Jayline No. 201 Suburban Station

My goodness, we started showing Jayline tin buildings at the beginning of the month and we're just now finishing up - and there's only three buildings to show!! Actually, Jayline made four buildings, but I only have three. Anywho, the last I have to offer is the #201 Suburban Station. It has a somewhat unusual design feature - the covered waiting area. There aren't very many tin-litho train stations with this feature as the majority of them tend to be simple boxes. My sample also has a working bell. A very annoying working bell I may add! It's just a simple doorbell and it is loud and clamorous. It's the type of accessory that, when you hook it up, you don't have the bell ring for very long. The station itself is nicely designed and is adorned in the same brown and yellow color scheme as all the Jayline buildings and has the added advantage of not being very big, thereby not taking up a lot of valuable toy train layout real estate. Enjoy! We Like it allot Bettina & Fritz Berg :)

Running Press Bat-Signal

Okay, we're back to Batman this week :-)  Have you ever had so much you wanted to do that you were frozen to inaction? Right now I'm feelin' this mental log-jam that's affecting everything. I've got all these ideas pinging around in my head like those little steel balls in a pin-ball machine (and making a lot of racket in my head by-the-way) but for various reasons - excuses? - I just don't have the oomph to get started. It's not because of that damn fool end-of-the world garbage either, that stuff doesn't bother me. No, I think I got into a buying binge. I've been buying things for planned projects and got stuck in 'buy' mode. A bad habit to have is being good on 'planning' and poor on 'execution'. It doesn't help to plan and plan and plan and then never follow up and execute the project. Soooo, I'm gonna have to get off my rear bumper and actually start working on projects.

One of those projects is to take photos of things I already have and not wait for new stuff to come in and this is where today's toy comes in. This is a really cool battery operated Bat-Signal from a company called 'Running Press' (from I believe 2009) and from what I've seen they make nifty little super hero related toys. My sample did not come with the booklet as shown on the box however. Ever since I saw this Bat-Signal I thought it would probably look good on the train layout. After all, there is a Batcave on the layout, so it seems to me a logical progression to start populating it with villains and villain-mobiles and what not. Train layouts tend to take on two formats: highly detailed scale pikes with prototypical operations; or more toy-like with train-related accessories. One doesn't often see train layouts set up as a platform for toys of this nature and so I think I can liven things up a bit with the super hero theme. This signal will go on top of the Police Station located on the upper level of Marxville on my Marxville and Plateau (MaP) train layout.

This is the upper level of Marxville. There to the right is the Police Station with an Auburn Rubber Co. police car parked next to it. This is where I'd like to put the Bat-Signal - if I can negotiate the mountains of boxes that now block the way!!

Which brings me to the next project - CLEARING OFF THE TRAIN LAYOUT!!! Holy Cow what a mess!! I haven't actually run trains in over a year because of the clutter that has accumulated. I've been s-l-o-w-l-y selling off stuff to make room but it's been far too slow a process. Oh well. Enough wishin' & hopin' and on with the pics. Enjoy!

This photo is for size comparison. The Batmobile to the right is 1/50 scale.

R.I.P. Gerry Anderson

Gerry Anderson, creator of iconic sci-fi / fantasy kids fare like Supercar, Stingray, Fireball XL-5,  the wildly popular Thunderbirds and many more, passed away this past Wednesday, December 26. His contribution to Saturday morning children's programming came in the form of cleverly designed puppets using a process he called Supermarionation. It wasn't simply using puppets that endeared him to kids and adults, but his wonderful space and sci-fi set designs and even the scripts which were often grounded in science. In the 1970s he transitioned from marionation to live-actor series with the introduction of U.F.O. and later Space: 1999 which starred Martin Landau and Barbara Bain. Throughout all of this there were numerous merchandising efforts involving a multitude of toys, magazines, comics, books, etc. Numerous knock-offs of original Gerry Anderson teams' designs have appeared over the years, including spoofs of his shows on television. I honestly don't know if he directly inspired any young person to pursue a career in science or engineering or such, but at the very least he entertained people and kept alive the dreams of science and space. He died in his sleep after several years battling dementia.

1990 Pterodactyl Post Cereal Premium

Our look at Post Cereal Flintstones premiums got sidetracked last week by the end of the world (I don't know about you guys, but I didn't feel a thing) so let's get this show back on the road. Today's toy from 1990 is a happy bird, oops - reptile, or flying thingy!! Anywho it is a really nice addition to the Flintstones world and after awhile I do get a little tired of looking at just Fred or Barney. My & Me Like it Enjoy it have Fun The Berg's :)

Franklin Mint 'The Kingdom Discordia' Dragon Sculpt

As we conclude the Year of the Dragon, this will be the last monthly dragon installment however I do have more and will post them as I get around to photographing them. This month's featured dragon from the Franklin Mint is somewhat different in that it is made from pewter vs. cold cast resin or plastic and shows two dragons locked in battle. Quite a nifty statue. Enjoy!

TRAIN TIME: MR Hiawatha Post Card

Another Milwaukee Road post card (year unknown) showing my favorite engine - the Hiawatha - this time crossing the Wisconsin Dells. Enjoy!

Marx Nativity Set

Toys & Stuff will be taking Tuesday, Christmas Day off.

In keeping with the season we bring you the wonderful little Marx Nativity set which came out in the late 1950s. It worked out well this year as Monday's are normally reserved for tin and today is Christmas Eve. The manger is essentially the same stamping as Marx's Rev War Tavern but with some modifications of course and measures 10 1/2" (26.7cm) L x 7" (17.8cm) H x 4 1/5" (11.4cm) W. It is equipped with a plug-in light and comes with nine people and five animals in a white hard plastic. I ended up buying two of these. The first one I bought had nearly all of the figures glued to floor of the manger. This was good and bad I s'pose. The bad part of course is you can't arrange the figures to suit. The good thing is that the halo's on the figures, which are very often broken, have remained intact. Some time after buying this first set I came across a second manger without its light or figures however I was able to acquire Mexican repos of the Marx figures. The Mexican repos come in a softer, but more brittle plastic in a yellowish-cream color and they have a lot of flashing around the edges which requires careful cleaning. This was a terrific offering from Marx and I'm glad to be able to share it with you. Enjoy!

My Angel not only lost her halo but her wings got clipped as well!

Mexican Marx repos

My box was r-e-a-l rough