So, we had the thread about department stores and trains and one that had a lot about the old catalogs and track plan books but what about some of the old N scale sales ads. I was looking at an issue of RMC from 1977 and this ad from Atlas caught my eye. Check out the MSRP for those cool 50ft stock cars.
Yup, Atlas actually found a way to reduce some prices as those would most likely have been $2.50 in 1967. The standard cars were $1.50 but the 50 footers and "specialty" cars were $2.50. It was later that inflation drove prices relatively sky-high. Doug
As a kid in 1968, I began with Arnold (Revell) Rapido and it gave me much frustration to find that incompatible Atlas track was found everywhere and Rapido was not. All brands had even rail ends, except Rapido which had staggered as seen here. Rapido made a conversion section and track could be cut, but as a pre-teen kid, that all seemed too advanced, expensive and fraught with ruin.
When I was 14 in 1967, I had stored my Montgomery Wards (Life-Like) expanded styrene bead Treble-O-Lectric layout but I was obviously NOT done with model railroading because I found myself in Max Nichol's hobby shop in July or August. It had the standard glass case running along one side with various hobby items in it. The short end of the case faced the door as you came in but I didn't notice what was on the top shelf as I walked in. So, I was just meandering around, looking at different things and even considering buying an HO car since my older brother still had his small layout and I had fun running it, too. However, I happened to go over and look in the end of the case and there they were - about 30 Atlas N scale cars in their own small sub case. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was like a fantasy come true because I hadn't seen the ad I posted above in MR. I didn't know Atlas was planning on selling N scale (gauge, then) or really was aware of other brands beginning the N scale resurgence. I only really knew about the "Pee Wee" ads from AHC that were the Arnold 200 series and I did come close to ordering a set ($9.95, I believe) but never did. A buck fifty apiece? Sold! I think that must have been all I had on me because I only bought one car - the red Norfolk Southern composite gondola. And THAT was the second start of my 9mm gauge modelling and first start with N scale (Treble-O-Lectric is OOO scale, 152/1). In November, Max got in some of the E8s and I was really off to the races, then! Doug
This is one of the things I noticed as well. I like to see staggered rails and although I appreciaed it it wasn't quite what I was looking for. Getting there and yet so far off.
Who? Me? Oh gosh don't get me started. I built an HO layout with mostly Atlas Track and Switches. I don't remember having any T 's on the layout. They were Switches. Downside I wasn't happy with Atlas Switches and tried others as they came out. My local brick and mortar hobby shop did their best to get me Tru-Track switches and some Roco. Then I switched over to N Scale. All of a sudden things seemed to work better. Wider curves, longer yards, longer switches and of course longer trains. I had more opportunities to fulfill my railroad fantasies. I lived the time of that advertisement. It wasn't the best of times. It took my cutting three different lawns, polishing two mortuary short limo's and giving half of that to mom (school clothes) before I could spend $1.50 on those trains. Sigh!
I think the notion with Arnold's engineering was that the staggered ends made it less likely that track sections would wiggle loose, but as a kid that was lost on me. While looking less prototypical than Atlas, Arnold's switches had no plastic frog to stall trains and were power directing. Arnold's switch machines could also be swapped and turned upside down in a divot to make them less noticeable and provide more clearance.
Hardcoaler, I believe that (no joke coming) Roco had the right idea. I think somewhere in one of my junk boxes is a set of left and right Roco #4 switches. I hung onto them as a conversational pieces. Something to compare, as in yesteryear to today's refined procucts.
Talk about going full circle. I talked about how much I hated these over on H&P Restoration. I don't know for sure who copied who and put out the first of these kinds of switches and switch machines. Roco or Atlas? I just gleefully removed four Atlas #4 switches, off my stub end yard. Nothing but trouble. Glad they are gone.
Boy do I remember those ads! Made me drool some as all my local shop had was HO and Lionel. He could order N, but I wasn't ready to jump down that road yet. Teenager wages and having so much invested in the HO stuff kept me there. I even made a fantasy list of steam engines to get in N for a dreamed up layout that would roll around the walls of my bedroom.
Actually, I think Arnold track does look good with the blackening, and the switches, although not "bullet proof" due to manufacturing tolerances, etc., work smoothly when correct and had the advantage of being able to make a control panel with route indicators on it without any additional relays or electrical switches or whatever because the switches, themselves, had the electrical switching in the mechanism and kept current going to the little V-shape controllers for the route selected and the little bulbs stayed lit for that route. The later, simplified, switches are not particularly good, however. The little wiper that is supposed to make contact to route the current is not reliable. As Dan and perhaps others know, I went nuts, buying a bunch of Arnold stuff a few years ago and even built a small layout with the track. It's handy having the routing feature. No external switches to turn off sidings, etc. My only complaint is, that layout has two ovals connected by a couple crossover sand it is almost impossible to remove the metal joiners to isolate the two ovals without damaging the switch. The joiners are embedded in the plastic tie structure. Oh well.it's still fun. And, at least the Arnold switches are 17" radius (almost as good as Atlas' 19"). Back then, there was no way I was going to use goofy 7" radius switches from some of the other manufacturers (Minitrix/RoCo, Bachmann, erc.). Doug
Since Doug brought up the "Pee Wee" Train Set... this is from May 1964 and is perhaps the very first mention of it in an advertisement for the dear departed America's Hobby Center. Unfortunately the "fine print" isn't readable even at hi-res, but the $9.99 (plus shipping) would get you a "Baldwin" switcher, two boxcars, gondola with coal load, tank car, caboose, and oval of Rapido track (with the staggered joints). No power pack, however a battery pack was included (batteries weren't). Total Value $29.81!
Yes, Arnold's economy version of its switches were terrible and a surprising choice for a company that normally produced such high quality products. I bought a pair of them new thinking I was getting a bargain and then discovered the ugly truth. I think I remember a sort of metallic fork which moved the points. It had only a tiny electrical contact area and nothing to hold it in place except the friction of the lousy "mechanism".
