by Jim Kelly
April 1, 2008
Tinplate has always had an international appeal. In this issue of Tinplate Times we feature an article by New Zealand tinplate enthusiast Colin Duthie focusing on his design and construction of an IVES inspired 0 gauge locomotive. We also have a splendid article from David Argent, another true craftsman. David has designed and built an 0 gauge model of the British "Stiriling Single" locomotive and tender in brass. Finally, I've written an article on Edobaud, a somewhat obscure and highly unusual French tinplate toy train manufacturer from the prewar period. It's been a real pleasure to edit these articles. There's an entire tinplate world out there in other parts of the globe, and I really like to see more articles on non-U.S. tinplate toy trains.
Once again I'd like to thank Rev. Phil Smith, Roger Davis and Charles Grover for their monetary contributions which will go into the fund to help keep the site going. I am still in need of software to maintain the site. I would welcome additional monetary assistance from anyone who enjoys Tinplate Times and would like to help out.
The April 2008 issue will be the last until the Fall 2008 toy train season gets into full swing. I need new articles. I enjoy publishing the "Tinplate Profiles" of our fellow hobbyists, but I need volunteers to be interviewed. All you have to do is type into an email the answers to the interview questions and provide a picture of yourself and some shots of your trains. Who wants to be the next victim? Drop me an email and let me know you're interested. And of course, I welcome all manner of articles that focus on any of the many aspects of tinplate operating or collecting, construction, paper, what have you.
I'd like to thank all of those who have contributed articles to Tinplate Times this past Fall and Winter. Thanks also to my life partner, Dan Evans, for his proof reading help.
Enjoy the Spring 2008 issue, and have a safe summer!
Jim Kelly
February 27, 2008
I'd like to acknowledge another generous cash contribution towards keeping the Tinplate Times project going from Roger Davis. Thanks, Roger!
January 16, 2008
It's mid-January and the latest Tinplate Times is finally ready. The holidays were busy, busy, and then there was that "whatever it was that was going around" that slowed me down for a few days. Anyway, I'm pleased to be able to publish another issue, the first for 2008.
Thanks to my life partner, Dan Evans, for his proof reading help.
I also want to thank Rev. Phil Smith for his generous cash contribution toward the cost of keeping Tinplate Times online for another year. It's not terribly expensive to maintain the domain name and pay for the web hosting, but I'm "retired" so I do appreciate the help.
From the desperately needed department: I really need a legal copy of Dreamweaver that will run under Microsoft VISTA. Dreamweaver is the program that I use to prepare and update Tinplate Times. If my old clunker computer goes, I won't be able to update Tinplate Times until I can acquire and load a new copy of Dreamweaver onto my new computer. Can anyone help?
And again, I would welcome a partner or partners in the Tinplate Times endeavor, should someone be interested or know of anyone who might like to join in the effort. Mainly, partners would share the cost of maintaining the Tinplate Times web site, help generate more articles, do some research and writing of articles for the site, and possibly do web design (if they know how.)
Finally, I'd like to thank all of those who have contributed articles to Tinplate Times. You've helped to make the project fun for everyone to read.
Jim
December 1, 2007
Tinplate Times is non-profit and is not a commercial undertaking, meaning it doesn't operate as a money making venture. The whole idea is to provide a source of information about tinplate, to spread the word, and enhance everyone's enjoyment of tinplate toy trains. I also like to think the articles on Tinplate Times will form the basis of a lasting historical archive. I started the project with another young fellow, but he has since moved on, so I keep it going myself. It's not terribly expensive to maintain currently. It costs about $75.00 a year to keep the Tinplate Times domain name and to pay for the hosting service. I have never asked for contributions, however, I would gratefully accept donations or sponsors, and I would certainly acknowledge them on Tinplate Times. I would also welcome a partner or partners in the endeavor, should someone be interested or know of anyone who might like to join in the effort. Mainly, partners would share the cost of maintaining the Tinplate Times web site, help generate more articles, do some research and writing of articles for the site, and possibly do web design (if they know how.)
If you are reading this and you are interested in helping to support the Tinplate Times project, or you would like to become a Tinplate Times team member, please contact me.
Thanks, and Happy Holidays!
