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AHM? Where did they go?

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AHM? Where did they go?
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, April 4, 2003 7:13 PM
I have several Locos(11) and 20+ freight cars from AHM but cannot find them on the internet. How do I find out when they were made, where they came from and what their value is. Five of them are still in the original boxes and 2 are 85' passenger cars modeled after the 1920's and 1930's. I do not want to sell them but would like to know what I have.
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Posted by douginut on Friday, April 4, 2003 7:36 PM
Check on Ebay....
or contact their successor company...
http://www.ihc-hobby.com/

Doug, in Utah
Doug, in UtaH
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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, April 5, 2003 5:33 AM
I would guess that that stuff is from the 1960-1980 era. If you tell me what the boxes look like, I could narrow it down for you. Also, give descriptions of the engines and cars.
By the way, AHM is no longer in business. IHC has picked up some of their line, although quality has suffered. An Italian manufacturer by the name of Riverossi once was the main supplier to "AHM", The "RIV" line is still sold today, although at greatly inflated prices.
Todd C.
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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, April 5, 2003 6:49 AM
Todd, the boxes are blue and yellow. At the bottom of each box is a circle in the lower left hand corner with AHM on top of a yellow triangle and under that it says Fidelity, Economy, Quality.
At the bottom of the box it says " The Finest HO Trains from Around the World. On the long sides of the box are pictures and prices of other old world trains and on the bottom are scenery pictures with prices or track pieces with prices.
1-Baltimore & Ohio 0-4-0 Dockside 5017 B&O made in Italy by Rivarossi
1-MDT Diesel Switcher 5006 Baltimore & Ohio 0-4-0 made in Yugoslavia
*1-ALCO RS-2 Diesel Loco Baltimore & Ohio 4-0-4
this one is Blue, Gray and Black
*1-FM A-Powered 5026 New Haven 4-0-4 Red, Black and White
*1-FM A-Powered Northern Pacific8 4-0-4 Dark Green, Lt Green, Gray and Yellow.
*--These 3 all look to be the same FM A-Powered style but with different paint and details.
1-1920 85' Coach 6205 CL Made by Rivarossi Crescent Limited Green and Black
1-1930 85' Coach 6404 IC Made by Rivarossi Illinois Central - Fulton Brown, Orange and Yellow.
These were all in their original boxes with the Yellow foam inside and clear plastic on the face.
I have 5 other Locos and 20+ stock. Is there a way to find out when they were made? where they came from and what they retail for now? Also, all the Locos are very heavy the undercarriage are all made of metal with metal wheels.
You can contact me direct at Chewy864@msn.com
Thanx for your help.
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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, April 5, 2003 8:45 AM
The older Rivarossi-AHM models had very deep wheel flanges, and the locomotives had noisy rough running motors.They are a collectors' item to some, but virtually never sought out for actual railroading.In the mid-to-late 70's, Rivarossi switched to ".039"flanges, which were not RP25 wheels, but at least they didn't bounce thru turnouts.AHM printed "with .039 flanges" on one end of the box on these newer units.
Value is always whatever anyone is willing to pay.The suggestion to check ebay is good,it tells you what people are actually paying.
I sell equipment at train shows several times a year.
Most older AHM-Rivarossi steam locos go for the equiv. of (USD$) :
Switchers $20-30
Pacifics, Hudsons $50-60
Articulateds $80-100
diesels $12-15
freight cars $2-3
lighted passenger cars $12-15
"New in Box" of all these gets maybe 10-15% more $.
Your 'made in Yugoslavia' models are made by Mehano, in Slovenia, who make a lot of stuff for IHC and for 'house-brand' grocery and hardware train sets.Not much value for 'old Mehano'.
regards / Mike
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Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, April 6, 2003 7:12 AM
Mike, thanx for the info. I will keep all this in mind. Is there a way to find out when they were made? I would like to keep note card on all my Locos even if they are not being run. I will take your advice and check out ebay.

