Deceased Train Companies
Rathburne
do with it. I compiled an interesting list of former Model Train
Manufacturers no longer around (I think). I am sure I am missing
some......?
E&B Valley
GSB
Ambroid
Robin's Rails
Roller Bearing Models
Silver Streak
Herkimer
Quality Craft
Ramaxx
McKean
Front Range
E&C Shops
AHM
Tyco
Revell
Cox
Aurora
Gloor Craft (?)
Alco Models (not brass but passenger cars)
Andrew S. Miller
To your list (off the top of my head) I can add KurtzKraft and Globe (a
name used briefly by Athearn when they were not sure plastic would sell!).
Rathburne wrote:
> I was going through my boxes of old stuff trying to figure out what to
> do with it. I compiled an interesting list of former Model Train
> Manufacturers no longer around (I think). I am sure I am missing
> some......?
>
> E&B Valley --- became Eastern Car works
> GSB
> Ambroid - still around making glue
> Robin's Rails
> Roller Bearing Models
> Silver Streak
> Herkimer -- arising again in NY.
> Quality Craft
> Ramaxx
> McKean
> Front Range
> E&C Shops
> AHM ---became IHC - became Model Expo -- changes name with every
> backrupcy!
> Tyco
> Revell
> Cox
> Aurora
> Gloor Craft (?)
> Alco Models (not brass but passenger cars) -- became E&B Valley
--
Regards,
Andy Miller
asmi...@mitre.org
==================================================
Charles Callaghan
"Rathburne" <ffrat...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:7f2c0704.02081...@posting.google.com...
Aredeer
Binkley Kemtron
Laconia Akane
Main Line MEW
Arvid Anderson JC Silversides
Northeast 410 M
New One Dynamodel
Aristocraft LMB
Westside Howell Day
Olympia/Gem Airfix
Tenshodo Marnold
Suydam? Is Campbell still around?
Central Valley MB Austin
House of 4 Winds Max Grey
International Ken Kidder
AHM Arbor
Hallmark?
Olympic Express Hobbyline
Lindsay John English ( Bowser?)
AC Gilbert Trains, Inc.
American Beauty Train Miniature
There are more, but I'm tired.
Fred Dabney
> E&B Valley
> GSB
> Ambroid
> Robin's Rails
> Roller Bearing Models
> Silver Streak
> Herkimer
> Quality Craft
> Ramaxx
> McKean
> Front Range
> E&C Shops
> AHM
> Tyco
> Revell
> Cox
> Aurora
> Gloor Craft (?)
> Alco Models (not brass but passenger cars)
You forgot:
Varney, Penn Scale Models, Penn Line, Binkley, Laconia,
American GK Loco, and a bunch of others.
Many of these lines still exist, either under new names or
the tools and/or models under different brands.
It would take a long posting to delineate them all.
Fred D.
Lunatickles
Chuckles
Globe
Mantua
Ertl
Penn Line
Kemtron
American Beauty
Varney
H.P. Products
Daniel A. Mitchell
Megow, Varney, Garco, Pioneer, DeVore, Baker, Ulrich, Cascade Pacific,
Red Ball, Kaw Valley, General Models, Marx, Midlin, PFM, Max Gray,
Alpha, International, Sattler's, Ken Kidder, Balboa, Westside, Troller,
Magnussen, Suydam (some of their buildings are still around) ... and
many, many more.
Dan Mitchell
==========
EBTBOB
Stephen Foster
Some of the old Kemtron stuff still avialable from Precision Scale.
Herkimer is still in business but they call it OK..... they also make model
airplane engines.
Bowser has much of the Penn Line stuff.
Bowser also has a few of Varneys old steam loco kits.
The old plastic kits are still around from different mfg for the most part.
--
Keep your rails shiny!
Stephen
"If it ain't steam, it's a powered boxcar"
All Points North Model RR Club (Houston TX)
http://www.allpointsnorthmrrc.org
"Lunatickles" <Pixe...@cox.delete.net> wrote in message
news:V7U59.43333$Pb.12...@news2.east.cox.net...
Rick Jones
> Silver Streak
Still around as a division of Ye Olde Huff 'N' Puff and being sold
under the Silver Streak name AFAIK.
--
Rick Jones
Remove the Extra Dot to e-mail me
Peter King
"Andrew S. Miller" wrote:
>
> Some of these are re-rincarnated. See my annotations below.
>
Andy, model railroad company liniage is not always what it appears to
be!
> > E&B Valley --- became Eastern Car works
Nope. ECW now owns the molds for many of the E&B Valley cars, but that's
it. In fact, E&B Valley actually became:
> > Robin's Rails
Both owned by Bill Glass, AKA Bondo Billy, who used to frequent this
newsgroup. By the time E&B Became Robin's Rails, his main business had
become custom decorating cars, primarily for Bev Bel. E&B stood for
Ellen & Bill, Robin is their daughter. Bill has no connection to ECW.
