New toy

[1688torpedo]

Denny-  Those Marx Trains look real nice & it sounds like you're having a good time with them. Take Care

[dennyblock]

Most of the cars I didn't paint because they cleand up nice, only did rusty ones. The engines looked like they were stored in a water bucket, no paint, just rust. I had to sandblast both shells and make new handrails. On the Commodore I ordered new name plates. A few more photos at http://dennyblock.shutterfly.com  sorry  I don't know how to make a clickable link yet!   The black is a wind-up

[Jumijo]

Great Marx train, Denny! I'm interested in expanding our collection to include some Marx and some Lionel pre war pieces. I am an equal opportunity toy train man. In other words, I like them all!

Jim

[jefelectric]

Denny, How about some closeup pics of some of those pieces.  They do look nice.

[RR Redneck]

Denny - it's addictive! Once you've been bitten by the Marx bug, you can't stop.

Nice job of repainting, by the way.

Well I must find the cure. LOL Whatever floats your boat, but those are very nice (and vivid) paint jobs.

[Richard A]

Paul,

I imagine you've been told this before, but that carpet is so perfect for the little Marx layout.  I found myself starring at it for quite a while.  Go tinplate!!

[Anonymous]

That's great to see!  There's that special charm that tinplate trains have that modern plastic stuff just never will!

[pbjwilson]

Marx Mania. Count me in!

[Dr. John]

Denny - it's addictive! Once you've been bitten by the Marx bug, you can't stop.

Nice job of repainting, by the way.

[brianel027]

The quote-unquote current Golden Age of 3-rail trains (meaning selection, variety, scale detail and electronics) wouldn't be possible without the original first Golden Age of 3-rail trains.

There's an age chart on the OGR forum that shows the vast majority of today's operators are old enough to have been part of this first Golden Age of trains, of which your MARX trains were very much a part of Denny.

In this age where nothing is left to the imagination, there is most certainly a charm to these older trains such as these redone MARX trains. There was a time where running these simple trains was more than enough... where our imaginations would easily fill in the blanks. And "imagination" is far more powerful than many give credit for.

For being tinplate toys, MARX trains sure did capture the feel and the detail of real trains while remaining toys to the core. I think there's way more power in that than any so-called scale masterpiece. Put two loops of trains on display: scale masterpieces and another loop of trains like the above picutred MARX ones. People will be amazed by the newer ones, but will be drawn back to look again at these simpler trains from an era where we didn't need to know or see quite as much to be content.

Great job Denny. I repaint, restore, and rebuilt old junk all the time, which is how I can afford to be in the hobby. It's as much fun as anything else!!!

[Joe Hohmann]

A perfect example of what toy trains are for...just plain FUN! Glad to see I'm not the only one who is happy just watching them go 'round and 'round on the floor. I sometimes wonder, "how can that be?", because I'm very big into scenic details. Guess I have the best of both worlds. Joe

[Santa Fe Kent]

Cool.... I like the colors!

[dennyblock]

I bought a box of junk marx to practice painting so I wouldn't ruin something nice and now some are done I can't stop running them!!