NORTHERN CALIFORNIA DIVISION-TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION. At left: At the December

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1 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA DIVISION-TRAIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION the NOR-CAL EXPRESS March 2008 See the Nor-Cal Express in FULL COLOR at PRES. BOB NICHELINI AWARDS CERTIFICATE TO PAST PRESIDENT MIKE ANDREWS At left: At the December Meet, Mike (at left in photo) received a Certificate of Appreciation for his six years of service as Nor-Cal President. PRESIDENT S MESSAGE by Bob Nichelini # As I write this, we are less than one month away from the Spring Cal-Stewart Meet at the Santa Clara Convention Center. I m not sure the membership realizes the amount of work that goes into making this event happen. Brochures need to be designed, printed and mailed. As always, Cliff Jarrard has taken on the major portion of the brochure project. A group of dedicated volunteers spent hours at Michael Andrew s house sorting, folding, enveloping, addressing and stamping the hundreds of brochures and dues notices for mailing. While this has been going on, other volunteers (continued on page 3) CAL-STEWART MEET COMING UP SOON MARCH IN SANTA CLARA Make hotel reservations at the Hyatt Santa Clara by going to the Nor-Cal website and clicking on Cal-Stewart. The Cal-Stewart Meet is Nor-Cal s signature event, with layouts, clinics, and lots and lots of trains for sale! Above: The pictured Nor-Cal members received Certificates of Membership from TCA National at the December Meet. These are L to R, front row: Bruce Pruett (25 years), Karl Schmidt (30), Rod Cornell (25), Jake Jacobsen (25), Cliff Jarrard (30); second row: Cliff Den-Otter (30), Jim Madden, Jr. (40), Clyde Easterly (40), Jim Locke-Brown (35), third row: Ralf Parton (35), Mark Boyd (30), John April (20), Bob Spivock (20). Other members received certificates but didn t show up for the photo. FUTURE MEETS April 12 (L) May 24 (SRT) June 14 (L) July 12 (L) L=Lafayette Veterans Memorial Hall, 3780 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette SRT = Scottish Rite Temple 6151 H St. Sacramento Bus. Mtg: 9:30 AM Trading: 10-11:30

2 RICHARD ZANOTTI FINDS A WILAG (A WHAT??) AT YORK! Page 2 At left: This is an unusual and scarce reproduced version of the Marklin 1 gauge 'Paris- Marseille' Wagon Lits", sleeping car from the early 1930 s. It was made by Twerenbold (Wilag) in Switzerland. for the French market, in the 1970's. The car is 22 inches long, and has a very detailed interior. An original Marklin car in this condition would approach 10K. At right: Lifting the top off reveals that the interior is composed of ten staterooms, each with a bed, table, and luggage rack. Some say that the detail in this car is better executed than in the Marklin original. Below: A Marklin 1934/35 catalog (reproduction) shows the O-gauge cars at the top half of the page and the 1 gauge cars at the lower half. Left and below: This gold-plated light post was made by Pride Lines for the 50th TCA Convention in Pittsburgh in It is 11 inches tall. Owner: Richard Zanotti. At right: Richard exclaims: The quality and beauty of this lamp post is equivalent to any of the classic era European production. It reminds me of the light standards on Market Street in San Francisco.

3 SOME INTERESTING TINPLATE ITEMS Page 3 At left: This rare Ives #3250 loco and #551 coach are from a special set sold by the Wannamaker Department Store in Philadelphia in the 20 s. The Wannamker script logo is on both the loco and the car. Owned by Warren Heid. At left: (two photos): a pristine, boxed Lionel O- gauge Outfit #255 (1924 only), with #153 locomotive and 603, 604 cars. Note that the original owner has added a passenger on the rear platform of the observation car! Owned by Richard Hoffmeister PRESIDENT S MESSAGE (continued from page 1) have visited the convention center, reviewed and processed the hall rental and insurance documents, and coordinated hotel reservations and group rooms. A really hard part of the work started a week or so ago when the registration documents starting arriving at our home and Mary Ann began the tedious process of entering each registrant into the computer and making sure all table requests were properly noted and processed. Of course, there were computer problems, which were quickly solved by Mark Boyd. By the end of the month, we will begin the process of making table assignments not an easy task, and one that always leads to complaints. But we do the best we can. Finally, the registration committee will set up shop outside the Meet door and try the resolve every problem and answer every question, while remaining polite- sometimes in the face of impolite behavior. Remember, everyone working on this project is volunteering their time for the benefit of the entire membership. So, if there is anyone there who would like to become involved in this often thankless job, please let me know. We ll sign you up. That said, we look forward to a great meet, and hope to see you there. Robert W. Nichelini, President Nor-Cal Express Richard White, Editor Phone: (925) toytrain13@hotmail.com

4 SOME GERMAN TINPLATE OF THE NINETEEN TWENTIES Photo 2 Page 4 At left: This Marklin middle-voltage 1 gauge loco of the twenties. The cars, from the same period, are by Bing. These are all owned by Nor-Cal member Craig Miller. Below: Close up photos of the engine and tender, and the diner, showing the beautiful lithography.. At right: The cover of a Marklin 1929 catalog (repro). Unfortunately, those young boys might by 1939 find themselves in the Wehrmact or the Hitler Youth! Below: This is Marklin s version of the Wartenberg (the model takes liberties with the wheel arrangement!) in 1 gauge, Richard Zanoitti, the owner, is still looking for a tender! Want to carpool to the Lafayette meetings? the editor at: At right: A Schoenner (German) 1 gauge live steam Storkleg loco. (The term Storkleg has been applied to all toy locos with a wheel arrangement). Owned by Craig Miller. Someone asked why there are so many Foreign trains in the Express? Well, when prewar collectors get together to show off their rare and unusual trains, it often turns out that tese items are German or English. There aren t that many oddball prewar American items from Lionel perhaps a few more from American Flyer and Ives. Be assured that your Editor will publish photos and stories on your oddball American items if you will SUBMIT them!

