That was a good deal! My wife recently bought some train memorabilia off facebook market place for fifty bucks. Unbeknownst to her there was a whole Marx 1666 train in the box. Loco, tender, tank, gondola and caboose. Boy that thing runs like a champ. Got a few cool train decorations too.
I had an orange Penn Central Caboose with the four wheels I carefully cut off wheel trucks and put it on a better Caboose frame. The marsh lithographed tin cars are also real nice. You run a whole train of sheet metal cars and they will sing as they go down the track. I don't completely understand the physics involved but it sounds unique when it's going down the track.
I've never had them do that, although it's probably because my layout is a circle on a card table. I do have a nice train of two lithographed tinplate coaches and a matching observation car with what I believe to be a prewar loco (and its tender) in front (I'm not certain, but there is a decent chance that it's prewar). I wonder why most Marx items are modeled on NYC? All my Marx trains NYC ones, and I have found a great abundance of NYC trains when shopping too!
Many old short wood box cars were ceased with iron to increase their lifespan. So when you look at a short marks or o27 boxcar they were more prototypical than what you thought.
I kind of like the unique marks couplers. Back in the old days every manufacturer would make their own style of coupler regardless of what scale they made their trains in. It is a quaint reminder of the early days of toy trains as well as model trains. They are a part of the history of the hobby. Frankly I don't do any switching and I don't mind dummy couplers because dummy couplers don't open up on you and let the engine run into his own train. I generally run a Lionel tender behind a March locomotive and I have some conversion cars with a dummy Lionel coupler on one side and a marks coupler on the other side. Marx o27 cars and locomotives fit with the Lionel 027. Marx also made 027 profile track in different radius. The 027 track is more in proportion to scale than the oversized standard gauge Rail and ties used on o31 which is about 5 ft tall. Marx track also had five ties per track as opposed to ynl which only had three ties per track section huge gaps between that tie.
One of the ways Marx kept costs down was by using the same tooling over and over and over and over again, and in the era of heat stamping, that included lettering.
Post war electric toy train era for Marks & Lionel the best! Their trains . also accessories BUILT TO LAST ! ! First train set Marks 2nd. Lionel. Converted Marks couplers / trucks to Lionel to run both together. Missed where you said you can get Marks parts. Want to restore Marks steamer # 999 from the set to operating condition. Look forward to video on tilt couplers. At that time period Lionel was too costly for most that's where Marx filled the gap!
@@robertnielsen2461 Sure made me a happy kid on Christmas morning! Yes Marks is collectable . especially accessories that still work today! My favorite the whistling Gerard station.
Really nice condition set with unbroken crank handle on the crane. : ) I still hope to someday own the Marx freight set with the two tin Monon diesels paired with the 8-wheel plastic freight cars. I think the set number is 28855.
Commenting again. After watching this more closely, and having some of the MarX items you talked about, I know a few more things. The side smoker 1666 has two obvious features. on the one side rod there is another one attached directly. That part goes to the smoke unit plunger up inside kind of like the 70's MPC Lionel. The other part is the bottom has a barrel looking part under the front wheels with a tube like parts going out to either side right under each cylinder. Huge concern when taking the brush plate off is that this motor armature has a plastic part on the gear end that has to fit the hole with a flat spot correctly or the train motor will be jammed and the gears not mesh correctly. I got one recently it it was locked up because it was taken apart, I can guess, and the reassemble did not go well for them. You can electrically turn off the E unit by removing the coil wire to it, or better yet wire in a switch, so you can turn it on or off.
I have a Penn Central Marx 1666 Locomotive and Tender, I got it for $15 and it said it doesn't run, frankly because it doesn't have a light and is a 0-4-0 instead of a 2-4-2, however it does run, but does make my lionel transformer blink.
Thanks for this video and talk. Seeing your rusty track that still works is hope for me. I did a dumb one two weeks ago and bought a bunch of track locally. I had my eye on the 3 foot long ones, about 20 of them mixed in with about another 50 other pieces. I did not look as close as I should have and paid for them and took them home. A few days later I did clean up about 4 of the 3 footers, O27 type and ran a trolley on it just fine. Later I went through and separated the badly rusted pieces from the better ones and those I will discard soon. If I had a permanent layout the rusted track does look more realistic, and as long as the top is clean and the ends conduct electric they will be fine.. PS: I find it weird that so many on RUclips run these marks engine by spinning the wheels. If your MarX has a drive rubber it is worn out or will be from this spinning starting. Also MarX and Lionel pre-1970 cars all need to be oiled on the axles, or you will be limited to no more then 5 to 6 cars to a train without wheel slip. The fun part is how to oil them and not get that oil on the tracks. Best idea I have is to oil them on a circle of track off your layout and clean up what you can before putting them back on your layout. The difference is about 5 or more cars easily per train.
