Help finding toy part

[Norman Lever]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a whole bunch of little joiner pegs / pins as used on wooden toy train tracks manufactured by the likes of Eichhorn or similar. It is a tapered peg about an inch long in total, with a ball on the end, which fits into a cutout on the other track. They can be made of timber (like the German ones) or plastic (like the Italian ones) so long as they do the job.

I have a whole pile of tracks to repair, and also want to make some extra bits for the squids, so any advice on where I can get them (reasonably priced) would be appreciated.

-- _________________ Norman Lever Melbourne, Australia _________________

[Silvan]

Dunno about ready made balls, but you can fake it with dowels. Cut some big dowels into little slices, drill holes in the side, and fit little dowels. You end up with something like this

*** ***** *** * *

[Norman Lever]

Brio and Eichhorn are identical. Ertil (Thomas the rich engine) cut theirs out of the track timber.

I have thought to do something like your idea, which I can see will work, but I don't have the time or patience to cut all those fiddly bits. It would be a last resort if I can't find pegs.

I was hoping someone has seen these pegs about ready-made somewhere. I'd buy a bag of a couple of hundred if I could find them. Practically everyone who has these tracks has missing pins. They don't break, they're just not glued in well and get lost.

If you know someone who can turn them on a lathe and would sell me some at say 5 cents a piece, I'd buy them immediately. Surely SOMEBODY has seen SOMETHING like them SOMEWHERE?????

[Silvan]

I saw "tie rack pins" at an Ace Hardware store today. They caught my eye. Looked like they would probably work, but there were only five to a pack. I didn't really notice the price, but it was probably a few bucks.

I have a lathe, but I don't get to take it out of the box until Christmas.

Anyway, I don't think I'd be particularly inclined to sell such things for only five cents each either, really. I've thought about it, and at that price I'd probably be paying you to take them, by the time wood and electricity are factored in. If I came ahead on the deal, I wouldn't be earning enough per hour to even remotely make it worth the tedium.

I can't find the name of the place off hand. I tracked down some people to sell me BRIO wheels and axles for my shop-made trains, but I didn't get around to ordering from them. They might sell these joiner things. I'll try to dig up the name, and you can ask them.

To put it into perspective, they want 10 cents per axle and 25 cents per plastic wheel. I would guess if they have these little ball things they're at least 25 cents each. Maybe double that.

[--Shiva--]

look at # 97097 peg, fits 3/16" hole , 5/8" long $6 per hundred

or 97098 smoke stack 5'8 dia with 1/4" tenon dia, $12 per hundred

97079 birch shaker peg, 1/4" dia, by 1 1/16" length, $6.90 per hundred

they got spoked wheels too

97068 thru 71 --Shiva--

[Sweet Sawdust]