TRAIN TIME: Yesterday Was National Train Day - Pulled Out One Of My Marxawatha's and Played With Trains

With yesterday having been National Train Day it was appropriate I spend some time out in The Cave and play. While there, I took a butt-load of train photos as well, mostly of my Marxawatha sets. What is a 'Marxawatha' you ask? I'll tell you :-) It's when you modify a Marx train to resemble the Milwaukee Road's 'Hiawatha' streamliner's. Of course, whatever you end up with it'll be a caricature, but that's the fun of it after all. 

The engine being posted today was actually purchased about 13 years ago along with another engine and a set of cars with gray roofs. However, just this past week or so I latched on to a set of Marxawatha cars with blue roofs that were a better match for the engine. All of the pieces were converted to the Marxawatha theme using Faux Toys wraps. Faux Toys was in business from 2003-2007 and sold a series of 'wraps' printed out on inkjet photo paper with a variety of designs and road names that were meant to be applied to some Marx engines and 6in cars. They had a nice selection available of railroads Marx never produced and the bonus was they could be used to cover car bodies that were in less than pristine shape. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Here's the train on the layout

I posted this 'short' to Y'allTube

The consist that I'll be playing with for a week or so.

Commodore Vanderbilt (CV) Engine with a Marx #3551 Notch Front tender

Marxawatha Notch Front Tender - Blue Top

You can tell by the photos the cars had probably been taken apart and their components painted, after which the wraps were applied. Some of the roofs weren't in great shape, but this was a way to save and re-use them

Marxawatha RPO Car #1563 - Blue Top

Marxawatha Coach #1561 - Blue Top

Marxawatha Parlor Car 'MANCHESTER' #562 - Blue Top

Marxawatha Beaver Tail Observation Car 'MERRILL' - Blue Top

When the real Hiawatha's were first designed for the Milwaukee Road back in 1935, the observation cars had a distinctive slope to them and well as a very Art Deco fin protruding from the rear. These were nicknamed 'Beaver Tail' observations.

Courtesy Wikipedia

TRAIN TIME: Putting Together Another Fire Scene On My Train Layout - Pt 2

The saga continues. So with this latest train layout, it was apparent from the get-go that I would make a fire scene a permanent part of the toy train landscape, just not as big and fancy as the set-up I did a few years back. The city scape was to be made up of mostly tall buildings and the tallest "on-fire" building I had was the cardboard apartment from Multiple Toymakers Fire and Police Emergency Playset #49-59899. While the vehicles and figures from the set are over-large the building was just what the doctor ordered! It has some height and has a small footprint making it easier to fit in with the other buildings. 

When I designed my old Marxville and Plateau layout, everything was drawn out and planned on paper. Yes, there were changes along the way but by-and-large it was built as planned. This layout on the other hand is has pretty much been designed on the fly. I wanted a big city feel but had little idea what buildings were available, how big they were, and whether they would fit in the allotted space. As such it has been a challenge to find what I need or what I like and so I tell people this layout is evolutionary, not revolutionary. The very last photo was taken a couple of days ago - it will change again! Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Nowww, just where to put the thing?

Nov 2021: Here's the earliest placement on the layout - barely visible behind the K-Line building

Aug 2022: As building placement is still a WIP, the burning building is more of a focal point

Sep 2022: Here we see the building take on more importance. In this set-up it's closer to the center of the layout and is facing the viewer head-on. I used the vehicles and figures that came with the playset - just for the fun of it

Nov 2022: After tearing the layout apart and decorating for Halloween, the planning process starts all over again afterwards

Nov 2022 - a couple of weeks later: Yeah, it changed again. 

Feb 2023: ...and back again! After all of these moves, I'm favoring this spot. No matter where the rest of the building's end up, this might be the final location

Apr 2023: The other buildings have moved but the burning building stays put