> > AHM ---became IHC -
No direct link between the two. Bernie Paul, owner of AHM, sold out to
General Hobbies. GH later went belly up, and Bernie somehow got the
remnents of it, including a lot of the inventory, and most of the old
lines, too. But the current IHC is not a direct corporate successor to
AHM.
> became Model Expo -- changes name with every
> > backrupcy!
The ONLY connection between AHM, IHC and Model Expo is that they were
all at one time importers of Rivarossi! When IHC had some sort of
falling out with Rivarossi, Model Expo became the importer.
> > Alco Models (not brass but passenger cars) -- became E&B Valley
>
Again, no. I forget which came first. I THINK E&B, but Bill Glass had no
connection to Alco.
> --
> Regards,
>
> Andy Miller
> asmi...@mitre.org
>
> ==================================================
Peter King in NY
--
Charles M. Schulz 1922 - 2000.
Cartoonist, artist, illustrator, philosopher, humanitarian.
Rest in peace, old friend. And thank you for a lifetime of smiles and
laughter.
Brian Paul Ehni
Walthers. "O" gauge only now, though.
Brian
On 8/12/02 9:51 AM, in article
7f2c0704.02081...@posting.google.com, "Rathburne"
Brian Paul Ehni
Brian
On 8/12/02 9:51 AM, in article
7f2c0704.02081...@posting.google.com, "Rathburne"
<ffrat...@aol.com> wrote:
Brian Paul Ehni
rathburne
I used to deal with them 20 years ago and know the shop is still open in
Pennsylvania, but did not think they were making kits?
Rick Jones wrote in message <3D583CDA...@extra.lanset.com>...
Paul Tackowiak
chapter 11?
Howard R. Garner
More for the list.
Olympic Cascadian
Olympic Express
Scotia Scale Models
Lytler & Lytler
Timberline
Magnuson
EBTBOB
announced the engines from Mantua that they plan to produce in 03. They
include the 2-6-6-2 and a 2-6-6-0. When I emailed them and asked them about
the 2-6-6-0, they did not respond to that question.
Bob
Jim Bernier
Richard Rex
Recently a friend of mine gave me what was left of his father's train
collection. So I have boxes of old HO trains 40 or 50 yeard old in all
kinds of condition sitting in my livingroom. But here are a few
manufacturers that weren't listed, and they are complete kits.
The Model Builder's Supply Co., Duarte, Calif.
It's a "Wood Side Ore Car" kit, all wood.
Alexander Scale Models, Grand Rapids, Michigan
"Little Hook" The Industrial Brownhoist 10-Ton Pillar Crane
Well after looking inside the box, it is not a complete kit.
Ambroid
Yes it has been mentioned, but it is a "H O Gauge Watermelon Car
Kit" "Authentic A C L Prototype"
Just a list from what I see in these old boxes:
Star Hobby Products, Brooklyn, NY
"Two Flashing Electric Billboards" "Ready Built" $2.50
Dyna-Model Products Company,76 South Street, Oyster Bay, NY
"Plumbing Supply House" $3.50
The Cliff Line, 7301 Atall Avenue, No. Hollywood, California
Scale Models, Kit # TC-50 Depressed Center Flat Car,
Sprung Trucks, Transformer Load.
But there is a metal steam locomotive inside, in parts, inside
the box.
Laconia HO Gauge Car Kit, Laconia Industries, Franklin, N. H.
"Central Vermont Milk Reefer"
Box is empty
Hi-Ballers Corporation, 1817 W. Verdugo Ave. Burbank, Calif.
"Golden Eagle Fast ... can't read the rest. But inside the box is
another metal steam locomotive in parts.
Then a woman I used to date gave me her past husbands train stuff, all
Varney HO Model Trains. Quite a few cars and locomotives, but I have
no interest in these old models since tomorrow I am going to purchase
a Athearn, Genesis, SD-70-MAC locomotive for my undersized layout.
Dick Rex
NMRA, SER Division .
Michael Senchuk
to mind, but I could be wrong (and I'm sure I'll be told if I am).
--
Michael L. Senchuk
Chief Engineer, Reckless & Veiled Railroad
http://www.heatherandmichael.com/recklessandveiled/
mic...@qazam.com
EBTBOB
I am curious. Do you still have the Varney stuff? I would be interested
in any boxcars or tank cars you might have.
Bob Rule, Jr.
A.W.Gonya
ffrat...@aol.com (Rathburne) wrote in message news:<7f2c0704.02081...@posting.google.com>...
Trainman
sell European made plastic kits.
