The first of the post-war train kits was the 2-8-2 Mikado in HO guage or 3.5mm=1 foot, Kit No. R1. This makes up into a very handsome locomotive and tender which is then the motive for all the railcar kits that followed. Metal couplers, trucks and wheels were not in the kit but had to be obtained if the locomotive was to be used for rolling stock. Wood trucks and wheels sufficed for display purposes and are included in the kit. The plan is dated 1948.
I remember in the early to mid 60’s slot car racing was big. There was a little slot car hobby store I used to pass on the way to and from school. It had an 8 lane slot car layout about12’ X 40’. You would bring your car in and rent a lane of track by the half hour. Strombecker and Cox were some of the big sellers of 1/24 and 1/32 scale slot cars in the hobby store. If memory serves me right, it lasted about 6-7 years.
Strombecker was my introduction to HO scale model railroading when I was about 10, in 1950. I built just about every HO item they had available, including the freight train, the “Rocket”, the “City of San Francisco” and the B&O “Streamliner” (which if I remember correctly, was also offered for a time as the “Capitol Limited”). As I remember, I even built an extra Mikado, LOL!
Sure, they were crude, but at 10, a boy’s imagination could provide the rest of the details. Actually, the passenger cars for the COSF and the B&O were extremely good looking. With a little extra added detail and some actual HO passenger trucks, they were almost the equivalent of the then-current Varney streamlined cars. I know of several HO modelers who converted their COSF trains into actual working HO-scale models (the wood body of the E-6 loco was hollowed out and came with instructions on how to motorize the unit using a Varney motor and–I believe–Hobbytown trucks).
I even remember taking some Plastic Wood and back-converting my COSF E-6 into a ‘bubble-nose’ E-2, LOL!
They were fun to build. All you needed was some fine-grit sandpaper, the proper paint, and that powdered Casco glue really worked. And HELD!
I’ve got fond memories of Strombecker. I wouldn’t be surprised at how many current model railroaders my age got their start in the hobby with those kits.
Something about 35 cents for a freight car kit-----[:-^]
I built some Strombecker airplanes and they were as good as my skill could make them. Some of my more skille dfriends could make beautiful models. I finally finished my 1950 English Yard Bird and even at my skill level, I thinks it looks good and runs ok.What makes them better today, is they don’t have to be built. The only skill seems to be to figure how to get them out of the box, and then how to make them run. I think the Campbell building are still the best though I have not yet built my FSM kit.
I first saw Strombeckers when I was in my early teens (very late '50s) and to be very honest, they convinced me to stay with my Lionel. In 1960/61, I was introduced to the Athearn BB line of kits and rubber band drive F units (and later on GPs), Atlas track components, and MRC powerpacks. That is what did it for me - and I’m still at it - almost 50 years later.
I’ve seen a few of these slot-car track places open (and close) around my area (Long Island NY) in the past decade - one store-font wide, all three places had 2 tracks to race on.
Not quite old enough to remember the 1960s (although they still had quite a influence on the hobby in the late 1970s - plenty of kits from that era - an the 1950s - Atlas, Revell, and Plasticville anyone), but old enough to remember when RTR meant Tyco, Bachmann and LifeLike (and not in a good way)
While such kits as the one cited above are amusing to see, always keep in mind that while the inexpensive wooden Strombecker RR kits may have appealed to some very young hobbyists of the day in the same manner as did that company’s aircraft kits, very few adult modelers of that era took them seriously. It was extremely rare to see any Strombecker items turn up in venues like Trackside Photos, or elsewhere in the pages of MRs or RMCs of that period. By the time Strombecker’s wooden 2-8-2 first appeared on the market, HO scale modelers had already moved well beyond such crude, non-functioning, sorts of kits. So, Strombecker RR models really shouldn’t be held up as in any way being representative examples of what model railroading was about immediately following WWII.
Well, excuuuuse me, but I did not imply, nor do I think any others on this thread believed Strombecker was the “premium” brand of it’s day. Thank you so much for pointing out the obvious.[bow]
FWIW: In my youth I built some myself. b: 1948 [:-^]
You’re welcome! Unfortunately, Bill, that’s exactly what posts of this type do imply to folks here, a great many of whom are largely oblivious to what the hobby was like in 1990, let alone some forty years earlier.
