Each Monday I pick an old issue of MR from the same month we are in, and invite comments, discussion, random or not so random thoughts about it, just as in a true book club. The idea was to create an incentive for those of us with the new All Access Pass into the Digital Archives to snoop around older issues -- but those with the DVD of back issues or who have the issue in hard copy are all welcome to comment and join in.
Sometimes by the way a letter to the editor, or a multi-part article, invites exploration of still other issues of MR -- also fair game for book club discussion.
March 1978 was edited by Russ Larson (whose editorial is on the subject of armchair model railroaders), and this was long enough ago that even the cover boasts of the all color Trackside Photos.
One of the big advertisers then was Hobbies for Men and I see they were promoting Bachmann U36B and U33B locomotives ... for $3.99! Knowing Bachmann quality back then I am glad I had the strength to resist. But I also see the low prices for the Tyco structure kits -- most of them commonly used in Art Curren's wonderful kitbashing articles -- and I wish I'd bought more of them.
Trade Topics reviews a Fine Scale Miniatures logging repair shed kit for what now seems like a "mere" $36.95 -- beautifully assembled and reviewed by Bob Hayden.
There are scale drawings for several structures (and a steam locomotive) and a typically entertaining structure construction article by E.L. Moore -- it seems hard to believe but MR and RMC would get (and published) letters of complaint about Moore's articles not being serious enough. I think it was in RMC that one angry letter-writer proposed the creation of the Help Stamp Out E. L. Moore Society (or some such name), and a few months later he sheepishly wrote that only one person had written him to join the Society ... and that was E.L. Moore!
Edward Steinberg has an article on scratchbuilding a depressed center flat car that follows Erie and Reading prototypes - he gets it done in just two pages. I may not build that very car but it reminds me I have just portions of two old Red Ball depressed center flatcar kits that I have never been able to complete and this article may help me create the missing pieces.
I have seem more than one roundhouse on layout tours that follows Eric Lundberg's "fishbowl" idea (p. 84) to use a Plexiglass roof to show the interior detail and the locomotives. So this was an influential article and idea.
Those are just a few of the features that struck me as I reviewed the issue. Have at it, folks, and post your thoughts and comments so we can discuss them in the book club.
Dave Nelson
I remember Heath Kit. It's fun to see their afvertizement again!
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
Thanks for tee-ing this up again, Dave.
I realize that the MRs of certain periods are one's I never saw, and this is an example. There were some decades before my Jr Hi / HS years, then this period (including 1978) between my first RR hobby and my 1980 venture when the last newborn stimulated a layout, then the period 1989-2008 or so when I tackled the first grandchild's small layout.
My first interest in this issue is the Bowser loco kits. Can one find an unbuilt Challenger kit occasionally? I'd sure enjoy that!
Lastly, I noticed the large number of ads, certainly much more space than today. And the LHS listing of 10-2/3 pgs versus 3 currently. I'd venture that the recent issue of almost 2/3 the pages of the 1978 issues is doing pretty good, given the relative ad space drop and LHS indicators.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
Something that always stuck out on the product reviews is in this one on the FSM structure - "It took me about 2 weeks of evenings". I'd see plenty of others, like freight car kits, where they say "completed in one evening". Now, I don't know how long these people were staying up, but they did have 'day jobs'. Granted, these are usually professionals, who have built a lot more kits than I have, but it was always an unrealistic expectation, I think.
Another long time multi-page advertiser - Hobbies For Men - could you imagine setting up a company with that name today?
Troller power packs - I kind of always wanted one of those back in those days. There was at one point some controversy with them, I think about applying UL labels to products that were not certified.
More after I finish reading it.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
This was back in the heyday of large multi-page ads in MR. By the mid-90's, many of the big advertisers saw the writing on the wall(Internet) and smaller ad with a 'link' to their web page. One can see what happended to the LHS's by the drop in hobby shop listings.
Troller had some great advertising - They would supply power packs at large train shows, and the operators could buy them at the end of the show for 1/2 price. The big issue with Troller was the output transistor would blow - I replaced a lot of them for friends over the years. They were the only effective competition for MRC back in the DC days. But like many power pack manufacturers, they dropped to the wayside. Most were rather small marketplace competition to MRC. Not sure, but did they later become another brand(Chicago Model Power or Hogger) in later years?