Chewy864@msn.com
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Posted by dknelson on Sunday, April 6, 2003 11:37 PM

The actual history of AHM (America's [Correction: "Associated"] Hobby Manufacturer -- an odd name since all of is was imported -- is actually rather complex. They had a market presence in the 1950s (a Milwaukee Road Hiawatha, a C&NW Atlantic, a European Consolidation, B&O Little Joe, a camelback 0-4-0) but with an entirely different line than they became known for in the 1960s. Some of the stuff was Rivarossi but some was a knock off of Rivarossi. The Fairbanks Morse C - Liner veered between the two as I recall, and one sees differen trucks and details depending on which knock off or Rivarossi is involved.
And AHM also imported some Japanese brass.
When they imported their Rivarossi steam locomotives they were remarkable for the low prices, which is why people today rebel at paying hundreds of dollars for old tooling and undersize wheels, although better motors and flanges.
My 2-8-8-2 was about $30 when new and that was low even for then. At the time the drive was quite quiet. Other engines were noisy. Quality of paint and lettering was for the time quite high. The trucks rolled OK but with two piece wheels on axles the gauge was unreliable. The passenger cars were Rivarossi; the IHC cars are not and while IHC did seem to be AHM reborn there are now many differences.
The most annoying thing was that when the flanges were huge all their wheels were undersize to compensate and they made the flanges closer to scale size they did NOT increase the size of the wheels. Their passenger cars are on 31 inch wheels for example versus 36 for the prototype. The Hudson looks absurd with its small drivers.
The great thing about AHM was their Funeral Sale. You could get three damaged cars or engines for the price of one and you were virtually assured of getting two that could be canabailized to work. They also had Roundhouse Rubble where for $10 you'd get a box stuffed with busted trains. I used to go nuts ordering that.
Dave Nelson

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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, April 7, 2003 2:21 AM
Sounds like 1964-1973 era stuff, judging by the boxes and roadnames. Collectable for sure, but I don't know about prices. Sorry.
Todd C.
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, April 7, 2003 11:33 AM
Dave, most everything you say is right on....one thing, the AHM stood for "Associated Hobby Mf'rs Inc", not "America's"...you are probably thinking of AHC..."America's Hobby Center", one of the oldest and longest surviving discount mail-order outfits in the USA,in New York.They are gone now, but used to carry nearly every make of stuff,domestic and foreign, at least it seemed.

Early AHM offerings also included a European 'collaboration' of Rivarossi and Aristocraft, known as "Aristo-Rossi".
Do you remember such engines as "Little Shoo Baby" which was an imaginary diesel shape like a boot...with SIDE RODS ?
regards / Mike
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, April 7, 2003 11:41 AM
Chewy, it's a bit of a challenge to find out when they were all made, but maybe I could help by email sometime, especially if you can send JPG images of equipment and boxes ....robmik@bmts.com
regards / Mike
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Posted by dknelson on Monday, April 7, 2003 8:34 PM
Mike you are absolutely corrrect I was thinking of AHC -- I must have ordered one too many "spur deals"
Dave
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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, April 9, 2003 5:40 PM
Mike, Thanx for all the help, my next weekend off is in two weeks and then I will take pics of what I have and send them to you. I only get one weekend off a month and one nite a week usually, so it makes it tough to get on the net every night. Also, trying to get things ready to start my layout. I am still trying to move my wife's office into the den, then move my daughter's room into the office then my layout into her bedroom, more wall space without closets and doors getting in the way.
Again, thanx for all the help.
Chewy864@msn.com
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Posted by MikeyChris on Sunday, June 6, 2004 3:20 PM
FWIW, AHC is actually still in business, albeit much smaller. Just last month I found a catalog or website of theirs, now I can't remember which (old age is setting in and taking it's toll). I just did a google search, but could not find them again on the web. I seem to recall they weren't into trains as much, mostly RC, plastic models and such. Maybe an MR staffer can help out on the details.
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Posted by nfmisso on Sunday, June 6, 2004 6:10 PM
Nigel N&W in HO scale, 1950 - 1955 (..and some a bit newer too) Now in San Jose, California
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Posted by MikeyChris on Sunday, June 6, 2004 8:19 PM
I found the link to them:
http://www.ahc1931.com/Privacy.html
They do very little trains these days.
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, June 7, 2004 12:03 PM
Dave Nelson - you reminded me of the Woolworth "Christmas", and also "Christmas in July" train sales in the mid/late '60s featuring incredible deals on already low MSRP prices for AHM HO trains (incl some real early, almost nonrunning HOn30 European prototype-sorta industrial equipment that was so finnicky and so light, that if you got it running, it would fall off the first curve, slide backwards going up a grade, and stall in every turnout. I bought (new) an AHM cab forward and a N&W Y6B for around $20. each, as well as a beautiful for the time Nickle Plate Berkshire for around $15. Their Rivarossi pass cars were between $.99 and $1.99, and were the best looking scale heavyweight cars available in plastic at the time. And they were full length, making Athearn's hw cars look stubby, which they are. AHM freight cars were junk, and didn't compare to the more expensive 'blue box' kits that cost around $3.00, or less ! AHMs early diesels -EMD BL-2 and F-M C-liners were absolutely awful, at least the ones I saw.

