Took some updated pics of the layout but have to upload them, till then heres a pic of the "expanded" layout
Have since placed the elevated section back in place and made sure the clearances were OK . this is still light enough for me to easily move it around. Once I relocate a couple shelves I'll have a place to hang it in storage.
Have fun with your trains
Layout to date:
Now its just a matter of collecting more metal litho buildings and accessories.
It looks great and it's minimalist look puts the emphasis on the trains. It reminds me both of my own small portable layout (4x4) as well as those I and my friends had as kids. The brackets look retro and are very similar in appearance to the uprights that hold up the manual Marx crane I have. I know that the hunt for tin buildings, etc, is a lot of fun as well. I have to tell you that in the hunt, it became an education as to how much Marx produced. I had no idea.. When looking at your layout, I was thinking this is a perfect size for a retro Xmas layout....portable and manageable. I also have layout that I built atop folding tables lined side by side as I could not bear to tear down another layout. One of these days Ill upload those..as well as the Marx portable. Thanks for sharing this..
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
New layout looks nice.
I like it! It has a lot of options as your collection grows! And, the supports for the elevated line very closely resemble the supports Marx used to make (the same ones as are on the cranes). I can see this already growing to include yard lights, bumpers, signals and towers. It's going to be great! Keep having fun!
Becky
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Heres the rest of the small collection
Marx M-10000 mechanical
Schilling Rail Zeppelin repro
Just picked up a mechanical Hafner M-10000 on Evilbay, it hasnt arrived yet but looks OK on Evilbay pic, but I'll have to see what the real condition is when it arrives, mayba a good subject to practice some restoration technics?
I'm liking this layout more and more! Just out of curiousity, how much $$$ do you have invested in this project?
Wow..I did not know Hafner made this..The zeppelin liner also has that art deco look that is so retro and yet still looks futuristic ..in a flash gordan kind of way. Add a car to the Hafner and hide the key, it could be a Marx..I wonder when they were produced...perhaps prewar like the Marx? I had to replace all the cloth wiring in mine. I just saw a thread on a certain other forum that had pictures of a Hornby (UK) wind up that was certainly a step up ( or appears to be ) in wind ups..I keep getting surprised which is the most enjoyable part of this. Thanks for posting the Hafner!
Check out the Hornby..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TUjI1kQN-0&p=2357185B8A57488C&playnext=1&index=2
Those are some beautiful pieces!
wallyworld Wow..I did not know Hafner made this..The zeppelin liner also has that art deco look that is so retro and yet still looks futuristic ..in a flash gordan kind of way. Add a car to the Hafner and hide the key, it could be a Marx..I wonder when they were produced...perhaps prewar like the Marx? I had to replace all the cloth wiring in mine. I just saw a thread on a certain other forum that had pictures of a Hornby (UK) wind up that was certainly a step up ( or appears to be ) in wind ups..I keep getting surprised which is the most enjoyable part of this. Thanks for posting the Hafner! Check out the Hornby.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TUjI1kQN-0&p=2357185B8A57488C&playnext=1&index=2
Oops! Sorry for the confusion. That first pic is my Marx M-10000
I should have labeled the pic, the second is a repro Schiller Rail Zeppelin. I havent gotten the Hafner yet, so I dont know what the real condition will be
Here is a pic of the Hafner version, this one looks just like the one in the pic I got on Ebay, right down to the condition. It will be interesting to see the two M-10000s side by side. Again sorry for the confusion.
baberuth73 I'm liking this layout more and more! Just out of curiousity, how much $$$ do you have invested in this project?
I am quite shocked at just how inexpensive this has been, the layout uses Handyboards at $5 a 2x4 sheet for the top, 1x2 furring strips on the side, the paint is all the little sampler paints most hardware stores now sell and the track supports are bent Simpson framing tie plates. the O-27 track is $2 a piece and the manual turnouts were discount online finds, there is no track power with windups so overall on the layout I'm done for well under $100 out the door including the track. I wonder how much are those layouts published in CTT are???
The trains were also dirt cheap, in comparison to Lionel O (or G where I usually am) the Marx windup stuff is refreshingly inexpensive. I do alot of ebay price watching so I can see whats expensive and whats not, I have been selling alot of my G stuff and partially using that to fund this, so overall between the layout and the trains I can say I havent really spent a real nickle.
