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I counted 75. I've seen 100+ car trains on the NECR before. I think the trains are usually at least 40-60 cars long around here. Don't catch as many trains these days as I used to, so I have less of a read on the average train length.

@@leverettrailfan5414 thats interesting.

Not sure I know what you mean? I don't remember the exact model, but the car was built by Fairmont Motors out of Minnesota. The common lingo I'm familiar with for these machines is either 'speeder' or 'putt-putt', some people call them motor cars too. Never heard one called a Pacer before.

I don't think that any of Dave's trackmobiles have been inside the car barn. I'm not sure if the doors to the barn and the shed are the same width, but I wouldn't be surprised if it could work. That said, there's not a lot of free space in the car barn right now.

To my knowledge, the B&M never owned a rotary plow. But perhaps another railroad leased them one during times of need. I wouldn't entirely know where to go hunting for pictures, if there are any. The Long Island Railroad had at least one rotary, perhaps they lent it to the B&M. My parents grew up in Lexington, but their early childhood was in the final decade of the branch's operation and neither of them has memories of the train.

@@leverettrailfan5414 Thanks for the info.I grew up 50 ft or so from the tracks in East Lexington. My Father and his brothers did also from 1929 on.The line was busy enough to be double tracked to Lexington Center. He credited the B&M for helping to heat their house in the depression. Coal from the stations and new and old railroad ties somehow ended up in his yard to be used in the cellar furnace .

I visited Germany with my family a few years ago, and we visited the Spielzeug Museum in Trier. I admired their collection of beautiful O Gauge trains and wished I had some of my own. But I think it is difficult to get them here in the United States. We have many nice trains here but I like to have a variety, and German train makers like Bing and Märklin made very nice O gauge trains.

I unfortunately can't say for sure, but I believe it was a mid-late 1930s-1940s product. When exactly Marx started and stopped manufacturing some version of the train, or when my exact set was made, I don't know. What I do know, is that it is in very good condition, and when I bought it, it was in an original Marx box, with transformer, track, and a circa 1950s catalog. I still need to verify if the box and/or components are the correct ones the set would have come in/with. It's a delightful little train, but the cars are prone to derailing- I stuck some heavy magnets in strategic locations, to help keep the cars on the track without modifying or damaging the train. Mine is the 'small motor' version. Marx made a lot of beautiful litho trains, and though production may have begun prior to WWII, they continued to make litho cars in some capacity as late as the '70s, according to some sources- certainly, even well into the '50s Marx 6" litho cars were still being manufactured.

Late to reply... never knew about this! Must have been a fun set to own, both the S gauge and HO offerings. I've started collecting a little bit of Gilbert HO, some of it is pretty nice.

That track is 0-31- of note though, for starters there is a small weight on the front of the motor assembly (as built), and additionally, I was operating it at pretty much the slowest speed I could get out of the transformer, because these things really do take off like rockets! I'd suggest giving all those wheels and axles a very thorough cleaning, and lightly oiling all bearings. If that still doesn't fix anything, maybe adding some weights could help- I forget, I may have added a few to my cars but they're in storage right now so I can't peek at them.

@@leverettrailfan5414 Thanks, I did figure it out. The only problem was the screw on top of the motor was a little too tight preventing it from turning freely. I never thought to check the easiest thing first, duh. I did lube and oil oil as well. I also recently picked up a Flying Yankee and that can handle the O31 curves as well.

I was going to join the OGRR forum, but unfortunately they still require a male/female field and last time I brought it up with them I was politely told to 'quit fussing and bug off', so that's where things are at for now. I have been active on the CTT forums, and the MRH forums, but have had some health issues, and a busy schedule, preventing me from being as active online as I would like to be. It does seem like lots of fun over at the OGR forums though, I've read many a great thread over there.

Leverettrailfan yes the form is fun,but their form moderators are kind of a bunch of a$$holes, so I have been thinking about joining the ctt form myself.

@@watchandreact1601 whoop late reply :) the CTT forums are very friendly, lots of nice folks

well spotted! It is indeed a late 21085, with plastic drivers. Mine has a reverse unit in the tender, not in the cab. My guess is that your reverse unit is gummed up/dirty and needs to be taken apart and cleaned thoroughly. I have found the american flyer reverse unit to be a very temperamental device, I dislike them compared to the reverse unit designs of Lionel and Marx, which if properly cleaned, are far less prone to getting stuck. a few hard taps on the loco or tender (wherever the reverse unit is located on your loco) will likely free the unit, so that it will cycle again when the power comes on. But then it will, more likely than not, stick again. There are lots of 'how to' videos on CZcams about servicing American Flyer trains, there's a good chance you could find one that is helpful to you by looking for videos on servicing American Flyer reversing units.

I prefer not to give my name on youtube, in case someone with ill intent wanted to identify me, but if you send me an E-Mail via my 'about' page on CZcams I can totally tell you more about myself!

No, I sure got lucky with my 343. I sadly haven't been able to play with my Flyer trains in a while, but I have to say, the 343 is probably one of the silky-smoothest locomotives I've ever had the pleasure of operating, that utilize an open frame motor. She will never, ever growl at me! I still cannot believe how lucky I was to acquire such a delightful and useful locomotive! In the future, I plan on having some kind of proper American Flyer setup with a yard she can shunt, but that's years into the future when I have my own place. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being nearly impossible, and 10 being no work required, I'd say she was an 8 on the 'fixit' scale. Lots of small screws and bits that make up the linkage, but the basic components are well built, engineered, and assembled, and if cared for like mine seems to have been, there's not too many things to go awry. If they weren't usually so pricey (as most any diecast flyer loco seems to be, that isn't a common Atlantic), I'd recommend one of these fine switchers to anyone!

Hey, most days are bad days for amtrak! ; )

she has a twin sister, the two are very sweet, but they often like to chase each other around the house, and get into little skirmishes over nothing.

Haha boy, I’ve been wanting a Berkshire like that for ages! Good to see someone else enjoys having a little fun!

Precisely! I never crash them- wouldn't want anything bad to come of my favorite toys in the whole wide world- but a little fun like this won't hurt anybody!!!

As much as I would love to have a better story, the reality is that I found it on eBay, bid once, and let out a sigh of relieve that no one stole m prize from me. Although I have no way of verifying, the seller put in their description that the train was inside of an old chest, and since no one in their family was a train person, they were selling it.

Oh, and by the way, I have since fixed the wiring to the headlight, but no luck on the drive rods.

cool! good to see it running!

Haha yes, you know, I actually had to move my State Of Maine car to the end because one of the couplers needs a tighter spring to keep the pin in place while the car is not being uncoupled, because a few times the car would just let go, and when it did, the F3s would just plow through the train before I could stop 'em. Thank heavens that these trains were made so well, or I'd be in trouble!!!

See my You Tube upload from many years back "Eight Speeding Marx & Lionel Trains On 4 Line Shelf Layout." Running these trains was nervewraking for fear that a coupler would open.