Today on Marx Monday we continue with the tin buildings which Marx made for their line of 3-rail O-gauge trains - The Glendale Depot. The size was big enough so that it could be used comfortably with the Standard Gauge trains popular during the era. This depot first came out in the 1930s and would have included several accessories like a bench, hand truck, lithographed travel trunk, etc. There was one more piece which I failed to photograph alongside this building (but will include in a future installment). It is the track actuator bar. It's a long bar which connects to the crossing gate near the bottom. The bar is bent such that it will fit underneath the track so that as the trains roll over that piece of track the weight of the train causes the crossing gate to go down. There was also a small wire handle which, when turned, would lower the gate as well.
This particular version of the depot has no lamp post or warning sign attached to the base, only the station itself and the crossing gate. All Glendale Depot's have latch operated doors on the front allowing a child to place figures and toys inside. The depot itself is designed to fit on the OUTSIDE of an 0-27 curve. At first this may seem unusual as we have become accustomed to building tables for our trains and having the track extend to the outside edges of the board. But back in the day it was normal to set the trains up on the living room or dining room floor in which case there was plenty of room to place the depot on the outside of the curve. The base has a depressed roadway to the side of the depot structure so that kids could roll their toy cars and trucks over it. From my observation, most depots appear to have either a red or green base (this particular example appears to have a repainted base on top - but the original color underneath the base was clearly red). This was a sturdy little toy with lots of play value. Enjoy!
