Managed to get one of these not long ago,and although I spent more than I wanted to get it, I have no regrets!
It's really an interesting piece of history, and considering it was first made in 1952, this might just be the first motorized plastic model of an American diesel in HO scale! As far as I can find, the Globe F7, Varney plastic models and others came at least a year or two later. If anyone knows of a motorized plastic model older than this one though, let me know!
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Thanks for the review Darth. I like these old engines - simple and rugged.
Simon
Nice video Darth. I can't figure out how you keep track if all the screws you remove and where they go when it's time for reassembly. The three loco comparison was really interesting. Keep them coming please.
Joe
"The model designation followed the format of C (for Consolidation), F or P (Passenger or Freight), A or B (cab or cabless), two digits for horsepower, and one digit for the number of axles, so that CPA-24-5 was a 5-axle 2,400-hp passenger unit with a cab while CFB-16-4 would be a 4-axle, 1600-hp freight booster. Four-axle units used a B-B wheel arrangement, while a B-A1A wheel arrangement (three-axle rear truck with a center idler axle) was used on passenger units where the weight of the steam generator and feedwater tanks would cause the axle load to exceed 66,000 lb.[2]
The C-Line was intended to consist of seven models, with A and B (cab and cabless) versions of each: Four-axle freight units with 1600, 2000 or 2400 horsepower, four-axle passenger with the 1600-hp engine, and five-axle passenger units with all three engines.[1] However, several proposed models, including the CFA-24-4, CFB-24-4, CPB-20-5 and CPB-24-5 received no orders, and 1600-hp passenger units (in both 4- and 5-axle configurations) were only built by CLC."
"Louis Marx and Company produced a mid 1950's tinplate line of Fairbanks Morse styled 0 gauge engines. First in 1955-1959 came the Monon # 81, next in 1955-1962 came the Seaboard # 4000 and lastly in 1956-1960 was the classic Kansas City Southern # 54. Beautiful tin lithographed production ran all the way into the early 60's.[4]
Life-Like (and later Walthers) produced plastic A- and B-unit models of the four-axle freight C-Line locomotives in HO scale (Proto 1000 series) and N scale (Proto series). Because the C-Line units had identical car bodies, these models are correct for CFA-16-4, CFB-16-4, CFA-20-4 and CFB-20-4 locomotives. They are no longer in production.
Tru-Line Trains made 4- and 5-axle C-Liners in HO and N scale. The site announced that they were returning to production, but no date was given.[5] On August 24, 2020, Atlas announced that they had acquired some Tru-Line Trains molds including the HO scale C-Line model.
Atlas Model Railroad made plastic models of the five-axle passenger C-Liner between 1967 and approximately 1969.
Rivarossi produced plastic four-axle C-Liner A- and B-units between 1954 and 1982. This model was later sold under the AHM brand.
Lionel announced 0 gauge versions of the CPA units (ex. MTH Tooling) in their 2021 Volume 2 catalog. Scroll to pages 30-33. Dealer Trainworld announced custom versions for the Long Island Rail Road, clad in other LI liveries than offered in the catalog."
Millions of veterans will testify to the virtues of BRASSO
I think AHM changed the production source of the C-Liner to Mehano in Yugoslavia sometime in the 70s.
Thanks, it's always interesting working on these old models! The 50's and 60's were really a time full of new ideas for making HO scale models, so it seems like there's always something interesting to find.
BEAUSABRE, the stuff is definitely effective, although I have learned not to squeeze out too much in an unventilated area! For Wikipedia's entry on the Rivarossi model, they do seem to have some of the info wrong. According to the production records on the Rivarossi history website (rivarossi-memory.it), they produced it from 1952 to 1971.
azrail, from the catalog entires I can find, the Mehano models imported by AHM started in 1963. I think from that point on the Rivarossi models were only sold in Europe, and were discontinued in 1971 when Mehano fully took over the tooling.
Great review Darth and plenty of good info to take into other projects!!
Don; Prez, CEO or whatever of the Wishram, Oregon and Western RR
To expand on Beausabre's notes, the Atlas 5-axle C-Liner made in the late 1960s was in N scale. Based on lettering cast into the frame, it was assembled alternately in Italy and Yugoslavia during this period, from Rivarossi-supplied parts.
Adding to the list, in the early 1970s, Atlas released a four-axle C-Liner in O scale, manufactured by Rivarossi. Unfortunately, it was notoriously underpowered.
One of these days I would love to find and buy one of the HO Pere Marquette-painted models that Rivarossi produced briefly in the late 1950s. It is completely unprototypical (the PM was merged into the C&O four years before the C-Liner was introduced) and rather scarce, but just plain looks neat.
-Fritz Milhaupt, Publications Editor, Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc.http://www.pmhistsoc.org