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Dave Nelson - you reminded me of the Woolworth "Christmas", and also "Christmas in July" train sales in the mid/late '60s featuring incredible deals on already low MSRP prices for AHM HO trains (incl some real early, almost nonrunning HOn30 European prototype-sorta industrial equipment that was so finnicky and so light, that if you got it running, it would fall off the first curve, slide backwards going up a grade, and stall in every turnout. I bought (new) an AHM cab forward and a N&W Y6B for around $20. each, as well as a beautiful for the time Nickle Plate Berkshire for around $15. Their Rivarossi pass cars were between $.99 and $1.99, and were the best looking scale heavyweight cars available in plastic at the time. And they were full length, making Athearn's hw cars look stubby, which they are. AHM freight cars were junk, and didn't compare to the more expensive 'blue box' kits that cost around $3.00, or less ! AHMs early diesels -EMD BL-2 and F-M C-liners were absolutely awful, at least the ones I saw. AHM did make a couple of neat , relatively inexpensive, plastic unpowered O scale (Rivarossi?) steam engine kits - a 4-6-0 Illinois Central "Casey Jones" and an Indiana Harbor Belt 0-8-0. Motorizing kits were apparantly available as a separate kit, and I remember MR or RMC doing a neat feature on kitbashing the O scale 0-8-0 into several variants - think article was by Vic Rossman. . . It was my understanding that AHM filed for bankruptcy, and that IHC was resurected from the ashes of AHM, because I think they had the same address for years in Phila. Their product offerings, packaging, and ads were similar to each other, and much of the same tooling survives today. The early IHC and AHM engines make great shelf dust bunnies, unless motors are changed out, weight added, and wheels either replaced, or flanges cut down. I too remember the AHC ads, incl.their specials, that were crammed pack w/ just about everything available on the market onto two pages in every MR issue. A trip to their store on W23rd St. in Manhattan was unforgetable, for that store was as jambed w/ trains to the ceilings as was their ads. That was when lower Manhattan was a treasure chest for train modelers w/ Lionel and AC Gilbert (Amer. Flyer) having headquarter showrooms, Polks, AHC, Manhattan Hardware, and the store that refuses to move on W45 St., (Carmen Forgotherlastname's), all within a mile or two. There was even a hobby shop in a subway station on one of the lower levels.
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