HO TRAINS HALL OF FAME

[Anonymous]

If there was a model train Hall of Fame. What would you like to see in it.
1. Athearn's F7
2. AHM's GG1
3. MRC's 2400 power pack

[trainboyH16-44]

How about BLI's first NYC Hudson? Didn't it raise the bar for other manufacturers?
Trainboy

[orsonroy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by trainboyH16-44

How about BLI's firsst NYC Hudson? Didn't it raise the bar for other manufacturers?
Trainboy

Nope; that would be my pick, the Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0. It might not be #1 in the hall, but it needs to be in there for revitalizing the steam end of the hobby. BLI wouldn't even be in business if it wasn't for the trailblazing efforts of Bachmann and their Spectrum steam line.

[IRONROOSTER]

My top three would be:
Central Valley box car
Bowser K4 Pacific
Atlas signal tower

Enjoy
Paul

[MidlandPacific]

In the brass room, I would nominate the following, for providing a range of locomotive types at affordable prices:

PFM Sierra 2-6-6-2
PFM ATSF 4101-class 2-8-4
PFM ATSF 1950-class 2-8-0

[Anonymous]

LL P2K locomotives (not sure of the first releases) for greater detail and still affordable.

[dknelson]

The famous Revell bakery or farm house.
The Bowser articulated
The AHM/Rivarossi Y6b 2-8-8-2
A piece of Atlas snap track
The Renwal "House a'fire"
The Athearn Santa Fe caboose or B&O hopper
The Tyco/Manuta General
The Plasticville signal tower
The Kadee #5 coupler

Dave Nelson

[Anonymous]

One of the original LGB "Stainz" 0-4-0s (effectively the first G scale loco ever made commercially).
One of the Athearn rubber band drive units
Hornby's Zero 1 - one of the forerunners of DCC
A Hornby O scale Metropolitan line electric loco - the original type that ran at 240v, one of the first (if not the first) commercial electric locos. Pity about the tendancy to fry unwary users!
A Lima diesel loco - future generations must not forget how awful the mechanisms were...

[Anonymous]

Rivarossi's UP FEF-3: All-around best model of a UP FEF-3 out there (also, IMO, the best HO steamer to date).

Kato's Business Car: Superior detail and runnung to that of Spectrum or Walthers passenger cars.

Digitrax's Zephry: Need I say more?

[Anonymous]

Myself

[cbq9911a]

Any "Hall of Fame" candidates need to meet two criteria:

A. They've been on the market for at least 25 years .
(excludes BLI, Bachmann Spectrum, etc.)
B. They have to be widely available (excludes brass).

That said, here are my candidates:

Locomotive Division:
1. Athearn F7
2. Tyco/Mantua Mikado
3. Tyco/Mantua Pacific
4. Gilbert HO Hudson
5. AHM/Rivarossi N &W Y6B 2-8-8-2

Rolling Stock Division
1. Athearn 40' boxcar.
2. Atheran Santa Fe Caboose
3 AHM/Rivarossi heavyweight 12-1 sleeper.
4. Tyco operating hopper car.
5. Lionel HO operating milk car.

Track/Electrical Division:
1. Atlas Custom Line switches.
2. Atlas terminal joiners.
3. Caboose Hobbies ground throws.
4. Radio Shack DBDT center off switch.

Scenery Division
1. Atlas suburban station.
2. Atlas signal tower.
3. Revell Bakery/Enginehouse/Newspaper Plant
4. Wiking model vehicles.
5. Life-Like lichen.

[trainboyH16-44]

QUOTE: Originally posted by orsonroy

QUOTE: Originally posted by trainboyH16-44

How about BLI's firsst NYC Hudson? Didn't it raise the bar for other manufacturers?
Trainboy

Nope; that would be my pick, the Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0. It might not be #1 in the hall, but it needs to be in there for revitalizing the steam end of the hobby. BLI wouldn't even be in business if it wasn't for the trailblazing efforts of Bachmann and their Spectrum steam line.

