OK kids gather round the geezer as he spins a true story about how things were back in the day – so we are talking roughly 1965 to late 1970s here.
AHM was Associated Hobby Manufacturers which was an importer that brought in the Rivarossi engines such as the Y6-b 2-8-8-2, the SP cab forward, the Indiana Harbor Belt 0-8-0, NKP berkshire, UP Big Boy and so on. Also the Fairbanks Morse C Liner, Pennsy GG1, and so on
They had deals called “Funeral Sale” where you’d get 3 for the price of 1 “lightly damaged” locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, and structures. So three standard passenger cars would be $3.98 – maybe the trucks would be broken. Or three box cars for $1.98, and perhaps the horn hooks would be broken off, or a brake wheel missing.
Or you could get three N&W Y6-b 2-8-8-2s for the price of one, meaning $35.
This was all “as is” no returns, no warranty, no nothing.
Sometimes only the packaging was damaged. Sometimes there was evidence that the container holding the trains had gotten wet, perhaps even in salt water, and there was corrosion damage to the steeel wheels or a motor. Sometimes it looked like AHM might have raided the item for spare parts. Sometimes a detail or two was broken off, or a scratch marred the paint. Sometimes the engine did not run real great. But since you had three, with some tinkering you could as a rule get two perfect engines for the price of one, plus a nice supply of spare parts.
I mostly ordered the freight cars and passenger cars – and who cared if the trucks or wheels were missing since 1) they tended to be the weakest part of AHM stuff anyway and 2) AHM had a parts catalog and spare parts were surprisingly cheap
Anyway they also had something called “Roundhouse Rubble” where for $10 you’d get a HUGE box of train stuff that was deemed just a bit too damaged for the Funeral Sale. As a kid on a budget who loved to tinker this my friends was hog heaven. I remember one box (remember, $10). The boxes