The good old days started out with B-mann 4-6-0 box set AT&SF added some lionel track TRASHED the bobber and was happy for about a day. Painted the mauler black added dry transfer’s it became RGS #22 still have it. That was 1990.
Aw, c’mon Marty. Don’t you miss replacing the Heavyweight wheels with something that actually rolled? Or taking the LGB french articulated and kitbashing it into something that–from 20’ and six beers away–might look like an impressionisitic Big Boy? And who can forget the long strings of wood beer cars behind the ubiquitous FA-1s? And for the really-long-timers, an LGB 2017 (“americanized” german 0-4-0) with a string of austrian passenger cars because they–after the same 20’ and three beers–looked like american passenger cars?
Today’s garden railroaders need no imagination at all! Oh how I long for the days of yore when a B’mann 4-6-0 and string of MDC 2-bay cars fit the bill and my mind filled in the blanks. How dare the hobby progress to reveal the man behind the curtain!
Oh, wait…
You mean I don’t have to scratchbuild everything anymore? I can write a check and get exactly what I want? In an accurate scale??? TWO manufacturers are making EBT mikados? You mean I can spend more time accessorizing the railroad and building structures to complete the scene? You mean I don’t have to hand-lay my switches as the only means to get nice, broad curves?
Thanks for the pixes. I’m feeling my way along on a 'bashed power plant made from an Echo floor engine. Will post my own only after the first coat of paint. (It looks ridiculous at the moment; I can’t decide whether to turn new cylinders and make valve boxes or leave well enough alone for a first effort.) Incidentally, yeah, that does look like an American engine.
I too prefer 1:22.5. In fact, 1:24 would be even better and at exactly twice the size of O scale, it would make more sense too. 1:20.3 is just too big, especially when you’re modeling structures. Also there’s a lot more stuff available in 1:24 – vehicles, figures, structural details, etc.
Marty, Rene just had to get out the Big Stick to keep all the ducks in a row, thats all.[;)]
Good Ol’days? Ha haha, I’ve been grinning since I got my Superliner car set, then I checked an old catalog and found the set I got was manufactured in 1988 ! Thats 20 [censored] years ago!!![:O]
Yeah todays far better overall, but some good things have also been lost…IMHO.[^]