Well...my track LOOKS rustier than it really is. The vast majority of the "rust" is actually paint. I paint my center rail black and my outer rails a rusty brown. I recently re-laid most of the layout so pieces that were unpainted (inside tunnels for example) are mixed with the painted sections. Thanks for watching!
You can restore rusted track by soaking it in 5 % vinegar overnight. Then neutralize it in warm water and baking soda and allowing the track to dry or you can dry it in a 250 degree oven for ten minutes. It will never be shiny again but it will conduct electricity.
When I first started in three rail everybody bad mouth marks and so you can get a whole box of March cars real cheap. I wish the money man and the collectors would get the hell out of toy trains.
All you have to do with that Marx tender is use a regular Lionel conversion coupler. The axle height and spacing is the same as that of a Lionel freight car truck.
@@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Yes. However, that is the same part that Lionel used on all of the later postwar metal trucks. The older solenoid couplers require you to remove the mounting bosses for the tilt couplers but the magnetic couplers will clear the bosses.
@@johnblair8146 Ok, yes. Removing the coupler plate assembly from a scrap bar-end truck. I had not heard it called a "conversion coupler" before. Thanks!
Can you plzz tell me where you got the oil cleaning stuff I have one and I will not run it’s pretty rusty/dirty and I need help where to find cleaning supplies I am a newer train collector
Just came across this video on the Marx #1666 set , you mentioned the cheaper set that I have, can you please provide me any information and links you have on my set?
Rare Marx engines are ones that don't run? In that case I HAD a rare one. When I originally acquired it, it was stuck. Turns out that my "new" wind up locomotive had a very bad brass gear, the little one that worked the bell and that was now so mangled from being used that it was keeping it from winding. My grandpa had a wonderful idea: GRINDER! Yeah, now there is no bell, but it runs! I still need to get a tender for it, though I have my eye on a lot at the antique shop that has a tender. Its a whistle tender, but the whole lot is untested. Still, a whistle tender can be used as a regular one (actually, I intend to do a lot of swapping so that the whistle tender winds up on my electric Marx locomotive and that one's tender goes to the windup).
Trying to see white smoke on a white background is impossible! Maybe you can put some black paper like construction paper to make the contrast!? 😊 You can remove it after your testing sessions!? 🤔
I have a 1666 that I have cleaned up and runs fine when connected directly to the transformer but doesn't when on the track. I have new track so I don't think it is the track. Any thoughts on what might be the problem with the connection between the engine and the track?
My Marx 1666 will only run in reverse. Never had this problem in past 60 years. Have not powered this train in 35 years. Please share some advice for a resolve.
It sounds like a stuck reverse unit. Electrical contact cleaner usually does the trick. Remove the shell. Look for a square electrical component with a paper wrapper. Spray the unit thoroughly (don't worry about the paper - it will dry okay). Let it dry overnight. That should do the trick.
@@tomwilgus4992 I would try again, and maybe give it a few light "taps" to loosen up any gunk. Before replacement, you might try repair. I haven't done one, but I think Benztrains has a video on how to do it. The other option is to bypass it and make it a forward only unit (I know Benztrains has a video on this). Good luck!
I always wondered about that I know sum like the daylight and others like that had tham but I didn't think similar locomotives had tham and to me it looks tacky sticking out like that. bells and whistles are just fine but air horn....
Glad to see Marx being appreciated!
Thanks for sharing!
Great trains are great trains, regardless of manufacturer! Thanks for watching!
@@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks I love all of them!
That was a good deal! My wife recently bought some train memorabilia off facebook market place for fifty bucks. Unbeknownst to her there was a whole Marx 1666 train in the box. Loco, tender, tank, gondola and caboose. Boy that thing runs like a champ. Got a few cool train decorations too.
Great find!
I had an orange Penn Central Caboose with the four wheels I carefully cut off wheel trucks and put it on a better Caboose frame. The marsh lithographed tin cars are also real nice. You run a whole train of sheet metal cars and they will sing as they go down the track. I don't completely understand the physics involved but it sounds unique when it's going down the track.
I've never had them do that, although it's probably because my layout is a circle on a card table. I do have a nice train of two lithographed tinplate coaches and a matching observation car with what I believe to be a prewar loco (and its tender) in front (I'm not certain, but there is a decent chance that it's prewar). I wonder why most Marx items are modeled on NYC? All my Marx trains NYC ones, and I have found a great abundance of NYC trains when shopping too!
Many old short wood box cars were ceased with iron to increase their lifespan. So when you look at a short marks or o27 boxcar they were more prototypical than what you thought.
