Weekend Photos - November 2021

[healey36]

While working on the second rock outcropping for the foam "set", an order of parts came in from Joe Mania. I picked up a few bits from him at York, but soon realized there were many more that I needed, one being a couple sets of lumber tie-downs for two prewar Flyer flat cars I have. Original tie-downs are tough to find. I've tried making them myself with mixed results. Bending steel rod into a consistent loop at either end is not easy. I made a couple out of some softer aluminum rod that I found, but I still couldn't get a nice even loop on the opposite end. I compromised and put a loop on just one end and left the other end blunt. Functional, but not great.

While the gauge of the stock is the same, Joe's repros are just a hair longer than the originals, mostly because his loops are slightly larger. The real problem was that the repro lumber loads I had were cut from one-by lumber, yielding a profile only 3/4-inch high. This wasn't tall enough to make contact with the tie-downs. The result was that the pins were loose and just dropped off with any amount of handling. Easy enough to solve, I just laid a piece of matt-board under one and glued a couple of wood strips to the underside of the other. This pushed them up high enough that the tie-downs actually hold the wood in place while staying in their slots on the top of the stakes.

Perhaps an exercise in anal-retentiveness, the two cars are now complete:



American Flyer's numbering system is tough to sort out, but I believe the 9-1/2 inch flat is a 3206 or 3216. I think the small four-wheel is a 3006, although I've seen an eight-wheel flat car described as having that number as well. Lionel never used any sort of tie-down on their flats, while Ives used chains (really tough to find).

Looking forward to finishing the layout excavation. Most of this stuff has never had track time (here).

[Jim K]

and they both look great!

Jim K

[healey36]

Thanks.

In the "this must be karma" category, I found this yesterday while rummaging around at my grandparents' place:



I believe this is from a Flyer set that belonged to my uncle. Untouched for probably 75 years, I'm hopeful it cleans up. I found the rest of the set as well, and it's mostly a shambles

[healey36]

HONDO and I have been swapping archival files back and forth, updating digital catalog collections, Model Builders, and various other paper. In the last load he sent over, he included a couple Dinkys from his collection, a Bedford refuse wagon (no. 252) on the left, and a Bedford end-tipper (no. 410) on the right:



The 252 is interesting, as it includes a glazed cab, something Dinky seemingly started after Corgi entered the market with an upgraded product line. The 410 is presumed to be older as no window glazing included. Both are nice and should find a home on the layout.

This Joy Line coach (no. 357) was in the boxes of stuff I retrieved from my grandparents' house last weekend. Just a random item stuffed in the box apparently, as nothing else similar was found. Joy Line, produced by Girard Manufacturing Company, was the predecessor of Marx's train line. After five or six years manufacturing toy trains for him on a contract basis, Louis Marx bought the company in the mid-1930s and folded it into his empire (although that is disputed by some historians). I had a Marx clockwork set when I was a kid, one manufactured in the late-1950s or early-1960s (seems almost unbelievable that there was still a market for mechanical trains at that late date). Anyway, this Joy Line coach is pretty nice for what it is, every bit the equal of the small Bing and Marklin coaches I have from three decades earlier.

Some progress on the layout clearance. Moving off the kitchen counter to that venue soon.

[G3750]

Wow, some neat old stuff!

George

[healey36]

No shortage of old stuff around here...