Gidday, Dived into my box of second hand, “to be refurbished” rolling stock for a project on a quiet winters night project, as you do, and pulled out what I thought, at first glance, an assembled Athearn BB 40 foot steel box car, which needed some TLC. The first thing I noticed was that it had actual sprung trucks and on the one piece under frame, which is virtually identical to the Athearn one,has a moulded insignia inscribed with “OK” and has also “Crown” ,“Hong Kong” and No C150.
The steel weight is larger than an Athearn one but with “a lick of a file” the parts are interchangeable, and similar style of manufacture. I had a look on HOSeeker, there is a reference to "OK Herkime, but I’m not convinced they’re the same thing.
I’m not about to loose sleep over this,but am curious.
I have a number of Crown cars I got when I was a teenager, back in the early 1960s. At the time, they were a real bargain, considerably cheaper than comparable Blue-Box kits, but with nice detail and paint jobs. My collection includes box cars, tankers and log cars.
The trucks have plastic wheels, and, unfortunately, cylindrical axles rather than the pointed ones found in replacement metal wheelsets. I’ve used a Dremel (very carefully) to alter the truck frames to take pointed axles. This works on some of them, but I’ve ended up replacing the trucks on others.
As I recall, the coupler pockets had very thin center pins for the horn-hooks they came with, and I ended up removing the original pockets and replacing them with Kadee draft gear boxes.
I remember the Crown line very well (and it is NOT to be confused with the superb Crown brass locomotives of the same era – the same name was used for the most expensive and very cheapest).
It was actually brought in by Mantua/Tyco but “silently” – the Mantua name was not used to sell the product. The freight cars were all knock offs of Athearn and made in Hong Kong. I recall for example the four truck flat car was just like Athearn’s in appearance (and excessive height compared to the prototype). The Deep Rock tank car also looked just like Athearns (I do not have one at hand but I almost wonder if the car’s number was the same). For all I know the parts interchange.
The paint jobs were not bad, no worse than Athearn’s, the detail was not bad, but while the trucks were sprung (as were, of course, at one time, Athearn’s) the flanges were those cheese cutter things and they did not roll particularly well. Sometimes a bit of flash would cause them to wobble. The one good feature was that they used real screws to fasten the trucks so a replacement was not a difficult task even for a kid.
As a rule the Crown cars were under weight. It was also a bit more of a challenge to swap out the horn hook couplers for KDs – although I suspect that was a moot point for Crown’s target market of kids who wanted to add to their “train set.” I had some Crown cars where the couplers drooped down and there was no easy way to correct that.
The big advantage to Crown cars was the price. I saw them at many hobby shops back in the 1960s and the price was invariably 99 cents. The packaging was a flat sheet of cardstock and a plastic “bubble” around the car, so they could not be stacked up but rather sold off of a peg board. The downside was that now there was no box to store the cars. Fortunately that was also an era when smoke shops gave away excellent cigar boxes (some of them, all wood!) and al
I remember seeng OK Herkimer ads in the model mags back in the 50’s but most of them were for Santa Fe F7 and streamlined aluminum passenger cars. I belive they were actual aluminum extrusions with windows punched out. Don’t remember seeing any freight cars though, but then that was a long time ago.
Mr Beasley, Yes I had noticed those wheels, I probably just turn down the pizza cutter flanges first and see how they run, though as Dave Nelson mentions in his comprehensive in put, "…they did not roll particularly well", so will attempt your fix. ( I’ll probably end up kicking my self for not just replacing the wheel sets from the word go!!)
Certainly didn’t mind you going off topic either Dave, a bit of history doesn’t go amiss, and though I’d never heard of them before, if I ever find a Kurtz Kraft kit I know who to call.
farrella Bob, not much wrong with your memory, [:)] here’s links to the 1957 OK brochure…
On my Crown cars and older Athearns with sprung trucks, the springs have sometimes proven to be a problem. (Gee, you’d think they could make things that last more than 60 years, wouldn’t you?) I’ve ended up gluing the trucks together. Some are so loose that they would drop the wheelsets right out while running. I look for complete trucks in bargain bins because I know I have some to replace.