I kind of like the unique marks couplers. Back in the old days every manufacturer would make their own style of coupler regardless of what scale they made their trains in. It is a quaint reminder of the early days of toy trains as well as model trains. They are a part of the history of the hobby. Frankly I don't do any switching and I don't mind dummy couplers because dummy couplers don't open up on you and let the engine run into his own train. I generally run a Lionel tender behind a March locomotive and I have some conversion cars with a dummy Lionel coupler on one side and a marks coupler on the other side. Marx o27 cars and locomotives fit with the Lionel 027. Marx also made 027 profile track in different radius. The 027 track is more in proportion to scale than the oversized standard gauge Rail and ties used on o31 which is about 5 ft tall. Marx track also had five ties per track as opposed to ynl which only had three ties per track section huge gaps between that tie.
Always liked Marx trains. I do wish they had made more different road names. The tilt couplers were the best functioning couplers in my opinion.
One of the ways Marx kept costs down was by using the same tooling over and over and over and over again, and in the era of heat stamping, that included lettering.
Very educational. Thank you. I love watching your videos.
So nice of you
Post war electric toy train era for Marks & Lionel the best!
Their trains . also accessories BUILT TO LAST ! !
First train set Marks 2nd. Lionel. Converted Marks couplers / trucks to Lionel to run both together.
Missed where you said you can get Marks parts. Want to restore Marks steamer # 999 from the set to operating condition.
Look forward to video on tilt couplers.
At that time period Lionel was too costly for most that's where Marx filled the gap!
Google "Marx train parts" and look for Robert Grossman
@@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Thanks for reply, also information!
Marx was the poor mans train,however the 3/16 inch line is very nice and made for happy kid on Christmas morn and are very collectable.
@@robertnielsen2461 Sure made me a happy kid on Christmas morning!
Yes Marks is collectable . especially accessories that still work today!
My favorite the whistling Gerard station.
Really nice condition set with unbroken crank handle on the crane. : )
I still hope to someday own the Marx freight set with the two tin Monon diesels paired with the 8-wheel plastic freight cars. I think the set number is 28855.
Thanks! The Monon diesels are sharp! I think they are the best-looking of all the FM diesels.
Commenting again. After watching this more closely, and having some of the MarX items you talked about, I know a few more things. The side smoker 1666 has two obvious features. on the one side rod there is another one attached directly. That part goes to the smoke unit plunger up inside kind of like the 70's MPC Lionel. The other part is the bottom has a barrel looking part under the front wheels with a tube like parts going out to either side right under each cylinder. Huge concern when taking the brush plate off is that this motor armature has a plastic part on the gear end that has to fit the hole with a flat spot correctly or the train motor will be jammed and the gears not mesh correctly. I got one recently it it was locked up because it was taken apart, I can guess, and the reassemble did not go well for them. You can electrically turn off the E unit by removing the coil wire to it, or better yet wire in a switch, so you can turn it on or off.
Thanks for the information!
I have a 1666 side smoker. Marx and it works well.
Nice!
I have a Penn Central Marx 1666 Locomotive and Tender, I got it for $15 and it said it doesn't run, frankly because it doesn't have a light and is a 0-4-0 instead of a 2-4-2, however it does run, but does make my lionel transformer blink.
If it makes your transformer blink there is a short circuit somewhere in the locomotive. I would look for a loose wire.
Update: Light works after taking the shell off and putting it back on
Thanks for this video and talk. Seeing your rusty track that still works is hope for me. I did a dumb one two weeks ago and bought a bunch of track locally. I had my eye on the 3 foot long ones, about 20 of them mixed in with about another 50 other pieces. I did not look as close as I should have and paid for them and took them home. A few days later I did clean up about 4 of the 3 footers, O27 type and ran a trolley on it just fine. Later I went through and separated the badly rusted pieces from the better ones and those I will discard soon. If I had a permanent layout the rusted track does look more realistic, and as long as the top is clean and the ends conduct electric they will be fine.. PS: I find it weird that so many on RUclips run these marks engine by spinning the wheels. If your MarX has a drive rubber it is worn out or will be from this spinning starting. Also MarX and Lionel pre-1970 cars all need to be oiled on the axles, or you will be limited to no more then 5 to 6 cars to a train without wheel slip. The fun part is how to oil them and not get that oil on the tracks. Best idea I have is to oil them on a circle of track off your layout and clean up what you can before putting them back on your layout. The difference is about 5 or more cars easily per train.
Well...my track LOOKS rustier than it really is. The vast majority of the "rust" is actually paint. I paint my center rail black and my outer rails a rusty brown. I recently re-laid most of the layout so pieces that were unpainted (inside tunnels for example) are mixed with the painted sections. Thanks for watching!