What I meant was that they installed a sound system.
Trainboy

[DavidBriel]

Athearn, Atlas and Walthers HO Locomotives

Athearn, Atlas and Walthers HO Freight Cars

Athearn Passenger cars

Atlas, IHC and Walthers Structures

Boley HO Vehicles

[Cox 47]

Better give Globe credit for the Athearn F 7 and what about Varney? Cox 47

[aloco]

Homasote and Hydrocal.

[selector]

Aggrojones...hasn't he been around for 25 years, and his 'trees' are everywhere!!

[cjcrescent]

My nominations;

Varney's 0-4-0T docksider kit. Basic easy to assemble "screwdriver" type kit. One of the first. Anyone could build it.
Varney's first plastic car kit. I believe these were one of the first plastic kits widely available on the market. When these first came out, Athearn's, and MDC's kits were still metal.
Athearn's first GEARED chassis. Over the years, motors have changed, flywheels added, but the basic setup is still same and widely copied by just about everyone else.
Hobbytown's flywheel drive. 1st practical fw drive, not requiring machinist skills.
First transistorized throttle. Practical realistic speed control.
Linn Westscott's Twin-T detection system. Made working signals practical for everyone.
GE Astrac. First commercially available onboard control system.

[ac4400fan]

matt nice pic :)

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dknelson

The famous Revell bakery or farm house.
The Bowser articulated
The AHM/Rivarossi Y6b 2-8-8-2
A piece of Atlas snap track
The Renwal "House a'fire"
The Athearn Santa Fe caboose or B&O hopper
The Tyco/Manuta General
The Plasticville signal tower
The Kadee #5 coupler

Dave Nelson

GREAT LIST DAVE !!!! but lets not forget the Varney F-7. It created momentum effect with an actual functional centrifical clutch. First you start to rev it up and then the clutch begins to engage. I Loved running Dad's Varney. It took 30 more years to get to relaible momentum throttles. I still have one of the Y6Bs and the farm house but I must also nominate the Revell 2 stall Engine House, designed by Al Armatage, and from which the Bakery and Print Shp were also developed. I have 2 of them...Also the Atlas railroad yard building set. and the plasticville 'ranch house' .......

......and I model in O scale, so I guess you might say I have a bad case of nostalgia to keep so much vintage HO around.

[Anonymous]

When I got started in 1952 I received a Mantua Shifter (0-4-0) and that was a started loco for just about everyone. None of this ready to run, all locos were kits untill brass came along.

Bob

[CNJ831]

My personal choice?

1. Mantua's "Master Model Builder" series of brass & zamac locomotives...the first essentially screwdriver assembly series of locomotive kits ever offered
2. Varney "Little Joe" docksider (zamac, not plastic)
3. Mantua "Goat" 0-4-0 camelback (brass & zamac, not plastic)
(absolutely every layout in the 1940's and early 50's had both of these)
4. Mantua post war Pacific...first truly RTR quality (?) locomotive
5. Varney F-3 (not an F-7)
6. Athearn F-7 (by Globe)
7. Varney's first plastic freight car (a stock car wasn't it?)
8. Various John English road locomotives, mainly Pennsy
9. Revell's bakery/printshop/engine house (more kitbash articles based this item than any other in the hobby's history!)
10. Athearn heavyweight plastic passenger cars

CNJ831

[Train 284]

That would be the Bachmann 2-8-0! I really like the fine detail and the look of the locomotive, thats why I purchased one and I'm currently using on my railroad.

Matt[^]

[BRAKIE]

What a fun topic! [8D]
My choices
1The Globe/Athearn F7
2.The Athearn GP7.
3.Varney's old Lady 2-8-0 and the Casey Jones 4-6-0 can't forget the Lil'Joe.0-4-0T.[:D]
4.The Hobbytown of Boston RS3.
5.Gotta be the Tenshodo GP7.
6.Atlas's N scale line of steamers from the 60s.
7.AHM's NKP 2-8-4
8.Trains Inc. RS1325 and SW7 cow and calf.
9.Alco Models C&O steel caboose.
10.United's 2 truck shay.
11.Alco Models RS11.
12.MRC's Golden Power Pack with pause power.

