Jehu in Standard Gauge

My buddy Joe put this together after he saw the latest Jehu Garelick models at the TCA show in PA. Check out a standard gauge model. Manufacturers, please take notice: not every new standard gauge model needs to be a 400e or 408e.

Marc

Toonerville Prototype

My buddy Capt. Joe Finelli has come up with another brilliant variation on a theme: the Toonerville Trolley. Again, this hammers home his ability as an artist as well as the need for manufacturers to do a little "out of box" thinking. Not everything needs to be a 400E or 200 series boxcar!!! I'll keep posting these brilliant creations as I see 'em. I know there are plenty more out there waiting to be found! Thanks again Joe for sending the pics. Keep up the amazing work! You are an inspiration!

Marc

The Finelli Army Train

Mr. Finelli just finished his rendition of an Army train in standard gauge! I haven't seen this in person however I must say Joe has really outdone himself on this. The train is striking and is probably the best interpretation of the Prewar (WWI) Lionel item I've seen.

Joe makes trains in his spare time, he actually has a career and job in a highly skilled area. This guy's creativity and ability is outstanding; I wish there was a way to give him more time and resources to build these great items.

Whenever I see anything from Joe Finelli, Joe Mania, Jim Cohen or Dick Mayer and quite a few others (Bob Thon, John Harmon and so on) I marvel at their ingenuity and ability to make something out of nothing. With America taking some lumps right now in the manufacturing space, we need people like them. There's no disputing that what they do is amazing; they make the best quality, products that are very close to art and they do it with almost no help. Imagine what these guys could do if they had the resources to let their imaginations really go.

Keep up the great work Joe!

For those of you that have never seen a Lionel Army Train: Lionel produced an Army train around WWI. Details are a little sketchy around it, I seem to remember it coming in a few configurtions with a flat car, a passenger car, a plane, some army cast iron army men and so on. I have a Dick Mayer rendition of it and I think it is terrific. It wasn't really designed after any prototype, it was designed by Lionel to give kids with limited space some access to a military toy. Even the reproductions come in several different flavors and colors with many different items as add ons. When I run the reproduction flavor I have in O gauge it squeals around the track and sways a little bit. All told, it is really fun to watch. I have to imagine the standard gauge flavor above is no different.

Marc

Williams Motors Needed!!!

Motors needed! Below is a picture of a neat little revolution in motors. It's a can motor mounted on a truck from Williams. My guess is that these haven't been made in well over 2 decades.

My buddy Joe is trying to build some new standard gauge. These motors are tremendously helpful. They were originally built by Jerry Williams for his standard gauge trolleys. Nowadays, to purchase a completed standard gauge motor is ridiculously expensive and actually exponentially increasees the cost of Joe's production. The added hassle for my buddy Joe is getting motors and completed trucks (see below) seem to be only available in very small quanitties. Most of the motors he sees tend to be modeled after the Lionel Bild A Loco motor. Nice motor for a 400E, not so nice (like the below) if you have a limited amount of space.

He'd like to get his hands on these motors (see below) and I would like to help him. The genius of these motors is that they are so self contained. The truck, driving wheels, gears and can motor are all in one piece. This saves him a ton of manufacturing and provides a really robust motor for long term use. Yes, we all love Bild A Loco's and E-units (sort of). But this motor shines in its' simplicity.

Couple of questions:

Does anyone know where Joe can buy these motors (see below) in quantity?
Are the avaialble anywhere new?
Do you know of someone that might have access to them?

If we get Joe these motors we'll see quite a few unusual trains for sale very soon. The motor is the most complex part of Joe's manufacturing process, it will make his job much easier if the toy trrain community can help him get the parts he needs!!

Marc

Joe's Standard Gauge Army Train

We've seen a few army trains in standard gauge come up on eBay from time to time. They can't hold a candle to Joe's standard gauge army train.

This one was built using the body from a reproduction Army Train from Richart and it came out very nice.

Click on the picture to get a larger view. Again, when I see Joe's scratch built creations I wish that some of the larger manufacturers could do a little out of box thinking. If Joe can put these together with some hard work and tenacity, imagine what a full blown machine shop with an Autocad area and state of the art stamping tools could do. More pics Joe!!

Marc

Joe's kicking butt!

Joe is s really kicking some serious scratch built gluteus maximus!

He's shrank down most of the most famous 2 7/8 gauge items to standard gauge size. Check out how beautifully these things scaled down. He told me that much of his work involves trial and error.

The payoff is obvious. The 2 7/8 next to the standard gauge version says it all. Hopefully somone like MTH will catch the idea and pay Joe for some consulting on this gear. He's on to something, no doubt about it. This is just one of those plain old smart ideas.

There's some irony, I was reading a Lionel catalog yesterday and it was discussing Railsounds 5.0. It was saying how the new Hiawatha can have multiple levels of sounds (louder chuffs, quieter whistle, etc.); every sound is adjustable. Practically everything is adjustable.

While quite interesting and entertaining for a couple of minutes, I'd rather have any of these trains in my collection versus the entire feature set of a new sound system. It's almost like the movie "Field of Dreams". "Make great trains and they will come." Concentrate on making innovative trains with an eye on the past and future. All of these toys had prototypes. Some are closer to the prototypes than others. Regardless, Joe has put some great ideas into metal. He's made me a little jealous because I want to be able to do the same thing. The first thing that should tell anyone is that he's on to something.

That moldy coal room in my 110 year old house may be getting some nuetrocrete soon....

M

Downsized 2 7/8 by Joe

This is a downsized B&O No. 5! Yes, it is standard gauge. Joe built this from scratch.

I'm trying to convince Joe to quit his day job and build trains full time.

Here's the thing that got me interested in 2 7/8 and this really captivating new standard gauge item: there are prototypes that reflect these models.

There's a couple of great books from Arcadia Publishing on New Haven, New London and Hartford Streetcars. I strongly recommend going out to Amazon and grabbing a few of these books.

I'd scan in the pics however they are copyrighted material and I know I'd receive a letter from an attorney after I hit the blogger "publish" button. Suffice to say, many of the work trolleys and the very early trolleys that carried freight look exactly like 2 7/8. Matter of fact (and I have said this before), it's kind of shocking how close Lionel came in the early days to a very strong reproduction of the actual real trains in CT.

Lionel wasn't in Connecticut! Actually, they were in Bridgeport for some time and JLC spent a good amount of time in Connecticut. The talent was here to build trains and Bridgeport is a port. I know from reading various opinions from 2 7/8 gauge experts like Louis Hertz that much of the "why" of 2 7/8 may have been lost to antiquity. I do know that I am glad guys like Joe are still bending metal and making some intriguing toys for those of us that never got to see the real thing....

M

More Great Scratchbuilts From Joe....

There's much to be said for scratchbuilding. It's sort of the high watermark of the hobby. A "High Watermark" is defined as the highest level of achievement or the apex.

The thing is, Joe (the builder of these wonderful items) probably hasn't hit that point yet. Every time I speak with him he's learning something new or he aspires to learn something new OR I better be telling him something new.

All the info I have and anyone can give is grist for his ideas. What I genuinely respect about him is his open mind and ability to put ideas into tin. I can't do that. I would like to though. I watch the O Gauge Tinplate Boards and forums. I see newbies that desperately want items that take a long time to acquire or are just too expensive. One the many actions several generations took before us is that when they couldn't get something they wanted, they built it themselves. If you can't find a 400E or cars you like, fine. We'll make them ourselves. I guess that Joe is damn good inspiration. Maybe I can head out West and he can teach me more than I know now (diddly).

Marc