Silver Streak is now part of Ye Olde Huff 'n' Puff.
Just off the top of my head, a few adds to the list (some of the kits are
still around under other names.)
Varney
Penn Line
Binkley / Laconia
Mainline
Hobbyline
Ulrich (recently started up again)
Walthers (items that were actually MADE by Walthers, not the stuff today
that's "jobbed out")
American Beauty Lines.
Don
--
don.de...@prodigy.net
http://www.geocities.com/don_dellmann
moderator: WisMode...@yahoogroups.com
moderator: MRP...@yahoogroups.com
http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/MRPics
Rathburne <ffrat...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:7f2c0704.02081...@posting.google.com...
Trainman
Kraft dies.
Speaking of CCS brings to mind the many manufacturers of the "Red Ball"
line. (Howell Day, M. Dale Newton etc.)
Globe was originally a separate company based out of Chicago. The line
(including the venerable F-7) was sold to Athearn in the mid to late 1950's.
Don
--
don.de...@prodigy.net
http://www.geocities.com/don_dellmann
moderator: WisMode...@yahoogroups.com
moderator: MRP...@yahoogroups.com
http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/MRPics
Andrew S. Miller <asmi...@mitre.org> wrote in message
news:3D57DFDB...@mitre.org...
Trainman
Peter King <fsh...@prodigy.net> wrote in message
news:3D583EE4...@prodigy.net...
Wasn't Bernie the original owner of Aristo Craft before it bacame AHM?
The original PRR P-70 coaches offered by Alco (as B&O cars as I recall)
became the E&B Valley ones. Whether Bill bought the dies from Alco or not I
don't know. They WERE the same kit though.
Trainman
Michael Senchuk <mic...@qazam.com> wrote in message
news:NT%59.40342$Z5.13...@news1.telusplanet.net...
Alpine does indeed have some of the old Suydam kits (after a short time as
"California Model Company".
A lot of people forget that BEFORE Suydam some of the kits were sold by
"Ayers" and "Tru-Scale".
Trainman
Richard Rex <dpi...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:3d586d3d...@nntp.mindspring.com...
>
> Recently a friend of mine gave me what was left of his father's train
> collection. So I have boxes of old HO trains 40 or 50 yeard old in all
> kinds of condition sitting in my livingroom. But here are a few
> manufacturers that weren't listed, and they are complete kits.
>
> The Model Builder's Supply Co., Duarte, Calif.
> It's a "Wood Side Ore Car" kit, all wood.
Ed Suydam
>
> Alexander Scale Models, Grand Rapids, Michigan
> "Little Hook" The Industrial Brownhoist 10-Ton Pillar Crane
> Well after looking inside the box, it is not a complete kit.
Alexander is still around (at least as of a couple years ago)
I need one of the "little Hooks" right now AAMOF, there's a place on the
layout waiting for it.
>
> Ambroid
> Yes it has been mentioned, but it is a "H O Gauge Watermelon Car
>
> Kit" "Authentic A C L Prototype"
Ambroid kits were actually made by Northeastern. The entire "1 of 5000"
line was eventually reissued by Northeastern.
The entire "Heritage line" was eventually reissued by Quality Craft/Gloor
Craft.
(That's what first soured me on "imited runs"
>
> Just a list from what I see in these old boxes:
> Star Hobby Products, Brooklyn, NY
> "Two Flashing Electric Billboards" "Ready Built" $2.50
Star MAY have become Ideal, I'm not sure though (we're talking 48 years ago
here)
>
> Dyna-Model Products Company,76 South Street, Oyster Bay, NY
> "Plumbing Supply House" $3.50
I THINK Dyna Models is still around, they were in the mid 90's.
>
> The Cliff Line, 7301 Atall Avenue, No. Hollywood, California
> Scale Models, Kit # TC-50 Depressed Center Flat Car,
> Sprung Trucks, Transformer Load.
> But there is a metal steam locomotive inside, in parts, inside
> the box.
>
Some of the Cliff Line cars MAY have made it to the RedBall line.
> Laconia HO Gauge Car Kit, Laconia Industries, Franklin, N. H.
> "Central Vermont Milk Reefer"
> Box is empty
Laconia merged with Binkley sometime in the late 1950's.
>
> Hi-Ballers Corporation, 1817 W. Verdugo Ave. Burbank, Calif.
> "Golden Eagle Fast ... can't read the rest. But inside the box is
> another metal steam locomotive in parts.
That one I don't remember.
>
> Then a woman I used to date gave me her past husbands train stuff, all
> Varney HO Model Trains. Quite a few cars and locomotives, but I have
> no interest in these old models since tomorrow I am going to purchase
> a Athearn, Genesis, SD-70-MAC locomotive for my undersized layout.
