Made my afternoon Becky! Thanks! And that video’s aged very well indeed!
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I love Hafner 1010s!
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By the way the Hafner, the trams and the Bekh (the DB set) didn’t run. They appeared as stop motion animations. 
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Becky, loved the vid! So many wonderful trains.
Today I was digging through my stuff and came upon an engine that hasn’t hit the track in quite some time, my little 198.
This example is the late type with the Riser Gear motor. The rear plate connection was broken, but got repaired. I can’t remember if it was my repair, or someone before me. Has cracking around the screw holes on both sides, I really should do something to reinforce those and prevent them breaking further.
Here it is posed with a Santa Fe tender and caboose. Note the caboose has the black painted truck frames- I don’t know much about which cars were and were not produced with the black truck frames, but I’m fairly certain they’re significantly less common than those without the paint. I only have the one car so far, but have been keeping my eye out for more.
The engine has run nicely for me before, I’ll have to pull out my key sometime soon and see if it’s still happy or if I need to give it a little TLC. In my limited experience the riser gear motor is pretty near bulletproof.
-El
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@El_Fixes_Things that’s downright neat
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Marx would often allow its large volume buyers to choose the contents of train sets that they would be selling exclusively. In the early 1950s, Sears put together its own 7-inch Nickel Plate Road freight set that included an extra PRR boxcar and a 999 die-cast locomotive in place of the 994 pressed steel locomotive.
Instead of the 7-inch NKP tender, this special Sears set had a 6-inch 4-wheel 951 “wedge” tender, the one most often paired with the 999 locomotive. The 951 “wedge” was actually a New York Central tender. But for this special Sears order, Marx produced a limited run of 951 4-wheel “wedge” tenders with the Nickel Plate Road name. Once the order was filled, no more Marx NKP wedge tenders were ever made. Today, these Marx NKP tenders are quite scarce and valuable.
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Because I needed an 8-wheel 951 Nickel Plate Tender for my toy train photography work, I had master craftsman Baldemar Manzo (eBay seller chesterchito) custom-make one for me from an 8-wheel 951 NYC “wedge” tender. (NKP decals are readily available.)
It is well known that Marx toy train items are often “customized” by moving car bodies to different frames, changing trim items, altering decals, etc. I don’t have a problem with this unless it’s done to fool unsuspecting collectors into believing that the altered items they’re buying are rare and valuable originals.
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I have one I found at a flea market for $5 all alone on a shelf with no other train items. That was an exciting day for me! 
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That was indeed a lucky find. They usually sell for between $100 and $150!
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Maybe I should start visiting flea markets!
Rich
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It’s more than a little beat up, but still serviceable and fun that I came across it
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I can’t say that I often get lucky. Only one other time. I found a near mint 391 silver and black 2-4-2 loco in a $15 box of literal train trash.
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Definitely! Especially if there’s one within easy driving distance. I found a K-Line Hershey 100th Anniversary steam set for $85 at the DC Big Flea (original retail $350) and an MTH “Texas” for $90! I think original retail on “Texas” was around $395.
I can’t promise you’d be as lucky as I was BUT you don’t know if you don’t look. Some GOOD stuff can turn up at flea markets, antique stores and thrift malls. It’s always worth stopping in 'cause you never know, do you?
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You are absolutely right. You never know unless you go look.
Rich
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And one last thing, NEVER say “That place never has anything!” 'cause the day you don’t go in… 
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… is the day that some guy is selling the five Rapido Monon coaches in Like New condition for 20 bucks apiece.
Rich
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!
From among the cars developed for Marx’s 7-inch line, it was the caboose that proved to be the most versatile. Seven of them were produced with the names of different railroads. Most of the road names appear to have been chosen because they matched those of existing Marx diesels, allowing them to be combined together in the same sets. Only the Nickel Plate caboose had no matching diesel.
Here are these seven 7-inch cabooses and their matching diesels. (Since the NKP caboose had no diesel, I’ve matched it with a 333 die-cast locomotive.) Of these seven, only the B&O, the ATSF, and the NYC Pacemaker originally came on 8-wheel frames. I arranged for the others to be remounted onto 8-wheel frames.
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