Welcome to the 21st Century!

Wow! I just saw some new pics and wonderful posts on the Facebook page of MTH! Could the train companies be falling into the 21st Century? Will I get to see Mike Wolf "Twittering" his meeting with his manufacturing team discussing the deliveries of new tinpate and O gauge?

When I searched on Facebook for Lionel I found quite a few hits. None of them really had much going on though. MTH on the other hand looks very vibrant! I hope this is the start of some active work by manufacturers to have a dialog on a daily basis with us. I have to hand it to MTH, between their newsletter, Facebook and some innovative products (ala the Brute), they really do have the buzz. I hope some other train companies answer the challenge. Regardless, MTH needs to keep up the good work. I am really looking forward to that Brute! I just hope I don't have to re-mortgage the house to get one!

Marc

NETTE Auction for Sept 2009 is up!

As Yogi Berra said "It gets late early out there!" September is upon us and wild as it may seem, 2009 is drawing to a close. Weren't we all supposed to be driving hover cars in 2010?

Well, the cars aren't hovering but NETTE has a pretty darn nice lot of prewar trains up on their website. Go out and take a look...

Train time is getting near! Halloween isn't far off. Get ready for the auctions, shows and York!

Marc

The Airport and the 390E

Well, another day on the layout....

Marc

A day at the airport....

And the 390E with a TCA load...

Tom Sefton Layout in Youtube

I saw this wonderful Youtube posted from the messages on the Yahoo Group and I just had to post it. Standard Gauge doesn't get much better then this. Sacremento is going to be one of my stops in 2010!

Marc

Unusual Trolley #2

Another really unusual Trolley up for auction soon. I seem to remember this being a Knapp trolley. Again, this is just about as a rare as they come!
Marc

The Real Deal

Check this out - for the next upcoming NETTE auction a real Voltamp Trolley will be up. I got to see this thing in person last week and it doesn't disappoint. I could never understand why Voltamp enthusiasts liked this stuff so much. That is until I started seeing them up close. There's just nothing like these anywhere. Lionel never stole squat from Voltamp but they should have!!!

marc

Standard Gauge Car

Was rolling through Rhode Island yesterday and I saw this car in front of an antique store. It had a little "Sold" sticker on the window. I am definitely getting one of these someday. I need something to tote around my trains!

Marc

Just Geeking

A little off topic; was over at the Smithsonian last week in Washington, DC and they have the original Enterprise model from the series. When you see what these guys made with the materials they had at the time, it is inspiring. We all bellyache about MTH not making this or Lionel not making that. Yet these modelers (who weren't really modelers) came up with one of the most memorable icons in history. It's worth the trip (this is in the Smithsonian Air and Space museum).

Marc

Aristo-Craft PCC Car/Insider Letters

Aristo-Craft/Polk Hobbies is just plain great stuff. No, it isn't standard gauge. But if you think that I'm not putting away some pennies for these new PCC Streetcars and maybe and RDC Budd car, you would be wrong.

Go check out the newsletter here.

I continue to be impressed by these trains. I first saw them at the Springfield, MA show and I have purchased a few including the Egg Liner. If you have never seen an Egg Liner, you should. It will make you into an instant fan and G-Scaler.

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

Nice American Flyer Youtube from Pipes

Check out Pipes American Flyer Youtubes. Here is one (they are pretty darn neat). Try on HD and blow it up to full screen.

marc

And another Youtube...

I know, you are all getting bored. Youtube is so huge and substantial (there's so much out there) that I figured if I post them, it's easier than sorting through them.



Another great video from Daveclarklumber!
Marc

Rich Art Bi-Polar Video

Daveclarklumber posted another great video on Youtube of this Rich Art Bi-Polar. Absolutely fantastic!

Little McCoy Youtube

Dave Hess posted a really nice little Youtube of a rare McCoy Handcar rolling around on a standard gauge layout. I hope he can post more of these wonderful little videos of McCoy gear making the rounds. He's inspired me to make a few on layout as well....

Marc

PS I'd love to see a bumper car in standard gauge as well!

No. 1 Trolley at NETTE

Very nice set of trolleys and they very rarely show up in pairs (power and trailer).

At the NETTE auction in July 2009.

Marc

Stellar 400e @ NETTE

Here's a very high quality 400e at the upcoming NETTE auction. Original 400e's drive some high prices. I have two and I can say they were both worth it.

Marc

Voltamp at the NETTE Auction

Pretty sweet. New England Toy Train Exchange has an exciting auction coming up with some classic Voltamp like this. I've seen about a dozen questions in the last week; "What is Voltamp?". In a very small nutshell, some of the earliest and most innovative electric toy trains.

Marc

Just messin with the layout...

Debating about what trains I'm going to run next. I hate pulling off this Ives Prosperity Special. It's special. I just can't stop looking at the damn thing.

Marc

Back of 400 Series

400 Series cars from TTOS Meet

What's interesting about these cars is that they were overpainted at the factory. From the little scratches on the cars, you can see that there is typical Lionel Apple Green underneath. Yet these cars are not refinished, the orange you see is orange from the factory. I have these cars in Mojave (a light brown I guess) as well as MTH flavors in Green. They are some of the best all purpose passenger cars on a pike, largely because they aren't as ostentatious as State cars and they can handle smaller radius pikes with ease. I'll post some additional pics later on.

Marc