pics! More soon -
Marc
What set me off on this discussion/tangent was that one of my relatives sent me some RMT trains over the holidays. I have to say, they are really nice. Ok, full disclosure: I like all toy trains, not just standard gauge. I have quite a few Postwar trains from Lionel, MTH and so on. I am so ashamed! Ok, not really.
The RMT trains are really nice, mostly because I do not have a layout with a huge footprint and I tend to like trains that I can whip around the layout quick and not have them fly off the track. The RMT trains are well done, they have substantial attention to detail, they are unique and they run extremely well. I got to thinking though, how interesting it is that standard gauge never really embraced the modified trains like O gauge seems to. Check out the New York Central set with the one truck passenger cars. I am probably going to pick up a few more of these cars. They have people inside and are really well articulated.
By the way, for the Youtube videos I'd recommend watching them directly on Youtube. For some reason the software Google uses for the web log (Blog) truncates the video for the web page. You'll get a better idea of how nice these trains are if you can blow up the video to your full screen size.
Blow up these pictures, click on them. I used a really nice camera to take the shots, you should be able to see the detail.
Check out the coal train.
Here is a Pride Lines Voltamp Set. It runs like a champ and was one of John's last creations. He will be missed, this set has it all, classic styling, great running and a prototype to match it from the early days of railroading. The colors on it are fantastic.
There are quite a few "shorty" standard gauge trains out there. They are not easy to come by and some are quite rare. Carlisle and Finch isn't standard gauge however it definitely could be considered a "shorty". I'll post some more shorty's and movies shortly (pardon the pun). I'll also discuss the history in a bit more detail and post quite a few more pics! More soon -
Marc
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Layout Expansion Progress
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Some SGMA Shots from Pittsburg
For those of you not technically inclined, I am posting some of the great shots from the SGMA event in Pittsburgh. Ya gotta love these guys!
Marc
Marc
Monday, January 09, 2012
Layout Expansion (again)
Monday, January 02, 2012
IVES 3242 STANDARD GAUGE ELECTRIC TRAIN
From the 0 Gauge RR Tinplate Forum, member Nachtjager has done a nice job rejuvenating an IVES loco...
"Scarce tan Ives brass plate 3242 (1926) making a few test laps with a few freight cars. All original wiring, original armature, original wheels. This loco had been overpainted black on the outside and it took me four days to dig out the original tan paint!"
"Scarce tan Ives brass plate 3242 (1926) making a few test laps with a few freight cars. All original wiring, original armature, original wheels. This loco had been overpainted black on the outside and it took me four days to dig out the original tan paint!"
Monday, December 26, 2011
Tinplate Play
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Grand Central Chandeliers
I just love the lights in Grand Central. They don't make them like this anymore. Does it get better than this? Merry Christmas everyone!
Marc
PS Click on the pic to blow this up. The ceiling isn't too shabby either!
Marc
PS Click on the pic to blow this up. The ceiling isn't too shabby either!
If you happen to be in Lower Manhattan this season...
You have to check out this shoe place. Yes, I'm not insane. Really. I'm not. Frye's Shoes is there flagship store at 113 Spring Street in NYC. Don't go for the shoes unless you have a wife or girlfriend and your credit card has a high limit and is paid off. They have nice shoes. This is a blog about trains and tinplate. And it's what they have in the window that is something special. They have robots and tons of cool tin in the window. And the window dressing moves. Really, this is one hell of a cool set of windows.
See that big clockwork thingy? Well it turns and does stuff and it is absolutely mesmerizing. The window display is absolutely show stopping. It is as good as anything I've ever seen in any Macys or Bloomingdales or Harrods or whatever.
Check out this little Youtube I captured....
See that big clockwork thingy? Well it turns and does stuff and it is absolutely mesmerizing. The window display is absolutely show stopping. It is as good as anything I've ever seen in any Macys or Bloomingdales or Harrods or whatever.
Grand Central Trains 2011
Merry Christmas All! Welcome to prime time for toy trains. I was in Grand Central last week with my Panasonic Micro 4/3rds camera. And well, go figure, there were a few toy trains there. Grand Central at Christmas is always a spectacle. There are quite a few special stations in the United States and Grand Central is the king to rule them all. I really don't even think the models of it do the grandeur and boldness of the structure justice. It is one of those places that has to be taken in by being there. And the wonder of the place doesn't get old or pass with age. It gets better.
I snapped a few shots in the Grand Central Transit Museum. The MTH layout is there every year along with some key parts and pieces of standard gauge collections. The layout is excellent O gauge, especially for the really small amount of space they have. The kids in Grand Central were absolutely going nuts over the trains and there were plenty of outstanding quality sets that could be purchased right on the spot and reasonable prices. It really is a warm and great atmosphere to see these toys. Maybe the SGMA can cut a deal with Grand Central to really show them so serious toy trains!
Without further delay....
I snapped a few shots in the Grand Central Transit Museum. The MTH layout is there every year along with some key parts and pieces of standard gauge collections. The layout is excellent O gauge, especially for the really small amount of space they have. The kids in Grand Central were absolutely going nuts over the trains and there were plenty of outstanding quality sets that could be purchased right on the spot and reasonable prices. It really is a warm and great atmosphere to see these toys. Maybe the SGMA can cut a deal with Grand Central to really show them so serious toy trains!