5 SGL TRAINS I WISH I HAD BOUGHT SOME OF THESE! By Richard White # , with much information, photos, and the above ad, from the Rev. Phillip K. Smith, # SGL Trains were first offered to fans of the Reading Railroad in Featured were imported brass O- gauge 2 or 3-rail models of the Reading G3 Pacific and the 2000 series Blimp passenger cars. The prototype G3 locomotives were constructed in 1948, and ran until These ten locomotives were the last Pacific-type locomotives constructed in the US. I photographed one of these locos hauling a passenger consist into the Atlantic City Terminal of the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Line around I also photographed several of these locos at the Camden terminal of the PRSL in the summer of They were all scrapped in (The city of Reading, Pennsylvania, declined an offer of a loco!) SGL furnished a superb model of the G3. The sheet brass construction was augmented with numerous high-quality lost-wax brass castings. The model was powered with a Pittman 9000-series motor with a belt transmitting power to the third driver pair. Note that Weaver has provided O-gaugers with a brass model of the similar but earlier Reading G1 Pacific. The series 2000 passenger cars, referred to as Turtleback Blimps, were rebuilt from the 1922-era PBM coaches in 1948, and ran until They had modern features such as wide windows, airconditioning and roller-bearing outside-swing-hanger trucks. Reading used the G3 Pacifics to pull two special trains, the King Coal and the Schuylkill, utilizing the Turtleback Blimp cars. Several of the Blimps have survived (see next page). I observed the passenger cars on sale by the manufacturer at the October 2003 York Meet, if my memory is correct. They were gorgeous with fine exterior rivet detail, immaculate paint and wonderfully detailed interiors complete with simulated checkerboard (linoleum?) floors. There were shades on the windows, and they had constant-voltage lighting. The windows had simulated aluminum sashes and the bodies were painted with a black roof and two-tone green bodies. They also featured very detailed trucks. I have regretted not having bought some of the coaches, as SGL is no longer in business. I have not seen the loco or the coaches offered on EBay (nor the G1 either). Apparently those Reading fans aren t going to turn loose of their treasured mementos of Reading RR glory days. (continued on page 6)

6 SGL TRAINS, continued from page 5 Page 6 Here is the Rev. Phil s SGL G3 Pacific on the upstairs layout at the Northern Berks-Southern Schuylkill Historical Association Museum at Port Clinton, PA. Note the semi-streamlined apron on the running board. This distinguished the G3 s from the earlier G1 and G2 classes. This is Phil s Blimp coach #2012. Phil has five coaches, lounge car #2050 and diner-coachlounge car, #2060. This is the consist of the Schuylkill (see below). He says that the loco easily hauls all seven cars around the layout. Do any Nor-Cal members own SGL trains? If so, would you like to share your opinions and experiences? This is Phil s Diner- Coach-Lounge car #2060 Note the windowless section. This actual car and coaches Nos. 2001, 2012, 2014, and 2015 are owned by the Reading Company Technical & Historical Society (www. readingrailroad. org.) Here s a closeup of a coach. Note the fine rivet detail, the aluminum window sashes, the interior detail (red seat upholstery) and the finely detailed outside-swing-hanger truck. SGL provided the complete consists of the two prototype trains that used the Blimps- the King Coal and the Schuylkill, as follows: KING COAL (diner-coach-lounge), coaches 2001, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2050, (lounge car); cars had blue upholstery; route: Reading Terminal, Philadelphia to Shamokin, PA. SCHUYLKILL (diner-coach-lounge), 2010, 2011, 2012, 2002, 2050 (lounge car); cars had red upholstery; route: Reading Terminal, Philadelphia to Pottsville, PA.

7 ITEMS SEEN AT THE RECENT NOR-CAL MEETS Page 7 Ives #20 clockwork loco ( ), #25 tender and Yale-Harvard cars. [ ] Owned by Rod Cornell Marklin O-gauge roundhouse, tinplate, approx. [11-07] owned by John Rinaldi Bing prewar house [11-07] owned by John Rinaldi IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR SELLERS OF REPRODUCTION PARTS, PAPER, ETC. The TCA Standards Committee now requires that sellers of reproduction train items (trains, parts, catalogs, boxes, etc.) at any TCA function, must have first filled out a "Certificate of Compliance" and have had it verified by TCA National. The form is available on the Nor-Cal website, under What s New. Bing prewar accessories. [11-07] owned by John Rinaldi Below: Weaver O-gauge model of the New Haven RR American Flyer coach

8 TIN PLATE JUNCTION Toy and Model Trains, all gauges; layouts; die cast vehicles; toy train repairs 681-4th Street, Oakland (510) Hours: Mon-Fri 12-6 PM Saturday 10-6 PM Sunday 12-5 PM Website: JUST TRAINS Largest Selection in the East Bay Friendly help for the young and the young at heart O-scale Hi-Rail and Tinplate, G, HO and N 5650-H Imhoff Drive, Concord Tues-Fri 10-5:30 PM Joan Bradford, Owner Thurs. 10-7:00 PM Website: Sat. 10-5:00 PM (925) Sun. 12-4:00 PM FAX: (925) Submit all address changes to: Mark Boyd, tcqeditor@sbcglobal.net the NOR-CAL EXPRESS Early American paper on wood floor train Lincoln Park Railway, with elves in the cab and circus animals on the cars.