Really old stuff still on your layout

[aloco]

The oldest stuff I have on my layout would be from the 1980s. 

AHM?  general store (yellow with green window and door castings)

Small Bachmann railway station (roof cut down and converted to a gas station)

Heljan octagonal water tower

Athearn SW7 dummy loco (heavily modified to represent a CN SW1200RS)

[0-6-0]

Hello the oldest I think is my dads Varney it was a kit he got it for his 15th birthday in 1945 . I found a b unit a  few years ago still a unbuilt kit . I also have a MDC 0-6-0 he got around the same time.

They still run and see track time every few months. Have a nice day Frank

[larsend]

The oldest, and the first locomotive I have, is a Varney F-3 which first touched the rails of my layout in September, 1947.  (I number my motive power with the month and year it first sees service)

I was in 7th grade at the time and the zimac body was painted with a brush.  I am now 78 yuears old.  I never repainted it because it was my "first effort"

It was given a Hobbytown of Boston ???  chassis and running gear sometime in the 1950s.  It is heavy,  and it runs well and will still pull the wallpaper off of the wall.

Sorry, no pictures.  I recently moved to Wisconsin from Idaho and the loco is somewhere burried in my stuff.

["JaBear"]

Bob, had read and  bookmarked both of them.

Thanks and Cheers, The Bear  

[Boise Nampa & Owyhee]

Bear...

 

Here is another link to a story I wrote for Labelle.......... it's about bending fine wire for grab irons.

https://www.labellemodels.com/twisting-wire-great-grab-irons-p-1376.html?osCsid=poegitjv8l3p1vk2ovr0a30n84

 

see ya

Bob

["JaBear"]

Gidday Dave and Bob, appreciate your replies.

Dave.   "In my experience with these kits you tend to do a great job--when building the third one!"              Yeah, that has been on the back of my mind as I have only one, and would to extremely surprised to find another one, so will take my time and document the steps I take, even (and hopefully not) the wrong ones.

The club I belong to has a fairly good library and for years due to family and work commitments the only "model railroading time" I had was reading an article or two In the Model Railroader or the RMC before I nodded off. I've really been fascinated by, and admired the guys who took the time to write, the "Dollar Car" type projects, and incidentally have speculated how many people built items from those articles, and have thought that one day when I have time would like to have a crack at some of them.

As for this particular kit I am inclined to build it "as is",oversize grab irons and all,  to "celebrate where the hobby was back then but incorporating both your ideas regarding the roof finishing and use of modern adhesives.

Bob, have bookmarked your grab iron articles for future reference.

Once again gents thanks for your tips and information.

Cheers, the Bear

 

[Boise Nampa & Owyhee]

Bear and Dave.

 

Great conversation.  These are the sorts of kits that teach a modeler to scratch built.

Bear...... the box lid that you show in the photo above is from the 1950's series.  The kits from the 40's came in a black box with silver lettering and end label.

Dave........... my solution to the wood grain issue on the roof is / was to put down a layer of Kleenex first. Put a layer of what ever color you are going to paint the roof and stick the Kleenex into the wet paint and then put down another coat over it to glue it down. Then put the roof ribs on  after and paint again.

Separate grab irons are a super idea.  Here is a  link to a "how to" story I wrote and submitted to Labelle Woodworking for their web site. It's about making a jig for drilling straight grab iron holes.

https://www.labellemodels.com/manuals/Grab%20Irons.pdf?osCsid=hrqhlc20jsfqmdgunobgrj2v27

see ya

Bob

[dknelson]

Hi Bear -- I have built several Silver Streak kits over the years, including back when that was normal off the shelf stuff.  Some of the techniques now seem a bit old fashioned -- eg, the stamped metal ribs for the roof that you bend under the roof overhang, which in turn tends to leave visible gaps.  There is an easy way to minimize this with a bit of filing into the wood but the instructions are silent on this.  The veteran builders learned to do a really nice job with those roof ribs. 

The wood grain on the roof piece is very obvious and the way to deal with it -- applications of sanding sealer followed by fine sandpaper followed by another application of sanding sealer followed by another sanding down -- is something that strikes you only once the car is finished and sitting on the layout.  Ditto if you want to capture the look of canvas or sealing paint that the prototype used.   Think about that before detailing and installing the roof pieces and instead do it when it is a raw piece of wood.

The one thing I really regretted with my first ever Silver Streak kit is not going even further with detailed airbrake piping and the like.  I was in a hurry and figured nobody would ever notice.

In one or two spots the assembly really called for a product which, if it even existed, was not as widely known or used back then: ACC. 

