Lets see your Arnold N scale!

I have that catalog too, plus some others. They sure were beautiful and extensive. I even still have the brochure (actually just a single, double-sided sheet) from 1965 when they were transitioning from the 200 stuff to N scale. On the back, they had the "Special Steam Locomotives for the American "Marcet" - The 0223 Pennsy 2-6-2 transformed from a European prototype and the little 0225 0-6-0. Arnold and many other manufacturers were still calling it "N Gauge" then. I think that brochure came from AHC when they sent it along with some Treble-O-Lectric stuff I ordered from them.

And actually, that reminds me, I came very close to starting with Rapido stuff when AHC advertised some 200 series in that "Pee-Wee" ad they had in MR for a few months in 1964-65. It was $9.99 for a complete set and I almost ordered one but, for unknown reasons, I didn't. I think it was because i wasn't absolutely sure it would run on Treble-O track, however.

Doug

 

I'm largely ignorant N Scale prior to '68 Doug and found your post of interest.

Fate might play its hand in our choice of scales. I recall that sometime in '67 I bought an Athearn HO locomotive because my older brother had an Aurora HO race car set and we'd talked about building a combination layout. I had some decrepit old Penn Line HO pieces, so thought I'd give it a go with a new locomotive. As I walked home with my Athearn unit, I had second thoughts.

I went back to the store, got my money back and unknowingly closed the door on HO. A year later, I got my first N set for my birthday.

 

Our two experiences are kind of similar.. My absolute first experience with model trains was with our American Flyer set we had (I actually still have it) in the fifties my dad bought for my oldest brother in 1949 when my oldest brother was a few months old. It was on a 4X8 sheet of plywood we would set up on the basement floor and I remember laying on the floor watching it go 'round and 'round for what seemed like hours.

In 1961, my next oldest brother got an HO Tyco train set for Christmas and I was fascinated with that, too. In fact, I have all of his left over equipment from that set, too and have replaced what was missing, plus all the structures missing from his layout he had.

Anyway, so my parents knew I wanted a train set and I guess I was assuming if I did get one, it would also be HO. Imagine my surprise when I opened that Treble-O-Lectric set the next Christmas! And, everything went from there. I used those trains until 1967 when I saw the Atlas Norfolk Southern gondola in Nichol's Hobby Shop and that was the beginning of true N scale for me. I have recently had my Treble-O-Lectric fascination renewed and am trying to collect what I would consider a complete collection (everything on my site, even though there are variations beyond that).

I was always aware of Arnold Rapido and I'm sure if I would have had more money, I would have bought some much earlier. That Pee-Wee set at AHC was SO tempting.

Yeah, in spite of the fact I got a Thunderjet 500 Aurora "Model Motoring" set for Christmas in 1964 and had lot's of fun with it with my friends (we would combine the track from our sets and run it all around one of our basement floors), I never thought it seemed right to combine that with model railroading. To me, the two just didn't go together.

Doug

 

Uncovered some more of my old Arnold Rapido equipment this afternoon and found these. Two reefers, Asco and Carnation.

 

A stock car. I always wondered who at Arnold chose something obscure as St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern as a road name?



and a Conoco tank car ...… which I decided to mist some black paint on some 45 years ago.

 

A B Unit for the Fs. Note how Rapido engineered a different extension length of the truck mounted couplers at the ends of the unit. This way the powered A and Dummy A would close couple with the B as a set.

 

And the passenger cars. Interestingly, the carbodies are bowed on many of mine. As a kid, I never noticed their abbreviated length and thought they looked so cool. The RPO and Coach are shown.

 

There was a dome and observation too. I painted red details on the Obs, added a drumhead and that rear coupler may have been added and glued in place by me.

 

That's really interesting about Athearn's cars being Arnold's prototypes Russell! Unrelated, a number of the photos used in Arnold Rapido catalogs in the late '60s and early '70s showed HO models as stand-ins.

 

Neat trains! I particularly remember the Asco car as one I wanted but never bought. And, the things we did as kids to make our trains more "realistic" and later regretted. Well, perhaps regretted isn't quite the right word. More like "found hilarious". Some of my Treble-O-Lectric cars ended up with bits of silver, gold, and other colors on them with no logical purpose. Fortunately, I was able to remove it later without damaging the original paint.

I guess I was kind of snooty regarding the passenger cars as Atlas was selling full length cars and other manufacturers were selling the short ones. Of course, I now look at the shorties as terrific!

