I encountered a blurb over on the Railway Preservation News forum dealing with the old Arbour Models steam locomotive kits of the 1970s. In that era when I was assembling a fleet of die-cast steamers–Cary/Mantuias;straight Mantuas; Bowser models–I attempted to acquire one of their Alleghenys through my local who advised me against wasting my money. There were, I understand, some serious quality control issues as well as manufacturing defects in the offerings. Purchasers encountered such defects as bent frames–and boilers, out-of-round drivers, and numerous other defects; even if you were to eventually get it assembled you were likely to encounter running problems–these were all issues addressing ones frustration threshold.
It’s really too bad that this company was not able to make a success of things. On a layout tour at Kansas City in 1984 I encountered one of these–one of those very Alleghenys that I had been talked out of buying six or seven years before–in operation and the brass hat told me that he had had little trouble with his but he had purchased his early on and acquaintances of his who purchased theirs at a later date had experienced numerous difficulties in either assembly or operation. Replacement parts, even then, were no longer available, and he referred to his as a future “display-shelf queen”–I believe that is how he worded it. I was impressed with this one running on this Kansas City layout and apparently, when, and if, you could get these things to run, they ran great–as this one was doing. I have encountered at least two Arbour Model kits in the silent auction at recent NMRA national conventions–neither, I might mention, were drawing too much attention from bidders.
I am aware that Bowser has come into possession of the dies and manufacturing rights for these models; does anyone have any information as to whether or not they are contemplating any futur
Bowser is considerably more closed-mouth than horse’s-mouth but I might just try a phone call or e-mail if no one here on the forum can provide me with an answer. I am not really trying to be lazy but this hobby is a collection of: I have a cousin who’s brother-in-law’s sister works with a girl who’s nephew knows a guy who’s brother . . . . . . . . . .
Bowser, I might add, with their high quality mechanisms, is the perfect company for reintroducing this line if the were to opt to do so!
Based on information presented on the Early Rail Yahoo group (which is interested in Arbour’s smaller models), Bowser has no plans to produce the Arbour kits because the castings are not of sufficient quality.
Forum-member Darth Santa Fe has been into kit assembly of late and he finds it, as I did those many years past, both challenging and rewarding. I always (initially) assembled every locomotive as provided; at the time I went over to N-Scale and sold off my HO-Scale steam fleet I had developed a concept of lost-wax add-ons to give my transition-era steamers some sort of a unique corporate identity adding things like Elesco FWH and Baker valve gear, etc. I did find that these after-market additions was going to add fifty or more iron men to the cost of the basic locomotive but, in the long run, I felt it would be worth it.
One may wonder why I, an N-Scaler, am redeveloping an interest in HO-Scale equipment. I am 68 years old and, although I really do not suffer from arthritis as such, my ability to form my hand into an equipment-clutching claw is becoming more restrictive with advancing age and I am experiencing increasing difficulty handling N-Scale equipment. As I have stated in previous postings I am, for the moment, on a hiatus from active–read: layout building–modeling and my physical problems might just initiate a return to HO-Scale modeling. I follow quite closely postings about some of the recent offerings in HO-Scale steam locomotives and I am impressed by what is becoming offered.
Regardless of where my future modeling lies I will never make any derogatory statements about N-Scale other than the fact that N-Scale steam locomotives do leave a lot to be desired.