Give it a whirl, I like how engaged the mechanical stuff requires a person to be. If not then the track powered Marx stuff is even more plentiful and just as inexpensive.
My experience was the same. I have three long shelves of trains ( four locos, ten passenger, 15 freight) , plenty of accessories ( freight house, crane, gatehouse, two control signals, girard station tell tales, signs, manual crossing , crossing tower , etc) and I spent less on the sum total of one good quality contemporary engine..a lot of bidding, a lot of waiting..over the course of two years. I didn't get into this due to the low cost, but rather the bright colors and lithography, the toy like anachronism of it ..I will probably never buy a new engine again and I haven't in two years. Restoring the old is fun as well as research. I keep asking why didn't I do this before? The simple answer is that I did not know..there is so little written about Marx and Marx layouts....which is a shame..everything is HI-Rail, which is fine but you look at the alternatives, the price is right. After sixty some odd years these engines and accessories run as good as when they were made. So I second that "give it a try"..
In looking back at a lifetime of an on again- off again affair with trains (even did the real ones for a while) it seems electrical issueswere the common denominator in each case where I lost interest for a while. Other than the absolute simplest circuitry, I have very little patience with wiring accessories, switches and things of that nature. I recall a time when I dabbled in N scale with a simple loop of track attached to a table top. When I attempted to expand and add accesories nothing went right so I did the logical thing- took the table and layout into the back yard and dismantled it ----with an axe! Felt good at the time but I'm sure the neighbors had second thoughts about buying a house next to me. You can see why a layout such as yours would appeal to me - no problems with dirty track , no burned out transformers, no bad brushes or dirty armatures, no e-unit failures. I really enjoy the photos you have shared with us. I wish the folks at the magazine would feature your layout in the near future.
Thanks for the endorsement but maybe I should finish it before submiting it to the magazine
I only have one building so far and still need alot more stuff to fill out the layout the way I want to. On the plus side trains are fairly easy to aquire, but buildings that are small enough, in good enough shape and affordable , well that will be the challenge now.
If I am very fortunate I will find the last train aspect I wanted to add, namely a monorail to run above the inner and outer loops, but period monorail toys are very "collectable" IOWs expensive, and the only tinplate version, the Detroit Leland monorail MTH did a repro of a few years ago are way too expensive repro or original. I'm hoping to find a battery toy monorail, we'll see how that goes but I'm not holding my breath.
The concept is the real appeal of your layout especially in this day of high tech everything. You got my vote, for what it's worth.
vsmith Thanks for the endorsement but maybe I should finish it before submiting it to the magazine I only have one building so far and still need alot more stuff to fill out the layout the way I want to. On the plus side trains are fairly easy to aquire, but buildings that are small enough, in good enough shape and affordable , well that will be the challenge now. If I am very fortunate I will find the last train aspect I wanted to add, namely a monorail to run above the inner and outer loops, but period monorail toys are very "collectable" IOWs expensive, and the only tinplate version, the Detroit Leland monorail MTH did a repro of a few years ago are way too expensive repro or original. I'm hoping to find a battery toy monorail, we'll see how that goes but I'm not holding my breath.
I've seen quite a few monorails on the bay over the years of all kinds of designs. Of course, when you search for "monorail" in all categories you get everything from toys to track lighting. A search in the collectibles column will pull up a plethora of Disney stuff, but in toys you'll see everything from the Rokenbok to the Girder and Panel set.
I have seen at least one tin B/O suspended type monorail car similar to the LD that would most likely fit your bill, but I can't remember who made it. I do know it was made in Japan in the 50's but I doubt it was a Matsudaya / Modern Toys device. Anyhoo, look in the vintage toys and electronic, battery and wind-up categories and I'm sure you'll see some neat stuff. Eventually. They don't come up too often so be prepared for a lengthy search. Also, most toy monorails employ risers that are only 5 or 6 inches at best, so be prepared to build a new support structure to make up the difference.
I've never been a big fan of the M10000, but it looks just right in tinplate!
I like what you are doing, not to mention the fact that you are using Marx trains to do it! I have a couple of books on my bookshelf that might be of some interest if you could find a copy of them. The first is from 1936 (although my copy is a 3rd edition from 1947) called "Model Railways" and was written and published by Popular Science. The second book is from 1951, "The Boys' Book of Model Railroading" by Raymond F. Yates. I think both books offer a good perspective from their respective eras, although the older is from a scale point of view and the latter focuses on tinplate. Amazon has several of both books listed at a reasonable price.
