HI All!
After my original posting asking about Marx O gauge track on a black roadbed. I went down a lot of rabbit holes on Facebook and other places. I did find some track and found out a lot more about it, As it was only made and sold between 1960 and 1961. After a lot of cleaning, the original engine and cars made a few runs around a basic oval. I still have a lot of issues to fix, which came to light after the run. Below is what I found out about the track and is a brief wrap up of the subject?
(I am now calling it Marx O27 and Mark O34 track)
Marx track is different from the usual O-27 and O-34 diagram everyone knows.
The dimensions - Marx track on plastic roadbed O-27: rail height 3/8", straight pieces 8-7/8" long, curves form a 26-7/8" circle, 3 rail ties per section, Listed as O27 in Marx instructions. Marx track without roadbed O-34: Rail 3/8", straight 11-1/8" , Curves form a 33-1/4" circle, 5 ties per section, listed in instructions as O34.
If I intend to replace any track on the roadbed, it must be Marx O27. Why? Because the spacing of the ties in the roadbed I do have only allows for the three ties per section. So any track replacement on the roadbed, must be O27.
Marx track is frustrating. I do not know if the track on the black roadbed was only Marx O27 or if Marx produced any O34 on a roadbed. There is nothing I can find saying that Marx ever produced O34 on the roadbed.
Will have to make a decision to go with Lionel tubular rack, or hunt down a lot more Marx O27 on black roadbed, or switch to Marx track without the roadbed.
The biggest issue with staying with Marx track, is cleaning. Every bit of track I have or can find, is corroded.
I will leave it at that about the track, unless anyone has additional questions. Right now, I think I have beat this subject to death. Thanks for everyone’s help and information!
I will close with one issue I have with the locomotive. After extensive cleaning of the track I do have and the locomotive, I ran the train and noticed sparks coming from the wheels. Closer examination revealed pitting on some of the wheels.
Yes, Marx ties are spaced differently from the O27 track that Lionel sold. A japanese firm named Sakai offered some O27 items in the postwar era that closely mimicked Marx items. Sakai O27 track has similar if not identical tie spacing to Marx O27 track- I believe it usually is stamped “Japan” on the ties. Of course, like Marx track, it is long out of production, and you are not very likely to come across it.
I have no knowledge of O34 Marx track being made with plastic roadbed, but of course, I didn’t know about the O27 roadbed until your original topic. That said, I’m still skeptical of whether Marx produced such a thing. If O34 roadbed does exist, it would be extremely rare, to the point that you probably don’t have any hope of acquiring some.
As far as locomotive wheels, Marx engines can be sparky- poor electrical continuity can make the situation much worse than it otherwise would be though. If the locomotive wheels are still sparking a lot after a thorough cleaning, it may be in part due to the pitting on the wheels. At this point, you can either live with it, or try to procure some replacement wheels and maybe see an improvement. Personally, I would probably just live with the sparky wheels.
El,
Thank you for the information. I will probably just live with the sparks. But I did just find (Secure Online Ordering) trainpartsformarx.com.
I have not had time to investigate it thoroughly yet, but it does look like they produce reproduction Marx parts. So I may at least be able to replace the wheels and then live with any sparks that may continue.
Again, thank you for your input and information.
-Oldman
Engine 1988, I don’t usually comment on things like this, but I feel it fair to caution you about this retailer. They were on my parts supplier list, but I received word from several readers that they had placed an order but never gotten anything. I sent an email query close to a month ago, asking about the company status, no response. I’ve since remove them from my parts article list.
Thank you for that input on the retailer. I was seriously considering reaching out to them for the track found by Engine 1988.
Even though I love my childhood set and have it basically running again. The difficulty of finding certain parts and even the issues I ran into with the track. I am thinking it may just become a display piece and move away from Marx. I do love steam engines much more.
But I have found a lot of Marx sets on eBay and Etsy. Mostly the problem there is people thinking they have gold (too much money), and the track is almost always trashed. Forgive the rambling, I think I will just move on to Lionel O27 tubular track and continue locating Marx engines.
I’m probably not telling you anything you don’t already know but visit any train shows that might occur in your area, there’s almost always Marx products for sale. Check out trainz.com as well. Show prices tend to be reasonable, same with trainz.
The first one, “parts for marx”, is the Robert Grossman company, who as far as I know are a legitimate operation. I have not personally bought from them yet, so I cannot vouch, but I know others have used Grossman as a source for Marx parts.
The second, “parts4marx”, I have never heard of, and know nothing about.
Now that is something that I didn’t know of, but that explains why the Robert Grossman company has been ignoring customers and why there is now a second site.
I ordered from Grossman earlier this year (as I had done several times in the past). It did take a little longer to get my order than I had hoped, but part of that was my fault because I had to get verification that I had the right parts, so there was a conversation delaying the process. I do know that their selection of parts is wonderfully comprehensive.
