Yes because you can get them to be OK, using an ohmmeter, checking the switch unmounted but then, when you fasten it down, it suddenly doesn't work anymore. Doug
Not quite N scale, but I could not help but share this ad from the November 1980 issue of Model Railroader:
It wasn't just mail order suppliers. That's how AHC (America's Hobby Center) operated if you went there in person. I used to ride my bicycle there as I grew up in NYC. Face to face Marshall won't let you pick. He would go to the back and come back with 5 random freight cars. Not only random road names but random TYPES of car! Talk about the ruckus if that were to happen today!
By December of 1967, N scale was pretty much in full swing : Con-Cor with their introduction of the famous PA-1: AHC finally had an extensive section of their ad devoted to N scale: Another smaller outlet, The House of N. I have sales literature but I don't believe I ever ordered anything from them: And, of course, Atlas with their first fairly extensive N scale ad in MR: Note the cut out lshipping label. I ordered their catalogs from this issue. Doug
What kind of radical business plan is this, with second runs and additional road names, and all without pre-ordering? Why I'm surprised Con-Cor kept its doors open.
I need at least one of those Concor 40' OB boxcars with all the hype going on about the HO Rapido SP 40' OB boxcars (unless someone is 3d printing more accurate ones in N).
...and one of my first mail orders was from AHM. Among the things I ordered was ordering 50 cars that ended up be little more than REALLY CHEAP flexi plastic 'cars' that had no interior or bottoms. Even the tires were cast as part of the body. I don't know WHY I thought I was getting something better, but they shattered my hope that buying something unseen would actually be good or at least even usable. Kept me away from mail order for several years.
For me it was Revolutionary War soldiers advertised in a comic book. These are some of the soldiers. They were flat and small but I played with them anyway. They look better in this photo than they did in real life. They were molded in blue and red plastic.
Not exactly sure what this was doing in the January 1965 Model Railroader... perhaps one could listen to some easy listening selections while working on one's OOO Scale...
It seemed records were being sold from every possible venue, in those days. I'm surprised they didn't have record racks in hospital rooms. Doug
I still remember a Mad Magazine parody of those Columbia House (and others) ads... "Just tell us to stop sending records and we will. We will, however, continue to bill you."
Back to ads that have something to do with the topic... though maybe not entirely... "Model railroaders need the Equipment Register" ! Well, this one does, since the ORER Stash that is part of the Research Accumulation is something I often use when compiling the Unofficial Micro-Trains Release Report each month. The price has gone up a "bit" since this ad appeared in the March 1965 Model Railroader... the per issue cost was up to $175 plus shipping when I last looked.
I rescued a pre-Conrail 1974 ORER issue from my employer's trash can. I wish I'd grabbed one from the early '80s too, but failed to think of it.
Among the ones in my stash is the April 1976 edition... the first one with Conrail. Spoiler alert: It's basically all of the predecessor railroad's listings glued end to end.