I just picked a couple of the Crown HO Scale Trains blisterpaks as a little nostalgia and couldn’t find anything from Google about them - kept referencing CMT O-scale products - until I came across your article when set my mind at ease. However, what means “OT” and “LHS” acronyms you used?
The boxcar, tank car, flat car and caboose were copies of Athearn. The gondola was from Rivarossi or Roco. According to my research, these five products were passed on to AHM and then to Bachmann in 1971. The models below are modified. See my blog posts. 4683
The blue is a late Athearn blue box (modified). The crown boxcar (original) looks just like the very early Athearn.
I am pleased that this topic has been helpful. I also concur with Ed on the meanings of OT and LHS.
I would also like to thank BN7150 for the addition of his useful material.
Cheers, the Bear.[:)]
Now here is a thread I did not expect to see revived all these years later. But the actual images of Crown/OK ads and the models and their packaging help make the thread a more complete discussion of this perhaps obscure sidelight into HO history. For all those who object to reviving old threads, this shows why it can be the best idea.
And it was nice nostaligia to see the old cardboard with blister pack again. When I was a kid Crown’s pricing really helped expand my little roster of freight cars. I was at an NMRA divisional meet Sunday and was pleased to see how many 12 to 18 year olds were there. It must be depressing for them to see all these wonderful products of today that they cannot hope to acquire except as a rare birthday or holiday present. At the risk of being a classic geezer, “in my day, sonny boy” if there was something nice that we could not afford at least we could assume that it would still be offered for sale in five or ten years when we COULD afford it (Mantua metal steam locomotives; Athearn diesels; etc).
This is a very interesting thread that I haven’t seen before. I have a lot of old stuff and I have came across some cars that were almost Athearn, but not quite! I’ve found some Lindberg, some Kurtz Kraft, so I very well may have some of these as well.
Two points 1) In all my train watching since 1964 or so, age 12, I can not recall seeing a compartmented tank car. They seem much more common on model pikes than real life. I am guessing they were used to ship multiple products to small distributors - maybe Midwest or West Coast? I lived on the East Coast. 2) Was there a prototype for the eight axle flat car? It looks like something from General Steel Castings, with the entire car being one steel casting (or welded from another source ?). I guessed PRR, but on checking, it looks like no joy.
The Athearn 8 axle flat car creates some comments, not necessarily that flattering, General Steel Castings is mentioned as a possible builder. I’ve linked two past discussions…
I seem to recall seeing a similar New York Central flat like the Athearn model but can’t recall where I saw it. The Athearn model might be loosely based on this SP 200 ton model:
The 3-compartment tank car definitely has prototypes including some in the Deep Rock paint scheme. Ditto the four truck flatcar, but don’t expect to see these cars now. Take a look at the 1937 Car Builder’s Cyclopedia, or various editions of the Railroad Prototype Cyclopedia. Thus is also true by the way for many HO cars from the 1950s: check 1937 and older “Cycs.”
For practical purposes the Athearn and Crown four axle flatcar sits much higher than the prototype. If you had very wide radius curves and added some weight, I think you could modify the model’s bolsters to lower the height. It might also be possible to use the basic flatcar body and use 3 axle Buckeye type trucks, the result would resemble some military flatcars.
Dave Nelson
AMENDED POST – A four truck flatcar that resembles the Athearn/Crown model except it is nowhere near as tall) is in the 1931 Car Builder’s Cyclopedia: C&NW 48053. It is listed as a 200 ton car
The 1943 Car Builder’s Cyclopedia still shows that C&NW car and also shows a Pennsylvania Railroad car of basically similar appearance, and it is listed as a 187 ton car. Both were 44’ long. What the 1943 yclopedia does show, however, was that heavy duty flatcars increasingly just had heavy duty 3 axle buckeye trucks rather than the complex double bolster of the C&NW and Pennsy prototypes (and the Athearn/Crown model). I suspect those cars were retired before most of us on these forums became informed and alert train watchers and modelers
As to the 3 dome tank car that Athearn/Crown offered, it too was shown in the 1931 Cyclopedia and in the Deep Rock paint scheme that both Athearn and Crown cataloged. There were other 3 dome tank cars but they had a different apperance. That Cyclopedia also shows, 2, 4, and 6 dome tank cars. The 6 dome car was made to carry wine! So