Spring swap meeting in Zutphen

Last weekend we had our local toy train swap meeting in Zutphen. They even placed bill boards in my street, so I had to go. It is basically a large sport hall, filled with toy trains and toy train enthusiasts.

On top of that, I made an appointment to run a few colourful Lionel trains on Sunday morning on the Merkur layout of Blik en Speelgoed.

So I unpacked my Lionel B&O train and let it run. Obviously the horn made a lasting impression on a few unwary youngsters.

It was nice to let the Lionel trains to blend in on the Merkur layout.

Later we changed back to DC operation and ran a few Merkur trains. This green tank engine is one of my favorites. The new red German rectifier switcher was also present. It was also really nicely made.

There was a nicely made American layout in half zero, which caught my attention. Nice folks with beautiful trains.

For the rest there was the usual trade from the usual suspects. Well hidden we found a few treasures.

Here a wind-up scale zero tinplate train from the fifties, probably commissioned by the German toy trade house Vedes. Anyway, I made myself happy with Marx search light tower and a Merkur lamp post. All in all a beautiful Sunday morning indeed.

Lego swap meeting

Last Sunday, we visited the "Lego und Playmobilbörse" in Hattingen. Although one might argue that Lego swap meeting would be a better name, since there were only a few Playmobil dealers and many Lego dealers.

Well Hattingen is near by and we have never visited such a happening, so went there to see and experience the lot.

There were plenty of bricks in all colours, sorts and shapes. Some were traded by the kilogram, others per piece. Some pieces were only a few eurocents, whiles others had a few Euro's price tag.

There were a few 'professional Lego hoarders' or should we name them addicts that searched for that one rare brick in a sea of bricks.

And then there were the historically interesting 'vintage Lego sets from the seventies'. As toy train collector that seemed a bit odd; seventies and vintage in one sentence, but there was a clear appreciation for rare and early pieces by a few brick-hunters.

For some unclear reason Star Wars Lego from the eighties, which was also considered vintage, was also regarded as highly collectible and some steep prices were commanded for a few space ships from the past.

Although I admired the enthusiasm of the frenzy collectors and the traders, I must admit that I was pleased to notice that this convention was held in an old foundry. The Heinrich Hütte. So, after Lego-over saturation kicked in, we visited the museum. Apparently, some locals discovered iron ore 1 meter under the ground here in 1851 and the first foundry was established here.

We made a walking tour over the train yard and saw some old beauties. A bit more vintage than what we saw earlier.

So much detail visible everywhere.

No humping!

The iron works was closed in the late eighties and although it is now an official museum and the have some pretty good displays of the ore quality control laboratory, the dump pits and the actual ovens, it breathes rust and decay .

Which is partially well understandable and partially regretful. Such a beautiful patina on this pre-war riveted tank car.

Nevertheless, although we embarked on a Lego trip, it became a quiet interesting, historically correct trip in the end, with a sufficiently high train content.

Well it was an enjoyable sunday afternoon with a slight drizzle and abundant trains.

Lazy sunday afternoon

Last Sunday, the local group of toy train operators hired the Whitehorse bar to have their annual toy train fest.

Such a gathering in the midst of Carnival, is bound to be pretty laid back.

The trade was kind of slow, but nobody really bothered.

I guess we were all relieved to see normally dressed men, better said, train enthusiasts.

Additionally, we were grateful for being waived from hearing seasonal 'music'.

So, we could peacefully retreat and enjoy the progress of fellow modellers.

It is always fun to see half zero and N-scale layouts. Usually the locomotives have issues with negotiating dust particles on the track. But I must admit, these layouts were well attended and managed. Not a single toy train suffered from a collision with a dust spec.

 We were entertained to see an icy world in our well-heated bar.

The kids had their Lego train

And a string of coal hoppers passed us by. Although we managed to stay away from all the cheerfulness on the streets, we did enjoy a decent Quadruple beer afterwards.

Wiring a Lionel 151 Semaphore

The Lionel 151 semaphore is a postwar accessory that is usually wired with a Lionel 153 contactor. This will lower the semaphore for a few seconds when a train passes and then it flips back. However, in case you do not have such a contactor, you need to think of something else. This took me a while. But I found that the Finder 26.01 impulse relay is well suited to do the job.

For the moment I use a contact switch to the impulse relay, but I am busy to place two reed contacts between the rails to switch the relay.

The first tests with the reed contacts were good. I just have to form two wooden blocks to position them on the correct height, so that they are in close proximity to the magnets under the engines.