I look forward to seeing the finished layout!
- James
The "Haf" has arrived, and I dont mean a inebriated David Hasselhof
Hafner M-10000 mechanical
Car connectors needs a few little tweeks, but runs great. Need to see if I can repair the paint which is worn is some spots especially on the rear car, but it is almost twice as old as me so overall great find. The Marx M10000 can be seen side by side to the Hafner in the last pic, the Hafner is smaller in scale/size than the Marx.
Anyone know a good source for restoring the paint on these, or should I ???
Hafner seemed to have followed more closely with the European description of O gauge than the other U.S. manufacturers. I find my Hafner engines look most at home along side Hornby, early Ives and cast iron American Flyer clockwork engines. Even post-war German and Hornby Series O engines were diminutive when compared with their western counterparts.
As far as repainting goes, that's a touchy subject. I use "rust level" as my gauge on paint, but I never touch lithography as good as this.
Penny, here is the area I want to try to repaint, as you can see its pretty rusted on this corner. I would like to just touch up the brown and the yellow without disturbing the remaining litho. No hurry but I may have an excuse now to try and master my airbrush. the toughest part will likely be matching paint colors.
RE: above, Anyone have any advice they can share before I try patching the paint?
My own sense of this is to leave well enough alone. I have a Marx version and some knucklehead had blobbed some white paint on one side of one of the cars, noticeable but not critical. I could attempt to gingerly remove this top layer over the lithography, but I think I need someone who restores paintings..even then..which is worse the white blobster or a bare metal ouch? You could try to do a computer match at a paint supplier but oil based paints ( which I assume this is) may be tough, (probably latex as well) to get a perfect match. Thats been my experience. The old paint would have to go, but how far do you go? Bottom line..its a calculated risk at best. In other collectibles some would say this is part of the "original patina"..Shabby sheik? Hee.hee. A good airbrush and some rust removal would be needed..from what I can see. Masking would be "a bear." Can you tell I am timid when it comes to surgery? The other issue is the glossy effect of new paint in contrast to the weathered original..I ran into this with another Hafner engine and ended up repainting the whole engine..which came out great but ..I should have left it alone in hindsight.
Thanks and yeah it is a quandry, do or not to do, if I did this I would need matched oil based enamel like Floquil or similar, that would be a challenge in itself. I was thinking, use an airbrush, on the brown its alot easier as their is no lihtography to worry about to i could spot paint the bad parts after buffing the rust off, only masking against the yellow. Now the yellow, I would use a fine spray and slowly apply the color over the bad spots and just feather it against the existing, and buff it out, maybe brush applying to the bad scratchs and nicks. I dont want to make it perfect, I just want to patch the baddest spots, that last car is really bad. I was actually thinking dont do anything till I can get to the local TTOS meet and sale next November and see if I can simply find a replacement car for it. Might be the easiest solution in the long run.
Automotive paint shops do this all the time, so it is possible to do in this scenario as well. I am NOT an automotive paint person, so I don't know all the lingo, but this is it in a nutshell.1. Mask off the area you do not want to repaint2. remove the 'damage' and repair the damaged metal as best you can (auto paint shops use bondo)3. remove any and all oils or contaminates4. prime the surface5. paintYou can match the color by painting another object of the same material you are repairing. Yellows, reds, and oranges are the most difficult to match due to their pigments.
Olsen's Toy Train Parts sells paints in both spray and bottle that are TCA color matched to Lionel, Ives and Flyer, but not Marx. However they may be able to help you out. Worst case scenario if you can't match the Marx brown perfectly, Lionel State Brown might be a good choice for an over-all repaint. However it's hard to match colors from jpeg's.
Kids (or adults) not taking care of their trains is what I live for. A good chunk of my collection wouldn't have come my way if some overzealous kid hadn't spraypainted their toys sometime in their lifetime. (Usually red for some reason. What's up with that?) Anyhoo, this summer I stripped and repainted a Lionel Std. Ga. 514 Boxcar, a Flyer pre-war O tender, a Hafner tender and a 112 gondola. Normally a Std. Ga. boxcar would be out of reach with my practically non-existent budget. But because someone painted the body red and the roof 45N green, I acquired the car for about 20 bucks. One door and both brakewheels were missing but those were easy to replace. Now I have a restored yellow and brown 514 with mixed trim and it looks great.
