Oldies but Goodies. The Old Stuff.
- Thread starter toptrain1
- Start date
Davenport diesel
Mantua made these right up to where Model Power took over. Search ebay. Check out local train shows. If not find another companys diesel B switcher and make your own side rods. You would be suprised what you can do if you try. Also check out Mantua Classics site maybe their made again. frank
good point sign1 ,i didnt plan to run them together as the GP-9 is a phase 2 while the proto's are earlier style.but i just never noticed :mrgreen:.--josh
post 64
followup athern GP9
JOSH : When I run my GPs i don't mix them intensionaly. But sometimes it happens. I just explain it away as them being different phases of production. It is ashame to waste good running locos. And they look just fine. frank
followup athern GP9
JOSH : When I run my GPs i don't mix them intensionaly. But sometimes it happens. I just explain it away as them being different phases of production. It is ashame to waste good running locos. And they look just fine. frank
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post 65
American GK Locomotive works.
E-60-CF A locomotive Pennsy never had but it looks just fine to me.
E-60-CP A locomotive the CNJ never had. BUT! If the CNJ wasn't taken over by Conrail ( who got very little use of the line anyway).Electrafacation of the seashore line went on as it did and the aviability of the locomotives remained the same from Amtrack. CNJ would of gotten them.
American GK Locomotive works.
E-60-CF A locomotive Pennsy never had but it looks just fine to me.
E-60-CP A locomotive the CNJ never had. BUT! If the CNJ wasn't taken over by Conrail ( who got very little use of the line anyway).Electrafacation of the seashore line went on as it did and the aviability of the locomotives remained the same from Amtrack. CNJ would of gotten them.
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Reply to Triplex
Triplex : Maybe they are, maybe they are not EMD flexcoil. They maybe Converse, PF Flyiers. They are the trucks that came from American GK. Their choice. The drives were completely assembled. You put the details on. In this case the paint and lettering also. They run fine. And I still like them!
Frank toptrain
Triplex : Maybe they are, maybe they are not EMD flexcoil. They maybe Converse, PF Flyiers. They are the trucks that came from American GK. Their choice. The drives were completely assembled. You put the details on. In this case the paint and lettering also. They run fine. And I still like them!
Frank toptrain
Last year while still working at a hobby shop we aquired a certain gentlemans models, he had over 600- that's right 600!- locos of American Flyer, Hornby, Wrenn, Lionel and many British kits.
I remember seeing a few HO locos that said American Flyer on them- man were these locos HEAVY!!!!!
I remember seeing a few HO locos that said American Flyer on them- man were these locos HEAVY!!!!!
Indeed...the old Flyer (A.C.Gilbert) J-1a Hudsons, which first appeared in 1938(!) and were mainstay HO road engines on most layouts of the era, were all heavy die castings.
By today's standards, I guess you'd call them somewhat primitive in appearance but back around the time of WWII, they were, by far, the finest out-of-the-box RTR locomotives available, exceeded only by the astronomically expensive custom built locos by such folks as Lobaugh, George Stock, et al. Then too, since they were truly mass produced, they also sold for around one-half the price of steam engine kits by the other well known HO manufacturers of the day.
I still have two of my dad's J-1a's from before the war, one of which still runs reasonably well. I often wonder if the same will be said for the likes of BLI and other current loco manufacturers products, some 70 years hence?! ;-)
CNJ999
Guys,Put those antiques back into the museum..Just looking at 'em I feel my age.sign1
There is a old Revell SW7 still in operation at the club but,sadly she shows her age and needs a lot of TLC..:sad:
There is a old Revell SW7 still in operation at the club but,sadly she shows her age and needs a lot of TLC..:sad:
My father bought me my first electric train shortly after returning from Germany after the war. He was a POW. The train was an American Flyer pulled by a Pennsy K-4 which, along with the tender, was cast metal and the freight cars were of sheet metal. It was an interesting clash of scale in that the train was roughly "S" scale, yet it was made to run on three-rail "O" gauge Lionel track. (Later, A.C.Gilbert redesigned the loco to run on two-rail "S" gauge track.) Regrettably, there is nothing left of that train set. I was five years old and was not allowed to power the train without my parents supervision, so I wore the wheels away pulling the train on the floor, and wore the paint away by my constant handling.
I shudder to think how many minutes or seconds a fragile precision made BLI model would have lasted in my tender young hands!
I shudder to think how many minutes or seconds a fragile precision made BLI model would have lasted in my tender young hands!
Pre-war HO Am. Flyers...?? I had the impression AF got into the HO line late in the 50's....and were all plastic models....Live & learn...
