The Bathtub Layout. I nearly electrocuted myself.
Rich
Alton Junction
Mheetu IHC Vanderbilt Tender ..... think they over done it alittle
IHC Vanderbilt Tender ..... think they over done it alittle
Mheetu, Just sayin, thats a Rivarossi B&O 2-10-2 tender. Although, IHC MIGHT of made some....
Anyways, not including what was already said, I think Rivarossi's engines and cars in general arn't the best. (Over sized flanges, molded on detail, bad motors, loud gears, and cheap construction(like how their cars have the truck mounted hornhook couplers and the trucks are mounted via plastic pins, etc...))
Just my opinion
Charles
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Modeling the PRR & NYC in HO
Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/@trainman440
Instagram (where I share projects!): https://www.instagram.com/trainman440
I, too, decried the idea of giving a model railroad a cutesy-poo name. John Allen's "Gorre & Daphetidd (or however it was spelled; I don't feel like looking it up) was almost universally mispronounced, back in the day. Most of us had no idea it was a pun--and most of the modelers I knew, including myself and my brother, pronounced it: "Gore and Daff-a-tid," just the way it was spelled, and most of us thought it was just names for the villages or towns on his excellent layout. It's interesting to note that Allen mentioned several times that the cuteness wore off quite soon, but it had gone to far for him to change it.
There was an excellent model railroad in Toronto called the B&R RR, which turned out to be named for the father and young son when started. I suspect they, too, may have regretted this decision when the son became a grownup. It was a hard enough job for us to convince outsiders that this was serious hobby, just "grown men playing with trains," when people named their roads things like the Putt-Putt Central, and I find it sad to see modern modelers writing about "playing with trains" after we and our forebears spent 70 or 80 years trying to discourage it. However, to each his own; as long as you're enjoying yourselves. My own HO Colorado Western became somewhat well known in the pages of Railroad Model Craftsman, back in the '70s---even if I did steal the Colorado Midland's herald. I think it was Tony Koester who spread the use of the term "prototype freelancing" to describe the practice. Enjoy. Excelsior!
Deano
Can I add a 1/1 example? Southern Pacific/ Santa Fe merger's blazing "Kodachrome" paint scheme! Reason enough to be glad it didn't come to pass.
Back to models... Fuzzy-hairy junk sticking out of steam loco smoke stacks never looked good, only ruined the photos.
AHM Rivarossi steamers were always geared way too fast. Exception; the Heisler. It's the only Rivarossi loco I still have in original form.
Bernd The car with the propeller on end. MR had ads for it. Could it have been AHM? Bernd
The car with the propeller on end. MR had ads for it. Could it have been AHM?
Bernd
Atlas made that thing.
Another bad idea was Athearn's clip on plastic coupler box lids found on BB locomotives..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
The X2F coupler applies to this topic description - it was another mainstream item for a long time, even if despised by many. RIP the X2F coupler and glad it's mainly in the dust bin of history.
[quote]
Geared Steam Off themed train sets, like NASCAR.........
Off themed train sets, like NASCAR.........
Again, another non-qualifier for this topic. Sure, serious model railroaders think those are silly toys but yet they continue to be produced over the years - there seems to be a significant market for that kind of stuff for sports or auto racing enthusiasts.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
One man's poison is another man's treasure...or some such.
Although the horn hooks came in handy at the start of my MRR hobby I do believe the things did not perform all that well.
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
chutton01 Of course, in today's modeling marketplace, no serious manufacturer would ever consider producing freight cars in fantasy corporate liveries...
Of course, in today's modeling marketplace, no serious manufacturer would ever consider producing freight cars in fantasy corporate liveries...
Those are very Lionel-ish, but hardly as bad as tootsie roll tank cars and Chef Boyardee four bay open hoppers.
The fiber tie track came long before the plastic stuff. It used to be all there was, other than hald laying everything. Which is another of my peeves - handlaid track with spikes only every 5 ties or so. Sure it's plenty to hold the track, and the rails are nice and flowing the way only hand laid track can be, but the missing spikes stick out like sore thumbs.
As for X2f couplers - if you have the All Access Pass, or access to the old issues of MR, I suggest reading stuff from back when the design was developed and first offered. The junk on Life Like and Tyco train sets in the 70's are by no means what the X2f coupler was. The same thing has happened with knuckle couplers now that the Kadee patents have expired - look at all the knockoffs, some pretty poor quality ones. Calling them NMRA couplers is also not correct - the design was proposed to but never adopted by the NMRA. It briefly reignited the coupler wars, but it soon died down. Oh, and Kadee sold X2f couplers as well.
---Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
arbe1948 I don't believe anybody has mentiond ASTRAC, "A Giant Step Forward In Model Railroading"
I don't believe anybody has mentiond ASTRAC, "A Giant Step Forward In Model Railroading"
Why? It was neither a bad idea nor a bad product. Perhaps it was a bit ahead of its time, but the first of the other command control systems that came after it were built to be compatible.
It was reading the two chapters devoted to it in "The Complete Book of Model Railroading" that sold me on the idea that I would never build a serious layout and be chained to block toggles. By the time I could afford such things, we had progressed to CTC-16e and Rail Command, and then DCC was right around the corner. Outside of a small switching layout I built (and was in the middle of aquiring parts to build a CTC-16e for), any layout I've built as an adult has been DCC.
--Randy
We can't forget that the X2f coupler helped promote the success of HO scale. Prior to their adop[tion, many of the larger manufacturers had their own design. Roundhouse had a reasonable die cast operating knuckle coupler, many companies offered a die cast dummy knuckle coupler. Mantua offered a loop and hook coupler. A local hobby shop owner in my home town of Dayton, Ohio designed and manufactured the "Baker" coupler . Many modelers in the mid 50s used his coupler. I don't know if the ever became used nationwide, but I would bet that other areas had locally produced couplers.
dinwittyI think one of the durnedest was a 2 truck GG1. There WAS a smaller GG1 like prototype, but with 6 powered wheels, 2 pilot trucks.
A bit OT, but I believe you are referring to the PRR P5A locomotives, which were not prototypes but a series of 90+ production locomotives, of which the 28 later ones were of the familiar GG1 "steeplecab" style. There were also 2 similar-looking one-off prototypes, R1 and DD2 - however, the wiki entry has an interesting note that documents uncovered a few years back indicate that the GG1 style was developedfirst, and then the 'P5A modified' styling (as well as the others) followed suit.
No, I think he's referring to the Tyco "GG-1" which had the Alco 6 axle (missing the center wheel sets!) trucks under it. From that Consolidated Foods era when Tyco was producing throwaway toys, not products meant to be part of a lifelong hobby. Those dark days I say drove more away from this hobby than it ever possibly helped bring in. You got the train set for CHristmas, and if it EVER ran (MR did some train set reviews in the late 70's and early 80's around the holiday issues - many of them you couldn't even put the track together without a huge gap because the tolerances on the track were so sloppy), it was often dead by New Year, or else just so frustrating that it got tossed in the corner and never touched again. This is the kind of stuff that made Athearn BB locos seem like the finest custom built craftsman locos, and if only the people who bought those cheap train sets would have picked up one of those Athearn locos and a few cars, and some Atlas track, they would have had a 'set' that would have worked and lasted.
slammin We can't forget that the X2f coupler helped promote the success of HO scale. Prior to their adop[tion, many of the larger manufacturers had their own design. Roundhouse had a reasonable die cast operating knuckle coupler, many companies offered a die cast dummy knuckle coupler. Mantua offered a loop and hook coupler. A local hobby shop owner in my home town of Dayton, Ohio designed and manufactured the "Baker" coupler . Many modelers in the mid 50s used his coupler. I don't know if the ever became used nationwide, but I would bet that other areas had locally produced couplers.
John Allen, way out on the West coast, was a big user of Baker couplers. For people doing prototypical operations back before Kadees, they seemed to be the go-to type.
Tyco Turbo train?
Looking cool, but hard to make it work as advertised.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57Kst-Ig4Zw
:)
Antoine
I happen to like silly names, especially companies (Dewey Cheatem & Howe, Napolmolive Detergent, Kyle Basa Sausage) that ship on my railroad. Otherwise, names are fairly prototypical.
Any Stooges fan worth their salt will have the law offices of Dewey, Cheatem & Howe.
Across town they have a competitor, with the first Howe's brother as a partner: Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe. As a Yes fan AND a Stooges fan I had to do it.
Remember this from 1964? I recall there was an article in MR about that time where someone actually incorporated slot cars into their layout. I doubt that many did.
DSchmitt Posted by Bernd on Wednesday, December 09, 2015 4:44 PM "The car with the propeller on end. MR had ads for it. Could it have been AHM? Bernd" Rail Zeppelin - The prototype http://www.alspcs.com/rail_zeppelin_03.jpg The Turbo Express (ad link posted by dknelson) was a toy to take advantage of the slot car craze. More accurate models have been made by others such as Marklin and even Lionel.
"The car with the propeller on end. MR had ads for it. Could it have been AHM?
