Marklin 281 clockwork bodyshell 'O' gauge MR livery

[Annie]

I've been sorting my way through my fairly mundane 'O' gauge tinplate train collection which had been stored away for far too long and in the bottom of a storage crate among a litter of Hornby level crossing bits and MO stations I found a tinplate bodyshell for a very not Hornby tender engine.  Despite the paintwork being quite shabby and with patches of rust the Midland Railway livery on my unusual find was quite magnificent with all transfers still in good order.  Definitely by Bing as the trademark was on the cab floor and the smokebox door had '281' in tiny gold letters on its front.  Outside cylinders and very much looking like it was an 4-4-0 though the front bogie would have to be fairly short wheelbase. It has Ramsbottom safety valves a painted diecast dome with the usual slightly overscale and exaggerated chimney that manages to look very nice all the same.  The only missing part is the cover piece for the front right hand splasher; - everything else is there.

Sorry I cant post a photo as I don't have a camera and my computer refuses to talk to my ancient Nokia cellphone.  I may be able to get my daughter to take a picture tomorrow though.

 

The thing is I didn't know I owned a Bing 'O' gauge tinplate bodyshell like this one.  I did use to have a couple of small Bing tank engines including a quite delightful early one, but when I became ill I had to sell off my handmade models and my 'good' 'O' gauge tinplate locos in order to do important things like eat and pay for meds & etc.  So how this quite delightful piece of vintage tinplate came to be tossed loose in amongst other tinplate odds and ends without even some tissue wrapped around it to protect its paintwork I really don't know.  

Edited February 17, 2018 by Annie

[Annie]

I finally got my old laptop setup to download pictures from my aged cellphone so here's two not very good pictures of the Bing bodyshell in company with a down on its luck Hornby bodyshell to give an idea of size.

 

 

 

The original clockwork mech must've been quite slender as a modern coarse scale electric conversion chassis with its sideplates at the usual 'O' gauge spacing wouldn't fit as it was too wide.  Pity really as in all its other dimensions it would have been perfect.  I don't know what I'm going to do with a Midland Railway loco should I be able to sort out a tender and a mech for it, but really it's too nice just to put away in storage again.  

[Mark Carne]

Annie, your Bing loco body is in fact Märklin, it was a loco they made both before and after WW1, but without the rest of it, it would be more or less impossible to pin it down, other than to say, it has the later buffers.

 

Cheers, Mark.

[Annie]

Gosh, - a Marklin loco!  That makes it even more unlikely that I should end up with one.  It must've come to me in a box of old tinplate 'junk' as I certainly don't remember buying it as an individual item.  The trademark is printed on the floor of the cab, but also has a great big slot stamped through the middle of it for the tender coupling which is how I made the mistake thinking it was by Bing.  Thanks very much Mark, - I might not be any further ahead, but at least I know what I've got now.

 

I can only find pictures of what I assume are later ones that don't have the nice Midland crest, separate splashers and other small details, but nothing that resembles my one.  At least I do know what the tender looks like now, though it might have to make do with a No.1 Hornby one for a while until something else turns up.

 

 

 

[Mark Carne]

The first two pictures of the loco and tender won't match your loco, or anybody else's, because it is a LNWR one repainted in Midland colours. The third picture shows exactly the tender that matches your loco body, but as you say, it won't be easy to stumble across.

[Annie]

Thanks for that Mark.  I did kind of wonder at the time, but assumed it was a post war simplification.  It still makes the genuine MR 281's terribly camera shy though because I can't find a picture of one anywhere.  

[Il Grifone]

I had no luck either, but did find this splendid beast!

 

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/special-auction-services/catalogue-id-srspe10135/lot-72ebb710-c509-448a-a576-a55900ee98d5

[Il Grifone]

And a GWR one  (Electric complete with warning flash!)

 

https://www.vectis.co.uk/marklin-o-gauge-0-4-0-loco-and-tender-green-no-r13030_688824

 

EDIT

Success!

 

Though she is live steam and appears to have caught fire at some time (not unusual!).

 

https://www.vectis.co.uk/marklin-for-gamages-o-gauge-0-4-0-loco-and-tender-midland-maroon-no_265601

 

FYI she sold for £190

Edited February 19, 2018 by Il Grifone

[kevinlms]

The first two pictures of the loco and tender won't match your loco, or anybody else's, because it is a LNWR one repainted in Midland colours. The third picture shows exactly the tender that matches your loco body, but as you say, it won't be easy to stumble across.

Also its wrong, because any Midland loco (or LMS up to about 1928) from 1907 onwards, should have the coat of arms on the loco & numbers on the tender.

[Annie]

Yes I've seen photos of the live steam ones Grifone, but photos of my old clockwork one seem to be very elusive unfortunately.

 

Good point about the livery mistakes Kevin.  My old loco still has the quite lovely MR coat of arms intact on each cabside as well as all its other detailing decals some of which are quite tiny.

[Il Grifone]

I can't quite make out the voltage on the plate of the GWR version. I was wondering if it might be a high voltage one (of series lamp bulb infamy), which would explain the warning flash on the boiler.

[Mark Carne]

All Märklin electric locos carry the "warning flash", just the colour varies depending on the voltage of the mech. Only trouble is, I can't remember for the life of me, what colours mean what! But there are different colours for low voltage (4v), medium voltage (20v) and high voltage (60v).

Edited February 20, 2018 by Mark Carne

[Il Grifone]

The internet produced this interesting article (which appears to be a translation from German).

 

https://marklinstop.com/2015/04/engine-propulsion-systems-and-reversing-units-for-marklin-gauge-1-and-0/

 

From this the  colours are 4V DC green, 20V AC red and 60V AC yellow, so the GWR example  is actually a 20V.

 

This looks like it could be a Märklin mech. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/O-GAUGE-MARKLIN-BING-GERMAN-ELECTRIC-MOTOR-IDEAL-IF-NEEDED-4-AN-ENGINE-C-PIC-/151963347187?_trksid=p2385738.m4383.l4275.c10

 

The condition is rather poor and the price somewhat exaggerated IMHO. It is field wound so presumably 20V AC

Edited February 20, 2018 by Il Grifone

[Annie]

The collectors on that Marklin mech say it's done a lot of running  

 

As you say the price is a bit down the road for something that might not even work.