Last nite I wandered over to the Bear Locomotive Co. website, only to discover that the site had been closed by the ISP (zoovy.com). Bear was the last home of Hobbytown of Boston, makers of the most robust and heaviest first-generation diesel models ever made. If Hobbytown has really bit the dust, it marks the end of an amazing era of model railroading.
Being a fan of the '50s technology, I now own two of their units - an E-7 and an Alco RS3. The RS3 has yet to be assembled, but the E-7 is up and running. It weighs about 2 pounds, and runs with a whine like a turbocharger, and I don’t have nearly enough passenger cars (or freight, for that matter) to make it work hard.
I really hope that Hobbytown resurfaces somewhere - maybe Bowser? - and is not gone for good. That would really be a tragedy for the hobby. I can’t think of anywhere else that you could get an actual kit for a first-generation diesel.
Don’t give up hope. Google has a recently-cached page that would suggest that the site is in-process of being moved. Of course, that could be preparation for closing the site, just trying to sound hopeful.
I have one of the E-units as well. It was one of my first e-bay purchases some years back. My oldest boy was about 4 at the time and could not say Heavy, so to this day this loco is still known as “The hebby train” in our house. It looks very dated compared to the P2K’s and BLI’s and frankly, I don’t run it any more, but I great affection for the lump of lead that it is!
Simon,I still have all of my Dad’s locomotives from the 50’s and early 60s neatly packed away…Last time I ran his Hobbytown RS3s that ran like a swiss watch-well a LOUD swiss watch…But,the point is 45 plus years later those old birds still run.
I’ve purchased parts for Hobbytown locomotives from Bear Locomotive from time to time. Last time was about a year or so ago. Address on invoice is Bear Locomotve Company, P. O. Box 335, Whiting, NJ 08759, Phone 732-350-3887. I just tried the phone out of curiousity. Their answering machine had generic message to leave your message.
I just finished rebuilding a Hobbytown E7 and painting it in original Great Northern paint scheme.
I hope they don’t go out of business![:O] It looks like the website is being moved, so that hopefully means they’re staying in business.
If they did go out, I’d want Bowser to buy the tooling. With the Hobbytown drives and Cary diesel shells (owned by Bowser), they could make more Hobbytown kits than have ever been made before![:D]
Thanks, Brian! That’s a great relief! I plan on getting another one of their Alco locos… Any locomotive that smokes that much can’t be all bad, even if it is a diesel! [:D]
I agree - the E-7 I have has a Cary body. The RS3 has a Hobbytown body, though, and it looks pretty good. The detail is sharp and clear, and I think it’ll build up into a pretty nice unit. Bowser has done a marvelous job on reworking the Penn Line, Varney, and English locos they’ve handled, and they’d do the same, I’m sure, with the Hobbytown. But, that’s for the Fates to decide. For now, I’m just thankful that Hobbytown is still alive… sorta.
A tip on the E units: If you have one with the old open-frame motor, a can motor from an HP 3500-series inkjet printer drops in very nicely, and is much quieter if you bed it in a gob of clear silicone cement…
I am afraid that the “cached pages” are just that, a picture of the home page at a previous time. The “site” I looked at was dated 1/15/07, and another was 1/17/07. I would hope that some “good news” comes from this, as it seems strange that a business would just “vanish”. Perhaps we will get some news from those acquainted with the princles to explain this unusual disapearance!
Not sure if there’s any relation, but the Hobbytown of College Station Texas has recently also closed its doors, but in this case it really wasn’t such a bad thing because their prices were sky high and they really didn’t have that much in their train department…
Tracklayer, Hobbytown of Boston began making diecast locomotves in the 1950’s and is not affiliated with retail hobby shops. Over the years, they’ve changed owners. Currently (unless there’s a recent change), it’s Bear Locomotve Company in New Jersey. Also, they have power chassis available for diesel locomotive shells made by other companies. Usually, you can find some os their porducts for sale second-hand on Ebay.
I had a Hobbytown 2.5 amp PA with 2 multi drives, and 2 GP 30 chassis’ for TYCO GP-20’s, and I THINK Hobbytown’s ‘big deal’ was their helical gears.
Most of their tooling (Chassis’) wouldn’t sell for much. Their drives used outdated electric pickup (plastic wheels + brass). Most Kings from 50 years ago have been replaced. John’s chassis beat early Athearn, but not later Kato’s (Opiniom). My two later GP20 chassis’ were $75ea. 10 years ago (So were PPW’s).