Marx and Lionel o22 switches

[lionelsoni]

All Marx track is O27 profile, which however can be adapted to O31 just as easily as any O27 can, with shims and recrimping one side or the other to handle the foreign track-pin size (if you're not lucky enough to have the rare adapter pins).  But the turnouts (at least the ones with frogs that I like and use) are actually higher than normal O27 track pieces, which reduces the shims needed with O31.  In fact, I have had to shim O27 track to fit the turnouts!

[Dave Farquhar]

The 666, 1666 and 333 can all make it through the O22 switches. Other stuff is harder to say. I have a friend who had a later double-reduction motor put in a Marx M10000 so he could run it through his O22s. A lot of older Marxes can be refitted with this motor and they'll work.

The steamchest  was a feature of the 1666 only. The 333's motor is a little different (three pairs of drivers instead of two) so the 1666 motor won't fit but it is possible to put the 1666 motor in a 666. Don't pay more than about $10-$15 extra for a 666 with a steamchest; anyone can easily make one by swapping shells around.

Marx locomotives like the Commodore Vanderbilt, Canadian Pacific, and 999 are a no-go on O22s unless you put a double-reduction motor in somehow.

[marxalot]

I am not familar with all the details of the 022 switch but I think the "wide flange" locomotives from Marx would be the 999 amd maybe some predecessors. And really it is not a flange so much as the gearing on the driving wheels. These first locomotives had a single reduction gear system so the outside of the driver has gear teeth right at the edge, just about doubling the thickness of the wheel. On later models another set of gears was added and this moved the teeth way back from the edge of the wheel. I've never seen or heard of a steam chest 333. You might to scope out the following group at Yahoo. A lot of nice knowledgeable Marx folks.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MarxTrain/

 

 Jim

 

[Anonymous]

Will the 666 go though the 022 switches?

Are any of the Marx switches compatible with Lionel standard 0 31" tube tack?

Can the smoking steam chest be installed into a 333? I thought I had seen one before.

[lionelsuperotrack]

I would like to start collecting some Marx engines and cars, but I've heard that some of the early Marx engines will not go though some switches due to thick gear flange wheels. How well do they travel though the Lionel 022 post war switches? I want to get some of the tin plate stuff. I have also been watching for a 333 steamer with a smoking steam chest.

You won't find a 333 with steamchest smoke but you will find a 1666 and a 666 (much harder to find). Here are some Marx links you should enjoy. I will let others address the thick gear flange wheels:

http://reviews.ebay.com/Marx-quot-Steamer-quot-Guide-2-4-2-Steamers-666-amp-1666_W0QQugidZ10000000001234906

http://reviews.ebay.com/Marx-quot-Handcar-quot-Guide-2002-Electric-Handcars_W0QQugidZ10000000001236562

http://reviews.ebay.com/Marx-quot-3-16-Scale-quot-Guide-Metal-Freight-Cars_W0QQugidZ10000000001455546

http://reviews.ebay.com/Marx-quot-Diesel-quot-Guide-Mostly-Postwar-Plastic_W0QQugidZ10000000001518381

http://reviews.ebay.com/Marx-quot-1998-quot-Switchers-Alco-S-3_W0QQugidZ10000000001614850

http://reviews.ebay.com/Marx-quot-1998-quot-Switchers-Alco-S-3_W0QQugidZ10000000001614850

http://reviews.ebay.com/Marx-quot-Customized-quot-One-Man-apos-s-Art_W0QQugidZ10000000001674320

Season's Best,

Mike

 

[lionelsoni]

Much but not all Marx has the fat flanges.  You need the frogless type of turnout which moves the entire rail, from where the frog would be down to the point, which the 022 is not, or a Marx turnout with spring-loaded gizmos in the frog.  Marx made excellent O27 and O34 turnouts of this type, which are not hard to find.

[Anonymous]

I would like to start collecting some Marx engines and cars, but I've heard that some of the early Marx engines will not go though some switches due to thick gear flange wheels. How well do they travel though the Lionel 022 post war switches? I want to get some of the tin plate stuff. I have also been watching for a 333 steamer with a smoking steam chest.