Quinn's Tin Trains

Quinn's Tin Trains Hi, I'm Jason Quinn. This page is dedicated to my adventures in Lionel and others Tin plate pre war era model trains. My main hobby focus is prototype HO scale.

Tin Plate gives a good balance to my "rivet counting" in HO.

Last of the solid Dark Green 253. This is a somewhat rare piece as most dark green 253's had the strap headlight and sp...
09/14/2026

Last of the solid Dark Green 253. This is a somewhat rare piece as most dark green 253's had the strap headlight and spoke wheels. The last iteration of it have the new disc wheels and cast headlights. This was done in 1928. I'm not sure why this exists. 1928 brought about the introduction to the Peacock blue engines while 1927 had Mojave. The dark green was last cataloged in 1926 on the Outfit No. 95 freight set. The Passenger No.98 was Mojave in 1926.

This is the next custom 657 caboose. This one will run with my pea green locomotives. I painted it to mimic the standar...
09/14/2026

This is the next custom 657 caboose. This one will run with my pea green locomotives. I painted it to mimic the standard gauge 517 caboose. It's centrally flashy! Once the paint fully cures i'll finish it up.

I managed to acquire another Apple Green Lionel 253. These things are harder to find and more costly than the Peacock v...
09/11/2026

I managed to acquire another Apple Green Lionel 253. These things are harder to find and more costly than the Peacock versions. When it arrived it looked pretty beat down, I cleaned it up the best I could and got the shine back. I use Maguire's mag wheel polish and buff it out. It shines it up and cleans the paint. Not sure how but it works. Seems to work better on 1931 and up paint. In the photos with the two Apple Green 253's the one I just completed is up front.

Here are some backdrops im having made for my 177 tribute layout. I also am having a dealer display printed. This disp...
09/09/2026

Here are some backdrops im having made for my 177 tribute layout. I also am having a dealer display printed. This display is from 1928.

Here are some recent restorations. All Lionel 253's
09/05/2026

Here are some recent restorations. All Lionel 253's

This 104 Lionel bridge was in bad shape! I wrote a 4 part series on the Lionel Trains page on restoring it. I only use...
09/05/2026

This 104 Lionel bridge was in bad shape! I wrote a 4 part series on the Lionel Trains page on restoring it. I only used items available from the hardware store. I did this to hopefully show it's not too hard to get great results using what you have in your local area. I may end up repainting the green with Train Enamels Girard Green. I used a close colors from rust-oleum.

Lionel 104 bridge saved for decades to come. This one is pea green with mustard colored post. Best I can tell from res...
09/05/2026

Lionel 104 bridge saved for decades to come. This one is pea green with mustard colored post. Best I can tell from researching photos this is the second version of the pea green variant. The first version has a lithograph deck. Later ones have post that are less of a yellow shifted tan and have considerably darker grey decks. I used Train Enamels Pea Green, a custom mixed mustard yellow and rust oleum phantom gray.  The last photo has an original 110 bridge with the mustard post and lithograph deck for comparison.

Address

Indianapolis, IN
46217

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Quinn's Tin Trains posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category