I am blown away by the color schemes on these locomotives.
Rich
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Located several miles away from the station is the car storage yard where passenger cars are kept between runs. It is here that the sleeping cars are cleaned and restocked with fresh linens, and the diners and lounge cars are re-provisioned.
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A lull in passenger operations provides an opportunity for a local freight train, headed by a former Canadian Pacific engine, to ease its way passed the station to the freight platform where it will be unloaded. Since passenger trains always have priority over freight trains, locals like this one are often kept waiting on sidings until the main line ahead is clear.
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Lots of good action going on in these scenes.
Rich
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Stopping at all or most points along the main line, this local includes a refrigerator car that is used by dairy farmers to ship milk to the city.
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Having been cleaned, serviced, and re-provisioned, Union Pacific’s City of Denver, which had been the station’s first morning arrival, is ready for a late afternoon departure. When first introduced in 1936, the City of Denver was the fastest scheduled long-distance train in the United States.
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I need sunglasses. 
Those cars are so bright and colorful.
Rich
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With the departure of its last scheduled train, Grand Central Station’s operational day comes to a close. More trains, more passengers and more freight will be arriving on the morrow, and the whole process of serving the traveling public will repeat itself.
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Today, Marx’s GRAND CENTRAL STATION is considered by many collectors to be the most elegant and desirable of Marx’s lithographed metal train stations. (A Marx GRAND CENTRAL STATION that is complete and in good cosmetic condition typically sells for over $100.00 at train shows and on eBay!)
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Lol, you are posting these photos faster than I can comment on them. Good looking stuff.
Rich
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Very cool looking station.
Rich
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I am not at all familiar with Marx. This is an interesting thread, to say the least.
Rich
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Marx trains were intended as “electric trains any child could afford” and typically sold for a fraction of what Lionel and American Flyer trains sold for. Marx trains consistently outsold Lionel and American Flyer trains by very high margins. (More children were introduced to electric trains by having received a Marx set than any other brand. My first electric train was a Marx.) Despite Marx’s popularity, the model railroad/toy train magazines don’t give Marx trains anywhere near the same coverage they give to Lionel and American Flyer. In lieu of a magazine for Marx train fans, this thread was started to showcase Marx trains exclusively.
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Unlike the prototype, which was painted Armour Yellow with Leaf Brown roof and undersides, Marx’s M-10000 trains were produced in six different color variations including green & cream, maroon & silver, and tan & light tan. (Like Lionel, Marx was aware that the primary purchasers of toy trains for children were women - mothers, sisters, and aunts - whose buying decisions were often influenced by bright colors.)
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Thanks for that reply. That’s a shame that Marx didn’t get the kind of coverage given to Lionel and American Flyer. As a kid, my first train was American Flyer.
Rich
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Ahh, that explains it. Thanks.
Rich
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Eric,
Your knowledge of Marx trains and railroad operation are phenomenal. I learn something with everyone of your posts. They are entertaining and well written. Thanks for your investment of time.
Northwoods Flyer
Greg
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As Charlie Chan would say, Thank you so much.
Knowing that my efforts are being seen and appreciated makes all the time and effort involved worthwhile.
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Here’s three pics of my very nice Big Rail set, #50350. First, the box lid. There is staining on the lower left side, but the box is intact.
Next, we’ll open the box and show the contents. It’s all there, including the instructions and inspection tag. Guessing by the wheels, i would say it has maybe a couple hours running time.
Here’s a closer pic of the contents, and, in this pic, you can spy the one flaw in the set: the little knob that protrudes from the side of the switch to sift the route is broken off. The operation of the switch is unaffected, but you have to move the rails directly.
This set illustrates to me at least one superiority Marx had over Lionel in many cases: In addition to the train, the purchaser got the station, signals, line poles (with a spool of thread for the lines), the uncoupler, the dump mechanism, smoke fluid (under another item in the pic) and–most importantly–a switch and some track for a spur. The play value of the set is very high, especially as this was a common, mid-range set. Marx made a big push with these in the early '70s. Very few Lionel sets came with this kind of variety, especially after the '50s, and those were generally top-of-the-line sets in their market bracket. (We do have to excuse the humorous fact that Marx lettered a stem loco for the PC, however. 
)
As much as I honor Lionel and everything that they did, I have a very soft spot in my heart for Marx. They may never have made a scale Hudson, but, what they did, they did better than anybody else: offer solid value and access to electric trains to just about everybody.
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