This review is on Lindsay’s ALCO FA-2 diesel in HO scale.[:D]
Most probably don’t know about the manufacturer Lindsay, but they were around from the late 40’s until about the late 60’s. Back then, they were well known for their high quality drive units and detail parts, with some pretty novel ideas such as the “Ghost” boxcar, which was a self-powered boxcar to assist in pulling loads (or to freak people out!). Many of their parts are still in production today, notably Precision Scale’s entire selection of traction trucks for trolleys and interurbans. The body for the ALCO FA-2 (and all of its detail parts) reviewed here was picked up by Hobbytown when Lindsay went out of business, and remained in production until Hobbytown closed a few years ago. Some of these bodies and detail parts are still available from Hobbytown’s owner, and could make a good base for a project!
When it was introduced in 1951, Lindsay’s ALCO FA-2 featured some of the best detail and quality you could find in an HO scale diesel. Except for some fiber insulation here and there, the kit is 100% metal, making it extremely hefty and durable even without any additional weight! Although a little bit crude compared to today’s offerings, the detail for its time was very sharply and accurately cast, and matches up well to drawings, photos, and other detailed models. The horns, headlight grille, numberboards, and steps are all quality lost wax castings, and the exhaust stack is diecast. The radiator vent is a brass mesh, and is held in from the bottom using a steel wire clip. The mesh isn’t exactly flush with the top, and the circular frame is much thicker than accurate, but it’s still a novel way to have a see through vent and looks pretty good. Brass wire is provided to make all the grab irons on each side, and there’s enough extra to make any other grab irons that may be on the prot
It’s neat to read a review of one of these. It’s been a LONG time.
I’m surprised at the comment about gear noise. With a “straight” worm gear drive, it should be awfully quiet. And the top speed is surprisingly high, what with the 13 to 1 gearing.
Glad you enjoyed the review! Although helically matched to the worms, the brass gears have a sort of squarish shape that makes some noise. It may get quieter with time.
The motor runs at about 13,000RPM, which is almost double what most of the motors used now will run at. Looking at the old Lindsay catalogs, this is completely in line with their specs, so the speed is normal for these.
The Lindsay Alco was reviewed in the June 1951 Model Railroader Trade Topics and if you have the issue, or have the Digital Archive access you might be interested in reading it. The price was $31.50 with dual drive which was a high price at that time even for quality goods.
I have one much older than that. Very heavy and have cleaned and have it running. Took me a while to figure out the wiring. Had to make new connectors for the drive which seem to work. It pickes up power on the front truck from one side and the rear truck on the opposite but would like to add power to the other wheels to keep it from stalling. Any suggestions
It’s possible to attach some wipers and plastic insulation to touch the insulated wheels to get all wheel pickup. I did this with another Lindsay drive and it was a good improvement.
This is actually an original Lindsay from the early 50’s, so it’s about as old as they get.
I have an A B A set of these that I bought from Hobbytown of Boston in 1968 or 69. They came with the standard Hobbytown four axle flywheel drive.
I cut off the rear door blob of metal and replaced them with doors cut from the 89 cent Globe/Athearn plastic F units. Not exactly correct for Alco’s but a big improvement.
I spliced the remains of the F unit shells together to make a double ended F7 similar to Australian units.
I have some Hobbytown FB2s with the Hobbytown drives. for the doors I used some old Train Miniature FB1 ends and fit them to the Hobbytown shells. I cut off the fuel tank skirts and cut and fit tank assemblies from some old Proto FA units. These FB2s then were pretty close to the the New Haven FB2s. Of course I used the Hobbytown drives for them.
I have also used the end doors from TM FB1s to replace the metal block on the end of the Hobbytown PAs that I have
Of course you can’t go wrong with the Hobbytown drives.
The FA2 FB2 units are still available from Hobbytown here
