What Are Marx Trains?: An Introduction

Most three rail hobbyists are of course familiar with Lionel Trains, but there is another firm whose name and product should be on the radar of O-Gage enthusiasts, especially if your preference is for simple, but reliable, budget-priced toy trains. And that firm is Mark's Trains. Hello again, this is Mike with another episode of Toy Train Tips and Tricks. From the 1940s to the early 1970s, Lionel Trains and Mark's Trains battled through an intense rivalry for dominance of the O-Gage train market and for the title of the largest toy manufacturer in the world. Today, some half-century after the last Mark's Trains were produced, many three-railers are only vaguely familiar with Mark's products, if they've heard of them at all. Let's take a look at this iconic train manufacturer and the things that today's hobbyists should know about them. Louis Marks was known as a talented salesman and shrewd businessman whose line of toys had already made him a millionaire by the late 1920s. Rather than maintaining a dealer network, Marks marketed his products through regular distribution channels, and Mark's toys could be found everywhere from local five-and-dime stores to Sears and Montgomery Ward. Seeing the potential of mechanical and electric toy trains, Marks began distributing Joyline trains, made by the Gerard Model Works of Gerard, Pennsylvania, in 1928, and by 1935, Marks had purchased Joyline trains outright. While largely maintaining the solid design of the reliable Joyline electric motor, Marks modernized his toy train line to incorporate designs of new locomotives that were making headlines in the 1930s, such as the streamlined Commodore Vanderbilt and Mercury steam locomotives. Along with these locomotives, Marks produced a line of six-inch cars featuring colorful lithographed tin designs featuring the names and colors of real railroads. While most train manufacturers moved away from tin products in favor of plastics after the Second World War, Marks continued manufacturing tin trains alongside their later plastic products into the 1970s. In the late 1930s, the O-Gage market shifted to producing more scale-detailed items, such as Lionel's Hiawatha and Union Pacific Streamliners, and the classic Lionel No. 700E scale Hudson. American Flyer began producing a line of trains scaled to 3 sixteenths inches to the foot that ran on O-Gage track to save space, and Marks followed suit. Just before the outbreak of World War II, Marks' 3 sixteenths scale products were led by a new die-cast No. 999 steam locomotive and a line of cars with smaller, scale wheels and highly detailed lithography. While the 999 was not based on any prototype, it was well-proportioned to accompany these scale cars and, like its predecessors, it was an excellent runner. Marks continued this line after the war and into the early 1950s, eventually adding other scale locomotives, like the No. 333 die-cast 462 Pacific Steamer, to the lineup. Marks also briefly produced larger 7-inch tin cars to more closely match the size of Lionel cars at the time, but this line was dropped after only three years or so. Instead, Marks finally fully embraced plastic trains, making a full line of cars in both four-wheel and eight-wheel variations beginning in 1952, and new plastic and die-cast locomotives to accompany them. While Marks continued to produce some tin trains, the plastic line was the backbone of Marks' train production until the end of the line in 1974. Just as Lionel production was taken over by serial maker General Mills in 1970, Marks was purchased outright by Quaker Oats in 1972. But after limited success, Quaker Oats pulled the plug on Marks' train production in 1974. Many Marks dies and tooling lived on to serve another day, both in the form of overseas products and as part of Keyline's train accessory and structure lineup. With more than four decades of production and hundreds of models catalogued, there's simply not enough time to go into detail about every Marks item produced. Instead, let's go over the basics of Marks trains for those who are just getting started with these fine products. First, power. Almost all Marks electric trains will operate just fine with standard Lionel-type AC transformers. Just be aware that Marks motors typically run best at 12-14 volts rather than Lionel's 16-18 volts, so these trains will run faster than their Lionel counterparts, and you don't want to run them for prolonged periods at full power on a Lionel transformer as it may damage the motor. The lone exception is a Lehigh Valley diesel switcher set that utilized a DC hand motor powered by a lantern battery. This locomotive can run on an HO-scale-type power pack, but will not operate on AC power without a rectifier. Well, what about track? All Marks products will operate fine on any O or O27 straight or curved track. Any loop or oval of track will work fine. However, turnouts and crossings are a different story. Most Marks locomotives feature single reduction gearing with large gears attached to the main driving wheels. This creates what is often called a fat wheel that will not work with regular Lionel turnouts and crossings made after 1952. Marks, however, made two basic types of turnouts, a metal version with O27 track and a plastic version for O27 and larger