>
> Dick Rex
> NMRA, SER Division .
So ship it here! I still USE a lot of that stuff.
PaulS178
It seems that there are a lot of you guys interested in the great old
manufactures. Have you heard of the "HO Scale Collectors and History", special
interest group? They cover all those manufactures with a quarterly magazine
and its inexpensive to. If anyone interested, e-mail me at: paul...@aol.com.
Hdgdn
>> "Plumbing Supply House" $3.50
>
>I THINK Dyna Models is still around, they were in the mid 90's.
Is it the same Dyna Models of Sangerville Maine? If so, I think they are still
around but not very active, (sort of like me!)
James F. Hodgdon Jr.
Hodgdon Scale Models
Jeff Scarbrough
<dom.de...@prodigy.net> wrote:
>Just off the top of my head, a few adds to the list (some of the kits are
>still around under other names.)
>
Besides Alco Models, there was Alco Engineering, of Decatur, Georgia.
They made brass freight car kits...
When I discovered their existence in an old issue of MR, I discovered
that we both had the same address! Apparently they operated out of
the basement of a house I later rented. No evidence of any leftover
brass when I lived there though...
Jeff Sc.
Non-Ferrous, Ga.
Fred Dabney
> Besides Alco Models, there was Alco Engineering, of Decatur,
Georgia.
> They made brass freight car kits...
They had, for a time, the old Varney parts and kits. Life-Like
got most of the late ready to discard stuff, and then, later
Bowser got much of the line, along with Penn Line, Penn
Scale Models and still later Cal-Scale as well as some
other parts catalogs.
Fred D.
Peter King
Trainman wrote:
>
stuff deleted...
>
> Wasn't Bernie the original owner of Aristo Craft before it bacame AHM?
>
I seem to recall some connection between him and Aristo, the old stuff
made by New One Models. But I'm a little fuzzy on that.
> The original PRR P-70 coaches offered by Alco (as B&O cars as I recall)
> became the E&B Valley ones. Whether Bill bought the dies from Alco or not I
> don't know. They WERE the same kit though.
>
As I said, I'm fuzzy on the order. E&B was active in the '80s. I THOUGHT
Alco lasted longer than that, but I'm not sure. You may well be right.
(Although I'm pretty sure you ARE right about the kits being the same.
> Don
Rick Jones
> Is YOHAP still around?
> I used to deal with them 20 years ago and know the shop is still open in
> Pennsylvania, but did not think they were making kits?
Don't know for sure. I think they were still listed in the last
Walther's catalog I bought a couple years back. It's in storage so I
can't pull it out to look.
Rick Jones
> I was going through my boxes of old stuff trying to figure out what to
> do with it. I compiled an interesting list of former Model Train
> Manufacturers no longer around (I think). I am sure I am missing
> some......?
A couple that I own which haven't been mentioned yet-
Railmaster (not the same one that operates out of New Zealand; this one
was, I think, somewhere in Colorado)
Golden West Models (I have some reefers made by them)
Trainman
I seem to recall that when MR reviewed the E&B Valley Kits in "Trade Topics"
they mentioned that it was the same model previously released by Alco.
Of course then they went on to become "Easter Car Works". I don't know if
they're still around or not, I do have one of their streamlined pullmans in
my passenger train.
Bob Boudreau
> hat it was the same model previously released by Alco.
>
> Of course then they went on to become "Easter Car Works".
Wasn't that firm owned by Peter Rabbit?
:)
Bob Boudreau
Andy Harman
>I was going through my boxes of old stuff trying to figure out what to
>do with it. I compiled an interesting list of former Model Train
>Manufacturers no longer around (I think). I am sure I am missing
>some......?
Amazing though how many of the products are still around:
E&B Valley--> Robins Rails --> ConCor
E&B Valley--> Eastern Car Works
GSB-->Keystone
Front Range-->McKean-->SkyLim-->E&C Shops-->LBF-->infinity and beyond!
AHM(Rivarossi)-->Rivarossi-->Model Expo-->Walthers
AHM(Mehano)-->IHC
Mantua-->Tyco-->Mantua-->Model Power
Revell-->ConCor
Cox-->Walthers
Aurora-->Polar Lights
Alco Models--> Eastern Car Works
I can't speak to the wood kits, not sure who owns what there any more.
Andy
----------------------------------------------------
Please reply to aharman at hhcustom dot com
Visit the RPM Web Page at http://www.rpmrail.org
Or my personal site at http://www.hhcustom.com/nspmg
----------------------------------------------------
Bob Boudreau
>
> Front Range-->McKean-->SkyLim-->E&C Shops-->LBF-->infinity and beyond!
I was told recently that some of the Front Range freight car dies went to
Accurate Finishing who then became Accurail.
