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 Posted - December 14 2014 : 10:45:06 PM
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Boy, talk about a rare piece! A customer brought in this neat talgo-style locomotive train, and I got to work on it. Value at over $1,000, in the original box (which is a piece of custom craftwork, too), all papers, sweet! Thought I'd share it with you. AC driven, heavy diecast construction, and it was super-clean, I bet this was rarely taken out and run.
My first task was to check out the engine, then 3 Marklin transformers. The engine at first was a bit balky, but once I set it up on a piece of track, it seemed to run better. I did minimal work to it ; some oil on the bushings, grease on the internal gears ( of which there were many ), and that was about it. all lightbulbs still worked ! This is a 1939 era model train, very rare. Looked on Ebay tonight, and I found a few, from $1,500 up to 3,200 . Glad I got some pictures of it, I may never see another one of these again!
The Marklin transformers were a piece of cake, 2 of the 3 worked, the 3rd needed the plug rewired, the wires had worked loose inside, so I cut them off and retightened the connections, and it worked as well finally.
Overall, a fairly easy check-out, and since we didnt have any Marklin 3-rail track handy, I "made" one out of some Atlas flex-track, and taped a 3rd rail piece in the middle. Worked well enough to check power to the engine. Very cool piece of HO history I got to hold and feel. Here's some pictures of it on the bench.
Jerry
      
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - December 14 2014 : 11:17:30 PM
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Thanks for posting that Jerry. Incredible.
It looks almost new, and quite sophisticated. You can see the quality.
I would be a nervous wreck working on it!  
http://tycodepot.com/
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Posted - December 15 2014 : 12:46:52 AM
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Wow! What a neat machine. And look at the little reverser 'e-unit'. And notice the drive: central motor driving two trucks through two universal shafts and gear towers. Was Marklin actually the originator of the standard "Athearn style drive" for diesels?
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Posted - December 15 2014 : 09:38:27 AM
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What an incredible buy, man. It looks so good for it's age. It's almost pristine, and the fact it works. Oddly enough, the first unit of this consist kinda reminds me of the Santa Fe Chief F-units they had. It might be a mixture of the colors and the overall shape of the loco.
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
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Posted - December 15 2014 : 11:22:33 AM
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idk what is on the front nose but it resembles the Santa Fe Warbonnet 
What is the funny wing on the rear car? 
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Posted - December 15 2014 : 7:23:35 PM
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quote:idk what is on the front nose but it resembles the Santa Fe Warbonnet
What is the funny wing on the rear car?
Originally posted by microbusss - December 15 2014 : 11:22:33 AM
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Look on the paper in one of the pictures. On the bottom right hand corner there's a drawing of the model he has there and it has an emblem that looks suspiciously like the Santa Fe Warbonnet locos.
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
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Posted - December 15 2014 : 8:56:24 PM
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quote:
What is the funny wing on the rear car?
Originally posted by microbusss - December 15 2014 : 11:22:33 AM
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You mean that red thing? It's a piece of rubber padding that is stuck to the car roof. That's not a wing.
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - December 16 2014 : 06:09:55 AM
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Jerry; very interesting train set. Never seen one before. Marklin's type talgo train. Look's like a 1950 Santa-Fe experiment in a light weight talgo type train set. Are the truck side-frames starting to corrode. If so use a old toothbrush and a drop of oil and brush off the white stuff.
frank
toptrain
" It's a Heck of a Day " !!!
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Posted - December 16 2014 : 4:16:31 PM
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Perhaps you should introduce Ben's Aerotrain to this thing, they look similar enough that they might get along
--CRC
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Posted - December 16 2014 : 5:18:11 PM
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quote:Perhaps you should introduce Ben's Aerotrain to this thing, they look similar enough that they might get along
Originally posted by PRR 4800Â -Â December 16 2014Â :Â 4:16:31 PM
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Yeah they might have one of those little propeller cars for a baby
http://tycodepot.com/
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Posted - December 16 2014 : 8:42:10 PM
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quote: quote:Perhaps you should introduce Ben's Aerotrain to this thing, they look similar enough that they might get along
Originally posted by PRR 4800Â -Â December 16 2014Â :Â 4:16:31 PM
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Yeah they might have one of those little propeller cars for a baby
Originally posted by JNXT 7707Â -Â December 16 2014Â :Â 5:18:11 PM
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Well, Marklin *did* make one:
--CRC
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Posted - December 16 2014 : 10:02:09 PM
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quote: quote: quote:Perhaps you should introduce Ben's Aerotrain to this thing, they look similar enough that they might get along
Originally posted by PRR 4800Â -Â December 16 2014Â :Â 4:16:31 PM
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Yeah they might have one of those little propeller cars for a baby
Originally posted by JNXT 7707Â -Â December 16 2014Â :Â 5:18:11 PM
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Well, Marklin *did* make one:
Originally posted by PRR 4800Â -Â December 16 2014Â :Â 8:42:10 PM
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They did a couple of times, actually. I.e. the O gauge version.
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
Edited by - kovacste000 on December 17 2014 09:32:36 AM
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Posted - December 17 2014 : 11:46:07 PM
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That is really cool, and very well built. I found this video of one being tested, and it's from 1949. My guess is that this one isn't any older, based on the vinyl insulation.
Autobus, I thought the same thing. I always assumed Athearn came up with the modern diesel drive. Now I'm wondering what took Uncle Irv so long?
The Tyco Depot
Edited by - NickelPlate759 on December 17 2014 11:46:57 PM
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Posted - December 17 2014 : 11:58:18 PM
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I had no idea Athearn didn't invent the modern diesel drive. That's really changed how I see Athearn trains in general.Not saying they're bad because they're still very good engines.
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
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