O34 curves. With some minor modifications to the turnouts, Lionel locomotives that are O27 compatible can navigate Marks metal turnouts. The plastic turnouts were designed to accommodate both regular and fat wheels, but unfortunately their design is not very reliable. What about couplers? Marks made a variety of couplers for their post-war trains, including non-operating plastic knuckle couplers, metal tab and slot couplers, and operating so-called fork or tilt couplers. These couplers are largely compatible with one another, but not directly compatible with regular Lionel couplers. There are a few workarounds for this, however. First, Marks knuckle couplers will connect directly to the bottom spike on a Lionel Scout-type coupler. Second, many operators will swap a Lionel tender for their Marks tender so their Marks steamer will work directly with Lionel cars. Also, one can make what's called an idler car. With a modified coupler at one end to mate with Lionel, and the other end with Marks. There's also my favorite solution, a 3D-printed adapter I designed that couples these cars together. What about size? Once the coupler problem is overcome, Marks cars look great with smaller Lionel O27 cars. The Scout and 6000 Series box cars match up nearly perfectly, and Marks cars look good with Lionel short gondolas, the short single-dome tank cars, short flat cars, and SP-type cabooses, and more. They also will work well with many canine products, as these were made from original Marks tooling. What about motors? It has often been said that the only rear Marks engine is one that won't run, and that's only a slight exaggeration. The original Joyline motor that most Marks motors are based on is simple, reliable, and easy to maintain. With regular cleaning, lubrication, and brush changes, a Marks motor can last virtually forever. In the rare case that one dies, Marks motors are cheaply available and easy to swap between most types of locomotives. When a reverse unit is included, the Marks two-position reverse unit is more reliable than its Lionel and American Flyer counterparts. Usually, a shot of electrical contact cleaner is all that's needed to get a stuck reverser working again. Marks smoke units, when included, are prolific. They lack the capacity of Lionel's units, and so they need to be refilled more frequently, but they usually produce much more than adequate quantities to please most operators. What about parts? While Marks trains have not been produced since 1974, there are still a fair number of replacement parts available. Check Robert Grossman's Marks Parts Catalog at trainpartsformarks.com or find necessary parts from inexpensive scrap trains. Many replacement parts could also be 3D printed. Buyer beware! When purchasing a Marks locomotive, always look underneath and check for single-reduction fat wheels. Since Marks motors are easily swapped, many higher-end Marks locomotives have had their motors swapped with cheaper single-reduction motors over the years. Unless you intend to operate only Marks power or only on Marks turnouts, make sure your engine is compatible with modern switches. Models of Note Among steam locomotives, the top-of-the-line Marks products are the No. 333 Diecast 462 Pacific and the plastic No. 1829 464 Hudson, each of which is a nicely proportioned 316th scale model. These were both later reproduced by K-Line. Among 242 steamers, the 999 and 666 Diecast steamers are popular with operators, along with the plastic No. 1666. The 666 and 1666 models often came with Lionel-compatible double-reduction drives and sometimes smoke. Marks No. 400 and No. 490 040 steamers are excellent candidates for customization because they are inexpensive and they run reliably. Among diesels, the plastic E7 models came in a variety of colors and are a pretty decent 316th scale representative of the prototype models. Some early Santa Fe versions came with single-reduction drives, so buyer beware. Marks also made a neat, tin-lithographed Santa Fe F3 diesel to compete with Lionel's classic models. These model No. 21 diesels are highly sought after, especially when the tin lithography is still in good shape. Operators and collectors also prize the unique Alco switchers made by Marks. These models use an ingenious four-wheel drive motor with attached wheel extensions to make it appear that the diesels have twin four-wheel trucks instead. These were later remade with genuine eight-wheel drives by both K-Line and RMT. Other interesting tin models include tin eight-wheel B&O and Southern Pacific models that somewhat resemble EMD's FT diesels and four-wheel tin diesels that resemble somewhat Fairbanks-Moore C-Liner diesels and several tin models of the Union Pacific diesel streamliners. Plastic GE 70-ton switchers round out Marks' diesel lineup. So, while Markstrains may not be the most highly detailed models available, they are colorful, reliable, and inexpensive. And fun! You may want to consider acquiring some Markstrains for your layout or collection. As always, I hope you enjoyed this video as much as I enjoyed making it, and if so, please like the video, subscribe to the channel, tell your friends and neighbors, and leave us a comment about your favorite Marks items. Then keep the trains running, and we'll catch you next time on Toy Train Tips and Tricks.