TRAIN TIME: Milwaukee Road Marx Trains On The 'Jeep' Layout

I pulled out some New Marx Trains/Ameritrains engine and rolling stock a couple of days before New Year's and played with trains during a rare couple of hours straight of 'me' time. Marx Trains was the company formed in 1993 by Jim and Debby Flynn under license by Jay Horowitz of 'American Plastics' who had revitalized the Marx playset line with new licensing under the 'Marx Toys' masthead. In 2004 Marx Trains was sold to someone else and the firm re-named 'Ameritrains'. By this time a series of legal entanglements, over-investing in new tooling, and a general decline in collector interest of tinplate spelled doom for the line and by 2007 Ameritrains was history. Sad because between Marx Trains (often referred to as 'New Marx' by collectors) and Ameritrains there was some gorgeous products.

The biggest drawback to the New Marx/Ameritrains line were the engines. The newer engines used can motors vs. the open frame motors of the originals and they were simply poor pullers. It's hard to get a New Marx/Ameritrains engine to pull 6-7 cars reliably. I've seen videos of older original Marx engines pulling upwards of 30 cars and I've had the older engines pull nearly 20 cars on my old train layout.

That being said it's still a treat owning and operating the newer stuff even if they don't pull a lot of cars and now that I'm running a very small layout that whole argument of pulling long consists is immaterial because short trains look better. Anwho, I started the evening by 'dressing' the 'Jeep' layout for The Milwaukee Road by pulling out a Milwaukee Road engine and rolling stock and a tin-litho station made by Sunset Trains and Toys and lettered for The Milwaukee Road. In addition, I finally placed my New Marx 'Lumar Dinor' on the layout - first time it's been used. Also, this time around I also pulled out some 'Built-Rite' scenic backdrops I'd recently acquired. It's a lot of fun being able to change the look of the layout by swapping out buildings and scenery elements. So let's see get on with the show. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

Ameritrains No.8501 Milwaukee Road Chippewa 2-4-0 Engine and Tender

Ameritrains No.70402-S Milwaukee Road Stock Car

Ameritrains No. 70601 Allstate Twin Tanks Flatcar

Marx Trains No. 7349 Milwaukee Road Flatcar w/Pipe Load

Marx Trains No. 6507-4 Milwaukee Road Caboose

These two cars were pulled out and hooked up to the train but they just couldn't be pulled along with the rest, the consist was too heavy

Marx Trains No. 7359 1995 Collectors Club Boxcar

Marx Trains No. 73413 Olde Frothingslosh Beer Reefer

 

Marx Trains No. 5583 Lumar Dinor

Better coverage of the Lumar Dinor will be forthcoming

Shots along the right-of-way

There are three Built-Rite panels with mountain scenery on them and two Built-Rite panels with cityscape. There wasn't enough room in the back of the layout to set them up properly but it was good to see them in use anyway

The Sunset Trains and Toys station was blogged on July 22, 2013

...and last but not least, a video of the Milwaukee Road Run

New Marx / Ameritrains Dasher's Diner

Those trains now referred to as ‘New Marx’ or 'New Marx/Ameritrains' by collectors were first produced in 1993 by a company called Marx Trains.  The company was founded by James and Debby Flynn under license from Jay Horowitz.  Jim Flynn was a regular contributor to ‘Classic Toy Trains’ (CTT) magazine, his first article being published in the February 1990 issue.  The December 1990 issue of CTT featured an interview conducted by Jim with Jay Horowitz, President of Miami-based American Plastics.  Mr. Horowitz had purchased much of the old Louis Marx & Co. tooling, molds, records, etc. in 1982.  In the article Mr. Horowitz states, “It wasn’t until 1988 that we were able to finalize control over the intellectual rights, patents, copyrights, and trademarks.”  Keep this in mind as an extremely important development will be talked about later. 

While Mr. Horowitz expressed interest in continuing  toy and train production he made it clear that trains were not the first thing being considered for production but were being ‘studied’.  In the early 1990s Marx Toys was formed by Jay Horowitz and many of the old Marx playsets released under that name.  Long cherished and fondly remembered playsets like ‘Ft. Apache’, 'Alamo’, ‘Cape Canaveral’, ‘D-Day’ and many others were once again available to the toy buying public.  During the period from 1990 to 1993 Jim Flynn’s relationship with Jay Horowitz culminated in an opportunity to once again produce tinplate trains under the Marx name.  With the licensing agreement ‘in-hand’, the first new Marx trains began production in 1993 and one of the finest lines of tinplate trains to come along in many years enjoyed a good run.

In 2003 the name of the company was changed from Marx Trains to Ameritrains.  The Marx Trains Advantage flyer Vol. 4 No. 4 states, “Formerly produced under the Marx brand it was felt that a new image would better compliment the product and customer tastes” and “Marx Trains Advantage will be suspended at the end of September 2003 and all existing Advantage points will expire 10/31/03.” 

In 2004 Jim and Debby Flynn sold Marx Trains.  In the introduction to the ‘MarxAmeritrains’ Yahoo Group site, Jim Flynn says, “We decided to sell the company in 2004, as we were not able to move the company forward at the pace we wanted.” 

I guess all good things must come to an end and the first signs of trouble came in September 2005 when, after trying to place an order, Steve Eastman, owner/moderator of the ‘MarxAmeritrains’ Yahoo Group received the following reply from Ameritrains, “We regret to inform you that we are not accepting any new orders at this time.  Due to serious problems we are ceasing production until further notice.”  What followed was two years of speculation, rumor, and disappointment.  At various times during those two years the Ameritrains website was reported to be down, then up, then down again.  Finally, on December 19, 2007 the website went down for good.  It was a sad end to a company that had breathed new life into the toy train industry and offered so many new and exciting products.

Today, 'New Marx/Ameritrains' trains and accessories are as popular as ever and command premium prices. Today as part of new Diner Dienstag series, Toys & Stuff takes a look at one of the diners offered by them. The diner was based on a Christmas themed boxcar seen in the excerpt from the Marx Trains Advantage Newsletter Vol. VI Number 6 2006:    Enjoy The Berg's Last es euch gefallen :)

Here it's shown for the first time in the Marx Trains Advantage Newsletter Vol. VII Number 4 2007:

Essentially they took the body of the boxcar and attached it to a ramped base creating a diner. The following pictures were graciously provided by noted Marx trains collector Steve Eastman (Many Thanx Steve!!):

Both ends are the same.