Jim Kelly
email: kk3k@yahoo.com
October 28, 2007
It's Fall once again and already another York has passed. There's excitement in the world of tinplate, with Lionel set to produce a summer trolley and trailer in Standard gauge once again. This was a surprise to me. I felt that Lionel would not re-enter the Standard gauge market any time soon after the less than stellar reception given to their Hiawatha and, particularly, their Commodore Vanderbilt sets five years ago. However, I'm glad to see it and I've placed my order for the Summer trolley and trailer set. I asked about delivery of the trolleys at York The Lionel representative told me that they did not even have pre-production samples yet, so it's going to be a while. Pride Lines is offering a reproduction set of the small Voltamp freight cars in Standard Gauge to go along with their nice little Voltamp steeple cab locomotive reproduction. It's a great looking, colorful set. MTH is continuing to make news with their Tinplate Traditions line of tinplate trains. Overseas, ACE Trains of London is also making beautiful tinplate trains and coaches and is now planning to offer an 0 gauge live steamer. So, things are looking up for lovers of tinplate.
We have some brand new contributors to this issue of Tinplate Times. Each of our authors brings fresh insights and knowledge to share about tinplate toy trains. We all hope you enjoy the Fall 2007 issue of Tinplate Times!
March 21, 2007
Spring is here but there's still lots of toy train activity coming up before the weather warms. York is approaching, and the auction houses are busy. Ebay continues to be worth watching for those occasional rare and unusual pieces that show up from time to time. The toy train season is still in high gear.
Nevertheless, this Spring 2007 issue of Tinplate Times, which is now in its fifth year online, will be the last until the Fall. I'm hoping to continue to publish three issues yearly, one in the Fall, one in Winter and one in the Spring. As always, I need new articles and photographs. As long as there is interesting content to publish I'll keep the Tinplate Times project going. In the meantime we'll see you at York or at the auctions!
Tinplate On Display At Grand Central Station, New York City
December 24, 2006
You just never know where you will find tinplate.
Last Sunday I attended a small train meet in Jenkintown, a suburb of Philadelphia. The meet was held in, of all places, the empty display room of a car dealership on Rt. 611. There were only about 80 to 100 tables. I didn't expect to see much standard gauge, if any.
Inside the meet against the back wall there was a small area for operating layouts. I can't tell you how surprised I was to see a guy running standard gauge trains on a single 72" loop set up on several folding tables with a green covering. He was running an MTH Blue Comet but he had a small assortment of vintage standard gauge trains and accessories on display from his personal collection.
We had a nice chat. He lives nearby and apparently only had one other friend helping him with his display. Nevertheless, I noticed that his single standard gauge loop was getting lots of attention from grownups and kids alike.
I hope to get together with this standard gauge guy from Jenkintown
in the future. I'm going to ask him if I can join him the next time he sets
up some tables and runs his trains.
Happy holidays and enjoy the December 2006 issue of Tinplate Times!
October 2006
Hooray! It's high season again for toy trains!
...and am I ever busy! The newly-formed Standard Gauge Module Association (SGMA) is preparing to present our first ever operating standard gauge layout in less than two weeks at the TCA Eastern Division York meet. SGMA members have been busy during the summer hammering, drilling, sawing and assembling modules. Now it's crunch time. Come see us in the Black Hall at York.
I've picked up a few treasures over the summer on EBAY and I'm busy trying to find shelf space for them. When you live in a city town house space is at a premium. Luckily, I'm at the stage now where what I really want is going to be either too tough to find, or too expensive, so hopefully there won't be much new stuff coming in requiring a place to live.
It's been a newsy few weeks lately with the big bombshell being the sale of the Lionel rare State set for about a cool quarter of a million dollars. My state cars don't have their boxes and they don't have cream window inserts, etc. but I get a kick out of them none the less. They have charm and I'm not afraid to pick them up and run them.
Well, time to get back downstairs to the workshop and finish work on my modules. See you in York!
April 2006
Well, I had thought (hoped!) that I was maybe slowing down a bit in terms of acquisitions. However, just when I figured that I'd finally bought enough trains and accessories and that maybe it's time for me to just sit back and enjoy what I have, I became infatuated with a whole new facet of this wonderful toy train hobby that we all love: I fell big time for British 0 gauge tinplate toy trains.
