Marx O27 Archives - The Silicon Underground

Wooden ties for electric train track

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 12:00:24 +0000

Someone asked me the other day about the dimensions of the metal ties on vintage electric train track, presumably to cut some wooden ties to match. So I pulled some track out of my stash, got out my caliper, and took

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How to attach trucks to Lionel train cars with screws

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 22:59:05 +0000

Frequently the trucks (the wheel/coupler assembly that sits under train cars) come unattached. Lionel trains from the 1970s and first half of the 1980s are especially prone to this, though other makes of trains aren’t immune either. And sometimes you

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Fixing track that gets hot at the track joints

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 02:51:02 +0000

I saw a question about a Fastrack layout getting hot at a track joint. That’s a conductivity issue causing voltage drop, which in turn causes the heat. While not likely to be dangerous, it’s a sign of inefficiency and can

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Fix or restore Lionel track

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 12:32:52 +0000

It’s that time of year again. Time to get that old Lionel (or Marx or American Flyer) electric train running before the holidays sneak up. More often than not, the track isn’t in the best of shape. Fortunately, it’s not all

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Cars (as in vehicles) for train layouts

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 22:06:33 +0000

I was at Kmart today, and as I usually do, I wandered down the toy aisle on the off chance I might find some cars that might work on my train layout.

I did a lot better than I usually do--Jada and Maisto came through for me.

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Aliens on my train layout

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 02:52:00 +0000

I bought a couple of aliens for my train consist today. At the annual TCA Ozark Division train show at Lutheran South that happens every December, I spotted some lonely American Flyer bodies sitting neglected on a table. There were two steam locomotives, a gondola, a boxcar, and a caboose. I looked at the locomotives but there wasn't any way I could remotor them with parts I had available. I did buy the boxcar, and then came back for the gondola.

I spent a total of $3 for these artifacts from 1958. Not bad.

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XTrkCad model railroad track software is going open source

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 31 Dec 2004 15:22:03 +0000

XTrkCad, one of the many model railroad track planning programs--and the only one I know that has both Windows and Linux versions--is going open source. This also means the program is now free.

You can't download the source code yet but you can download binaries, enter a registration code, and play with it. I've been doing just that.

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Running Marx and Lionel trains together

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 19 Jun 2004 02:08:34 +0000

Someone asked (not me specifically) whether it's possible or desirable to run Marx and Lionel trains as part of the same layout, what the caveats are, and how to do it.

It seems to be a pretty dark secret. The answer is, yes it's possible, and yes, it might very well be desirable, but it's possible to run into some pitfalls.

Let's talk about it.

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Troubleshooting Marx remote turnouts

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 19 Jan 2004 17:26:41 +0000

Yesterday I hooked up Dad's old Marx O27 remote turnouts, and again found one of them dodgy.

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A more permanent home for Dad’s Lionel

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 18 Jan 2004 07:46:42 +0000

Gatermann and I spent the afternoon building a train table. I started building one about a month ago but got too busy to finish it. Today was the day I'd set aside to get some work done on it.

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