There were about four of us here on the forum who became intrigued with this reproduction of a windup Paya trolley that was inexpensive and ripe for conversion \ modifications.I wondered if any progress has been made by others. As followup I thought it would be fun to see what if any variations we came up with.
Mine is a freight motor that I intended to install a Marx motor into, but then the idea of keeping it as a windup that would be unique kind of sprang to mind. I chucked the laughable original spring motor and added a beefier Hafner unit. Its a work in progress and the photo shows the body resting on the frame without being attached. I have the side panels painted with decals for "Lake Shore Electric" that need to be put on later today..How about others?
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
Hiya!
I also have the green trolley by the same manufacturer:
It's not an "official" Paya reproduction but it comes in the same box as the yellow version. On this one however, the motor is even more laughable if you can picture that! It's so wide, the wheels contact the body so you can't even wind it without warping it dramatically. Anyhoo, I got both from one ebay seller about 3 years ago for about 10 bucks each. I planned to motorize them from day one but I've been considering an S gauge steam chassis or diesel truck rather than an O gauge unit. Partially because I have O gauge tinplate that can run on one loop and a tinplate trolley running on the other would look cool, but also because I could get that "narrow gauge" look.
Either way I doubt I'll get it done before my holiday layouts go up in November, I've been spending 100% of my time designing and building a whole new holiday display from square one. That one, if I'm successful, will feature an operating train line unlike any I'm aware of. It's one of those "what if Marx had made...that" projects. The rest of the layout is well under way and is nearly entirely made of cardstock. Of that, I can only say I'll keep wishing upon a star and hoping my adventures into the realms of yesterday, tommorow and pure fantasy will take my O gauge citizens to the happiest place on earth.
Becky
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Penny Trains Hiya! I also have the green trolley by the same manufacturer: It's not an "official" Paya reproduction but it comes in the same box as the yellow version. On this one however, the motor is even more laughable if you can picture that! It's so wide, the wheels contact the body so you can't even wind it without warping it dramatically. Anyhoo, I got both from one ebay seller about 3 years ago for about 10 bucks each. I planned to motorize them from day one but I've been considering an S gauge steam chassis or diesel truck rather than an O gauge unit. Partially because I have O gauge tinplate that can run on one loop and a tinplate trolley running on the other would look cool, but also because I could get that "narrow gauge" look. Either way I doubt I'll get it done before my holiday layouts go up in November, I've been spending 100% of my time designing and building a whole new holiday display from square one. That one, if I'm successful, will feature an operating train line unlike any I'm aware of. It's one of those "what if Marx had made...that" projects. The rest of the layout is well under way and is nearly entirely made of cardstock. Of that, I can only say I'll keep wishing upon a star and hoping my adventures into the realms of yesterday, tommorow and pure fantasy will take my O gauge citizens to the happiest place on earth. Becky
I hope you post pictures of it ..alot of folks would enjoy seeing it. including myself. I understand about that "narrow gauge look" and I wish I had thought of that one. The freight motor made it's debut this evening, ran well. You said layouts (plural) ..do you still have what I believe was a Thai layout? That one was remarkable.
Yes I do. That's my summer layout. It will make way sometime around mid September for the Plasticville Christmas layout which will go up in October. In November I'll be building the other 2 so I have to get that one up earlier. The other 2 holiday layouts will be my G/Std. ga pike and the one I'm currently designing. My biggest issue is location at this point. I can either do a smaller G/Std. layout and use the other end of the room for my mousey empire, or I can try to put the new "land" up in a different room. But what I have in mind will take up A LOT of space!
Well, it may be premature but I might as well just go ahead and say that I'm trying to create a Disney monorail system using Mark tender bodies. I have a bid out on a large collection of rusty shells and if I get it, I should be able to create at least a 5 car train without too much difficulty. However I'm planning to use the drive train from an HO Life-Like diesel as motive power. I think I can hide HO track better and keep the Monorail track system narrower if I use HO as a basis as opposed to O or S. The "Monorail track" will in fact be HO nailed to 1/4" plywood sections nailed on top of 1/2" plywood pieces which will create the profile. Pylons will just be square basswood sections with square bases. Here's a version I did about 5 years ago and since I have a lot more models and I'm generally better at designing and building than I was in 2006, it's time to do it again. Here's the paper monorail I designed back then:
As you can see, the round-top profile of a Marx tender would make it a natural for a short monorail car. I can use my paper model parts as a template for the cab-ends and transfer them to sheet aluminum. (Well, pop cans to be honest! ) Then it shouldn't be too hard to mount HO trucks to the Marx car frames and I can create the ah...well, I don't know what to call them? Skirts? The runners that come down from the sides and straddle the rails? Anyway I can make them fairly easily out of heavier gauge aluminum and all I have to do is watch my clearance on curves.