Bob Boudreau
Canada
Tom Brown
> Michael Senchuk <mic...@qazam.com> wrote in message
> news:NT%59.40342$Z5.13...@news1.telusplanet.net...
> > I believe Suydam is still around in a different incarnation - "Alpine"
> comes
> > to mind, but I could be wrong (and I'm sure I'll be told if I am).
> >
> >
> > --
> > Michael L. Senchuk
> > Chief Engineer, Reckless & Veiled Railroad
> > http://www.heatherandmichael.com/recklessandveiled/
> > mic...@qazam.com
> >
> >
>
> Alpine does indeed have some of the old Suydam kits (after a short time as
> "California Model Company".
>
> A lot of people forget that BEFORE Suydam some of the kits were sold by
> "Ayers" and "Tru-Scale".
sold what have become many of the Walthers Line of MOW Cars. Many,
but not all of them were initially True Scale. A lot of this stuff
winds up at walthers (as a current kit, or the ownership of the
remains whether or not on the market. Another example of this was the
BART models with the rare aluminum craft kit, which finally became the
current plastic kit. I was told once that when a rail hobby company
got hard up, they usually sold out what was left to walthers even if
they did not put the kits on line. I seem to recall that red ball went
that route, but it has been a long time.
Tom (Please no spam)
Trainman
Bob Boudreau <"railfan "@ NO SPAM canada.com> wrote in message
news:9bq69.11549$cH2.8...@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...
50,000 comedians out of work............... <G>
rathburne
Andy Harman wrote in message <3d5a577f....@news.iac.net>...
Andy Harman
<dom.de...@prodigy.net> wrote:
>Varney
>Penn Line
>Binkley / Laconia
>Mainline
>Hobbyline
>Ulrich (recently started up again)
Some of these older names almost have to be traced on a
product-by-product basis. Sort of like "What happened to the '61
Yankees" and document all the trades and where all the players went.
A good chunk (the chunky metal chunk) of Varney's product line went to
Bowser who apparently held it for years before re-releasing anything.
Some of it went to Life-Like, mainly the plastic stuff.
I've always wondered how many tools existed for the shorty passenger
cars. I've always had a soft spot for the heavyweight John English
pot metal cars. AFAIK the English/Hobbyline cars consisted of only a
coach and a combine. Penn Line seems to have cloned these cars in
plastic, and those cars may be the ancestors of the present cars in
the Life-Like toy line. Varney also had some similar cars but I've
never gotten my hands on any.
Andy Harman
Scarbrough) wrote:
> When I discovered their existence in an old issue of MR, I discovered
>that we both had the same address! Apparently they operated out of
>the basement of a house I later rented. No evidence of any leftover
>brass when I lived there though...
Well ok, here's a story: I ran into my older half-sister one time in
a restaurant. We aren't exactly close... don't hate each other but
don't have a lot to talk about either. I hadn't seen her for quite a
few years. Anyway, while talking to her in the restaurant I found out
she worked in the same building as I did... and we both had been
working in the same 4-story modest-sized building for at least two
years. Never saw each other in the whole time....
Stephen Foster
news:81A69.1268$3s4...@news.webusenet.com...
> Oh yeah, Train Minature, now Walthers....
Only Walthers seldom runs these cars any more.... sigh....
--
Keep your rails shiny!
Stephen
"If it ain't steam, it's a powered boxcar"
All Points North Model RR Club (Houston TX)
http://www.allpointsnorthmrrc.org
Trainman
Andy Harman <owata...@not.net> wrote in message
news:3d5ae913....@news.iac.net...
> On Tue, 13 Aug 2002 16:38:49 GMT, "Trainman"
> <dom.de...@prodigy.net> wrote:
>
> >Varney
> >Penn Line
> >Binkley / Laconia
> >Mainline
> >Hobbyline
> >Ulrich (recently started up again)
>
> Some of these older names almost have to be traced on a
> product-by-product basis. Sort of like "What happened to the '61
> Yankees" and document all the trades and where all the players went.
> A good chunk (the chunky metal chunk) of Varney's product line went to
> Bowser who apparently held it for years before re-releasing anything.
> Some of it went to Life-Like, mainly the plastic stuff.
>
> I've always wondered how many tools existed for the shorty passenger
> cars. I've always had a soft spot for the heavyweight John English
> pot metal cars. AFAIK the English/Hobbyline cars consisted of only a
> coach and a combine. Penn Line seems to have cloned these cars in
> plastic, and those cars may be the ancestors of the present cars in
> the Life-Like toy line. Varney also had some similar cars but I've
> never gotten my hands on any.
>
> Andy
In plastic, the Varney cars were the Penn Line ones. That'how Life Like got
them.