With careful thought you might be able to improve the kit right from the start.  For example the separate grab irons are a nice feature but the ones with the kit are oversized.  What I do not know is if any of the finer ones now available fit into both the predrilled holes.  The roof walk is undetailed and there are some nice ones now from Red Caboose and other makes -- don't be afraid to introduce some plastic into the assembly.

In my experience with these kits you tend to do a great job -- when building the third one!    But they are worth the bother for the unusual paint and lettering schemes and basic sound construction.  Indeed should you ever decide to scratch built a wood box car or reefer you could do far worse than to mimic the basic construction process of the Silver Streak kit: a basic box of wood upon which the more detailed end and side parts are applied.

Dave Nelson

["JaBear"]

Gidday, Interesting thread seeing things I've only read about in older magazines. Not sure of the time line and having only ever seen three assembled Silver Streak freight cars before, when this appeared on a sales table at the local train show I figured that it was for me. When assembled it , I suspect, will be the oldest thing on my layout.

Cheers,the Bear.

 

[HaroldA]

I think the oldest thing I have - outside of the owner - is an MRC Twinpower power pack that I bought back in 1973. It still works and I use it to power switch machines and some lighting.

[Boise Nampa & Owyhee]

I am still running the original Soo line box car that I got from Labelle in 1961.  I have tons of rolling stock from the 50's and 60's.  Most of my locomotives are 60's and 70's light brass steam.

 

see ya

Bob

[Beach Bill]

I like this thread; it just took me a bit to get a photo taken to share.  There is also a rather current thread on the "Bay Window Work Caboose" from Tru-Scale, which would qualify for this really old stuff column.

My entry is all that I have remaining from my first train set.  This is a Revell caboose.  Clearly modeled after a Union Pacific C-series, I re-lettered it for my railroad years ago.  The original set consisted of a UP SW9 with a rubber-band clutch drive, a NYC gondola, and a PFE reefer.  I received this Revell HO train set for Christmas, 1959.   I think that my Dad glued the brakeman on the back step, and he's been swinging aboard this caboose ever since.

Bill

[dknelson]

rrebell

Funny thing about that stuff is it came as just roadbed and with track also.

TruScale came three ways: pure wood roadbed in a variety of radius curves; roadbed with milled ties -- a good way to learn how to handlay track; and complete track, by which I mean, rail and roadbed and ties.  They had a line of turnouts to go with it.

That was considered deluxe stuff at the time.

Dave Nelson

[Grampys Trains]

I remember that Tru Scale roadbed, but it was way beyond my budget at the time, the 60's. The oldest piece on my layout is this Ulrich, metal, operating hopper. DJ.

[simon1966]

A small shot, but the only one I have on the PC, It is a Triang Minic Dockside switcher.  My first locomotive from I am guessing around 1968.   The pizza cutter wheels have to be seen to be believed. It still runs, though I have it on display more than on the track.

[trainboyH16-44]

I think I have all of you beat! I don't recall the brand (Maybe varney, but that doesn't sound right) but I recall the year - I have a 1954 Soo Line flatcar bouncing around on lovely sprung trucks, as well as a gondola from 56. I don't know when the power packs we use were made, but they're definitely from the 50s! One of them recently gave out under the smell of burning, but the other one is still working, and I've replaced the first one with a power cab, technology a full 60 years more advanced!

[dstarr]

I built this Ambroid 1 of 5000 kit caboose kit back in 1963. It was an all wood kit, just a bundle of strip wood, a few pot metal castings, and instructions.  It was illuminated originally, but the lights are out now, and there is no way to change them short of demolishing the model.

It is lettered for a free lance road I was going to build back then.   Roof is a Kleenix laid over the wood roof and painted black.  She still looks good enough to run on my current layout with models the B&M (with a good deal of modeler's license).  Don't ask me what happened to the smoke jack, I just don't remember.  One of these days I will start ballasting the track.

[dknelson]

I have some paper sided reefers from the late 30s, early 40s that still look nice enough to run on the layout.  Somewhere I have the old Picard wood body kits but i doubt if I will ever assemble them-- they date back to the mid 1930s (I am old but not THAT old -- but if you started going to train sales and swap meets in the early 1960s, folks were selling 30 year old stuff back then just like they do today).

Even before TruScale track and roadbed, there was Midlin track -- which had a sort of back to back rail, with the lower rail fitting into slots milled into the roadbed ties.  A neat idea which eliminated the need for track spikes.  Some guys reversed the rail and milled their own grooves -- and that lower rail was the first smaller than Code 100 in HO.

Dave Nelson

[rrinker]

 I dunno about the ORIGINAL inventor - the original inventor was killed in an automobile accident in the early 40's or so, it was even announced in MR at the time. He was very young at the time. Augie Kniff is the man most associated with True-Scale, but he was not the founder, nor the inventor. I don't think he was even the second owner, but rather the third.

