Weekend Photos - April 2024

[healey36]

Not much happening on the layout; I've been working on a few things, selling a bunch of stuff. The project piles have accumulated to unsustainable levels.

Despite vows to halt purchases, this little prewar Marklin set found its way to me a couple weeks back. Once I verified whether it was AC or DC (it's AC), we got it on the track:



Marklin draws a bit more voltage than the typical prewar American 3-rail, so I needed a decent-sized pack. The outer loop has an MTH Z-1000 pack assigned, so the Marklin was zooming.

[RBH29]

That's a great looking set. How do you determine if it runs on AC or DC?

[healey36]

That's a great looking set. How do you determine if it runs on AC or DC?

Thanks. I had been talking with Ray Ellen over at Vienna Station about looking for a small electric set for the Christmas display, and he suggested this one. I had read somewhere that some prewar Marklin stuff ran on DC, so I didn't want to put it on the layout and mess it up. A fellow tin-plater told me that if the there were lightning-arrow markings on the boiler, it was almost certainly 20-volt AC. This one has the markings on the boiler on each side of the stack. Presumably, if it was DC and I applied AC power, it would just sit there and jerk around a bit. It ran fine on AC, although it requires a bit more power being 20-volt.



It would be interesting to know the history of these things; in this case, if this set was one made my Marklin for the U. S. market, or if it was sold in Germany during the run-up to WWII, then found its way to America subsequently.

[webenda]

If only our old trains could talk.

[bluelinec4]

[bluelinec4]

[webenda]

Whoa! You guys have the other trade tower up. Nice work!

[healey36]

Terrific photos, Ben...thanks for that. The Twin Towers model looks really great, as does the GE power plant.

Sometimes late at night, I catch a rerun of Barney Miller...that opening panorama of the NYC skyline and the Towers is tough to see. I never thought they were architecturally stunning in form, but certainly iconic given the history of their construction. It can be a bit jarring to reflect on it.