For me tinplate is all about color, and these tinplate trains from across the pond are nothing if not colorful. The history of the prototypes is also an aspect of toy trains that adds much personal enjoyment. For example, I never knew that the British had their own equivalents of our mighty Hudson locomotives, their fabulous Pacifics that hauled high speed passenger trains during the height of the steam era, and which were streamlined in the 1930s just like some of our Hudsons. So now I'm beginning a collection of British 0 gauge tinplate and I've constructed a dual wide radius mainline underneath my standard gauge layout so that I can watch these beauties run.
Spring is here and the nice weather is beckoning. It's time to enjoy the outdoors once again. The garden railroad is waiting to be restored to operation for the summer. The tinplate will rest now until autumn.
January 1, 2006
What a busy fall season it’s been for toy train enthusiasts! So many shows and meets, EBAY, and online auctions, and so little time (and money!) I have to say, though, that while I enjoy the meets and shows, I am particularly thrilled with the relatively new capability that computer literate collectors have. I’m referring to “live” online auctions, where you can actually bid on lots that are being auctioned off half way across the country, or, you can simply just watch the auction on your screen as it progresses.
In November I bid on and won a piece I really wanted that was being auctioned off in Indiana. This capability opens up a whole new world to collectors who previously would not have the opportunity to bid live in auctions without actually being there. I think it’s exciting and fun. Of course, as more and more collectors join in the action, the competition will become more intense, but that’s part of the fun. At least one of the major toy train auction houses is still not offering live online bidding, but I think they’ll have to soon to remain competitive. The next time you see a live auction scheduled, put aside some time to at least watch the action.
The various discussion groups often carry threads about the
state of the hobby, with some grumbling about the increasing age of hobbyists
and even some not-so-complementary characterizations of us, e.g., we’re
a bunch of grumpy old men, etc. Well, maybe some of us are a bit grumpy from
time to time, and many of us are getting a bit long-in-the-tooth, but we’re
still having a lot of fun with our trains, if attendance at York and local shows
that I’ve seen plus EBAY activity and now “live” auctions
are any indication.
November 1, 2005
I’ve been real busy with toy trains recently. For the first time I had the opportunity to attend the “bandit meets” that precede the big Eastern Division TCA York meet. I’d like to give special thanks to my friend Jim Nicholson who graciously agreed to share his York accommodations with me. Jim and I share many of he same toy train interests. It was fun to do the bandits with another standard gauge collector. The rainy weather was not the best we could have hoped for, but the meets were fun anyway. As Jim Nicholson has said: “any day playing with toy trains is better than a day at work!”
After attending the TCA York meet on Thursday, October 13, I decided to have dinner at Fisher’s restaurant in downtown York. It was a great culinary experience! This restaurant is not to be missed if you enjoy fine food. I started with a savory soup course: watercress and potato potage. My entrée was a delicious Apple, Cheese and Crab Cake Napoleon, served garnished with an orchid! In between courses a delightful dish of Snow Mountain Apple Sorbet was served to freshen the palate. For desert I opted for the Raspberry and Vanilla Crème Brule. I can’t say enough good things about the food and the service at this fine restaurant. “Maitre D” Jean Pierre will take good care of you. All in all, it was a great way to top off an afternoon of toy train fun at the TCA York meet. Another restaurant I enjoyed that is worth mentioning is “al Dente!” This Italian eatery is located at I-83 one exit below Market Street (1211 Haines Road). They serve good Italian food at reasonable prices.
Back at home, my layout is now back in operation and the shops are busy (backed up, actually!) I did replace the trucks on my standard gauge Dorfan freights and I’m running them on the main line. Read the whole story in this Tinplate Times update. The big ATMA show in Allentown is coming up soon. There are several major auctions about to happen. There’s a ton of tinplate-related activities and events coming up.
I’d also like to offer special thanks to Mike Isenberg for his contributions to Tinplate Times and for proof reading the site. Thanks also to Ron Morris for proof reading.
Finally, I hope to have another update ready to go by January, but that depends on you, the readers. I need tinplate articles and photographs. Please let me know if you would like to write an article for Tinplate Times. Pick your favorite tinplate piece, set, accessory, collection, layout, repair job, etc. and tell us about it!