Nope. Something that most hobbyists have long since forgotten (or never even knew) was that Flyer was the first to mass produce an affordable HO, RTR, road locomotive. At the time you could sometimes purchase (very limited runs) a RTR, factory painted, Mantua road engine and perhaps even an occasional Varney example but they were very expensive at the time (a number of times the price of a RTR Flyer Hudson). Thus, the motivepower of a great many layouts shortly before the war consisted of a Varney Little Joe and/or a Mantua Goat in the yard and a Flyer Hudson out on the main. Flyer also had a very nice set of die cast New Haven HO passenger cars from '38 on, to go with the Hudson, as well as some freight rollingstock.
Incidentally, custombuilt road engines of the day were priced around what a good secondhand car went for - about $5000 to $7000 in today's dollars!
CNJ999
post 74
American Flyier Hudson
Photos of the Gilbert HO Hudson. #31005 is in original condition. It has a open frame motor who's parallel shaft not only poweres the center drive axel but operates a smoke unit. The 443 has been redrivered using mantua parts. The pair of hudsons shown, on top a repainted 443 with the second type drive. the motor has a vertical shaft. The bottom, 5052 also repainted is the original drive with the DC conversion ( field Magnet )added. The last photo shows the original 5318 ( #200) AC drive with a wound field winding. A few companies made DC conversions for this loco to allow for operating with the standard DC locos of this post was period. Actually the first conversions came out per war, as referred to by CNJ999 in the previous post.
toptrain
American Flyier HudsonPhotos of the Gilbert HO Hudson. #31005 is in original condition. It has a open frame motor who's parallel shaft not only poweres the center drive axel but operates a smoke unit. The 443 has been redrivered using mantua parts. The pair of hudsons shown, on top a repainted 443 with the second type drive. the motor has a vertical shaft. The bottom, 5052 also repainted is the original drive with the DC conversion ( field Magnet )added. The last photo shows the original 5318 ( #200) AC drive with a wound field winding. A few companies made DC conversions for this loco to allow for operating with the standard DC locos of this post was period. Actually the first conversions came out per war, as referred to by CNJ999 in the previous post.
toptrain
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WoW....!!! Boy...those are some sweet locos...They have the same "look & feel" of their bigger brethern (S gauge). If AF had a good handhold in the HO market, why did they give it up..??
BTW...Are these locos in your collection..?
BTW...Are these locos in your collection..?
Well, just prior to WWII Flyer, under A.C.Gilbert, had begun producing trains in S and HO gauge, after decades in O. But shortages of war-essential materials soon stopped all production. With the reappearance of toy trains in 1946, Flyer returned strongly to its production of S gauge.
S scale, being cheaper to make, easier to fit into a given space and more scale in appearance, Flyer apparently thought it might be able to significantly divert the market and lead folks away from the bigger, less accurate, more expense, Lionel O gauge trains. At the same time, trains were considered toys and meant for kids, which made HO simply a sideshow that few actually thought might grow into a really profitable market. Back then, adult HO hobbyists numbered only around 15k-20k, whereas kids were counted in the millions.
Flyer did produce HO throughout the 1950's but pretty much always the same line and on a limited basis. Their HO steam engine roster never went beyond the original Hudson (always NYC) and later an 0-6-0 swticher (always PRR). In the late 1950's they added a couple of diesels but emphasis was always far more toward the cleverly animated S gauge trains and accessories.
By the late 1950's, when HO was really taking off as an adult hobby, with over 100,000 members, Flyer was already failing financially and other manufacturers were offering a diversity of equal or better quality HO engines that were also RTR, for about the same price as Flyer's and in a wide range of road names and styles. Flyer had missed the boat (just as did Lionel - in its case, both in OO and then HO!).
CNJ999
When I graduated from college in '94, my parents bought me this brass United 2-6-6-2 Mallet for a graduation present. It was used then so I don't know when it was actually sold as new. Regardless, in 2006 I had the hots to change it over to DCC and remotor it but that project went next to nowhere.
That's a United 2-6-6-2, Sierra Railroad prototype. I own the running gear and a tender from that model that I bought at a garage sale. It's a nice model. I would first install a Bhuler, Cannon, or A-Line can motor in place of the open-frame motor.
You MUST isolate the motor from the frame somehow. (isn't too difficult)
For added trouble-free DCC operation, make sure the tender trucks cannot come in contact AT ALL with the bottom of the tender (short will blow up your decoder)
I would go one step further with this astoundingly beautiful lokie and add a TSUnami heavy steam decoder and go into the programmer and check the box for "mallet" which gives you the sounds for both sets of cylinders.
You MUST isolate the motor from the frame somehow. (isn't too difficult)
For added trouble-free DCC operation, make sure the tender trucks cannot come in contact AT ALL with the bottom of the tender (short will blow up your decoder)
I would go one step further with this astoundingly beautiful lokie and add a TSUnami heavy steam decoder and go into the programmer and check the box for "mallet" which gives you the sounds for both sets of cylinders.