Without further delay....
Monday, December 19, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Cute Little Tinplate You Tubes
Ok, stop watching that stupid Orange on Youtube and watch a neat tinplate slideshow instead:
http://www.tinplaterr.info/OGRForum.html
If you have Apple TV on your television these are really neat to watch on a larger screen. Somehow laptop screens and tinplate just don't work.
I am in the early stages of a layout rework. I am bored to tears of a straight oval. I'm afraid I'm one of those people that needs switches (turn outs). I have plenty of MTH switches, I just need to mate them to the new MTH track. I do love this track, it is a bit more robust than tubular track. Some new tinplate as well. I'll post some pics later on this week.
Any holiday layout specials? I just bought some new McComas videos and they are stellar! Anyone have any favorites?
Marc
http://www.tinplaterr.info/OGRForum.html
If you have Apple TV on your television these are really neat to watch on a larger screen. Somehow laptop screens and tinplate just don't work.
I am in the early stages of a layout rework. I am bored to tears of a straight oval. I'm afraid I'm one of those people that needs switches (turn outs). I have plenty of MTH switches, I just need to mate them to the new MTH track. I do love this track, it is a bit more robust than tubular track. Some new tinplate as well. I'll post some pics later on this week.
Any holiday layout specials? I just bought some new McComas videos and they are stellar! Anyone have any favorites?
Marc
Thursday, December 08, 2011
Cleaning Dirty Tinplate
Saturday, December 03, 2011
Awesome SGMA Event (Pittsburgh)
You must spend some time checking out the SGMA's amazing Pittsburgh event. It doesn't get better than this. And with the visit to John DiSantis, it just puts it over the edge.
With huge thanks to Kirk and team, this event just has to be seen!
http://gallery.me.com/jeannettelindvig#100434&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=7
Marc
With huge thanks to Kirk and team, this event just has to be seen!
http://gallery.me.com/jeannettelindvig#100434&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=7
Marc
Friday, December 02, 2011
Full of Hot Air
Live steam doesn't always have to be steam. Hot air engines work on simple principles of expansion and contraction of air, and have been used for over a century for yeoman service. Check out this link to see Jay Leno's hot air engine pumping water around a bucket:
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/ericsson-hot-air-pumping-engine/1241133/
Despite several science degrees and a few thermodynamics classes, I still really don't understand how these things work in practice; but work they do. The advantages of a hot air engine is durability, simplicity and longevity: they will run until the fire runs out. The disadvantage is that they are very weak, which is why you never see them powering a locomotive. Except here:
Ernst Plank was the only company that I know of eccentric enough to sell hot air trains. They only made two types; this locomotive and a tram based on the same chassis.Because of the weakness of hot air propulsion, they needed large engines. 
Therefore these trains are Gauge 3 (67 mm, or 2.5", or Gauge 2.5 in some catalogs which reserve "Gauge 3" for 75 mm gauge). Although the locomotive pulls a gauge 3 train, due to the poor pulling power Plank actually used a gauge 1 tender and gauge 1 cars made out of the thinnest tinplate imaginable. The tender and cars look horribly disproportionate with the loco in pictures, and in fact the engine doesn't look like much in pictures either, but in person it has presence. Unfortunately, my engine is frozen up. It looks like the copper pistons have welded themselves to the tinplate sleeves through galvanic corrosion, so I can't really confirm or deny that these have decent pulling power. A word of warning: the tram has been faked; so much so that there probably are more fake trams out there than real ones. Allen Levy wrote about a pair of them way back in the mid seventies in "Century of Model Trains". Its one of the highest items on my want list to get, but I am very nervous about buying one. The locomotive's value is probably as much for pilfering the chassis to fake a tram than in the loco itself.
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/ericsson-hot-air-pumping-engine/1241133/
Despite several science degrees and a few thermodynamics classes, I still really don't understand how these things work in practice; but work they do. The advantages of a hot air engine is durability, simplicity and longevity: they will run until the fire runs out. The disadvantage is that they are very weak, which is why you never see them powering a locomotive. Except here:
Ernst Plank was the only company that I know of eccentric enough to sell hot air trains. They only made two types; this locomotive and a tram based on the same chassis.Because of the weakness of hot air propulsion, they needed large engines. 
Therefore these trains are Gauge 3 (67 mm, or 2.5", or Gauge 2.5 in some catalogs which reserve "Gauge 3" for 75 mm gauge). Although the locomotive pulls a gauge 3 train, due to the poor pulling power Plank actually used a gauge 1 tender and gauge 1 cars made out of the thinnest tinplate imaginable. The tender and cars look horribly disproportionate with the loco in pictures, and in fact the engine doesn't look like much in pictures either, but in person it has presence. Unfortunately, my engine is frozen up. It looks like the copper pistons have welded themselves to the tinplate sleeves through galvanic corrosion, so I can't really confirm or deny that these have decent pulling power. A word of warning: the tram has been faked; so much so that there probably are more fake trams out there than real ones. Allen Levy wrote about a pair of them way back in the mid seventies in "Century of Model Trains". Its one of the highest items on my want list to get, but I am very nervous about buying one. The locomotive's value is probably as much for pilfering the chassis to fake a tram than in the loco itself.
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