The only downside of the Lionel 151 semaphore is the large amount of current that runs through its electromagnetic coil to engage the signal arm downwards. It does sound like something is getting toasted. True old-fashioned tin-plate! Luckily it doesn't smell toasted.

Merkur mounting bridges

Today I assembled the Merkur 8989 mounting bridge. It came in a new style box; white corrugated board with an glued inlay of a superfluous ad from the past.

 Quiet a significant change for Merkur.

The instructions are in good old Czech language, nevertheless the shape of the parts are crystal clear to me.

The six parts are all metal (what else?). But surprisingly the connections were slots and tabs. Not a single screw, nut or washer in this Merkur kit. Something changed here. This is true tin-plate.

Besides that this mounting bridge is a beautiful piece of decoration, it appears to also bear a function. It is used for hanging signals over the tracks. Although there is nothing to hang on, yet. I do appreciate this mounting bridge. Although it cannot really be a bridge, since it will basically only proceed to half-way over the tracks.

The Merkur 8988 is the larger mounting bridge that can span two tracks and is actually a bridge. It comes in a traditional Merkur box that is also used for train cars and the assembly is comparably simple. And in case I forgot to mention it, it looks stunning.

Merkur 8989 mounting bridge on the left hand side and Merkur 8988 mounting bridge on the right hand side.

Merkur 8986 Lamp post

Santa was good for me and gave me a Merkur 8986 Lamp post. So, I naturally felt obliged to construct it immediately and shed some light on those dark days. The lamp post itself is easily constructed with two parts of the post, one goose neck with cast iron details, four screws, 4 washers and 4 nuts.

As you all can see, this is really nice 32 cm (13 inch) high lamp post. The manual is special treat, since it is written in Czech language. Nevertheless, I do understand loose parts and the need to solder a LED to wires.

The soldering itself and shrinking of the insulator is all peanuts and easily done. What annoys me slightly is that Merkur does not mention that this is a 3 V, 10 mA LED. They could even have written that down in Czech language in case they felt like it. Than I would not have to measure the LED to find this out myself.

Anyway, finding a new battery for the multimeter is always an issue, but whenever you insert a new one this makes all electrical measurements a lot easier. The base plate is connected to the lamp post by four slots and tabs (very tin-plate but unconventional for Merkur). As a general tip I would advice everybody to bend the tabs only after you have juggled the wire through the post.

Since my base current is roughly 19 V AC, I needed a (19-3)/0.01 ~1600 Ohm resistor. Well I have plenty of 1500 Ohm resistors and these work as well, So I soldered one in the wire, so that I can hide the lot under the base plate.

So, then it was time to test the Merkur lamp post. And as you all can see, it is a beautiful made lamp post with a Czech art deco flair to it. Furthermore, it is a truly tall structure, even longer than the Lionel 153 Semaphore.

After a few days of consideration, I nailed the lamp post down besides the station building.

Well Merry X-mas and jolly good new year to all.

Restaurant car

Experience helps when it comes to placing an interior inside a Merkur passenger car.  I received the interior last weekend from Blik en Speelgoed.

In this case it is Merkur 9331 buffet car and a concomitant 8963 interior with grey tables.

The interior is actually composed of three metal parts; the brown seats, a left row of tables and a right row of tables.

The roof is removed after 6 screws are undone from the side panels, but the interior will not fit just like that.

First the wheels and the undercarriage compartments have to be removed, since the screws are needed to fix the interior later.

Then we have to remove two screws from the head-sides to loosen a side panel and the 4 screws connecting the side panel to the base panel have to be loosened. You do not want to completely remove those screws, otherwise you will have issues later during reassembly. Now tilt the side panel in such a way that you can fiddle the interior in.

After the interior is in, first tighten the four screws between the base panel and the side panel, then fasten the two screws between the head panels and the side panel. Then position the three interior parts correctly and fasten them with the two nuts and screws to the base panel. Then re-fasten the two undercarriage compartments and the two wheels with in total 6 screws and nuts.

Then I decided to lighten the buffet car as well with two sets of 10 LED strips from Hufing Tronic. These were glued to the roof and the wires were soldered parallel to each other. The wires were led to the trucks.

Then I scratch-build an electrical pick-up for the car and soldered the wires. This time, I made sure that the wires were led under the axles...

Then I placed both coaches with lightening on the track just to check and admire. That is another job well done. Santé et bon appetit!