marx trains Archives

Marx train light bulbs

Dave Farquhar Toy trains February 1, 2016November 15, 2018license plate, marx, marx trains

I don’t come across burned-out light bulbs in Marx trains very often, but it can happen. When you need to replace a missing or dead bulb, you have some options.

Marx, like its competitors, used a standard E10 screw base in all of its trains and accessories that I know of. It’s best to never say never with Marx, but standardizing on E10 was cost-effective so I doubt there’s any variance. The question is what voltage.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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Marx trains and the “fat wheel”

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 21, 2015December 20, 2015lionel, marx, marx trains

On many Marx trains, the driving gear extends to the full width of the drive wheel, making that wheel effectively wider than the other one. This causes interoperability issues with other manufacturers, especially on switches and crossings.

A very common question, therefore, is which Marx trains lack the dreaded fat wheel.

Dave Farquhar

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Why to never use steel wool to clean electric train track

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 20, 2015September 2, 20173m, american flyer, hardware store, ives, lionel, lionel train, marx, marx trains, postwar lionel, tin

You may have heard to never use steel wool to clean electric train track, especially Lionel, but you may have never heard the reason why.

There is a good reason.

Dave Farquhar

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How to disassemble a Marx 490 locomotive

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 18, 2015September 2, 2017christmas, hardware store, lionel, Lucas Red, marx, marx trains, stiff wire

Disassembling a Marx 490 locomotive isn’t too difficult, but it’s very different from other Marx locomotives.

Once you take one apart, though, you’ll see why it was designed how it was. It was Marx’s lowest-cost locomotive, and it could be assembled without tools, so the labor costs were minimal.

For that matter you only need one tool to take it apart, and since there’s so little in it that can break–not even a headlight–you can find anything you would need to service it at the nearest hardware store or auto parts store.

Dave Farquhar

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How to disassemble a Marx 999 locomotive

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 13, 2015November 19, 2018american flyer, boxcar, clearcoat, commodore, hardware store, lionel, Lucas Red, marx, marx trains, metal polish, o27, tin, trainz

Disassembling a Marx 999 locomotive isn’t too difficult, and it’s easier than the Marx 666, but it helps to have some instructions.

The nice thing about the 999 is that if you can disassemble it, there’s a long, long list of Marx locomotives that disassemble in pretty much the same way: the Commodore Vanderbilt, the Mercury, the tin Canadian Pacific 391, and the tin steamers 592, 593, 594, 833, 897, 898, and 994.

Marx designed its trains so that a father or older brother could service them, so it comes apart with simple household tools, and you can get most of what you’ll need to service it at the nearest hardware store, with the probable exception of the bulb for the headlight.

Dave Farquhar

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How to disassemble a Marx 666 locomotive

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 11, 2015September 3, 2017hardware store, lionel, Louis Marx, Lucas Red, marx, marx trains, o27, tin, trainz

Disassembling a postwar Marx 666 locomotive, or its plastic counterpart the 1666, isn’t too difficult, but it helps to have some instructions.

Marx designed its trains so that a father or older brother could service them, so it comes apart with simple household tools, and you can get most of what you’ll need to service it at the nearest hardware or auto parts store, with the exception of the bulb for the headlight.

Dave Farquhar

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How many Lionel CTC lockons you need

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 5, 2015September 11, 2022american flyer, lionel, lockon, marx, marx trains, o27, s gauge, trainz

You usually need at least two Lionel CTC lockons, but most Lionel O and O27 train sets came with a single CTC lockon connector.

If your train slows down as it gets farther away from the transformer, that’s the biggest tell-tale sign that you need at least one more lockon.

Dave Farquhar

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Lionel crossovers and Marx trains

Dave Farquhar Toy trains November 21, 2015September 15, 2016lionel, Lionel O27, lionel train, marx, marx trains, o27

A common question is whether Marx trains will work with Lionel crossovers, or vice versa. The answer is not well, but with a caveat. A big caveat. Here’s what to look out for with Lionel crossovers and Marx trains.

Dave Farquhar

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Available diameters of tubular O and O27 track

Dave Farquhar Toy trains November 19, 2015October 22, 20221980s, lionel, lionel train, marx, Marx O34, marx trains, o gauge, o27, RADIUS, sakai, tubular track

A frequent question, especially for those who are just discovering or rediscovering vintage Lionel and Marx trains is what sizes of track are (or were) available, and how many pieces come to a circle.

Unlike other scales, Lionel marketed its track by diameter, not radius. As you undoubtedly remember from geometry class, radius is the distance from the center of the circle to the edge, while diameter is the distance from edge to edge. So a circle of O27 track is approximately 27 inches wide. O27 track stands about 7/16 of an inch tall, while higher end O gauge (also sometimes called O31) track stands about a quarter inch taller, at about 11/16 of an inch tall.

Dave Farquhar

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Don’t use lamp oil as smoke fluid in Lionel trains

Dave Farquhar Toy trains May 29, 2015November 18, 2021lionel, lionel train, marx, marx trains, toy train

Every so often, the topic of lamp oil as a cheap substitute for smoke fluid in Lionel and Marx trains comes up.

The topic has been beaten to death on many closed message groups, but finding the answer isn’t always that easy. But, in short, it’s not a safe thing to do.

Dave Farquhar

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