AHM did make a couple of neat , relatively inexpensive, plastic unpowered O scale (Rivarossi?) steam engine kits - a 4-6-0 Illinois Central "Casey Jones" and an Indiana Harbor Belt 0-8-0. Motorizing kits were apparantly available as a separate kit, and I remember MR or RMC doing a neat feature on kitbashing the O scale 0-8-0 into several variants - think article was by Vic Rossman. . .

It was my understanding that AHM filed for bankruptcy, and that IHC was resurected from the ashes of AHM, because I think they had the same address for years in Phila. Their product offerings, packaging, and ads were similar to each other, and much of the same tooling survives today. The early IHC and AHM engines make great shelf dust bunnies, unless motors are changed out, weight added, and wheels either replaced, or flanges cut down.

I too remember the AHC ads, incl.their specials, that were crammed pack w/ just about everything available on the market onto two pages in every MR issue. A trip to their store on W23rd St. in Manhattan was unforgetable, for that store was as jambed w/ trains to the ceilings as was their ads. That was when lower Manhattan was a treasure chest for train modelers w/ Lionel and AC Gilbert (Amer. Flyer) having headquarter showrooms, Polks, AHC, Manhattan Hardware, and the store that refuses to move on W45 St., (Carmen Forgotherlastname's), all within a mile or two. There was even a hobby shop in a subway station on one of the lower levels.
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Posted by Mark O. on Saturday, January 26, 2008 4:26 PM
I wish I had fouf this forum before I bought some AHM freight cars on line (Ebay)  Oh well, live and learn.  They won't couple to my Lionel stock.
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Posted by Copper Line Foreman on Sunday, February 27, 2011 8:27 PM

Does any one know where I might find a motor for the above engine

Does anyone have an idea how to re-motor?

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Posted by willy6 on Sunday, February 27, 2011 11:26 PM

Last September I was passing through North Carolina on my way home from Virginia and saw a billboard for a hobby shop at exit 49. I took the exit and found it about a half mile down the road. When I walked in the store it looked like he just bought an inheritence of train stuff because it was scattered throughout the store. On the backwall of somewhat organized HO stuff, he had shelves of nothing but AHM stuff brand new in the box. I was amazed. I hadn't seen an AHM product in about 35 years.

Being old is when you didn't loose it, it's that you just can't remember where you put it.
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Posted by dknelson on Monday, February 28, 2011 8:05 AM

Copper Line Foreman

Does any one know where I might find a motor for the above engine

Does anyone have an idea how to re-motor?

Wow, old threads never die I guess.  Which engine, Copper Line?  Dozens were mentioned in the various postings to the old thread. 