So if it works, this will be a (pseudo) O gauge Disneyland as opposed to the G scale version shown above. When I get more buildings finished I'll start a thread on the layout's progress. Main Street is 95% done. Tomorrowland is coming along nicely and I already know how I'm going to do things like the Big Thunder Mountain Ry. and the Matterhorn. Oh and of course, Sleeping Beauty Castle is finished up to the point of waiting to be mounted on it's landscaped base. The Disneyland RR will be my James Gang general and cars of undetermined style. I'm working on getting more of the James Gang cars but I may end up scratchbuilding open air cars.
Penny Trains Yes I do. That's my summer layout. It will make way sometime around mid September for the Plasticville Christmas layout which will go up in October. In November I'll be building the other 2 so I have to get that one up earlier. The other 2 holiday layouts will be my G/Std. ga pike and the one I'm currently designing. My biggest issue is location at this point. I can either do a smaller G/Std. layout and use the other end of the room for my mousey empire, or I can try to put the new "land" up in a different room. But what I have in mind will take up A LOT of space! Well, it may be premature but I might as well just go ahead and say that I'm trying to create a Disney monorail system using Mark tender bodies. I have a bid out on a large collection of rusty shells and if I get it, I should be able to create at least a 5 car train without too much difficulty. However I'm planning to use the drive train from an HO Life-Like diesel as motive power. I think I can hide HO track better and keep the Monorail track system narrower if I use HO as a basis as opposed to O or S. The "Monorail track" will in fact be HO nailed to 1/4" plywood sections nailed on top of 1/2" plywood pieces which will create the profile. Pylons will just be square basswood sections with square bases. Here's a version I did about 5 years ago and since I have a lot more models and I'm generally better at designing and building than I was in 2006, it's time to do it again. Here's the paper monorail I designed back then: As you can see, the round-top profile of a Marx tender would make it a natural for a short monorail car. I can use my paper model parts as a template for the cab-ends and transfer them to sheet aluminum. (Well, pop cans to be honest! ) Then it shouldn't be too hard to mount HO trucks to the Marx car frames and I can create the ah...well, I don't know what to call them? Skirts? The runners that come down from the sides and straddle the rails? Anyway I can make them fairly easily out of heavier gauge aluminum and all I have to do is watch my clearance on curves. So if it works, this will be a (pseudo) O gauge Disneyland as opposed to the G scale version shown above. When I get more buildings finished I'll start a thread on the layout's progress. Main Street is 95% done. Tomorrowland is coming along nicely and I already know how I'm going to do things like the Big Thunder Mountain Ry. and the Matterhorn. Oh and of course, Sleeping Beauty Castle is finished up to the point of waiting to be mounted on it's landscaped base. The Disneyland RR will be my James Gang general and cars of undetermined style. I'm working on getting more of the James Gang cars but I may end up scratchbuilding open air cars. Becky
What a creative and ambitious plan inasmuch as I dawdled off and on with the comparatively simple conversions I have done with the Paya and the electrified Hafner engine..that mock up of the G Scale monorail is so well done I thought it was purchased, rather than hand made.Needless to say, I hope you post pictures. What size is the Disneyland as far as foot print? When completed, it will be more of a work of art than just another layout. Wow.
