The indestructible Marx motor

Dave Farquhar Toy trains

Want to hear a Marx story? Of course you do. Early this month I bought an early basket-case Marx 999 and some scale cars that obviously were stored for decades in a garage or attic exposed to humidity and temperature extremes. There was rust all over the place, to the point where the rust had bound some parts together. Paint was flaking off.

The locomotive itself had all of those problems too. Plus two driver wheels, their bearings and axle, and a gear were missing. What was left of the motor felt seized up. I spun the armature with some pliers to free it, and then I put a bit of oil on the parched, dried-out felt wick around the armature. You know what I was thinking.

Of course this poor, neglected motor wasn’t going to run. Motors this neglected and abused never do. But still, I had to see if it had any life left in it. I got out my spare transformer and clipped two test leads to it. I clipped the black terminal to the frame of the motor and the red terminal to the pickup shoe. I applied power, and that motor proved me wrong. It ran really well.

It doesn’t happen this way every time, but it does more often than not.

So what did I do with this motor? I had another 999 motor that was missing some parts, so I was able to combine the two to get one working motor.

Why Bowman sold out to Topps, or how Topps bought Bowman

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Why Bowman sold out to Topps, or how Topps bought Bowman

Virtually every schoolboy who is interested in baseball cards knows the story of how Topps bought Bowman. After World War II, Bowman was the leading brand of baseball card, or, at least from 1948 until 1951. Then, in 1952, Topps released its landmark 1952 set. Bowman and Topps battled for baseball fans’ nickels and pennies until 1955. Then, in early 1956, Topps bought Bowman, and that was the end of Bowman until the late 1980s, when Topps dusted off the brand name and started issuing Bowman cards again. And Topps faced precious little competition in the baseball card field until 1981, when Fleer and Donruss won the right to produce cards.

That’s the story as I knew it. But there’s a lot more to the story, starting with the details of the purchase. In January 1956, Topps bought its once mighty rival for a mere $200,000. Normally a company sells for 10 times its annual revenue, and Bowman had sold $600,000 worth of baseball cards alone just two years before. The purchase price makes no sense, until you dig a bit deeper.

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Estimating the value of a Marx train

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One of the most frequent questions I see or receive directly about Marx trains is what a Marx train is worth, or the value of a Marx train. Of course without seeing the train, it’s nearly impossible to give a good estimate, but there are some general rules that you can follow, either to protect yourself as a buyer, or to keep your expectations realistic as a seller.

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Fix a Marx 999 that derails a lot

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Fix a Marx 999 that derails a lot

Marx’s most popular locomotive might be the 999, because it can pull anything Marx made–6-inch tin, 7-inch tin, 3/16-scale tin, 4-wheel plastic, and 8-wheel plastic–without looking out of place. It really only has one problem: The front trucks on many 999s are prone to derailments.

Counterintuitively, the fix for a 999 is the opposite of how you fix the same problem on many other O gauge electric trains.

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Adjust Lionel CW-80 fixed voltage

Dave Farquhar Toy trains

The CW-80, unlike postwar transformers, only has two accessory posts. To adjust the Lionel CW-80 fixed voltage, the posts are programmable. If you lost your manual, here’s how to do it.

The accessory voltage was set to 12 volts at the factory, which is usually a good setting, but sometimes they get adjusted, or sometimes you need something different. Here’s how to set it to what you want, in five steps.

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