Several days ago, while looking for some technical information on a prototype shortline, I ran across the 1st Walthers Catalog, which I purchased, for the grand price of $3.75, which was a bit of money back then.
Most manufacturers of the time were carried by Walthers, some which were not, included Train Miniaturers, Tyco and AHM to name a few.
Back then, we did indeed have a good selection to choose from.
HO Scale vehicles, though, was rather limited.
All together we did have it good, back then.
Run Eight All together we did have it good, back then.
In the 70's and 80's I worked in two different hobby shops. I still have most Walthers Catalogs back to about 1983. I did have several older ones, lost track of them somehow?
Sheldon
7j43k Run Eight All together we did have it good, back then. Only 'cause we didn't know what we didn't have. I was there, too. I enjoyed my HO trains. But, except for nostalgic purposes, I doubt I would buy ANYTHING from back then. What we have now is SO MUCH BETTER. Now, I will back down from my absolute condemnation of "stuff back then": I do believe that I would buy more of Model Engineering Works small side dump cars. I've got one. Only need one, really. But it would be happy with a couple of buddies to hang out with. And I do still think the Athearn metal round roof boxes look quite good. I've got several waiting to be built. There's a couple of things not quite right, like the door guides, maybe. And maybe the ladders, too. Not really in the olden days class, but the Kadee disconnected logging trucks are still quite neat. Funny thing, though. To look really proper, you've got to install Sergent couplers. Kinda funny, that. The Walthers heavyweight cars might still squeak by, but not too many people can pull them off. And they'll still never be as good as the plastic ones. That's about all that comes to mind. Ed
Well Ed, some stuff from back in the day holds up, some not. It also depends on your era, prototype and modeling style.
I still have lots of Athearn and Varney metal freight cars, Silver Streak, etc.
But all my locos still in use have been made in the last 20 years..........
Interesting you should mention the 1977 catalog from Walthers, as that was the first year they also published a separate catalog (cost $1) for the Terminal Hobby Shop. That included the lines that they carried and were prepared to sell and distribute to dealers but which were NOT included in the general "Walthers catalog." At that time Walthers was a genuine manufacturer at its Milwaukee factory, and also printed its own line decals.
So in the Terminal Hobby Shop catalog you had Con-Cor's N scale stuff, La Belle Woodworking car kits, Bowser's locomotives and traction line, Cary boilers and shells, Hobbytown of Boston, the Kar Line custom paint versions of Athearn, Shinohara track, a surprising amount of brass, and so on.
The Terminal Hobby Shop was their retail outlet and it was very interesting because you could get factory seconds of stuff they made (plastic as well as cast metal) for dirt cheap.
Dave Nelson
I don't know if I ever had the 1977 catalog but I have saved both the 50th and 75th anniversary catalogs. What this has allowed me to do is compare prices from different eras. People are fond of saying that the hobby has gotten too expensive but if you adjust for inflation, like items still cost about the same. Many of the same structure kits are still being sold today, sometimes under a different name but it's still the same kit. There is little difference in the prices. Some a little cheaper, some a little more expensive but on average, pretty close to the same. Comparing locos is apples to oranges since DCC and sound give us features not available a generation ago. Still if you look at the price of a non-sound DC loco today and adjust for inflation, it's still comparable. The detailing on today's locos is much better too. The hobby is neither cheap nor prohibitively expensive. As with everything else in our lives, you get what you pay for.