Evening all, I've spent considerable time this summer and fall purchasing a large number of cars and locomotives from a lady whose husband passed away in 1992. All of this equipment has just been sitting in a climate controlled room since that time not being used. She recently decided it was time to sell off this huge collection and I've been buying quite a lot of it. It's all dc stuff of course and for what she was asking I couldn't leave it there. She has a lot of brass and NIB stuff I haven't gotten to and may never get to. Most of this equipment is marked as to who made it, a lot of Rivarossi, Athearn, some Fleischmann, Varney, Hobbytown, Mantua, even an old articulated Bowser. Probably 2/3 of it runs while the rest either needs help or is terminal. Among all of this I've found a large number of extruded aluminum passenger cars with no markings at all. I'm trying to figure out who made them. Any ideas? Also I've found a pair of 4-8-2 locomotives that are made of cast brass. These also have no markings at all and I wondered who might have produced such an item and when. Any information would be appreciated. It's not urgent but I'm very curious about the history of some of this stuff. The Bowser for example was advertised as a modular kit starting in the '50's. Oh yeah, I also got Model Railroad and Model Craftsman magazines dating from about 1935 through 1992. Not a complete set but it almost is. I've been able to track some of the production dates with this resource. She still has more cars, probably another 150 or so that I hope to pick up before football season ends. As for the brass stuff, she knows more about what that is worth and is pricing accordingly. If anyone has an idea of who might have made those passenger cars or the cast brass locos I would appreciate knowing it. It would at least give me a starting point to research further. Thanks. Rick H.
Well if it is N-Scale stuff this site is outstanding in assisting with identification of odd or obscure items.... http://www.spookshow.net/trainstuff.html Andy
I seem to recall the name OK Herkimer in connection with extruded aluminum HO passenger cars. I think they were shortys. Seem to remember them advertised in hobby mags in the 1960s.
I notice a funny reaction that probably says more about me than about the material. I am a big freight car and passenger car nut, and pay more attention to cars than locomotives. Find them more interesting. So my reaction is, what do you mean "dc stuff" ? For cars, dc, dcc, etc matter much- although some lighted cars do have dcc decoders. The other thing: you mentioned some European brands, probably made primarily for the European market. SOME of them may possibly be AC for 3 rail, like Lionel O gauge. In that case, I wonder if some of the cars have non-insulated axles that would short out from one outside rail to the other... like old Lionel. Just pondering and reflecting. And kicking out possibilities...
What I mean by dc stuff is that the gentleman who collected all of this passed away in 1992 and none of it is dcc. I may well be wrong but did dcc even exist in model railroading at that time? The cars are all unpowered but I suspect much of these unmarked items go back to the '60's and earlier. I'll photograph some of it later today and post those. I don't know why I didn't think to do that earlier. Rick H.
Sorry to be so slow in posting photos. I've spent the last couple of days on a new garden rr project and getting some stuff done in the yard. attached are photos of a couple of the aluminum cars and the brass loco. There are nearly 50 of the passenger cars and two locos like the one shown. A couple of the cars are in poor condition and will likely become Joe's Diner or something like that. I don't know why but I get a kick out of converting old cars into buildings, have seen it done for real several times locally. So what do you think? Rick H.
Yep, either Kasiner Hobbies or a related company who owned the mold. I think Globe had some like that before they startedthe kit version of what became Athearn Blue Box kits (imagine a BB kit, but the walls, roof and floor all flat pieces). A lot of the old molds got handed off and had multiple owners, so nailing these down may be next to impossible. EDIT: Penn Line also made them like that. If you appen to come across any of the Reading cars, those used to be worth something. May not be so much now with the GHB release, but the reading Observation cars had a very unique end on them and Reading modelrs were hard pressed to come by them. http://goingincirclez.com/Crusader
