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Marx

Marx O gauge track switch set

Marx O gauge track switch set

 7 $9.60 20m
Vintage MARX ALLSTATE TRAIN SET Engine, Cars, Track Box

Vintage MARX ALLSTATE TRAIN SET Engine, Cars, Track Box

 2 $51.00 22m
Lightly Used Marx 2-4-2 Diecast # 666 Locomotive Engine

Lightly Used Marx 2-4-2 Diecast # 666 Locomotive Engine

 8 $75.55 23m
1950s MARX TRAIN ACCESSORIES SWITCHES CROSS GATE TUNNEL

1950s MARX TRAIN ACCESSORIES SWITCHES CROSS GATE TUNNEL

 5 $16.38 24m
1950s MARX MARLINES TIN LITHO CATTLE CAR BOXED

1950s MARX MARLINES TIN LITHO CATTLE CAR BOXED

 7 $32.57 25m
MARX RAILROAD TELEPHONE POST POLES

MARX RAILROAD TELEPHONE POST POLES

 - $5.99 31m
Marx O Gauge Train Grand Central Station Parts Lot 1 50

Marx O Gauge Train Grand Central Station Parts Lot 1 50

 1 $4.99 31m
Marx Engine and Tender

Marx Engine and Tender

 -
 $20.00
$35.00		 39m
Marx 434 Automatic Block Signal

Marx 434 Automatic Block Signal

 4 $11.50 50m
Marx Flood Light Tower

Marx Flood Light Tower

 7 $15.50 58m
MARX MERCURY LOCOMOTIVE WIND-UP NYC LINE TRAIN SET

MARX MERCURY LOCOMOTIVE WIND-UP NYC LINE TRAIN SET

 7 $76.51 1h
Vintage Marx Toys Green Union Pacific Coach M-10000 Set

Vintage Marx Toys Green Union Pacific Coach M-10000 Set

 13 $118.50 1h 9m
MARX NEW YORK CENT 666 STEAM ENGINE LOCO SET 5590 CRANE

MARX NEW YORK CENT 666 STEAM ENGINE LOCO SET 5590 CRANE

 $99.99 1h 9m
Marx 439 Automatic Semaphore

Marx 439 Automatic Semaphore

 7 $24.00 1h 11m
VINTAGE MARX # 490 ENGINE AND CARS IN EXCELLENT CONDITI

VINTAGE MARX # 490 ENGINE AND CARS IN EXCELLENT CONDITI

 2 $12.50 1h 20m
Marx 464 Automatic Block Signal

Marx 464 Automatic Block Signal

 4 $5.50 1h 21m
Marx Prewar Instruction & Accessories Sheet 562, 559, 561

Marx Prewar Instruction & Accessories Sheet 562, 559, 561

 - $6.00 1h 23m
VINTAGE MARX # 1209 50 WATT TRANSFORMER VERY NICE

VINTAGE MARX # 1209 50 WATT TRANSFORMER VERY NICE

 2 $15.50 1h 25m
TOY TRAINS 3rd EDITION IDENTIFICATION & VALUE GUIDE1991

TOY TRAINS 3rd EDITION IDENTIFICATION & VALUE GUIDE1991

 1 $5.50 1h 31m
COLBER WATER TOWER & MARX RAILROAD CROSSING BELL

COLBER WATER TOWER & MARX RAILROAD CROSSING BELL

 4 $21.00 1h 34m
VINTAGE MARX REVOLVING BEACON LIGHT TOWER & BELL CROSIN

VINTAGE MARX REVOLVING BEACON LIGHT TOWER & BELL CROSIN

 2 $15.50 2h 6m
Louis Marx & Company Automatic Signal Parts Piece

Louis Marx & Company Automatic Signal Parts Piece

 - $0.99 2h 44m
Louis Marx Toy Train Transformer 1950s STEEL

Louis Marx Toy Train Transformer 1950s STEEL

 1 $9.99 2h 44m

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.