Well, size is still unknown. Like many of us I have box upon box of track in all sizes and radii that I can clean and use, so that's no problem. But until I get more structures done I won't have a good idea of how much display space I'll require. I'm building everything in modules so storage will be easier. The Main Street modules alone require an 18 by 27 footprint allowing an inch or so clearance between the station and the railhead. Beyond that, the pylons for the monorail will be outside the RR loop in front of the station, and of course Fantasyland is at the opposite end of the street. Allowing an absolute minimum of 24 inches for Sleeping Beauty Castle with moat, + the 27 length of Main Street itself, I'm at 4 foot 3 without leaving room for either tracks or anything behind the castle. So my best guess at the moment is only that I'll need at least 5 feet of depth but no real idea of what kind of length will be required. 5 foot square won't be enough with everything I have planned, so the length will definately be greater than the depth. Unfortunately I'll probably have to end up doing it in the basement or else I'll have to switch back and forth between Disney and Standard gauge, which I'd like to avoid at all costs. Maybe I can borrow a neighbor's house....
Anyhoo, many of the "rides and attractions" will turn into tunnels both straight and corner hugging so I can maximize what little space I'll have. Other things like 20,000 Leagues submarines will cruise tiny lagoons ( my subs are only about 4" long) and the Jungle Cruise boats will only poke out of a small jungle next to the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. BTW, much of this stuff is available for free at my friend Bob's website: disneyexperience.com. I've modified and resized a lot of free models I find on the web and I augment them with my own designs and kitbashings. Behind the monorail you can see the "as designed" TWA Moonliner model from Bob's site. It's about 3 foot long normally but I built a new version shrunk down to about 6". The Nautilus model is the same, it builds as a 2 foot + full hull model but I'm using 4" waterline versions. Probably the only plastic structure on the layout will be a Plasticville hall representing the Hall of Presidents, the rest will be cardstock. 2 Haunted Mansions are done, Space Mountain is coning along nicely and my Astro Orbiter made out of styrofoam balls and old VCR gears is about 90% painted. So pretty soon I'll get good pics and start that thread.
Here is my conversion, uses a Marx handcar drive unit, has a bit of a higher profile maybe a different speeder chassis would be better, but I used what I had, runs nicely.
Have fun with your trains
vsmith Here is my conversion, uses a Marx handcar drive unit, has a bit of a higher profile maybe a different speeder chassis would be better, but I used what I had, runs nicely.
Looks sharp..those Marx drives seem to have endless applications outside of their original use..I had in mind the small diesel drive until I got rebitten by the wind up bug and you are mostly to take credit or the blame with that video of your mini wind up layout..and so I'm sort of following your example.in the form of a bit larger version, that is an excuse to use the $10.00 Hornby turntable I was originally going to add a third rail to..but I have no room for it's footprint. Hows "the other layout" coming along..?.
Wallyworld AKA Bruce
Ok I decided to go the M10000 route:
I've been considering it from the get go and getting outbid on my tenders made up my mind for me. I bought 5 of these, 4 LA's and an Omaha, and this one's the prettiest of all of them. Most are real rust buckets so I have no qualms about stripping them. I'll make the side skirts and the front and rear "cab" ends out of aluminium. (The end cars are longer in real life.) Maybe I'll nibble the end windows into triangular shapes, maybe not, but either way I'll put black strips inside the windows. The molded-in doors are a real plus as are the articulated ends. This will negate my need to invent a diaphragm system, which was one of the drawbacks for using tenders.
Motive power is now a question. I'm not sure my planned HO system will work because of the weight of the steel on the HO axles. Both motor and car trucks. So I may end up using an MPC O gauge motor instead and keeping the original Marx wheels. That, however, will make my "monorail" track into a wider "tri-rail" so I'll have to see what's possible/neccessary when all the cars get here.
But the better question now is which version do I build? I planned to do the modern WDW Mark 4 type system which is what many of us have been familiar with since 1971. The Mark 4's and subsequent generations are the sleek white trains with the triangular tinted windows as seen in the photo above. However, I also love the original Alweg Mark 1 Disneyland designs with the rounded fronts, chromed sides and bubble top for the driver. So again I doubt I'll be able to decide completely until I have the cars in hand.
Descisions, descisions....
I vote for the more Art Deco look of the M100, and if you are going to strip them, that opens up a whole range of paint schemes. I am working on the conversion of a prewar Lionel Baby Ruth boxcar ( trashed) into a piggy back car for a 4" tin vintage Allied van lines truck I acquired. I have a string of the Baby Ruth cars I run as a unit train. . Lol.. I was going to mount a 1:1 Baby Ruth to the flatcar, but they changed the wrapper scheme..Anyone have a vintage candy bar? Ha! Find it on Ebay? Description of Item: "One vintage Baby Ruth candy bar complete in original packing. Very rare,"
The original energy bar? Glamor and candy bars?
