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HO Scale Merchandise Dispatch Refrigerated Line Reefer

HO Scale Merchandise Dispatch Refrigerated Line Reefer

- $0.99 4h 43m
HO SCALE 50s VARNEY N.Y.C. MERCHANDIES DISPATCH REEFER

HO SCALE 50s VARNEY N.Y.C. MERCHANDIES DISPATCH REEFER

1 $9.99 6h 41m
ONE PAIR OF VINTAGE VARNEY METAL SPRUNG TRUCKS

ONE PAIR OF VINTAGE VARNEY METAL SPRUNG TRUCKS

1 $1.99 7h 31m
Varney HO  2-40' Boxcars  Santa Fe   Erie-Lackawanna

Varney HO 2-40' Boxcars Santa Fe Erie-Lackawanna

3 $1.40 8h 51m
VARNEY 40' GONDOLA w  4 TURBINE LOAD ~ D&RGW

VARNEY 40' GONDOLA w 4 TURBINE LOAD ~ D&RGW

- $3.99 10h 26m
VINTAGE VARNEY 40' GONDOLA ~ UNION PACIFIC

VINTAGE VARNEY 40' GONDOLA ~ UNION PACIFIC

1 $3.99 10h 38m
Varney HO F7 Diesel Power Truck parts

Varney HO F7 Diesel Power Truck parts

1 $7.99 11h 26m
Varney Texaco Single Dome tank Car,  Lightly Weathered

Varney Texaco Single Dome tank Car, Lightly Weathered

- $9.99 12h 51m
HO Vintage Varney-4 Flat Cars-PRR-Erie-C&NWRY

HO Vintage Varney-4 Flat Cars-PRR-Erie-C&NWRY

- $19.99 1d 50m
Vintage UNION PACIFIC Gondola with CAST TRUCKS Nice car

Vintage UNION PACIFIC Gondola with CAST TRUCKS Nice car

- $5.99 1d 6h 22m
VINTAGE VARNEY HO TRAIN ENGINE

VINTAGE VARNEY HO TRAIN ENGINE

2 $10.99 1d 7h 3m
VNTGE METAL FRAME VARNEY HO FRUIT GROWERS XPRESS REEFER

VNTGE METAL FRAME VARNEY HO FRUIT GROWERS XPRESS REEFER

1 $0.99 1d 11h 16m
Vintage Varney HO Train & Box Car Kit  Parts Pullman

Vintage Varney HO Train & Box Car Kit Parts Pullman

1 $2.00 2d 4h 51m
VARNEY HO SCALE 1953 FORD AND STUDEBAKER EXCELLENT

VARNEY HO SCALE 1953 FORD AND STUDEBAKER EXCELLENT

3 $4.30 2d 5h 30m
VINTAGE HO VARNEY GREAT NORTHERN RED BOX CAR GN 3515

VINTAGE HO VARNEY GREAT NORTHERN RED BOX CAR GN 3515

3 $1.50 2d 9h 58m
VINTAGE HO VARNEY PENNSYLVANIA PRR HOPPER WITH LOAD

VINTAGE HO VARNEY PENNSYLVANIA PRR HOPPER WITH LOAD

5 $2.27 2d 10h 2m
HO  EMD F3 DIESEL  A B Unit  Diesels METAL  Varney  NOB

HO EMD F3 DIESEL A B Unit Diesels METAL Varney NOB

1 $9.95 2d 10h 6m
HO  EMD F3   DIESEL  METAL TRUCKS   Varney  NOB

HO EMD F3 DIESEL METAL TRUCKS Varney NOB

1 $1.95 2d 10h 8m
HO 2 TRUCKS  Passenger Express 4 Brass Wheel Varney NOB

HO 2 TRUCKS Passenger Express 4 Brass Wheel Varney NOB

3 $5.50 2d 10h 12m
VTG Varney HO Scale Caboose in Box  #2468BO

VTG Varney HO Scale Caboose in Box #2468BO

- $4.99 2d 10h 32m
BEST Varney train oil,  Liquid Bearings,  PLEASE READ!!!!