The B unit reminds me, I think I have one stashed away I got in a auction. I think I have a Rapido A unit dummy, too, that had been repainted in a totally nonexistent Railroad scheme.

The NYC lightning scheme is one of my all-time favorites, too.

Doug

 

I have the powered A and dummy A in Santa Fe, but I couldn't easily find them, The A runs, but they are both tired. I just found a black DL&W composite gon like my Wabash one and will post a photo of it a bit later. I really like Anrold's models of these gons -- they have a "just right" look.

It's a good thing that Anrold's equipment wasn't easy to convert to Micro-Trains couplers, as it kept a lot of stuff unmodified. I never converted any of mine.

 

Arnold's 0489L Lackawanna composite gondola:

 

Some recent additions:

Penn Central GP7 in fair condition. Corner steps are missing, although it's not too noticeable with everything black.


PennCentral FA-2, sold as FA-1's by Arnold but they really are FA-2's. Older version in semi-gloss black.

Penn Central FA-2 in flat black. Newer version with more weight.


Pennsylvania GG-1 in Tuscan. I saw this on ebay and, at the time, didn't know Arnold never did this scheme, noted the missing horns and made an offer. Accepted and before it got here, realized this is a repaint in this scheme. Nice job, however.

And finally, my "new" B&O Pacific. I have installed the MT conversion and I'm not sure I'm completely happy with it. Cutting off the original pilot and installing the MT one leaves gaps between the front steps and deck and the pilot/coupler sticks out forward too much, in my view. I mean, it doesn't look real bad but just so different from the original. I may operate on it in the future to move the deck back so it's at least directly beneath the steps. I still love the looks of the Arnold Pacific, however.

The Southern version is a real beauty, too.

Now, for some really old 200 stuff!

Doug

 

Thanks for posting those photos Doug. I've never seen a Rapido FA up close and never knew there were two versions, nor have I ever seen the B&O Pacific up close. I agree that Rapido's Pacific looks nice, and as we know, it's an excellent runner and was built to withstand a century of run time.

Looking at your photos of the PC geep, I now see what Rapido's fuel tank weight for it looks like. I discovered one in my stuff this morning, along with two Rapido floor weights and a spare set of weights for the Baldwin switcher. Would you have a need for these? I can send them on if you wish.

 

Yeah, the one on the left on the block of wood is the GP weight. With that, I can get the Conrail GP (the body of which you sent me) going again. The other two I don't recognize but it's not as if I am fluent in Arnold construction or anything like that. I do plan on obtaining a Baldwin switcher so, you never know with those two weights. Anyway, I will take it all again if you want to be rid of them. Thanks.

Oh yeah and on the two versions of the FA-2's, Arnold just filled the shell with more metal so it's just a bit heavier, not a lot. The actual mechanism is identical to the earlier version. This difference is seen on Mark's (spookshow's) site.

Meanwhile, this arrived today.



Doug

 

Ah, the UP old time 0-6-0 -- another model that I've never seen close up like you show. Really neat!

I'll mail the Arnold weights to you, but I first want to look for something else over the Thanksgiving holiday. I think I recall seeing some miscellaneous 0-6-0 parts in my stuff, including a good motor and chassis. I seem to recall some little Rapido boxes of motor brushes too, though I'm not positive that they're all for Rapido locomotives. Now I just need to find 'em ….....

 

My S-2
I had painted her in 1992 - I'm thinking about stripping her and repainting.
I installed a decoder this morning. Man -- what a PITA!! (I have been working on the decoder install for two weekends)

Now that this one is done -- I will be doing another one. The other one I have has to be stripped - then painted and decaled.



Thanks,
Wolf

 

Derrick and boom tender. The boom tender is the four wheel caboose on a flat car. Arnold sold the thing that way. I use mine as a regular caboose on my non-historic road. I did add the MT railing at the end. The 2-6-0 is a B-mann.

I did change out the original equipment trucks for MT archbars on the boom tender. I left the trucks on the derrick.

 

Yeah, the Rapido crane w/tender is another car I wanted years ago but never bought. And, that S-2 looks great, Wolf.

In the meantime, I saw an Asco on eBay so it's on it's way here. Also, some Rapido track so I can set up an oval and some switches. Also, I have unofficially started collecting all the GP7's/9's as I have another ConRail on the way and will be bidding on a Pennsy version later.

Doug