This was also the swan song for mainline 'brass' for many modelers - The prices kept going up paster than paychecks. And many new modelers anly remembered diesel, so the new good running Atlas engines of the time started to really take hold. Many modelers were still detailing/painting and that would really take off as Details West/Detail Associates started providing 'parts'. An interesting era in modeling.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Speaking of MRC, the inside cover is an ad for MRC's new Controlmaster I. It was the mass market version of technological advances in transistors and circutry incorporated in several otther products of a more elite character (some with ads elsewhere in this issue), but for only $40 -- which of course went a lot farther then than it does now, but a not unreasonable sum to bring "standstill motion" to your layout. The still well-liked Controlmater 20 would be the descendant of this innovative product.
You can sure tell it's the pre-PC, pre-Mac era when the first letter in RPO cites John Allen's use of the "proper methid to show smoke coming from the stack, which is by retouching the print." What would John and Mr. Paul (the letter writer) think of Photoshop???
I'm still kicking myself for not picking up the $90 kit for the Silverton Northern RR's Casey Jones railbus HOn3 kit from SS Ltd (even though they improperly attribute its provenance to the Silverton RR.) This is a model that someone should produce again in RTR and it would sell like hotcakes.
I really liked the article on modeling the Rio Grande standard gauge Mikados. No plans with it, but there were plans for jhalf a dozen other cars, structures, etc.
And how about that 9-year old girl's impressive layout? She was way better at things like scenery and structures than I was as a teenager.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
This issue was published about a year after I let my subscription lapse. I was finishing college and I had run out of time and resources for model trains. I spent 1977 bringing my layout to a point of closure and it was around March of '78 that I gave it to a promising high-school aged modeler. There is irony that the editorial on page 51 is about armchair modelers and that's about the time I became one.
The ad for the limited edition railbus on page 16 struck me. I'd love to find one of those kits today.
The Belmont Shore Railroad Club's layout and Pasadena Club's Laout seem to show a lot of John Allen's influence on the way we made scenery:lots of bridges and dramatic mountains.
The structure articles on pages 62, 66, 72, and 76 are something I miss in the magazines today - photos of prototype stuctures and detailed orthographic drawings. There were a few times I built models based on these drawings, but mostly I just liked to look at the drawings. I learned manual drafting in school and I admired the quality of these drawings; I had some idea of the work and expertise they represented and I appreciated them greatly. They were pre-CAD so they were done by hand (pencil on paper, and then manually inked). They were beautiful.
This magazine was still entrenched in the era of limited RTR models. Kits and scratch building were much of the the hobby was about. It's great to look back.
Phil, I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.
I did a quick view of this issue and one of the first things that popped into my mind was the uncanny resemblance of the robot in the cartoon on page 129 to C3PO of Star Wars fame. I wonder if that's where he got his start?
That enticed me to do a more detailed review and I found a few things that interested me.
First, there were way too many layouts with impossibly steep cliffs that just happen to run parallel to the tracks on the levels both above and below the cliffs. OK, that's hard to avoid but it stretches reality IMO.
I noted the considerable amount of lighting in the N scale coffee table layout, including an ambulance with a lighted interior. I was impressed.
On page 56 in the top picture there is some amazing detail painted into the backdrop. The whole diorama is only 9" deep, and it is tough to see where the actual trees stop and the backdrop starts.
The Wasco gas station article was interesting, but where's the model?
The huge outdoor HO layout on page 98 was built by the National Enquirer!?! I'm not sure if I would be comfortable using them as a reliable source of information for building my railroad.
The article on page 108 about 'Limited Operation' raised some interesting points about model locomotive pulling power vs what the prototype could actually do. That's something to keep in mind when operating. I was amused by the author's statement that there is nothing wrong with 6 - 8% grades!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
It's 1978, the year AFTER Star Wars, so yes, the robot in the cartoon looks a lot like C3PO.
The earlier cartoon (p. 24?), with the couple looking at the house - that one nails it right in the bullseye.
...am I Imagining things, or was there a greater variety of HOn3 and On3 stuff??
Bear,
There were a couple of things going on in 1978 that this reflects. First, there was no National Narrow Gauge Convention yet. It didn't start until 1980 in St. Louis.