             --Randy

 

[rrebell]

AltonFan

Eriediamond:

Ok, this may be crazy, but does anyone remember the wooden milled roadbed from the 40's?- 50's that you hand laid rail into and does anyone still have it. On second thought how far back does things go that are on your layout?

 

Sounds like Tru-Scale track.  I believe the product was still being manufactured as late as the 1980s.  I thought I read on another post that it is no longer being made although somebody might still have some stock available.

Funny thing about that stuff is it came as just roadbed and with track also. The original inventor and owner of the stuff said he was surprised anyone still used that stuff, as it was lousy!!!!!!!!!! I accually like it but it was not lay and play.

[rrinker]

 It is the same one. IHC was relaly just a resurrection of AHM after bankruptcy, and while most people associate Rivarossi with AHM, AHM did import products made by others. As companies merged or were aquired or failed in Europe, the dies often changed hands, so a model once seen as one company might reappear as another. The same thing happened here, over the history of model railroading.

                     --Randy

[jeffrey-wimberly]

georgev

 

Jeffrey,

Great shot of your Mogul.  What's always fascinating to me is how long the molds and dies for these locomotives are in use, and how the models can go through upgrades and enhancements while the basic structure stays the same.  In the case of your Pemco Mogul, I think it evolved into the IHC Mogul.  Take a look at the IHC-Hobby website. http://www.ihc-hobby.com/product/Mmogul

You're right. It looks almost identical.

[georgev]

jeffrey-wimberly

Here's another old item of mine. A PEMCO (Precision Engineered Model Company) Southern Crescent Mogul from the early 80's. The drive is in the tender and it merely pushes the loco around the layout. The drive mechanism is similar to that used by Tyco for it's 2-8-0 but is much more robust than the Tyco unit. The loco is a smoker though I have no idea if the smoke unit still works. I wouldn't use the smoke unit anyway as the residue from the smoke oil leaves a film on everything it touches. The loco still runs quite well though it tends to stall on turnouts as the pickup is from the loco wheels only.

 

..snip

Jeffrey,

Great shot of your Mogul.  What's always fascinating to me is how long the molds and dies for these locomotives are in use, and how the models can go through upgrades and enhancements while the basic structure stays the same.  In the case of your Pemco Mogul, I think it evolved into the IHC Mogul.  Take a look at the IHC-Hobby website. http://www.ihc-hobby.com/product/Mmogul

It's a smaller picture but the dome style and placement, bell, headlight, stack, cylinders with a slight inward slope all make it look like the same loco even though the drive is in the boiler for the IHC version.

George V.

 

[chatanuga]

The oldest things on my layout are probably my old Atlas locomotives and my Athearn FP45 (supposed to be an Amtrak SDP40F).

The Atlas SD24s date back to about 1983.  The Atlas SD35 and GP38s date to about a year or two afterwards or so, I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o0YFF44HuY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBHBvHgeLEA

The Athearn Amtrak unit dates to about that same timeframe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnHPPiKY7Kc

Kevin

 

 

 

 

 

[R. T. POTEET]

An up-close examination of my layout reveals that the oldest thing present is D.U.S.T.

[Eriediamond]

Thanks for all the responses and great photos. Sorry to say all my train stuff was given away or sold by my parents when I was away in Nam. Guess they thought I was too old for trains or something. Only one model survived and it was a Mantua 0-4-0 shifter with the old "Mantua loop-hook couplers" and a rhinestone jewel for the head light. Again, thanks for the memories !

[doctorwayne]

Heartland Division CB&Q

 

 

That's a great-looking scene, and I especially like the mix of paint schemes on those passenger cars.  That was something often seen but is seldom modelled.

Wayne

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

The old NYC Hudson is a Tenshodo model which was packed in nice wood box by the manufacturer. My Dad brought it home to me from Japan over 55 years ago. The NYC F9's are also Tenshodo and are almost as old as the Hudson. I restored the Hudson to nearly new condition about 6 or 7 years ago. The Hudson and the F9's run well for their age, but I keep them on display shelves over my worktable.

 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Here's another old item of mine. A PEMCO (Precision Engineered Model Company) Southern Crescent Mogul from the early 80's. The drive is in the tender and it merely pushes the loco around the layout. The drive mechanism is similar to that used by Tyco for it's 2-8-0 but is much more robust than the Tyco unit. The loco is a smoker though I have no idea if the smoke unit still works. I wouldn't use the smoke unit anyway as the residue from the smoke oil leaves a film on everything it touches. The loco still runs quite well though it tends to stall on turnouts as the pickup is from the loco wheels only.