I always wondered..was this the first cross marketing scheme in toy trains?
wallyworld Penny Trains: Yes I do. That's my summer layout. It will make way sometime around mid September for the Plasticville Christmas layout which will go up in October. In November I'll be building the other 2 so I have to get that one up earlier. The other 2 holiday layouts will be my G/Std. ga pike and the one I'm currently designing. My biggest issue is location at this point. I can either do a smaller G/Std. layout and use the other end of the room for my mousey empire, or I can try to put the new "land" up in a different room. But what I have in mind will take up A LOT of space! Well, it may be premature but I might as well just go ahead and say that I'm trying to create a Disney monorail system using Mark tender bodies. I have a bid out on a large collection of rusty shells and if I get it, I should be able to create at least a 5 car train without too much difficulty. However I'm planning to use the drive train from an HO Life-Like diesel as motive power. I think I can hide HO track better and keep the Monorail track system narrower if I use HO as a basis as opposed to O or S. The "Monorail track" will in fact be HO nailed to 1/4" plywood sections nailed on top of 1/2" plywood pieces which will create the profile. Pylons will just be square basswood sections with square bases. Here's a version I did about 5 years ago and since I have a lot more models and I'm generally better at designing and building than I was in 2006, it's time to do it again. Here's the paper monorail I designed back then: As you can see, the round-top profile of a Marx tender would make it a natural for a short monorail car. I can use my paper model parts as a template for the cab-ends and transfer them to sheet aluminum. (Well, pop cans to be honest! ) Then it shouldn't be too hard to mount HO trucks to the Marx car frames and I can create the ah...well, I don't know what to call them? Skirts? The runners that come down from the sides and straddle the rails? Anyway I can make them fairly easily out of heavier gauge aluminum and all I have to do is watch my clearance on curves. So if it works, this will be a (pseudo) O gauge Disneyland as opposed to the G scale version shown above. When I get more buildings finished I'll start a thread on the layout's progress. Main Street is 95% done. Tomorrowland is coming along nicely and I already know how I'm going to do things like the Big Thunder Mountain Ry. and the Matterhorn. Oh and of course, Sleeping Beauty Castle is finished up to the point of waiting to be mounted on it's landscaped base. The Disneyland RR will be my James Gang general and cars of undetermined style. I'm working on getting more of the James Gang cars but I may end up scratchbuilding open air cars. Becky Becky What a creative and ambitious plan inasmuch as I dawdled off and on with the comparatively simple conversions I have done with the Paya and the electrified Hafner engine..that mock up of the G Scale monorail is so well done I thought it was purchased, rather than hand made.Needless to say, I hope you post pictures. What size is the Disneyland as far as foot print? When completed, it will be more of a work of art than just another layout. Wow.
Penny Trains: Yes I do. That's my summer layout. It will make way sometime around mid September for the Plasticville Christmas layout which will go up in October. In November I'll be building the other 2 so I have to get that one up earlier. The other 2 holiday layouts will be my G/Std. ga pike and the one I'm currently designing. My biggest issue is location at this point. I can either do a smaller G/Std. layout and use the other end of the room for my mousey empire, or I can try to put the new "land" up in a different room. But what I have in mind will take up A LOT of space! Well, it may be premature but I might as well just go ahead and say that I'm trying to create a Disney monorail system using Mark tender bodies. I have a bid out on a large collection of rusty shells and if I get it, I should be able to create at least a 5 car train without too much difficulty. However I'm planning to use the drive train from an HO Life-Like diesel as motive power. I think I can hide HO track better and keep the Monorail track system narrower if I use HO as a basis as opposed to O or S. The "Monorail track" will in fact be HO nailed to 1/4" plywood sections nailed on top of 1/2" plywood pieces which will create the profile. Pylons will just be square basswood sections with square bases. Here's a version I did about 5 years ago and since I have a lot more models and I'm generally better at designing and building than I was in 2006, it's time to do it again. Here's the paper monorail I designed back then: As you can see, the round-top profile of a Marx tender would make it a natural for a short monorail car. I can use my paper model parts as a template for the cab-ends and transfer them to sheet aluminum. (Well, pop cans to be honest! ) Then