On my layout however, there's still a couple of the original Varney
Cardstock & Wood 60' cars.
They seem to be patterned after the C&NW "Utility" cars (as offered by
Walthers), which would make sense as at the time (late 1940's) Varney was in
Chicago.
Trainman
> On Tue, 13 Aug 2002 22:23:26 GMT, cros...@charter.net (Jeff
> Scarbrough) wrote:
>
> > When I discovered their existence in an old issue of MR, I discovered
> >that we both had the same address! Apparently they operated out of
> >the basement of a house I later rented. No evidence of any leftover
> >brass when I lived there though...
>
> Well ok, here's a story: I ran into my older half-sister one time in
> a restaurant. We aren't exactly close... don't hate each other but
> don't have a lot to talk about either. I hadn't seen her for quite a
> few years. Anyway, while talking to her in the restaurant I found out
> she worked in the same building as I did... and we both had been
> working in the same 4-story modest-sized building for at least two
> years. Never saw each other in the whole time....
>
> Andy
In college I dated a girl for four months before I found out she was "pen
pals" with my SISTER.
Another time Lexy and I rented a townhouse. AFTER we rented it, we found
out the landlord was her Uncle. (her aunt's first husband, whom most of the
family never knew she had even been married to.)
Tom Brown
reference on this stuff, I think Ihave them back to about 1954 for HO
only.
The other interesting thing about these kits in the increase in prices
and the mutations over the years. I guess I outta get my 2001 and
2002 catalogs.
Tom
(Please no spam)
androoh&traceah
Aredeer wrote:
> How about:
> Binkley Kemtron
> Laconia Akane
> Main Line MEW
> Arvid Anderson JC Silversides
> Northeast 410 M
> New One Dynamodel
> Aristocraft LMB
> Westside Howell Day
> Olympia/Gem Airfix
> Tenshodo Marnold
> Suydam? Is Campbell still around?
> Central Valley MB Austin
> House of 4 Winds Max Grey
> International Ken Kidder
> AHM Arbor
> Hallmark?
> Olympic Express Hobbyline
> Lindsay John English ( Bowser?)
> AC Gilbert Trains, Inc.
> American Beauty Train Miniature
>
> There are more, but I'm tired.
Trainman
Tom Brown <ki...@eudoramail.com> wrote in message
news:f7977a59.02081...@posting.google.com...
I do the same thing, although mine are pretty much falling apart from
constant use over the years.
Mine only go back to to 1970 though (except for one from 1959, comb bound).
Trainchasr
Chapter 11? >>
Interesting...Mantua under bankruptcy protection.
AFAIK, they're NOT...Mantua Metal Products Company had announced they were
leaving the model train market. They said nothing about insolvency.
The clue is in their name: it suggests they have other lines that produce
revenue.
Dieter Zakas
rathburne
androoh&traceah wrote in message <3D5BA08D...@uq.net.au>...
Rick Jones
> Amazing though how many of the products are still around:
>
> E&B Valley--> Robins Rails --> ConCor
> E&B Valley--> Eastern Car Works
> GSB-->Keystone
> Front Range-->McKean-->SkyLim-->E&C Shops-->LBF-->infinity and beyond!
> AHM(Rivarossi)-->Rivarossi-->Model Expo-->Walthers
> AHM(Mehano)-->IHC
> Mantua-->Tyco-->Mantua-->Model Power
> Revell-->ConCor
> Cox-->Walthers
> Aurora-->Polar Lights
> Alco Models--> Eastern Car Works
Silver Streak --> Pacific HO --> Walther's --> Ye Olde Huff 'N' Puff
Athearn metal kits --> Menzies --> Bowser (English's)
Ulrich --> Walther's --> gone forever??????
Central Valley trucks and kits --> they own all the tooling but the
owner hasn't any interest bringing them back on the market or selling
the tooling, according to a conversation I had with him last fall
Jeff Scarbrough
The last bed I bought came with a frame from Mantua.
Jeff Sc.
Sleeper Ga.
Andy Harman
<dom.de...@prodigy.net> wrote:
>In college I dated a girl for four months before I found out she was "pen
>pals" with my SISTER.
Well........ not all that long ago I went on a few dates with a
somewhat younger woman, and found out she was an aquantance of my
daughter... who pronounced her "psycho". She was right... but you
being a Haggiser already know the whole story there.... 2001, when
August came in April.
Andy Harman
canada.com> wrote:
>I was told recently that some of the Front Range freight car dies went to
>Accurate Finishing who then became Accurail.
Accurail ended up with the covered hoppers at least when
McKean/Sky-Lim folded up. The 4-bay pellet car was junk and
unsalvagable. The 3-bay ACF car was ruled too similar to the existing
Accurail car so hasn't been released. I think Accurail ended up with
the tooling for both of the Centerbeams but they haven't done anything
with them.
