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PostPosted: Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:16 am 
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Posts: 587
If you could see it now, Howard, you'd use a word other than "humble". There's so much stuff piled on it you can barely see the underlying layout. Almost three years ago now, we had a minor flood in the basement when the washing-machine drain clogged. Very little was stored on the floor, so it wasn't a total catastrophe; however, like a doofus, I had the power-bricks for the layout sitting on the floor because I had never gotten around to building a shelf for them on the underside of the benchwork. Two, the largest of course, were ruined. They're not cheap, so I have been deferring the purchase of replacements. Lack of activity has allowed all matter of stuff to pile up. The good news is that one of the vendors I deal with recently ran a blowout on MTH bricks, so I was able to pick up a pair of 100-watt units for considerably less than I had anticipated they would cost. So now I just need to get off my tuchus, build the shelf, and get the new units back on the grid. It's like a mini-Texas in my basement (no offense to any Texans reading this).

I'm hoping to get the trains back to running soon. I honestly miss them, and the neighbor kids miss them too. The last two Christmas' have been tough without the trains running.

Paul


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:20 am 
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Posts: 587
javinda wrote:
Apparently being made today---Lionel gooseneck lamps https://www.allabouttoytrains.com/colle ... amp-2-pack

Hmmm, that's interesting. I have a couple pairs of those, but the ones I have are plastic, not diecast. When MTH started making diecast repros, I switched over to those. Most of them have never found their way onto the layout as they can be real power-hogs. It'd be interesting to figure out how to convert them to LEDs.


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2021 9:07 am 
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Posts: 587
Three prewar O-gauge level-crossing warning signs:
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File comment: Warning signs
Signage.jpg
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That's Lionel on the left, American Flyer in the center, and a recently-acquired Hafner on the right.


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PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2021 2:32 am 
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Posts: 587
Before there was the Lionel 300 Hell Gate Bridge, there was the Lionel 101, the company's first version of the Hell Gate:
Attachment:
File comment: Lionel 101 bridge
Lionel 101.jpg
Lionel 101.jpg [ 246.06 KiB | Viewed 18246 times ]
This bridge, along with its other variations, was manufactured from 1920 to 1931 (the Lionel 300 was introduced in 1928 and would continue in the catalog until the late 1930s or early 1940s). The Lionel 101 consisted of a single Lionel 104 center-span and two Lionel 100 approaches. The Lionel 102 bridge was similar but included two Lionel 104 center-spans. The Lionel 103 featured three center-spans. The Lionel 103 would have been roughly 70 inches in length.


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 4:39 am 
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Looking around for some standard gauge track with three ties per section for the bridge. All of the modern production stuff I have has four ties. My understanding is that Ives and American Flyer straights had three ties, but Lionel must have made three-tie track as well that would work with this bridge. A Lionel straight is fourteen inches long, as is each section of the bridge. I'm not sure what the length is on Ives/AF. Probably easy enough to remove a tie from recent production track and reposition a center tie.


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 30, 2021 5:48 am 
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I absolutely love this bridge---and since we pass the NYC famous Hell Gate at least three times a year---it's the first thing I thought of when I saw it the first time---in the wild----at a garages sale---it had been snapped up by some savvy collector just minutes before. Timing is everything!


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2021 9:43 am 
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I tracked down a stack of prewar Lionel three-tie standard-gauge track, three sections of which will be used for the 101 bridge. It had a bit of surface oxidation on most of the sections, but an hour with a pack of Scotch-Brite pads removed all of that. Should work fine, but I need to figure out how to bend the pins so that the track will fit the grade properly. Should be interesting.

Acquired a nice prewar Flyer no. 2005 triangle signal recently:

Image

Looks kind of Doctor Who-ish...exterminate, exterminate!!!


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 28, 2023 4:18 am 
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Posts: 587
A Bing water tower from the 1920s:

Image

Manufactured in Germany by Bing, versions were also sold by Ives and American Flyer. I found this one in a lot at a local estate sale, along with a number of other interesting pieces.


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 17, 2023 11:19 am 
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javinda wrote:
I absolutely love this bridge---and since we pass the NYC famous Hell Gate at least three times a year---it's the first thing I thought of when I saw it the first time---in the wild----at a garages sale---it had been snapped up by some savvy collector just minutes before. Timing is everything!

Yup, my strategy at sales and at York is that if you see something you might want, best to grab it, as the next time around it's likely not going to be there. This is a lesson I've learned over the years, often painfully.


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2023 6:26 am 
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Posts: 587
The O-gauge prewar level-crossing sign collection grows:

Image

Left to right, that's Lionel, Ives, American Flyer, Bing, and Hafner. Still a few others to track down, not to mention variations thereof (if so inclined).


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