So magazines were the primary source of info for modelers in the pre-internet age. Yet the NG&SL Gazette was still finding its way into hobby shops in its 3rd year. There were other NG mags before, but they had relatively limited circulation. Eventually, many of the NG advertisers moved over to the Gazette, perhaps leaving the impression things were in decline from reading just MR, but that was hardly the case.
While NG had been growing since the 60s, by the mid 70s it had really started to pickup the pace. The Rail Line D&RGW 3000 series plastic kit was a relatively recent arrival, but an important one. While not a shake the box kit, it went a lot faster than the existing standard material, wood.
I never saw a dual throttle Troller. At one time I think every Lhs in the area had a single throttle as the demo unit on the counter. Maybe they lasted longer when not so much was asked of them.
They seemed to be the only competitor to Mrc. Poor quality will get you every time
Randy!
Star Wars is 38 years old?!? I knew it went back a bit but to think I was only 22 years old when it was released! Its a bit sobering
77, 80, and 83 for the first 3. Yup, that old!
As I go through these older issues I am constantly on the look-out for Northern Pacific Locomotives. They were not in very plentiful supply, way back then, either!
The “Tank car to Gas Station” article would be a different scene to model, plus it’s prototypical. Cheers, the Bear.
Paint shop featured Soo U30c F units and a caboose. Another road which is seldom featured
Sir, How can I PM you?? Like to ask you some questions about Tru-scale models.
thanks
Roy
Thanks Mike, I hadn’t considered those reasons. I gather the “Narrow Gauge & Shortline Gazette” is an excellent publication, just that I don’t want to see one as I don’t need to get sidetracked any further!!Smile, Wink & Grin
Quite highly regarded. They helped start the annual NNGC. They still have build articles quite frequently, but like other pubs has been shfting a bit away from that. They do standard gauge, too, as much of what they popularize is more about applied techniques, works with anything. You'd enjoy it....
I suspect its influence is repsonsible for something else. Used to be a lot of narrowgauge in MR, now not so much. The Gaz filled that hole pretty well. Nothing nefarious, rather they settled down some time ago to a natural division of labor. And it's not exclusive by any means, just that the overlap between MR and the Gaz is pretty minimal. The hobby is better for it.
Another aspect is that Kalmbach serves as the distributor for the Gaz. That's likely improved in several ways
I read the RPO column and it truly seemed the comments made, could have been made today! One guy complained about the cover photo of the December 1977 issue, so I had to go back and see what he was talking about. The photo is of an area of the Carrabassett & Dead River Railway, seen in Dave Frary's Book on Scenery and the photo won third place in MR first ever color photo contest. The photo is very well done, however the wispy cotton puff of smoke coming from the loco's stack doesn't look very real. Most of the letters in this RPO Column had to do with the December 1977 issue. This has lead me to need to look at this issue whch many of the writers felt to be a watershed issue.
In these trips through the archives we will undoubtedly see prices for products from bygone days so I thought this cost of living calculator might give us some perspective:
http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
For example, that FSM structure that sold for $36.95 in 1978 would cost $132.45 in today's dollars.
NP2626 I have noticed the almost total dominance of MRC power packs previous to DCC coming along. Yes, there are others; but, for advertisements, I don’t think anyone came close to MRC. There were a lot of multiple throttle, power packs. I remember thinking when I saw these, way back when, that they would not be very fun to use, being in such close proximity to the other guy! There is also a lot more advertisements for brass equipment and brass dealers than you see today. 1978 Catalog from Walthers, $4.00 Although an interesting idea, I don’t think I would have ever considered building a see through roof on my roundhouse. The details you would pass-up by not having a real roof I would not be willing to givie up. However, I do like the idea of providing a view inside the roundhouse like Tony Koester has provided by hacking off a side and I would likely have done this with mine, had I of thought of it. As I go through these older issues I am constantly on the look-out for Northern Pacific Locomotives. They were not in very plentiful supply, way back then, either!
I purchased one of those Controlmaster I power packs and got many good years out of it on my old DC layout. I still have it and it still works but it has been relegated to powering turnouts and other accessories at the far end of the layout. Kind of like a retiree taking a part time job.
I used the inflation calculator to figure that $39.98 MSRP for the Controlmaster I in 1978 would cost $143.31 in today's dollars. Interestingly, I initially hit the calculate button without changing the default date of 1980. Moving just two years forward, that same $39.98 only translated to $113.39 in today's dollars. That's a reminder of how rampant inflation was in that period.