Ctyclsscs
to me like Walthers was selling off old inventory the past few years since they
aren't listed in the newest book.
I recently read something about Mantua producing sporting goods, so that would
help to explain what they still make.
It's bad enough when you try to trace the history of rolling stock, but doing
the same with structures is like opening another can of worms! Just like
freight cars, some kits have been passed from company from company, while
others have never been re-released. For example:
Aurora made a number of neat HO scale structure kits. They were off the market
for ages until some, but not all, appeared in the IHC line a few years ago.
Some have never reappeared. Maybe Polar Lights has the rest.
The old Revell kits later appeared under the Con-Cor, AHM and IHC name (and
maybe more).
Some of the old Con-Cor Courthouse Square series of kits also appeared under
Heljan's name (who actually makes them) and as part of the Bachmann line for a
while.
The Patal line of kits were licensed by Atlas for a period of time
So many craftsman kits were only released one time that I can't imagine ever
trying to trace a history of all of them.
There was Model Masterpieces. Durango Press, which I think was divided up
between a few companies. Muir Models, which I don't know much about. Alloy
Forms, which went to Portmann Hobbies and then to JAKS Industries. Magnuson,
which went to Walthers and then to JAKS.
I also understand that JAKS has many of the molds for the Ulrich line of kits.
SS Ltd also went to Walthers and then to JAKS. It's also my understanding that
Builders in Scale was sold to a new owner recently.
There were also kits made by Model Dynamics, Jouef, Kramer Model Works, Period
Miniatures, White Ground Model Works and The Structure Company, just to name a
few found in an older Walthers catalog.
Okay, my brain is starting to hurt.
Jim
Rathburne
The cars themselves are not THAT bad. The roofwalk is the worst
feature but with some plano etched metal sheets that is fixed pretty
easily. Metal wheels, weights, kadees, and some weathering and they
are OK IMHO.
owata...@not.net (Andy Harman) wrote in message news:<3d5c760e....@news.iac.net>...
Fred Dabney
> The cars themselves are not THAT bad. The roofwalk is the worst
> feature but with some plano etched metal sheets that is fixed
pretty
> easily. Metal wheels, weights, kadees, and some weathering and
they
> are OK IMHO.
The first of the Front Range pellet cars was truly loathsome.
Parts didn't fit, gaping crevasses and other problems,
not to mention that many of the parts looked like they'd
been carved out of soap and left in the rain for a week.
I tried a much later run, not long before they went dark,
and they'd been improved to the point that they were
merely terrible.
Not as bad as the later incarnation of the Center Beam
cars where many parts appeared to be for other cars
altogether.
Fred D.
rathburne
the crapper.....
The Mckean version of these hoppers work OK. Dont know about Front range.
Fred Dabney wrote in message <3d5d8...@oracle.zianet.com>...
Stephen Foster
said something to the effect I should try this one!
I built the damn thing tho I am not sure how. I remember lots of fiddling
and redoing and cussin along. Then I went back to that dealer and said if
he ever laid such on me again we were quits!
Gads that was a terrible kit.
--
Keep your rails shiny!
Stephen
"If it ain't steam, it's a powered boxcar"
All Points North Model RR Club (Houston TX)
http://www.allpointsnorthmrrc.org
"rathburne" <ffrat...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:nJh79.117$_8...@news.webusenet.com...
Andy Harman
>You mean junk like the mold was shot or something?
The mold was shot the day it was made. One of the worst kits in
recent memory. I think Accurail turned the leftover stock of pellet
cars back into pellets, literally.
Andy Harman
<Waba...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>I was once handed that centerbeam car by an employee of a dealer friend and
>said something to the effect I should try this one!
>
>I built the damn thing tho I am not sure how. I remember lots of fiddling
>and redoing and cussin along. Then I went back to that dealer and said if
>he ever laid such on me again we were quits!
>
>Gads that was a terrible kit.
I remember as a kid getting a brontosaurus skeleton kit from a museum
gift shop. You had to glue all the vertebrae together - including the
neck, back, and tail, in the right orientation and slope to look like
a brontosaurus, and there was no real "key" to the pieces. Ended up
with a swaybacked dinosaur whose head was lower than his tail. The
FRP/McKean Centerbeam brought back many memories of "Dino". The
upright beam car anyway.. the opera window version had a solid slab,
but didn't fit together an better - just fewer parts.
Actually the one dinosaur-centerbeam I did get together runs great. I
spent about 900 hours building a Jaeger lumber load for it, and
between the Kadee trucks (513 roller bearings), #5's in draft gear,
and the weight of the load, it ain't going anyplace it's not supposed
to. I ended up packing the "backbone" of the car under a bunch of
books and tweaked it all over the place and it ended up straight
somehow. An interesting experience but probably not one I'll repeat.
