It's A Small World After All: Marx HO Scale Passenger Shelter

Wellll, after determining that the small Marx buildings posted here were, for the most part, not actually HO-scale, that doesn't exclude Marx from the HO game altogether. They did in fact make a series of accessories to accompany their HO-scale trains that were completely in-line with HO standards. They made bridges, lamp posts, light towers, a water tower, signals, telephone poles, and of course this passenger shelter. Mine came without a box and I couldn't find pictures of one on the Web so I can't say what the item number is or whether Marx called this a 'shelter' or a 'platform'. It measures 6.75" (17.14cm) W x 2.375" (6.03cm) D x 3.25" (8.25cm) H. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Here we see the passenger shelter alongside one of Marx's small houses. Yeah, that house is definitely NOT HO-scale

Marx HO-scale figures on the platform

Marx O & HO comparison shots

Worth re-posting. Shots of the HO shelter being used on my old O-gauge layout. It works okay as a small flagstop or trolley stop station

It's A Small World After All: Marx HO Scale? Really? I don't Think So - Another Look at Marx 'HO' Scale Buildings

I did say that I would update my "It's A Small World After All" series when I had new photos or better information. What got me re-thinking this was finding my Marx HO scale passenger shelter out in The Cave photo graphing it and then pulling some figures and buildings out for a few extra photos. After taking these shots it occurred to me that while these buildings were small, they were too small to be HO scale. While Marx did include them on it's pre-fab HO scale layout train boards I forgot to keep in mind that Marx was, first and foremost, a toy company. Their designers didn't get all wrapped around the axle over minor things like 'scale fidelity'. That was for model making companies, not Marx. And it threw me off. Here I am trying to think in terms of scale accuracy when I should have known better.

Okay, first of all, the Marx figures included in the Guid-A-Traffic and Paint-a-Village sets from 1952 are in fact HO-scale - or pretty damn close considering when they were made.

Here's a comparison shot using a Preiser HO scale figure set (which I think we can all agree are pretty darn accurate) alongside a Marx figure from 1952. For that time period Marx did a good job and this is my reference for determining Marx HO scale pieces.

The Guid-A-Traffic set included an oversized auto - more appropriate for O-scale. Here we see the car with an O-scale figure and a Marx HO-scale figure

Next we have some of the buildings included in the Guid-A-Traffic and Paint-A-Village sets photographed with the Marx figures. As you can see, the buildings are woefully undersized! If they can have a scale attributed to them, what might it be? 'N' perhaps? They look to be too big for N-scale so I'm thinking these are nothing more than Marx 'toy-scale'. But if you're into the simplicity of Marx toys and enjoy running Marx HO-scale trains then these pieces will be just fine for your efforts!! You simply cannot read too much into this stuff and when all is said-&-done your only option is to - Enjoy! Opa Fritz

It's A Small World After All: Wrapping Up The Series

I think I'm gonna call it a wrap on this 'It's A Small World' series which has been running now since Dec 7, 2023 - a good run for the blog. There are still things out in The Cave that remain to be photographed (if I can find them), and things I've already sold off that never got photographed. This last portion of the series dealt with Marx HO scale buildings and accessories. Marx introduced their buildings and accessories before they introduced the actual HO scale trains. In the 1952 Sears Christmas Wishbook, Marx offered the #6552 "Guid-A-Traffic" set which included several buildings, figures, and scenery pieces all in hard styrene plastic, plus a too-large-for HO scale windup car. In that same catalog, a few pages away, Marx packaged buildings, figures, scenery items, and smaller sized vehicles in their 'Paint-A-Village-set. The set also included a small, non-functioning train set along with a set of paints and a brush for youngsters to decorate their village. Fast forward to 1961 and the same buildings offered nine years earlier could be found on a ready-made layout board which included an HO scale train, buildings, figures, etc. 

After years of collecting Marx HO scale buildings and think maybe I would get back into the scale after many years being absent from it, I decided to throw in the towel. I kept the Guid-A-Traffic set as well as some odds-&-ends and sold the rest. However, prior to getting rid of them, I placed them in a set-up to photograph them, the results of which are shown below. I'll have a couple of straggler pieces that didn't quite fit into this series that I'll post in the next day or so. AND, should I find any more HO stuff, I'll get those photographed and posted as well. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

1952 Sears Wishbook

Also 1952 Sears Wishbook

1961 Sears Wishbook featuring ready-built HO scale layout boards complete with an HO scale train and buildings. This was the only catalog I could find that showed these ready-made boards. I couldn't find them in any other year, nor were they in any of the Wards Christmas wishbooks that I have. Mind you, back in the day consumer's had a pretty good choice of Christmas catalogs to choose from: JC Penney, Spiegel, Lord & Taylor, Montgomery Wards, Simpson-Sears (Canada), Sears, Western Auto and there were probably more. It could be that Marx layouts were featured in other catalogs that I don't have. 

Here's the set-up featuring all the buildings in the series as well as the figures, vehicles, etc. A few things shown didn't get posted because the photos turned out bad and the item was sold off already. Other things - like the train - I thought were photographed but...?

I really thought I photographed this train - and maybe the pics are somewhere on my hard drive, but I haven't been able to find them yet.

It's A Small World After All: Marx Paint-A-Village and More Marx HO Scale Buildings - Marx HO Passenger Shelter - Brown/ Green HP

I was into HO scale from 1967 to 1991 and never bothered with Marx or Lionel HO scale stuff, preferring the more 'realistic' brands of HO back then. Fast forward to the '90's when I was building my Marxville and Plateau (MaP) layout and I wanted a small passenger shelter for the trolley line on the upper level. This Marx shelter presented itself on fleaBay and was perfect for what I needed. Since then the MaP has been dismantled and this passenger shelter ended up somewhere in a box out in The Cave. I still have it, but can't find it without a major archeological expedition out there to find it. As well, I have a Marx HO scale water tower somewhere out there, both of which really need to be a part of this series. Well, okay fine, but until I can find those two pieces and photograph them properly, we'll just have to be content with what I do have. The photos below show the HO scale passenger shelter as it appeared on my trolley park on the old layout and give you an indication of its size. The O-scale figures fit underneath the roof with a little room to spare. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

It's A Small World After All: Marx Paint-A-Village and More Marx HO Scale Buildings - Marx HO Railroad Station - Black HP

I thought this was going to be the last Marx HO scale building to post, but I found some photos of another that needs to be included, so I guess we'll have one more building after this. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

3" (7.62cm) W x 2" (5.08cm) D x 1.625" (4.12cm) H