October 5, 2005
Summer is over and it's time to get back into toy trains big time. I haven't uncovered the layout yet, but I am working on Tinplate Times. I am rebuilding the site adding back articles from the former TT site one by one. Hopefully I'll have all of the old articles up in a few weeks. My work will be interrupted (pleasantly) by my first several day trip to York for the TCA Eastern Division meet. The STANDG Yahoo discussion group is reasonably active. It will never be the high volume group that the TTML is, but that’s OK, even preferable. The discussions are interesting and usually sharply focused on standard gauge. Marc Kuffler’s standard gauge blog is fun to read. He does a nice job with photos and the content is mostly standard gauge. MTH has a great new Tinplate Traditions catalog out, I understand, with lots of tinplate. O Gauge Railroading has a tinplate trains forum that is fun. So there are a lot of good things happening in standard gauge. It’s going to be a fun cold weather train season!
March 28, 2005
It's been another great Fall and Winter toy train season for me. After relocating, I was able to build a new layout and run my standard gauge trains again after a year during which I had no operating layout. I sure did miss running the trains. But settling into a new house and building the new layout left not a lot of time for the Tinplate Times project.
Nevertheless, I brought Tinplate Times back to life and I've started the process of restoring old articles. I've also added new content to the site. But now the warmer weather is beckoning and summertime activities will soon demand much of my time. I have a garden railroad at our vacation cottage so I'll still have trains to run, but my tinplate trains and this site will soon take a break until Fall.
My thanks go out to Mike Isenberg and Jerry Dzara for the two new articles now on the site. Mike also just built a unique new layout and restored a fine old Lionel #6 steamer to run on it. Jerry has been more than patient in waiting for his fine article on Boucher paper to appear online. This is the kind of information that I'd like to put up here on Tinplate Times. Remember, everything here can be considered a work in progress as Jerry reminds us, so if you have information to add about Boucher paper, please let us know.
That brings up another point I want to make: I'm looking for articles and content for Tinplate Times. Don't be shy about sharing your tinplate-related interests with others. It's not rocket science to cobble together an article with some pictures. All I really need from you is the text and photographs. I'm sure that there are a lot of tinplaters with knowledge and expertise to share. Here's a venue free and available to you. All you have to do is take advantage of it!
January 01, 2005
The rich history of tinplate toy trains adds to their attraction. Soon after I was bitten by the tinplate collecting bug and began to assemble a collection of tinplate toy trains, I became interested in the paper aspect of the hobby, particularly catalogs and books. One of my first paper acquisitions was a numbered first edition four volume set of Greenberg's Lionel Catalogues published by the Greenberg Publishing Co. in 1989. What a great source of information and enjoyment these books have been! Since then I've added certain original and reproduction IVES, American Flyer, and Dorfan catalogues to my collection. I've also invested in a number of books, some new and some old treasures such as Louis Hertz's famous "Riding The Tinplate Rails" published in 1944. Reading and re-reading these books adds so much to my enjoyment of the hobby. The colorful stories and insights they reveal bring tinplate toy trains to life in ways that merely looking at them or even running them cannot.
A couple of years ago I purchased a two volume set entitled the Toy Train Treasury, published by Iron Horse Productions in 1974 and 1975. The authors statement of purpose noted: "there is an appalling lack of written reference material on toy trains." They went on to state that "a great amount of information on toy trains has been committed solely to memory...the time has come to tackle the problem of providing good reference material to the hobby and to tap the storehouse of knowledge held by (these) senior collectors while it is still available." The authors wrote that they planned to publish one volume a year but I am only aware of the existence of two volumes, one published in 1974 and the other in 1975. These books are full of beautiful photographs of what had to be two of the greatest collections of the day, the Vickers collection and the Shempp collection. The authors have to be commended for their efforts and intentions, even if their gift to us consists of just these two volumes.
Today in the information age we enjoy the vast communications and knowledge database capabilities of the internet. While I am not in a position to publish hard cover volumes such as the Toy Train Treasury, nor resurrect the old Standard Gauge Association and its newsletter of years ago, I am hoping to make a modest contribution to the amount of toy trains information available online with a web site focusing on prewar and modern reproduction true tinplate only, that would be updated periodically. Unlike other online toy train resources, this site will contain articles exclusively on tinplate toy trains and the people who collect and operate them. With our focus exclusively on tinplate I hope to enrich the overall amount of information that is available online about toy trains.
I won't promise a regular publications schedule because that
is not a key a part of the primary goal for this site. What I want to do is
to provide an online resource to supplement the existing tinplate-related body
of literature with articles focusing on tinplate toy trains, their history,
repair and restoration techniques, collections, operating layouts, tinplate
events and, of course, the people who collect, operate, and love tinplate toy
trains.