About 10 years ago I was a very active model railroader. I had a 1920’s era layout representing a section of the B&O. My freight cars were primarily from Westerfield, Tichy and some FandC. I would spend about $28 per kit ($10 - $20 on ebay) and put another $10 in trucks, couplers and paint. It would take roughly a week for me to assemble, paint and decal one. Now I am getting back into the hobby I see a wide variety of R-T-Rs 1920’s era freight cars (Branchline, Intermountain … etc) that cost between $30 - $35 that are as detailed as the Westerfield freight cars. What I like about Westerfield is they make frieght cars unique to a particular railroad, like the W-1 hopper specific to the B&O.
It makes alot of sense to buy these R-T-Rs for stuff like the USRA outside braced box cars. But I hope there will still be companies like Westerfield that will continue offer the specialized freight cars. I also hope that there will still be modelers willing to spend to time to assembled these kits.
Interesting note: While they are going out of business, they did/are (not sure of the status) offer modelers one last chance to buy kits. Apparently they were swamped with orders as modelers who meant to order but never got to it flooded them with the last chance orders.
Great kits. Excellent example of a mom and pop manufacturing outfit that existed at least in part (large part - I’m guessing) out of a love for the hobby and trains.
I did not know this. This is a hugh loss for this hobby! I am glad I decided to hold on the my Westerfield freight cars. I met Al Westerfield at a Timonium train show. He was passionate about frieght car history. I purchased some B&O N-1 hoppers and he give me a massive load down of information on the history of these hoppers. In fact more info. than I cared for.
I fear the RTR aspect of this hobby will put many companies of this caliber on the endangered species list, that’s partly why i model in S scale, we have fantastic producers of resin kits who are also modelers in this minority scale, hopefully new owners are found who appreciate a fine product and also have the foresight to produce them in S scale.
Al is planning on retiring soon. The business is for saleand the last time I spoke with him it was still available. He ended taking orders for kits at the end of March(I think) and at that time was swamped with last minuit orders. I heard that some people were buying hundreds of kits at a shot. I have an order with him that I do not expect to see untill September.
I’m a big fan of Westerfield models…I have several kits buit and unbuilt. Unfortunately Al is retiring and calling it quits. I wrote to him and inquired about buying the business. I didn’t get my financial information to the bank in time and Al has sold it to another party. Once the contract is signed AL will send out a notice. Al ran the business out of his home which kept the prices affordable. I just hope that the new owner doesn’t jack the prices up.
I much prefer his flat kits to the one piece bodies, and have several styles of cars in the flat kit - two types of C&O 70T hoppers, and different box cars. In anticipation of the new owner increasing the prices, I am going save my unfinished kits to use as masters to make my own silicon molds and then cast my own resin bodies. I’ll do it just for me and not sell any.
I’ve talked with Al ( via email ) several times over the summer while I tried to get financing to purchase his business. Based on the figures Al gave me, the amount I would have had to borrow after my cash input would have ben 10% of the total assets of the business. I have great credit and a 40% down payment, but the scum sucking bank wanted me to put my home - which is paid for - up for colaterial. I argued that borrowing 10% the value of the business asset worth should have been plenty. But they wouldn’t budge…so now Al has sold the business to someone else and I lost a great business opportunity and a fun retirement.
I met Al at a train show, a super guy. I love his kits, I prefer the flat grey kits, Can’t remember how many #80 drill bits I broke putting together the old green kits, but still love them. Al if your out there reading this, I would like to thank you for all your work and research and for all the many pleasurable hours I’ve spent building your masterpieces. I hope you have a great retirement.
I’ve been in contact with Al over the summer. I was talking with him about purchasing his business. I had 40% down and only needed to borrow 30K for a business with assets of over 300K with NO liabilities. But even with that healthy down payment and excellent credit, my bank still wanted me to put my home - which is paid for - up for collaterial, which I would not do. Sol the bank would not give me the loan without the house.
HOWEVER!!! good news (I think). Al has sold the business to another party and is expection to have all the paperwork signed by the end of the month. Once the business is sold Al will release a notice to let us Westerfield buyers know who the new owner is.
DON’T go paying high prices for any Westerfield models until you hear what the new owner is going do. I suspect that once he’s up and running things will pretty much be the same.
Funaro & Camerlengo are still in business & they make non standard resin kits also. made a few of them & are on a par with Westerfield. Just pulled up the website & was surprised at the prices, but you used to be able to get 2 for 1 coupons. They also had a few structure kits.
First of all, Don’t fall prey to the scalpers that bought bunches of Westerfield kits only to try and resell them at inflated prices. AL has just sold the business and the new owners will announce when they will be back in production. Be patient and I’m sure the kits will be back on the market at a reasonable price. I saw a Westerfield C&O modernized hopper go for over $50.00 on eBay. The Westerfield price was around $30.
I have tried a couple of F&C kits and they are pretty good…but I haven’t built one that I think is as good as Westerfields. Sunshine also makes some models on par with F&C, but I don’t like the way they do business…they bring out a model for a little while and then discontinue it, so if you want an older kit you’re out of luck…unless you can find one in a hobby store.
I recieved word from Al today that he has indeed found a buyer for his business. He will be making kits as AL has in the past. When the new ownership is finalized the formal anouncement will be made. Untill then, as has been stated already, do not feed the scalper market. I already see several listings for “out of production” kits when checking Ebay. No, I did not purchase it, Bank said OK but the wife said “no way”.