KMT Trains

[Anonymous]

Dave F;

Tried again, scrolled to bottom and it worked.
Thanks for the tip and the great story. Sorry I
misspelled your name in my last post. I fixed
it.

[Dave Farquhar]

Kind of weird to see a link to your own stuff in a forum posted by someone else...

As far as the link goes, it just worked when I tried it. Brought up the story in the first go.

I've seen a peculiar behavior where my stylesheet causes Internet Explorer to bury the story content. It's not consistent in when it happens so I haven't been able to fix it yet. Try scrolling to the bottom of the page and see if the story shows up there, and let me know if you run into anything else.

Thanks,

Dave

[Anonymous]

Link goes to a page by Dave Farquhar. It has a search
engine. When I key in "American Model Toys" it lists a
story line. When I attempt to open a story line it reverts
to a blank/home page and the story will not appear.

Broken link? What's up? The story looks like it could
be interesting!

(edited for spelling and typos)

[Anonymous]

Here is a good quick read on the American Model Toys, Inc. history

http://dfarq.homeip.net/article.php?story=2004062921594032

[Anonymous]

The plastic wheels, trucks and couplers on the Kusan
rolling stock that I have are compatible with Lionel and
other trains of today and will run on their track. I had to
add some weight to the cars unless they were on the
end of the train or they tended to derail from being pull-
ed off the track by other regular cars.

The engines, on the other hand, have very narrow treads
on the wheels and tend to derail by the inside wheel
falling into the rail and the outside wheel climbing the
rail. This is the main reason I packed away those locos.
I am getting ready to pull them out and display them on
shelves in my train room as static models. The locos are
fair duplicates of Lionel's ALCO FA-1 diesel locos. Could
even pass as direct copies (I wonder who came first?)

(edited for typos and spelling)

[alton6]

The traditionally-sized Kusan trains with plastic wheels could run on either 2-rail or 3-rail. I think Kusan also made a track system which was convertible either way. These engines were generally powered for 2-rail, a few by battery like the forerunner of the current RMT "switcher". I don't have any of these and can't verify, but some people have commented that these engines were light weight and marginally powered. Weight could be added, of course. At it's price point, Kusan's K-Series locomotives and cars were fairly innovative, and more than a few survive today.

Carl

[Anonymous]

I, too, have some KMT items. I have the diesel that you described,
I also have a diesel that is pinted all silver and is lettered for Burl-
ington. Also have a yellow plastic unpainted boxcar that is a fair
copy of the Lionel 6464 series boxcar with an open door (molded)
on one side. And a caboose, again, yellow unpainted. The boxcar
is lettered "Kusan Railroad" "K.R.R" with the number 70203 and
capacity and load limits and weights. The lettering is on the open-
door side. No lettering on the closed-door side. the caboose is let-
tered "Kusan Line" with the number 2710 on one side. This is the
same caboose that appeared on the Taylor Made Trucks Lionel
series and is marketed by K-Line for teir lower priced trains. I also
understand that Ready Made Toys is getting ready to market this
caboose to go with their line of locomotives. Hope some of this is
helpful to you. I don't know the numbers on my plastic diesels as
they are packed away. Will try to dif them out and check.

[choochin3]

I remember seeing the Atomic train many years ago at Pro Custom in Catonsville.I think that it had a target car similar to Lionels But the target was a ping pong ball or a styrofoam ball.Didn't Kusan trains run on 2 rail tinplate track?Thanx alton6 for your reply!!!

[alton6]

mkohn....I haven't heard of any, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. I have seen generic articles in CTT and elsewhere. Just the other day, I read a piece in an 80's TCA Quarterly about Bill McClain's Kusan. But, no really technical stuff. Anyone?

choochin3.....Kusan was a plastic product manufacturer, I think primarily in the electonics field back in the mid to late 50's. They also sought to produce lower-end toy train niche items with as few parts and as much plastic as possible. I think the Kannon Ball had a few cars. Some sets were motorized. Kusan today is mostly remembered for it's Atomic Train set which was marketed after the Sputnik hullabaloo.

Carl

[choochin3]

I recently purchased a unpowered locomotive made by Kusan.It is all plastic even the wheels.Black and silver paint.Kusan Kannonball lettering in red.Does anyone have any info on this unit ? I would like to know what cars and other pieces came with this train. Any help would be greatly apprieciated !!!! THANX!!!

[mkohn]

Yes, I like these AMT pieces, but I really want the engine to work. Do you know if any repair manuals or sheets exist? Or any articles in back issues that explains any of this?

Michael

[alton6]

Wish I could help you out with the AMT f-series engine wiring. I've got two of these puppies, both in Burlington. One runs great, but only in forward. The other--dead in the water. With many and varied wires inside, it resides on a shelf.

Nice pieces aren't they?

Carl.

[mkohn]

Speaking of AMT trains, does anyone have wiring information on an AMT F3? The motor runs great, but won't run on the track. And there are some loose wires inside the body. Can't figure this out. Thanks

[marxman]

Type KMT or Kusan into the eBay Search. There are always a few listed for sale.

[marxman]

The tooling anthology goes like this: AMT (American Model Trains), KMT (Kusan Model Toys) KMT (Kris Model Trains--no engines, just boxcars, stockcars & reefers) sold to Williams Trains, sold to K-line, plus Ready Made Toys.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all of the great info guys! I think a few of these cars might have to end up in my collection now!

[3railguy]

KMT (Kris Model Trains) is also known as Kusan. Andy Kriswaulus (sp) owned the company. They offered both 3 rail and 2 rail 027i***rains. The 3 rail models were compatible with Lionel but cheaper.

Kusan sold much of its tooling to Williams and K Line. The RMT Beeps are from old Kusan tooling which Williams owned for awhile (Might Mite). Williams F-7's and K-Line Alco FA shells are made from old Kusan tooling. K-Line shadow rail track also originated from Kusan track tooling (042). It has the same rail profile as Lionel 031.

Greenburg printed a book on these trains.

[Dave Farquhar]

I forgot, before the tooling ended up at KMT, it spent some time with a company called Kusan. The story is told in Greenberg's Guide to Kusan Trains. The book is long since out of print, but your library may be able to get a copy through interlibrary loan.

[Dave Farquhar]

KMT (as well as its parents, Auburn and AMT) don't have a huge following today. They're nowhere near as easy to find as Lionels of the same vintage, but I've seen KMT boxcars in original boxes for $10 or $12. I guess you could call KMT the Marx of O31. If you're looking to build up a fleet of semi-scale rolling stock inexpensively, they're a good bet.

They pop up on eBay occasionally. Again, usually the going price is pretty low. Frequently the seller doesn't know what it is, so they're often misclassified. The KMT rolling stock that I've seen have the initials "KMT" molded into the wheels.

[alton6]

Kris Model Trains (KMT) folded decades ago. It was a line of very good quality. Cars were quite sturdy and more semi-scale than traditional in size. A lot of these cars live on, fitted with different trucks, in the Williams line.

If you are looking for the REAL thing, keep an eye out for American Model Toys (AMT) cars and locos. 'Twas the papa.

Welcome to the forum.

Carl

[Anonymous]

In the latest issue, on the last page I believe of the plastics article, there is an advertisement depicting KMT Trains. I'm only 22 and have never heard of KMT Trains. Could someone explain them to me? Are they collected today by people or did they vanish? I tried doing a net search and couldn't find anything....