BEST Varney train oil, Liquid Bearings, PLEASE READ!!!!

$5.99 2d 11h 1m
VARNEY HO DIECAST METAL SIX-WHEEL PASSENGER TRUCKS

VARNEY HO DIECAST METAL SIX-WHEEL PASSENGER TRUCKS

1 $2.99 2d 11h 46m
Varney HO Train Car Swift Refrigerator Line with box 6"

Varney HO Train Car Swift Refrigerator Line with box 6"

- $8.99 2d 23h 45m

Train news

  • TRAINS HISTORY

    Prehistory There have been models and toys of trains for as long as there have been real railways. Indeed some early models of locomotives were made first as sales promotional tools for the early railways, even if they later might have become playthings. During the Victorian period toy and model trains and locomotives fell into a number of categories there were the live steam engines, expensive and only for the wealthy, there were pull along trains in all shapes, sizes and materials, penny toys in lead and tin and latterly clockwork engines. The steam and clockwork engines might be intended to run on the floor, or a simple track assembled by the user, but there was no real sense of system about these trains. Most of these toys were made in Germany. Britain and France tended only to make the better class of steam engine. There was an indigenous US industry, with considerable use of cast iron rather than tinplate. The Real Beginning The defining event in toy train history was the launch by Marklin in 1891 of the first complete system of trains. While the first models were derived from earlier products, what Marklin introduced was a series of standard track gauges, ready to use track sections for those gauges, and a range of locomotives, rolling stock and accessories to match. Now you could have an initial train set, but continually add and expand till your miniature railroad empire was complete - which it never was.

     

    This was of course good for the toy manufacturer, indeed this is possibly the first example of the expanding range, with items at various price points Christmas, birthdays, parents and relations and pocket money sized, which is one of the basic features of most successful toys since.

     

    These first Marklin models were made in three gauges called 1, 2 and 3, logically enough. Painted and soldered tinplate was the main material, and clockwork the driving power. And they were crude. But the range was clearly a great success. So Marklin expanded and improved its range, after a few years adding a fourth, small gauge O. The range of accessories was greatly expanded. Other German toy makers introduced competitive products, most importantly Bing then probably Germanys, and hence the worlds, largest toy maker. Despite the odd divergence these makers generally adopted the same standards as to gauge as Marklin, while developing new production techniques, in particular the use of lithographed printed tinplate, allowing much cheaper and more colorful items, at the expense of some robustness.

     

    By the start of the 20th century other methods of propulsion were being applied too, in that live steam and electric powered models had taken to the toy train rails, though clockwork was still the prime mover. More importantly the first ranges of Marklin and Bing and others were growing and improving each year, and as with the rest of the German toy trade, was strongly export oriented, thus spreading toy trains world wide. The main markets were Britain, France and their empires and the US. Britain had no indigenous toy maker to compete with, nor really had France, but there was home based competition in America. Britain however had something else - model railways

     

    Model Railways

    The hobby of model railways can really be said to have been founded in the U.K. at the start of the Edwardian period. There were already active amateur model engineers, building live steam locomotives and with a keen interest in the real railways. One of the embryo suppliers to this group was a young man, W J Bassett Lowke. He saw the potential of using the German toy trains, particularly the track and mechanisms, with bodies rather more accurate as to prototype and selling not as a toy to children but rather to adult enthusiasts. And he used the services of another young man, Henry Greenly, as a designer of these models. Greenly, among other things, established a system of scales using the Marklin  gauges as the starting point. He also founded the first periodical devoted to model railways. And thus from the beginning the hobby of model railways was in part a toy, and in part the effort of amateur and professional model makers coexisting, sometimes comfortably and sometimes not.

    Bassett Lowke tended to use the services of Bing and Carrette for its own models, but of course once the idea of British outline models was established the German makers started to produce models for sale by other importers, for example Marklin for the Gamages store in London.