Can anyone tell me about these locos? I have an 040 loco that looks a lot like Ken Kidder ones I’ve seen on the internet but this one is not brass. It looks like its nickel plated steal and I believe it is called American Train and Track?
Ben,
American Train & Track imported some stuff in the late 60’s/early 70’s time frame. They had some RDC’s and I think that original C415 in HO scale. Are you sure that little teakettle is metal? I seem to remember plastic ones painted grey or silver many years ago.
Of course that was a long time ago - Maybe someone else will chime in with the complete story I looked at the HO Seeker website and I do not see the 0-4-0T engine…
Jim
American Train & Track was an importer of fairly low priced HO trains around 1970. It was founded, if I recall correctly, by Hugh Stephens who had been long associated with Kalmbach Publishing from the business side, and its domestic address was in Cedarburg WI, north of Milwaukee. Later the address moved to New York NY. I think it is safe to say the offerings were of no better than train set quality, and were priced accordingly. I recall a domed observation car and a plastic old time coach that came close to being authentic PRR of 1880 vintage.
Someone – cannot recall who - once told me that Stephens chose the name so he could tell his country club buddies that he was now “the President of AT&T.” Maybe that is just urban legend but it makes for a good story.
The teakettle 0-4-0 which, as you say, somewhat resembles the Ken Kidder engines (I seem to recollect a Ken Kidder “plantation” locomotive for example) was their only metal offering. I always thought it was advertised as genuine brass.
They had a line of plastic freight cars and shorty passenger cars just different enough from what other makers were offering to create some interest among serious modelers – I particularly recall a rather interesting ore car – and also a high tension electric tower that was unique for the time.
I always thought it was curious that, except perhaps for the Alco C415, no other manufacturer such as AHM/IHC, ConCor, or LifeLike picked up the AT&T plastic models once AT&T gave up the ghost. In many other cases plastic molds seem to live forever, witness the old Varney plastic cars or Revell buildings which live on. (I assume the C415 that others offered was from the AT&T tooling but perhaps I am wrong there.)
Dave Nelson
Its metal, and your not wrong it looks a lot like a Life Like Tea Kettle only smaller. I could drill it or scatch it to see if there is brass under the nickel.
Thanks for the information.
AT&T was a distinct and separate entity from Ken Kidder. Kidder’s models were, to my knowledge, all imported brass, while AT&T’s products seem to have been mostly U.S. made and overall of a distinctly lower quality. They did, however, offer the AT&T “Yard Bird” 0-4-0 in 1968, which was indeed very similar in appearance to the small 0-4-0 Kidder engines and could have actually been a rip-off made by the same off-shore manufacturer (not an unusual practice at the time). AT&T also had the rather cruder but similar appearing “L’il Miner”, which was in fact a 2-2-0T(!), seen in their ads from '68. Overall, the company’s locomotives did not have much of an operating reputation and other manufacturers were already offering lines of nicer, low priced, similar items. As the result of this and a series of other difficulties, the company was not very successful and did not remain in business very long.
Kidder, on the other hand, has a fairly long history and it’s product line is best remembered today as centering around very small, unusual steam locomotives, particularly its host of little 0-4-0 “Plantation” or “Mud Hen” engines, available in a range of inside and outside frame, standard and narrow gauge, some with tenders, some with just coal bunkers! However, Kidder did venture into numerous other areas over the years, incuding trolleys. One of the most collectible items today is the Ken Kidder “Steam Dummy”, a totally unique model representing a small, shrouded, steam engine for urban street use.
CNJ831
IIRC, Ken Kidder also imported the (in)famous Porter Mogul. It and several other offerings were actually HOj (1:80) scale models of prototypes which were built in the US or Germany and operated in Japan.
Tsubomi, the company which built the plantation locos, also manufactured interurban cars and similar for Suydam. Their ‘factory’ was a few rooms on the street floor of the owner’s house, which also contained a hobby shop. I have a Key System articulated car as well as a small fleet of mudhens which were purchased at the source back in the early '60s.
One interesting thing about the ‘mudhens.’ The name was conferred by US hobbyists, and somewhat confused the manufacturer until I explained that, like the little outside-frame 0-4-0s he was building, the Rio Grande’s outside-frame 2-8-2s were frequently referred to as ‘mudhens.’
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
The AT&T and Amro logos are so familiar to me, because it seemed like their ads were in every issue of Model railroader I read when I was very young.
Ben, there’s some info on Tony Cook’s site about AT&T, and they imported a number of Japanese made brass 0-4-0’s, including the Tea Kettle.
http://www.ho-scaletrains.net/atttrainsresource/index.html
A friend of mine had the Yard Bird when I was a kid, so I’ve always thought they were kind of neat, but they go for more than I’m willing to pay on eBay. As I remember, it went like a bat out of H-E-double-hockeysticks.
Dave, the site says that their F9 tooling survived via Life-Like and Model Power, but the British made Budd cars apparently vanished, at least on this side of the pond. So did their grossly proportioned FT unit, but I don’t think anyone is mourning that loss.