I've never tried to touch-up litho, the only lithoed cars I worked on were Marx 4-wheel junkers and I completely stripped those.
This is what I do:
I cut scotchbrite type paint stripping pads of different grits into 3/4 to 1 inch squares. Using the Dremel screw mandrel for cutting wheels and sanding disks, I buff over the surface with my Dremel tool. Use a low speed because these thin pads bend and shred easily and will leave the tool at high speed when they're done! After working my way up the grit scale from coarsest to finest, there's usually paint around rivets, in corners, etc. This is when I switch to the Dremel carbon steel wire wheels. The wheel will cut the paint in anything but a corner and polishes the steel as it goes. For corners or other tough areas I usually just scrape them with my X-acto. When everything is stripped and polished, I prime with automotive primer and finish with spray enamels. If I'm worried about litho deterioration, litho peeling or shine vs. dull, I seal the model with a clear acrylic spray to create a consistent finish.
Time for an update, with video of the layout:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzpSJi8-QRk
I havent added much to it, just been letting the little winders race around at 200mph. As you can see by the video its a pretty bare bones layout, I was going to add more litho buildings but since I recently finished my large scale layout, with no layout to build I find I've hit the wall with nothing to keep me interested. So I decided to look into obtaining some powerpacks and some older Marx track powered items I recently picked up a Marx streamliner A B unit and a pair of more recent Lionel packs, they were such a bargain I had to jump on them.
So now take a nice long look at the Old School layout, cause I'm going to rebuild it. Dont worry, what I have in mind should be alot of fun, will be able to run old and new stuff all in the same insanely small area while increasing my scenery skills. Should be fun.
Just a quick update, went to a show last weekend where the TTOS had a bunch of really small retro-layouts set-up and I thought, ya know, my first layout was pretty neat, so I did some thinking, yes dangerous I know....I want to use Atlas track on the 3x4 layout rebuild...so I have this O-27 track just sitting around....anyway long story short, after spending $16 bucks for materials at Home Despot, the Really Old School Layout will soon be back in its first 2x3 incarnation, only this time everything will be Old School, will use the new O-27 track till I can find some original Marx track to replace it. My old Marx 25W pack testing shows it works great, so I will make the lower loop powered this time, need to find some cotton wrapped wire now.
I discovered this website over the Christmas holidays (were they really a whole month ago already?):
www.papatedsplace.com
Among other things, it has a lot of photos of very old Christmas layouts. It's enjoyable to look at, and you might find some things there that will be useful in a retro layout.
Base is done, with common screws (not phillips head) this time 1x3 pine with masonite-like backing board for the surface (commonly avaliable in the 1930's), track is down, still using modern track and screws but I will replace them with period O-27 track and common screws when I get them. I do have to make sure that I get O-27 track, as some of that old track was all over the place.
Terry, I was one of those mess guys. I would put up screen, plaster it, throw sawdust on it; and lastly, a handful of good ole red Missouri gravel. Looked good too. Problem I had one time though, was I built a beautiful three foot tunnel that way, and hadn't realized that the plaster dripped down in the tunnel like Stalagtite (sp) and when my 225E went charging in there, it jammed. Had to pull the tunnel up off the table. :-)
Another common old school method was not to put any access to the far side of an 8x8 corner table. Always had to walk on it.
And who ever thought about screws for the track. I hammered in whatever my dad had laying around. Lot of my track was bent and never had a problem. Now, I try to do a nice job, and have problems.
Couldn't afford automatic switches, so bought electro-magnets and mounted them under the table with hanger wire making the mechanical connection to the switches. Worked perfect. I don't seem to have that much smarts now that I have reached 72. I think we take a lot of fun out of railroading in modern times as we are too fussy, or are afraid to run trains because they are valuable. I don't collect, but I know a lot do and don't even run em. What a waste when you consider it is only money and life is short.
I even remember seeing an article in my mom and dad's 1950s encyclopedia showing how to make storage tanks out of coffee cans with wire ladder soldered and painted. Course, everyone from that era knows how you soldered. Heated this 1 1/2" monstrosity on the burner and ran to the work to be done before it cooled. Ha ha.
Trains run off the table? Can't even count em.
Much more took place back then, but all of you get the idea.
Key: I had a ball with my trains. No thoughts of value, scratches; etc.
All have a great weekend this April 30th and May 1.
Jack
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