it shouldn't be too hard to mount HO trucks to the Marx car frames and I can create the ah...well, I don't know what to call them? Skirts? The runners that come down from the sides and straddle the rails? Anyway I can make them fairly easily out of heavier gauge aluminum and all I have to do is watch my clearance on curves. So if it works, this will be a (pseudo) O gauge Disneyland as opposed to the G scale version shown above. When I get more buildings finished I'll start a thread on the layout's progress. Main Street is 95% done. Tomorrowland is coming along nicely and I already know how I'm going to do things like the Big Thunder Mountain Ry. and the Matterhorn. Oh and of course, Sleeping Beauty Castle is finished up to the point of waiting to be mounted on it's landscaped base. The Disneyland RR will be my James Gang general and cars of undetermined style. I'm working on getting more of the James Gang cars but I may end up scratchbuilding open air cars. Becky
BTW
I just thought of an idea. Why not do the opposite of a single rail, and put three rail track inside of a trough? Put the motor unit inside the trough and raise the body above it? The body would hide the connection to the track. I suppose the same could be done with HO. If the side profile of the trough is high enough, it would be difficult to see the track.It would appear to be running on two concrete "girders"
The original concept was for a "T-shaped" track assembly, so it was hardly a true representation to begin with. With whatever track I ended up using, I was going to create a "filler" to flatten out the top and fill the spaces between the rails. Kinda like a continuous grade crossing. I had planned to make those pieces out of styrene but now I'm not so sure. It's entirely possible that I may go so far as letting the tinplate track stand by itself, open and unattached, and just build riser poles at the joints and centers instead of using trestles. The final judge will be the end weight of the train. But since I'm using the Marx cars and probably an MPC 0-4-0 steam loco motor, even O27 should be able to handle everything without warping. However I have a plethora of O31, O42 and even a few O72 track sections so if I go the "tri-rail" route, I'd be more likely to use the higher profile rail. Maybe with the sides and ties painted white. Anyhoo I'm having a ball exploring all the possibilities and can't wait to see how it all turns out!
just read about your idea to create the disney monorail train. seems like a good idea. the first thing that came to mind was the tyco super turbo train. if you could find one of the old trains from that, it probably would help out immensely. also would like to see the aftermath of what all u have built up to so far. keep up the work and enjoy it as much as you can.
Oh yes, I remember the Turbo Train! Back in the 80's I had visions of running my own theme park and the HO layout in the basement was my plotting board. The Turbo Train was the best looking "monorail" I ever had. I ran it on basic HO track supported by overturned styrofoam cups! It circled the "lake" between the parking lot for hotwheels cars and the main part of the theme park, which was on the back half of the ping-pong table. There were some repainted HO buildings but most of the structures were made from trash, flowerpots and even packing materials. Needless to say I've gotten a bit better since those days!
You certainly have gotten a bit better, however it would appear your imagination started very early. After the Thai train, I can't wait to see what is next.
Thanks for reminding me! I've been meaning to post a pic of this for awhile! This is my Marx triple niner in a stylized Thai State Railways paint job.
Not really a "mod" or "conversion" in the strictest interpretation of the terms, but different nonetheless. In that same vein, this CV isn't as much a mod as a repaint. But here's how a Marx Vandy looks with Lionel style I.D. plates:
I use the 1689T when I'm pulling latch coupler cars. Otherwise I have a restored wedge tender for hook coupler Marx cars. But the 1689T looks pretty good with the Vandy too!
Wonderful job Becky! You got me wanting to head over to Siam to do some train watching. Thought about your trolley this weekend as I viewed the trolley that runs down Canal St. in New Orleans. They also have a very nice train museum, that was one of their early depot's.
My daughter is an artist, but so far isn't interested in helping me with my trains. I might have to send her to you to get some inspiration.
thanks for updating us Becky.
Patrick
You gotta see this website!
http://www.tintoyarcade.com/categories/Tin-Toys-Vehicles/?page=4&sort=pricedesc
Very reasonable too!
I bought fun stuff from them, the rail Zeppelin among others, and agree this is a site worth sharing.
Well worth a visit.
Of course, I always hit the transportation categories first and I keep telling myself. I have to get one of those putt-putt steam boats.
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