Bernd"
Rail Zeppelin - The prototype
http://www.alspcs.com/rail_zeppelin_03.jpg
The Turbo Express (ad link posted by dknelson) was a toy to take advantage of the slot car craze. More accurate models have been made by others such as Marklin and even Lionel.
Mike
nycmodel Remember this from 1964? I recall there was an article in MR about that time where someone actually incorporated slot cars into their layout. I doubt that many did.
Some of the early HO slot car sets actually had 2 guide pin and the ability to run in reverse. There were even 'turnouts' for them - Atlas and maybe Aurora's original offerings, before they became strictly competition things. There were a few layouts in the magazine that had cars runnign in the streets, but yeah, it never really took off. The grade crossing came back in the 70's in Tyco's Road N Rail sets - I think they were most often used to stage grade crossing accidents than anything.
One of the great product failures was Schleicher's "The Model Locomotive Co." or something, which attempted to replicate that Baldwin catalog's mixing and matching of frames and boilers to build a series of small steam engines.
Though the idea was great, poor manufacturing quality doomed the project. Someone, somewhere, probably built a couple of engines successfully.
rrinker Any Stooges fan worth their salt will have the law offices of Dewey, Cheatem & Howe. Across town they have a competitor, with the first Howe's brother as a partner: Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe. As a Yes fan AND a Stooges fan I had to do it. --Randy
chutton01 dinwitty I think one of the durnedest was a 2 truck GG1. There WAS a smaller GG1 like prototype, but with 6 powered wheels, 2 pilot trucks. A bit OT, but I believe you are referring to the PRR P5A locomotives, which were not prototypes but a series of 90+ production locomotives, of which the 28 later ones were of the familiar GG1 "steeplecab" style. There were also 2 similar-looking one-off prototypes, R1 and DD2 - however, the wiki entry has an interesting note that documents uncovered a few years back indicate that the GG1 style was developedfirst, and then the 'P5A modified' styling (as well as the others) followed suit.
dinwitty I think one of the durnedest was a 2 truck GG1. There WAS a smaller GG1 like prototype, but with 6 powered wheels, 2 pilot trucks.
Sorry but the R1 was first, the PRR had a competition between the R1 - 4-8-4 and the GG1 - 4-6+6-4 (Actually they borrowed a New Haven Electric with that same wheel arrangement, tested it on their test track section, then ordered the first GG1 (Rivits)), and the flexibility of the GG1 won the day.
Rick J
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
Graham Line One of the great product failures was Schleicher's "The Model Locomotive Co." or something, which attempted to replicate that Baldwin catalog's mixing and matching of frames and boilers to build a series of small steam engines. Though the idea was great, poor manufacturing quality doomed the project. Someone, somewhere, probably built a couple of engines successfully.
Don't forget Arbour Models with whatever metal they cast their engines out of, but the metal did not hold up on the running gear. I did see an Allegheny get built and run at one time, but little else.
rrinker nycmodel Remember this from 1964? I recall there was an article in MR about that time where someone actually incorporated slot cars into their layout. I doubt that many did. Some of the early HO slot car sets actually had 2 guide pin and the ability to run in reverse. There were even 'turnouts' for them - Atlas and maybe Aurora's original offerings, before they became strictly competition things. There were a few layouts in the magazine that had cars runnign in the streets, but yeah, it never really took off. The grade crossing came back in the 70's in Tyco's Road N Rail sets - I think they were most often used to stage grade crossing accidents than anything. --Randy
This is what my dad was building for me and my brother in the late 1980s - AT EYE LEVEL. I'm kind of glad he never completed it, because it would have been /really/ dangerous the way that those cars would come flying off the track. I like having two working eyes. Tyco sold those sets for a long time.
Julian
Modeling Pre-WP merger UP (1974-81)
Ah, yes, dyed asbestos ground cover. Good times, good times. *cough*
I remember something nearly as inadvisable from back in the day. In our July 1948 issue, we published a reader tip from a fellow who powered the rails on his drawbridge with a pair of pins that, when the bridge was closed, made contact with two wells drilled in the landing abutment and filled with liquid mercury, thus completing the circuit. Which I'm sure worked wonderfully, if you ignore the health horror waiting to happen. Thankfully we know better now (and have micro-switches to handle such applications).
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
I didn't see it above, so I'll through it in here: AMI Instant Roadbed (Scenic Express Black Track Tack). That product alone caused me to stop playing with trains for 4 years when I was in my early teens.
I just skimmed through all three pages. Maybe I missed it, but I don't think anybody has mentioned brass track or oversized, knife-edged flanges.
Tom