But there still is no decent model of the 60' centerbeams.
Fred Dabney
and heaved in
> the crapper.....
> The Mckean version of these hoppers work OK. Dont know about
Front range.
Same guy.
However, I may have mis-spoken. I no longer have the boxes
for either of the two pellet cars, and they both might have been
McKean.
I have the foggy notion that the cars were among the last
Front Range kits under that name and they continued
under the McKean name.
But many McKean kits which had their origins in Front
Range appear to made from copies of the original parts
rather from the same tools.
Fascinating if sordid story there...
Fred D.
Fred Dabney
friend and
> said something to the effect I should try this one!
>
> I built the damn thing tho I am not sure how. I remember lots
of fiddling
> and redoing and cussin along. Then I went back to that dealer
and said if
> he ever laid such on me again we were quits!
>
> Gads that was a terrible kit.
The plastic equivalent of the Arbour metal kits.
I built several of the Front Range cars, and while they had
some problems both as representations of their prototypes
and as kits, in general they looked pretty good when
finished and I had no significant problems building mine.
But that McKean version. Oi!
Fred D.
Fred Dabney
great. I
> spent about 900 hours building a Jaeger lumber load for it, and
> between the Kadee trucks (513 roller bearings), #5's in draft
gear,
> and the weight of the load, it ain't going anyplace it's not
supposed
> to. I ended up packing the "backbone" of the car under a bunch
of
> books and tweaked it all over the place and it ended up straight
> somehow. An interesting experience but probably not one I'll
repeat.
> But there still is no decent model of the 60' centerbeams.
The original FRP kit had a strange quirk. If you built a factory
painted kit, the notches for the winches that hold the retaining
ropes were too narrow. The result was that the car's floor
wound up badly curved up at the ends, and if you tried to
straighten it, it would snap at various points.
If you trimmed the winch castings or the notches however,
it went together quite well. Paint on the edges of the beam
casting also get in the way of the grooves in the top and
ends but I just filed a bit and they fit too.
Some of Beckers products weren't bad, so much as simply
not well thought out. Later they all went to hell of course.
Fred D.
Peter
>>
But many McKean kits which had their origins in Front Range appear to made from
copies of the original parts rather from the same tools.
>>
If indeed there were copies made, those copies might have been made from a
decorated example.
The various pins and slots on the McKean Centerbeam models are way too tight,
if decorated, and almost too tight, if undecorated.
Aredeer
corrupt accounting practices? The one in which the CEO
bought $6,000 shower curtains.
Bob Boudreau
I thought that too, but apparently not. I don't know if I read it here or in Time
magazine.
Bob Boudreau
Canada
Bob May
with Mantua Metal Works being one of their purchases back a good 40 years
ago or so.
--
Bob May
Global WARMING???
What I want to know is when I can start growing wheat in Greenland again!
Trainman
Aredeer <are...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020818095740...@mb-mf.aol.com...
Nope, totally different Tyco.
Trainman
Bob May <bob...@nethere.com> wrote in message
news:10297049...@news-1.nethere.net...
The "conglomerate" that bought Mantua/Tyco was I believe Beatrice foods.
The "Tyco" in the news is most well known for fire prevention equipment.
Different company.
Andy Harman
To compliment the $900 toilet seat of course. This guy needs to run
for public office...
DSlindq9113
>>bought $6,000 shower curtains.
>
>To compliment the $900 toilet seat of course. This guy needs to run
>for public office...
Did this guy used to work at Defense? Wasn't he in charge of procuring hammers?
:)
Dave
Rug...@webtv.net
Rick Larson
When the going gets weird. The weird turn pro.
Hunter Thompson
Trainman
<Rug...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:14365-3D6...@storefull-2173.public.lawson.webtv.net...
My favorite cars in my passenger train are 3 or 4 "Samson" streamliners,
made of an extruded Aluminum/MAGNESIUM alloy. (The same stuff they made
"mag wheels" out of).
Chuck Davis
Wasn't that one "OO" Scale??? Kemtron had this, and some other odd stuff for
a while.
Chuck D.
Fred Dabney
> Wasn't that one "OO" Scale??? Kemtron had this, and some other
odd stuff for
> a while.
Nope, HO. A very big lost wax casting, much of
which was pretty nice along with some other brass
parts that weren't so good. I had one, forget if it was
a scale width though. It was a long time ago.
Fred D.
hobof...@gmail.com
frank
try this
https://www.flickr.com/photos/30431536@N03/50173996416/in/dateposted-public/
charles short
American Limited , which made N scale, HOn3 and SN3 items hasn't produced n scale products for quite a while now.
Cheers
Chuck