10.

[twhite]

Hey, neat topic--here's just off the top of my head:

Varney, Athearn, Ulrich and MDC metal freight car kits.
Varney 'Casey Jones' 4-6-0
PFM 1850 ATSF 2-8-0
Varney F-3 diesel
Varney 0-4-0 'Docksider'
Globe F-7 carbodies
Silver Streak wooden freight car and caboose kits
Akane 2-8-8-4 M-4 Yellowstone
Revell passenger station kit
Atlas deck bridge (a kit-basher's dream come true)
Ambroid 3-in-1 open-platform wood passenger car kit
Rivarossi Y6-b 2-8-8-2 (first version with tender pickup)
Varney 4-6-2 Pacific

That's for starters.
Tom
[:D][:D]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ac4400fan

matt nice pic :)

Thanks! Need to re-take it as the backscene has now been repainted - no more "half white, half MDF", it's all sky blue now.

[Anonymous]

Good choices so far, everybody! However, there's one very important essential addition: The Bing Table Railway. These tinplate trains and accessories of the 1920's were the very first HO/OO gauge trains ever produced and were what got the hobby of modelling trains smaller than O gauge in motion.

[randybc2003]

Some of my nominations are already listed: however I would submit the (not complete) following list:

Atlas Shanty
Atlas Watertower
Tyco 0-4-0 Shifter (already mentioned)
Atlas Snap Track (system)
Atlas Track Plan Books
Simple "Shake the Box" Kits - MDC & Athern

[METRO]

My criteria would be as such:

1: Must have contributed to the furthering of the hobby (aka been a milestone)
2: Must have had incredible popularity
3: Must have been a first
or
4: Must have been made famous in some way

As such some of my picks would be:

HO Locomotives:

1: Athearn F7
2: Atlas RS1
3: Original Life Like Proto2000 model
4: Tyco 0-4-0
5: BLI GG1
6: Athearn GP38-2
7: Stewart Hobbies/Kato F7
8: Walthers FM switcher

HO Rolling Stock:

1: Athearn Blue Box kit
2: Walthers Streamline Passenger Car
3: Intermountain Freight Car
4: Tyco Train Set Freight Car
5: Con-Cor Passenger Car

Structures & Accessories:

1: Walthers Cornerstone Structure
2: MRC Tech 2 Powerpack
3: Display of DCC systems
4: Sound Card
5: Atlas Snap Track
6: Flextrack (probably Atlas but Peco works too)
7: Preiser figures
8: Herpa Vehicles
9: Tyco Power Pack
10: MRR

~METRO

[Anonymous]

Here are my "nominations" (and no, I'm not following the "minimum age"
rule):

1. Kato Unitrack (first r-t-r track good enough for use by serious modelers)
2. MRC Tech 2 power packs (set a lasting standard for the product)
3. Life Like Proto 2000 (set lasting standard for quality, detail)
4. Hornby HO steam-driven loco (need I say why?)
5. DPM Modular building components.

Juan

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jcferna

Here are my "nominations" (and no, I'm not following the "minimum age"
rule):

1. Kato Unitrack (first r-t-r track good enough for use by serious modelers)
2. MRC Tech 2 power packs (set a lasting standard for the product)
3. Life Like Proto 2000 (set lasting standard for quality, detail)
4. Hornby HO steam-driven loco (need I say why?)
5. DPM Modular building components.

Juan

Two more I forgot to list....

6. Roco Minitanks (one of the few HO product lines that transcends model railroading)
7. Woodland Scenics roadbed system (made creation of a layout easier than
any other single product line)