The B&O Dockside 0-4-0T?   That went through several iterations and changes over the years.  Fortunately I have a good set of old AHM parts catalogs to try to keep up.  But as a rule, what with Bowser no longer offering steam stuff the best bet for AHM re-motors is usually to seek out a junker at a swap meet and just swap out the parts.  This is not as rare as it might seem because as it happens, there was a high mortality rate for the front pilot on the Dockside and a lot of them got set aside while the motor was still OK .... or maybe I should say, while the motor was still "like new" -- in some cases they never really were "OK" 

Dave Nelson

 

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Posted by Forty Niner on Monday, February 28, 2011 8:20 AM

You are thinking of "Madison" Hardware and the Carmen you are thinking of is Carmen "Webster".

Mark

WGAS

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Posted by chutton01 on Monday, February 28, 2011 9:17 AM

bill mathewson
I too remember the AHC ads, incl.their specials, that were crammed pack w/ just about everything available on the market onto two pages in every MR issue. A trip to their store on W23rd St. in Manhattan was unforgetable, for that store was as jambed w/ trains to the ceilings as was their ads.


Well, since this thread is now alive again, I occasinally visited AHC in the 1980s, and I do NOT remember their store being 'crammed' with all that much - this was the second floor 'showroom' (maybe 10'x20'), w/ glass display counters around 3/4 of the - I remember Rocket & R/C to your right as you entered. Anyway, most of the stock I think was on the first floor (closed to the public), and they would send it up via a small elevator.  I can't remember when their two-three page ads disappeared from Model Railroader, but at the time this thread was started (looks like 2003), they had moved to a small store-front only a few blocks south of Penn Station, and it was not impressive at all.
Was the 'crammed' store stuffed from floor to ceiling in the 1980s perhaps that guy (Allen?) w/ the cat on the 4th floor somewhere in the 40s (45th St? -Red Caboose, I think) - they ended up moving across the street to the store in the basement, which was a bit of a bummer since that store was somewhat better, and the Red Caboose was kind of...weird.

Of course, since this thread was started, IHC itself has now come and gone, which is a bummer to me as I wanted to get several of those IHC Townhouse kits at the IHC price (~$15 each), as opposed to the same kit under Model Power for $40 each.

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Posted by buoyboy on Monday, February 28, 2011 9:58 AM

I too have some fond memories of AHM trains from the early 1960's. You should realize that it was a different era then. When it was first introduced in 1961 their Indiana Harbor Belt 0-8-0 was considered "state of the art", with detail which far surpassed anything that could be found on steam engines from Mantua or Penn Line. I still have two of them today, and they run fine.

 As for diesels, even with only one truck powered, the Fairbanks-Morse C-liners and BL-2s ran far smoother than the Athearn rubber band driven F-units or the Varney "gear grinders", and while some of the proportions were slightly off, they looked great compared to such monstrosities as the Athearn GP-30 anf the "droopy-eyed" Varney F-3.

I had several friends in high school who had Athearn Pacifics that would barely even move down the track, let alone pull a train, and the Athearn GP30 with the original motor would get hot enough to roast a turkey on while barely moving 7 or 8 cars!

True, the rolling stock had large flanges, but where else could you find a plastic model of a New York Central Flexi-Flo hopper for a buck? Their 3-bay Pullman Standard covered hoppers released in the early 1960's were quite well detailed, and have only been eclipsed recently by the new Athearn versions with the metal roofwalks.

The thing that put an end to my AHM locomotive purchases was the introduction of the small 3-pole motors in the late 60's-early 70's. They overheated and burned out VERY easily. Coupled with that fact, Athearn got their act together in the mid-60's with the introduction of the SD45s etc. with  better motors and excellent pulling power.

My whole point here is that these models should be considered in the context of their time, and for a time in the early to mid-'60's, as far as affordable plastic locos and cars went, AHM was the best deal for the money.

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Posted by BRAKIE on Monday, February 28, 2011 10:59 AM

One of my favorite steamers I had in the 60s was a AHM IHB 0-8-0...I used that engine at the Columbus MRR club for about 2 years then I bought a used United Models  UP 0-6-0 and sold the 0-8-0 to another member.

Larry

Conductor.

Summerset Ry.


"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt  Safety First!"