You can restore rusted track by soaking it in 5 % vinegar overnight. Then neutralize it in warm water and baking soda and allowing the track to dry or you can dry it in a 250 degree oven for ten minutes. It will never be shiny again but it will conduct electricity.
Great information 👍
Thank you!
Nice set. Great video.
Thank you, and thanks for watching!
Always great information.! Thank You 👍🏻
Thanks for watching!
When I first started in three rail everybody bad mouth marks and so you can get a whole box of March cars real cheap. I wish the money man and the collectors would get the hell out of toy trains.
All you have to do with that Marx tender is use a regular Lionel conversion coupler. The axle height and spacing is the same as that of a Lionel freight car truck.
Installed Lionel conversion couplers on a Marx tank tank car. Works great even though it's non operational.
Are you referring to the Scout-to-knuckle conversion part?
@@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Yes. However, that is the same part that Lionel used on all of the later postwar metal trucks. The older solenoid couplers require you to remove the mounting bosses for the tilt couplers but the magnetic couplers will clear the bosses.
@@johnblair8146 Ok, yes. Removing the coupler plate assembly from a scrap bar-end truck. I had not heard it called a "conversion coupler" before. Thanks!
We always called loose couplers of this type conversion couplers whether they were from an original 480-25 package or were pulled from a junker car.
Can you plzz tell me where you got the oil cleaning stuff I have one and I will not run it’s pretty rusty/dirty and I need help where to find cleaning supplies I am a newer train collector
As far as the contact cleaner is concerned, most box/hardware and auto supply stores carry CRC Cleaner or a similar "electrical contact cleaner".
@@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks thx
Hob-E-Lube IL-655 gear lube and Labelle 107 oil are good products too to go along with your CRC electrical cleaner.
Just came across this video on the Marx #1666 set , you mentioned the cheaper set that I have, can you please provide me any information and links you have on my set?
Rare Marx engines are ones that don't run? In that case I HAD a rare one. When I originally acquired it, it was stuck. Turns out that my "new" wind up locomotive had a very bad brass gear, the little one that worked the bell and that was now so mangled from being used that it was keeping it from winding. My grandpa had a wonderful idea: GRINDER! Yeah, now there is no bell, but it runs! I still need to get a tender for it, though I have my eye on a lot at the antique shop that has a tender. Its a whistle tender, but the whole lot is untested. Still, a whistle tender can be used as a regular one (actually, I intend to do a lot of swapping so that the whistle tender winds up on my electric Marx locomotive and that one's tender goes to the windup).
Hello, say can you tell me where I can get some of the screws that hold the shell to the motor at the steam chest? I really need some! Thanks
This is the best source for Marx parts: www.trainpartsformarx.com/shoppingcart.htm
@@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Thank you.
@@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Thanks, I bought some things, but I should've bought the wheel puller also! Next order.
Trying to see white smoke on a white background is impossible! Maybe you can put some black paper like construction paper to make the contrast!? 😊
You can remove it after your testing sessions!? 🤔
I have a 1666 that I have cleaned up and runs fine when connected directly to the transformer but doesn't when on the track. I have new track so I don't think it is the track. Any thoughts on what might be the problem with the connection between the engine and the track?
When you connect the engine directly to the transformer, what parts are you using for your electrical connection?
The issue was the wheels. I had not cleaned them sufficiently. It is running fine now. Thanks. @@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks
@@clovisjr1957 Ok. I thought it might be that or the copper clip from the axle. Glad you found the problem!!
Marx guy here , I prefer 6" four-wheel tins .
Everyone has a favorite!
My Marx 1666 will only run in reverse. Never had this problem in past 60 years. Have not powered this train in 35 years. Please share some advice for a resolve.
It sounds like a stuck reverse unit. Electrical contact cleaner usually does the trick. Remove the shell. Look for a square electrical component with a paper wrapper. Spray the unit thoroughly (don't worry about the paper - it will dry okay). Let it dry overnight. That should do the trick.
Sounds like a method that will work. I appreciate your response.
Well, I sprayed the reverse unit thoroughl, allowed for proper drying.
Still runnning in reverse. Is the next step to replace the reverse unit ?
@@tomwilgus4992 I would try again, and maybe give it a few light "taps" to loosen up any gunk. Before replacement, you might try repair. I haven't done one, but I think Benztrains has a video on how to do it. The other option is to bypass it and make it a forward only unit (I know Benztrains has a video on this). Good luck!
I always wondered about that I know sum like the daylight and others like that had tham but I didn't think similar locomotives had tham and to me it looks tacky sticking out like that. bells and whistles are just fine but air horn....
Is for sale ?
Sorry. I'm keeping it.
Marctrainparys