What ever happened to Pacific Fast Mail? When I left railroading it was the in thing. Now I am back and all I find are old things on Ebay. What happened and when?
You’ve been gone a long time; PFM has been gone about 20 years. As I remember, the guy that owned it died. The last item I remember seeing was a book; don’t remember the title. Think the sound system went to PBL. I think Tenshodo and United are still in business in Japan, but like most of the “old” brass importers, PFM is no more. You didn’t mention Westside Models or Balboa. *** Truesdale retired, but still has a model railroad in California. Don’t remember who owned Balboa, but remember someone who worked for Panavise having had some connection. He of course has passed on. Don’t know any details about Akane or Gem or any of the other older companies. Hope this helps.
Bob Hayes
Thanks. Its been 25 years and its good to be back. I did find and Old Sierra 2-6-6-2 that I drooled over when I was too poor to own it. It doesn’t run all that good but it looks nice. I found some old cataloges in my magizines, Good stuff.
The more things change, the more things change. Don’t be overwhelmed by the so-called new technology, it’s just all smoke and wires in a smaller package, strange that in this day and age just how good an old piece of brass can be, eh? I have an old NKP Berkshire that I got for a song, had it refurbished for $35.00 and is truly a classic masterpiece, I couldn’t afford it back then, and I couldn’t afford it now if I had to pay full price.
Yep’ Its a shame most all the old importers have disappeared over the years,thank goodness I was able to pick up most of the pieces of G.N brass I wanted at a reasonable price In those days. Face it, Many of us can’t afford the price of alot of todays plastic steamers…Heck yah their nice…but not $500 - $600 worth of nice!!
Don’t feel left out of the loop–I’ve been model railroading since 1958 and I miss PFM too, like crazy. I’ve got some really nice brass from Tenshodo and United that I bought both new from PFM way back when, and also picked up used at swap meets or consignments. And if they run a little rough, well, there’s no cure like a $25 NWSL can motor to perk them up and get them running just as nice as the newer locos. Out of my approximately 50 steamers, about 40 are brass, and I use them a lot. They’re easy to tinker with and pretty indestructable. And if the older ones don’t have detail down to the last rivet–oh, well–! They’re still handsome and hefty. I’ve got PFM, Akane, Balboa and LMB, and even the little guys will out-pull almost anything that P2K puts out, these days. Okay, so maybe I’m stuck in a time-warp, but I sure miss the old brass.
Tom
The Old Dog has been looking thru his collection of old MR’s. The joke is that at one time NWSL produced/imported some dang interesting engines on their own account. They did act simply as a parts supplier to allow one to improve brass imported by others. But times have changed. At least they are still in business providing needed items.
Have fun
I too would like to know about the availability of PFM equipment. Where to look?
There are used brass dealers with websites such as Dan Glasures Brass Trains or the Caboose in Wolcott Ct. or caboose hobbies in Denver just to mention 3 that have nice inventorys of brass. most still advertise in MR.
Check out this Key H8 Allegheny I purchased wayyy reasonably from CHs just a few mos. ago
My how times flies. I have found a couple more on ebay and am still looking for a Yellowstone. My Sierra now has DCC and runs regularly. There are really a lot of things on Ebay that I look at weekly. Good hunting.
There was another discussion on the Sierra 2-6-6-2 some time back and NWSL will be developing a total regearing kit for this locomotive.
I was in touch with NWSL as I also have a Sierra 2-6-6-2 and while it runs fine it sure is noisy and I contacted NWSL about regrearing and I was told to hold on til the end of the year and the kit for the 2-6-6-2 Sierra should be ready.
Bob,
Dick’s layout has been gone for several years now. He sold his house in Central CA and moved to Southern CA. There was an article on Dick in the gazette a couple of years agp.
Guy
Search under “HO brass” on the famous auction site (usual caveats apply), presuming you’re looking for an HO engine. Note that not all PFM engines are listed as such, so it’s worth looking through carefully if you know what you’re looking for.
Tenshodo, United, Fujiyama are possible additional search terms
Ed
I am probably not alone in associating Pacific Fast Mail with the back cover of Model Railroader magazine. Their ad was always there back in the day.
Some of us remember when PFM also marketed switch machines (Tenshodo I believe) and a line of very high quality books. And while they did not exactly advertise it, they also carried a line of spare parts and castings. Sometimes even spare tenders would be imported and quietly offered for sale.
Dave Nelson
No one is stuck in a time warp. I’ve been into the hobby for some 3 or 4 years now, am only 28, and would love to have some brass engines. Nothing large either. Atlantic’s, Mogul’s, Hudson’s, Prairie’s, Con’s, Mikado’s, I think the biggest would be Berk’s and Mohawk’s. I could never afford one though. If I had the money there is a small list of non-train related items. The cheapest i have notices was at the hobby store I partisan, a pair of brass GP30’s painted for Milwaukee with DCC already installed. They were $900.
Out of curiosity has there ever been a company that made brass engines in N scale?
Some nice chap whose name I forgot has compiled an on-line N Scale Locomotive Encyclopedia, which you may find here
Keep checking around with different dealers and auction sites. The market can be pretty soft for many brass models, depending on prototype, and I’ve seen some real steals come up on that famous auction site.
Part of this market softness is due to DCC, as the vast majority of brass is not decoder-ready. It’s not that big a deal to convert – at least I hope not, as I’m getting ready to finish my first brass steam loco decoder install [*-)] as soon as I can get my hands on a needed backup light casting.
Hi all,
Pacific Fast Mail remained in minimal operation until just a few years ago when owner Don Drew passed away. For most of it’s last decade PFM focused on publishing railroad related books. Don owned a small office building in Edmonds, WA, on the shores of Puget Sound, that served as PFM’s headquarters. The BNSF (former GN) mainline from Seattle to Stevens Pass runs right next to the building. The building has remained in the Drew family, who are now renting out the space to other businesses. Anyone who ever visited the PFM offices may remember their display layout in the third floor conference room.
!(http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s305/Dave_Hikel/PFM layout move/DSC_0354.jpg)
The layout featured HO and HOn3 trackage, including a short section of dual gauge. All track work was hand laid using nickle silver rail. PFM was one of the first to offer NS rail back in the late 50’s. Most of the turnouts used Tenshodo switch machines. The scenery and structure models were beautifully crafted from scratch. All in all it was an exceptional display of what was possible in model railroading when the layout was built in the late 60’s.
Oddly enough, none of the new building tenants were interested in having a model railroad in their office. The Drew family contacted the Edmonds Historical Museum last year to see if they would be interested in the layout. Naturally, all parties were very enthused with the prospect. The Drews could see a piece of family history preserved, and the museum could have a ready made display with local historical significance. The hitch… How do you get a layout built in place out of the room?.. down three floors?.. and across town?.. without destroying it???[*-)]
That’s where my crew of model railroad builders and I came in. We devised a play to segment the layout into two pieces…
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Dave,
Great post. Thanks for taking the time to put it all up on the forum.
Guy