Bill,I gotta go with CNJ on this one simply because your topic does suggest those wooden kits was the “good old days”.
In contrasts the “good old days” I recall was a great time…We had many fine brass steam locomotives from PFM,United,Sunset,Balboa,Westside,Tenshodo and others…Diesels was from Tenshodo,Alco models,Trains Inc,Hallmark,Athearn and others.We had that state of the art Hobbytown RS3.Steam locomotives from Varney,Mantua,Penn-Line…
Contrary to popular belief the 50/60s was exciting times as HO started its trip to what we have today.
As I said in my previous posting, StromBecker was the brand that got me interested in HO. Of course, my Strombecker kits were ‘static’, and as I posted earlier, I had to use my imagination a lot for the extra details, but not too long after, I discovered Athearn, Varney, Ulrich, Silver Streak–all of which built into nicely detailed–for their day–‘operational’ equipment. And after buying a used Varney “Docksider” from my English teacher in high school, I was on my way.
What the StromBecker kits DID for me, was get me interested in HO SCALE. Up to then I was a 3-rail Lionel kind of kid, like almost every kid in my neighborhood. Those kits were the original impetus for me to enter the hobby seriously.
And BTW, building those StromBecker kits helped a lot when I started tackling those Silver Streak wooden kits–the building technique was almost the same.
So, yes, there WAS a lot of really good stuff out there back in the 'fifties. But in my case, it was the inexpensive StromBecker wooden and cardboard kits that got me going and INTERESTED in the good stuff, LOL!
If I can use an analogy: I’m a pianist by profession. I started out at 5 banging away on a little Spinet, then gradually worked myself up to a 6-foot grand piano in my living room. I started out with StromBecker kits an
Bill, reading is indeed fundamental. So please READ the heading of your own thread. The title or heading of a thread on these forums is intended to indicate what the posts contained therein are addressing. You start out with the title stating, “The good old days…were not THAT good!” and then link directly to the Strombecker material without further comment. The title infers a discussion of the shortcomings of hobby in the past. The initial post itself appears to offer up Strombecker as an example of the primative nature of the HO hobby shortly post-war, which was totally untrue. Those not familiar with that era, which would probably amount to better than three-quarters of those on this forum, would not likely take the post as tongue-in-cheek. I would add that the misleading titling/heading of threads has been criticized on this forum repeatedly.
Again we have here a discussion in semantics. The term, “The good old days” is really just a catch phrase and can be used equally for good things as well as stuff that we may see as less than desirable. I believe that this term can be used to impart irony as well…None-the-less and before it all turned a bit dark, this was an interesting post featuring historical model railroad content.Bruce[:)]
What got me interested in the hobby was an M.B. Austin catalog of brass imported locomotives. My older brother asked for a USRA 0-8-0 locomotive with tender booster. Not to be outdone, I asked for and received a Reading 0-4-0 Camelback from M.B. Austin, via Santa. That was around 1959. One thing is for sure: locomotive drive mechanisms certainly have improved since then.
AAh—even if CNJ agrees with everyone someone will kvetch about his posting. He just pointed out something that may be true for some people. Some but not all. [:-^]
I still think the OP is interesting—especially with all that stuff[swg]
Be interesting to see some more of that on this forum–be good for the historical perspective[:D]
You just don’t give up, do you? OK, I’ve got time. Let’s do this point by point. Ready?
Strombecker’s own text is self explanatory.Do you still need that explained?
As this information was Strombecker specific, yes, there was somewhat of a “shortcoming.”
Really? The information was clearly noted as 1948. Was that pre-war? The Strombecker was not a primitive example? (It sure didn’t have Hi-Tech rubber band drive, but that’s for another time.)
You’ve made two claims in one statement.
Do you truly speak for “better than three-quarters of those on this forum?” 80%? 90%? Do the forum members know this?
The post was meant to show how far we’ve come. T.I.C? Are you so arrogant to think you know my motivation?
This I can believe, and I see YOU as the watchdog for ALL such things, real or imagined. I do not live on this forum, so I must have missed the memo.
