I was either born too early, or too late. Many of you enjoyed Lionel, and American Flyer in the Golden Years of their popularity. For some of us, that ship had already sailed. In the late sixties, and early seventies, Lionel had all but vanished. I was reading Model Railroader magazine, and was inspired by the book " HO railroad That Grows". My trains were Tyco, and they were actually smooth running, and well made in those years. I had the " over and under" set, with a Santa Fe Gp20 pulling. Tyco had some operating cars ,too.
While flipping pages in MR, there was an add that said " just bolt 'Em together ". This was from Little Engines, and they only asked $1.00 for their catalogue. This was about 1971.
So, this became my quest ! I even had a paper route, delivering newspapers, but it does not add up to the cost of a live steamer. You can see I colored in the photos, to visualize what the paint scheme would look like.
And there was another builder here in town, at that time. The " Railroad Supply Corporation". Everything a Gear Head could want, or need.
Not your average Bowser kit, by any means. ( of which, I have built a few ).
So, I would sit and drool over these catatalogues, the way many of Y’all did with Lionel and Flyer in post war days. ( notice I said " Y’all. I am from SOUTHERN California).
What did I get out of this ? At least some very basic knowledge of steam locomotive operation.
Let me introduce you to number 5.
The " Poor Man’s Live Steamer".
she has:
an LGB motor block
a Bachman boiler, that was cut down 2 inches at the firebox, and 1 inch at the smoke box to fit the chassis
a scratchbuilt tender, and pilot.
a “cabbage”, or " onion " stack
She was inspired by the Argent Lumber Company locos
Previous knowledge helps me to enjoy detailing the blackhead.
All the essential plumbing is here. Two injectors, a water glass, brake stand, throttle, Johnson bar, blower valve, air pump valve, and gauges.
If things had worked out differently, this could have been me !
Great job on that 2-6-0 Paul! A stunning piece of craftmanship!
Sometimes the dreams of our youth do come true, just in a slightly altered form. Keep on dreaming those dreams.
Northwoods Flyer
I haven’t seen a Little Engines ad for a long time. I wonder if their still in buisness? You could buy the castings and do the mashining or buy the parts already machined abet at much higher cost. The boiler is the biggest cost.
Well, that’s an interesting point. The original Little Engines was started by a man named Martin Lewis. Model Railroader did a piece on this many years back. Apparently he was a machinist, and he started building during the depression to keep from going stir crazy, because he had no work. This turned into this business, which was run from his home, machine shop in the back. His wife was a draftsman, and drew up the blueprints. I went down there once, they put packages out front for the mailman to pick up. A home spun operation.
The catalogue I have provided pictures of is from about '83, and the price had gone up to $5.00. By this time, I think Martin had passed on, and many of the engines in the catalogue were stamped " discontinued for new starts", meaning that you can continue to finish an engine you are working on, but you can not start this model. But, you could pick something else.
Eventually, the business was sold, and I would see this name pop up in Durango, then Manassass ( Va., hope that’s spelled right ). Last I checked, the business was operating in Northern California, and the catalogue alone was $18. That’s my whole train budget right there !
The same with Railroad Supply, which was run by Chet Peterson. Don’t know what became of this. But there was a time we had 2 suppliers in the L.A. Area.
Thanks for the kind words, guys !
That looks great! Well done! [:D][tup]
My first HO set was a mail-in offer from Lipton Soup. It had a Soo Line switcher, a Lipton Boxcar and a caboose. I have a super 8 movie of the dog chasing it around. Later on I got the Tyco Golden Eagle:
It appears that many people tend to have a negative opinion of Tyco’s products. I have always felt this was unfair, as they made some excellent trains at one time. The diecast steam locomotives were very well made and some of the rolling stock, their crane car in particular, were well detailed. I built many steam locomotive kits from Tyco and Mantua. Some of the operating accessories were in the same spirit as those from Lionel and American Flyer.
I think some people judge all Tyco trains by the later production when they were of lesser quality. This happened to Lionel ten years earlier in the sixties. I am sure it has always been difficult for manufacturers to provide a quality product at a price we can afford.
I currently model in 3-rail O scale, but I previously modeled in HO. I enjoy model trains in all sizes and I believe they all have a lot to offer. It is a shame I don’t have the space or resources to have a layout representing each one.
Karl
I appreciate your insight on Tyco. I agree with you, the stuff I had in the 60’s ran extremely well ! They made a great product. I also remember the Mantua loco kits at our local toy store.
I was lucky, my brother and I were the kids on the block with the Lionel sets, our friends had HO sets, made by whom I don’t remember, but those HO sets left us cold.
It seemed like they derailed constantly, looked a bit on the cheap side, and just didn’t have the foundation-shaking presense the O gauge Lionels did. Getting down on the floor, looking down the track, and having an HO train barreling toward you just wasn’t the same. By the way, I still do it! Unfortunately getting back up isn’t as easy as it once was!
Anyway, I’ve never been interested in HO, although I did mess around with N gauge for a while, that was Lady Firestorm’s big brother “Big B’s” malign influence!
It you’re curious, here’s a peek at Big B’s organization…