I was on a business trip in Minnesota and stopped by a favorite antique store. (I normally do not purchase train related items from antique stores because they tend to be way over priced.) But I happened to see this little gem there marked at half off for $18 dollars. I took it home and tested it and it runs like a charm. I’m going to purchase a tender and the passenger car set you see below as well. My mother owned a Marx set from the early 50’s? and it still runs great to this day. I will be setting this train up on my Christmas layout in a store window in town.
Does anyone know what year this particular Commodore Vanderbilt engine is from?
I’ve noticed that the Marx trains seem to run with very little maintenance as opposed to Lionel which requires a bit more.
The old Marx trains are great! I have collected a few and I also agree that they run great with only a little bit of cleaning and lubrication. I have a Greenberg’s guide for Marx trains and it states that the Flat Contour Front Electric version of the Commodore Vanderbilt was produced ftom 1938 - 1952.
If you considering a Christmas layout, perhaps these photos and videos of my Marx Christmas layouts will help. Old Marx train items are particularly well suited for a Christmas layout because of their toylike charm. My Marx Commodore Vanderbilt looks just like yours, but my engine and tender has been repainted.
Here are videos of my Christmas Layouts from the past 3 years that feature old Marx tinplate trains and accessories.
What a coincidence! I was just on youtube yesterday watching all of your video’s and admiring your Christmas layout. Very nice indeed. I hope to do something similar.
The CV engine had a long lived run from 1934 to 1950, nearly a half century One way to identify the year is to look at the electrical pickup or slide between the wheels for the third rail. Is it one long piece or is it split into two individual pickups? .
Its likely to be a postwar engine. The CV had about fifteen variations during it’s production span. The coaches I cannot identify from the pictures. Do they have glazed window strips, punched out windows or lithographed windows? If they are punched, it’s likely from a clockwork set ( working from memory) and fairly rare, if they have glazed windows, these are really rare, especially if you have an illuminated observation car worth quite a bit.
Man, you guys are making me want to get down on the floor and play! [swg] Which I can’t easily do at the moment since my train board is leaning up against the wall! [banghead] [(-D] Oh well, I may have to throw down a circle of O31 and play anyways! [(-D]
Up till about 3 weeks ago I was totally American Flyer, except for a Lionel Polar Express, when my youngest daughter bought me a MArx 898 with tin plate cars. I was amazed at how simple they are engineered. I recently aquired another Marx Tin plate set. Again they are amazing. The E unit never fails!
The kids and I put up a 6’ x 6’ andplayed on the floor. They had their army soldiers, dionsaurs, and animals playing, for hours today. It was a blast.
love Marx! I’ve had pretty good luck finding dealsa t Antique Shops. some are way over priced, but there are some good deals. My Uncle has a CV that my Grandmother paid $1 for at GC Murphys years ago. Need to get one for my self now…
I am a Marx fan too - have many of their accessories - the crane in this the forefront of the above photo, and several stations, lights, switches, etc.
I’m a Marx fan too. I’ve got a very small layout just for my Marx trains. Nearly everything on it is tin. The only plastic I can think of is a few of the car’s wheels, and the Marx roadbed. I think the only Lionel item on it is the 1033 transformer. I like that transformer too much not to use it somewhere, and it’s too small to use on my Lionel layout. I’ve got buildings from Marx, American Flyer, Haffner, and numerous cookie tin buildings. I’ve got lots of signals on the table, though most of them are manual. I really like the old American Flyer ones, but I’ve also got some by Marx.
Nice set up. Yea, I think the tin really gives it that “old” timer feel to it. I’ve got one of those ugly tin mountains too. what were they thinking? LOL.