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Posted by CNJ831 on Monday, February 28, 2011 11:03 AM

The exact evolutionary chain for the company from the 1950's until its recent demise goes as follows:

H.O.Train Co. = AHM = IHC

They were all one and the same, just re-organizing under a new name when they experienced difficulties. From the outset they were strictly importers and never manufacturers of anything themselves. At the very beginning they also apparently had ties to Polk Hobbies in NYC, who was the first to import Rivarossi models, along with some early brass and diecast models from Japan.

Since the company's owner is no longer with us and Mehano has re-organized recently indicating its main thrust will now be toward European equipment, there will be no further iterations of this outfit.

CNJ831

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Posted by AltonFan on Monday, February 28, 2011 11:18 AM

Copper Line Foreman

Does any one know where I might find a motor for the above engine

Does anyone have an idea how to re-motor?

Check out North West Short Line.

Dan

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Posted by Texas Zepher on Monday, February 28, 2011 7:20 PM

CHEWY864
Todd, the boxes are blue and yellow. At the bottom of each box is a circle in the lower left hand corner with AHM on top of a yellow triangle and under that it says Fidelity, Economy, Quality.

At the bottom of the box it says " The Finest HO Trains from Around the World. On the long sides of the box are pictures and prices of other old world trains and on the bottom are scenery pictures with prices or track pieces with prices. 

Do they have plastic trays inside the boxes or are they foam?   The company switched to the plastic in about 1970.  Some of the better passenger "preimer" equipment got felt covered plastic trays.

Are the wheels on the cars made out of metal or are they plastic?

Also the AHM equipment boxes had some outlines of railroad blue prints and said, "true to blueprint" on the box.  Since you didn't mention that I am guessing they were manufactured between 1970 and 1983.  Fairly recent stuff and definitely not their best, as they were heavily going toward the economy part of that trilogy at that time.

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Posted by B&O SteamDemon on Tuesday, March 8, 2011 9:25 AM

I have over 150 Rivarossi, IHC and AHM passenger cars from the 60's-80's as well as many of their engines from that time period and still run them.  Most have been repowered and I use code 100 track to get around the deep flanges.  I still collect and use these cars as well as some of their freight cars that I converted to knuckle couples either kadee or McHenry.  As far as value...  Heavyweight in the original box is about $15-25 dollar range, except for certain road names that limited productions were made, then the price jumps to about $30-$40 range.  Smoothside in the original box is about $10-$15 dollars for RPO's and Baggage cars, $10-$25 for 85' passenger cars.  Observation cars vary depending on the road name and the Vista Dome cars are much harder to find and they get a higher price.  I have 14 domes mostly the rare ones such as B&O, C&O, NYC, BN.  the most common dome is GN's Empire Builder.   Also the Delux sleepers go for about $15-$25 range.  As for engines I have alot of 4-6-2's they go for about $20-$40 dollar range, 2-8-2 go for about $30-$50 range and the mallets 2-8-8-0 and 2-8-8-2 run about $120.00.  If you are interested in doing some trading I am interested in the B&O RS-2 you have.  Let me know and perhaps we could do some trading if you are interested.  Hope to price guide helps you.

 

Ray

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Posted by B&O SteamDemon on Tuesday, March 8, 2011 9:29 AM

Copper Line Foreman

Does any one know where I might find a motor for the above engine

Does anyone have an idea how to re-motor?

You can remotor that engine with a can motor.  I have repowered most of my engines with can motors, I can give you a list of can's I used, don't know if they would work, there is a gentleman that sells a CD with a exploded parts list of rivarossi/IHC/AHM engines with part numbers.  I used that to match up which engines used the same motor so I could buy the right parts to retro fit the engines.  I can send you the list of engines and what can's I used and get a copy of this CD and see which engine has the same type of motor as your's and use that can motor for the repower.

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Posted by simon1966 on Tuesday, March 8, 2011 11:48 AM

Well IHC Texas does seem to be evolving, the web site has been updated and there are a few more things from the old IHC product line on the site.  http://www.ihc-hobby.com/ 

Mehano on the other hand, still has the entire US loco line on the web site and now show that some of them are available with DCC and sound. 

Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum

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