Terrible Model Railroading fads/ideas/products that died off?

[billslake]

I used brass track for the first 15-20 years . . . it was the only track available.  When I built a layout in out first house, in the late 70s, I used NS . . . because it looked better.

[Jetrock]

mersenne6

   Jetrock - It's my understanding that the biggest deposits of unobtainium can be found on Pandora

 

Well, that explains why we had to go off-world to find it; we totally depleted Earth's supply of unobtainium by the mid-1970s!

[John Busby]

Hi all

Well I am surprised

No one has mentioned the most useless and incompetent piece of model railroad design that just should never have been allowed to continue.

As it covers up bad first design and when failed you can never get the right spare.

And that is traction tyres.

They get the lemon of a life time award from me because all it means to me is that the loco so fitted is a, BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!! erhm sorry about the language, but I hate them it means cheap skate poor design in the first place.

I just will not knowingly purchase a loco so fitted and then if discovered straight away before use will then be returned for refund.

I just won't pay good money for a #### product I can't afford to.

I am surprised many Toy Train products are listed they are surely out of context with a Model Railroad thread

I had some similar items as a child and loved them.

Strange or funny names for Railroads and lineside are as old as the hobby it's self. 

Love them or hate them I think they are here to stay.

regards John

 

[riogrande5761]

I'm not going to re-read through 5 pages but did anyone mention those magnetic air hoses that WOWed everyone a year or two ago?  I was recently reminded of them in another forum and every since the initial wow factor, I totally forgot about them.  Bad idea or no, they looked cool in a close up video but seriously, how many peope had the time or money to out fit more than a few cars with them?  Probably it would be rare to find a layout with all the freight cars outfitted and operational.

After the initial video's of the magnetic operational air hoses came out, I totally forgot about them.  I but a number of peope bought a few to play with but expect these may have fallen into the category of this thread after a year or so.

[Soo Line fan]

The GSB sd 40-2 was another disappointment.  Nice body, motor and details. Terrible trucks and production delays doomed a great idea.

[csxns]

riogrande5761

to out fit more than a few cars

Pelle Soeborg.

[riogrande5761]

csxns

 

 

riogrande5761

 

to out fit more than a few cars 

Pelle Soeborg.

Ah, did Pelle do the magnetic brake hose treatment to his entire fleet?

It will be interesting to see, but in terms of practicality, I wonder if the magnetic brake hoses will ever grow beyond a novelty stage.  The fact that you have to buy and install them individually on potentially many many cars makes me think only a few individuals will go to the trouble.  But I could be wrong.  They are cool looking.

[archy]

eaglescout

 

I don't think brass rail was a fad or a bad idea as many of us still utilize it today.  It never warranted as bad a rap as it still gets from many out there.  It may not work as well for DCC but works fine for DC users.

[/quote]

 

And as battery powered and radio controlled units progress down to the smaller scales, it may not matter whether the track is electrically conductive or not at all. Consider Bachman's steel track, or even an extruded graphite/ carbon-boron composite resin scaled down to prototype code 40 or so. So long as there exists a short section of electrically-connected trackage for recharging locomotive batteries- or if such can be accomplished wirelessly via induction- it just won't matter, except from an appearance standpoint.    

[archy]

Kitty litter for scenic roadway ballast and hopper car/tender loads. This was maybe not as bad for those working larger scales, and for those without cat access to the modeling area.

[Soo Line fan]

Lionel railscope, poor performance and black and white images. 

[andrechapelon]

Jetrock

Maybe it should be filed under the "whimsical industry name" category, but it seemed like model railroads of the 1960s (as seen in MR) were often likely to have an "unobtainium" mine somewhere. This mythical mineral must have been completely mined out, as the modern unobtainium industry seems to have vanished among contemporary model railroaders. Or is there demand for an April Fools' edition of "The Model Railroader's Guide to Industries Along The Tracks: Unobtaininum Mining"?

 

The history of unobtainium: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2015/08/unobtanium-real-substance/

 

The use of the name by model railroaders is pre-dated by its use by aerospace engineers.

 

Andre

[friscobob56]

Not bloody likely...............

 

[friscobob56]

True, brass track has its problems, especially with oxidation, but it still beats the steel track some manufacturer put out. Steel track is a waste of resources, and belongs in the dustbin of bad ideas along with plastic Kadee coupler knock-offs. The other products (horn-hook couplers, track with fiber ties) would never be seen on my layout these days, but I understand that was what was available back then.

 

[riogrande5761]

The final nail in the X2F coffin was when the KD clones hit the market (not that I like them) but then the X2F was finally relegated to memory for most of us.  The X2F is dead, long live the X2F!  

[IRONROOSTER]

Ah the X2F coupler. 

A string of cars with truck mounted X2F's on 15" curves.  Guaranteed to derail on every backup.

Those were the days

Enjoy Paul

[BRAKIE]

Paul,Just the thought of coupler mounted X2F couplers makes me chuckle.. All to sadly that's the way most younger modelers think of those couplers.

Younger modelers meaning those that wasn't around when the X2F was body mounted and worked quite well when properly mounted.

As far as backing up there are those among us that can't back a cut of KD coupler equipped cars without dumping them on the ground.

I suspect I could back a cut of cars with truck mounted couplers around those 15" curves since its all in the speed.

[sfcouple]

Not neccesarily a bad idea but I've never seen one since: back in the 1950s my brother and I received a gift from Santa Clause of an American Flyer layout on a 4x8 piece of plywood which had an automatic cattle loader.  The loader consisted of a vibrating piece of a fuzzy material in the stock yard that would allow the 'vibrated' cattle to move up a ramp and into a cattle car. it sort of worked!  

But boy oh boy what I wouldn't give to have that American Flyer locomotive and cars with me today!  Neither my brother nor I have any idea what happened to them?

Wayne 

[stebbycentral]

sfcouple

Not neccesarily a bad idea but I've never seen one since: back in the 1950s my brother and I received a gift from Santa Clause of an American Flyer layout on a 4x8 piece of plywood which had an automatic cattle loader.  The loader consisted of a vibrating piece of a fuzzy material in the stock yard that would allow the 'vibrated' cattle to move up a ramp and into a cattle car. it sort of worked!  

But boy oh boy what I wouldn't give to have that American Flyer locomotive and cars with me today!  Neither my brother nor I have any idea what happened to them?

Wayne 

 

Wayne, you would be surprised how many those things are alive and well today.  Officially called the "771-Operating Stockyard", like most Flyer accessories they were built to last.  Repair parts are still available today from various aftermarket firms.  For the material on the bottom of the cows, many people substitute the replacement pads from those painter's trim tools that are found in hardware stores.  The key I understand is to orient the bristles on the pad in the opposite of the direction you want the cow to travel. 

 

And that might have a lot to do with this discussion; many of the items mentioned were not really bad ideas, but rather good ideas excecuted cheaply.  One product I remember from years back was a series of operating accessories that pulled power from the locomotive.  You back the loco onto this special track section and the spinning wheels transmitted motion through a series of drums and drive lines that ran a crane, a hoist, a log dump, ect.  It was all made out of plastic and I am sure it probably flew apart after only a few uses.