The Con-Cot PA-1s were first all made by Sekisui, which was the parent company of Kato and the Sekisui name was eventually dropped for N scale product. Later on, when Con-Cor broke away from Kato, they got their tooling back and had them made in China. I don't have any of the Chinese-made PAs but I do have a DL-109 made in China and it is a fine performer, at least the equal of the Kato-made one I have. Doug
Anything I have from China, is less then. Good perhaps but not Kato. There again I haven't purchased any of the latest stuff to know the difference.
You will note some B-mann made train cars, reefers. These have since found their way to other layouts via e-pay. Replaced with Micro-Trains reefers. I'm much happier with that choice.
Speaking of Bachmann, they jumped into the N gauge foray in the summer of 1968 with some pretty fancy full-page ads, this one from the July, '68 MR: And, the Atlas ad from the same issue, introducing the RSC-2: Doug
Hardcoaler, I'm not at all surprised that our experiences are different. My view of N scale was limited to what I saw in the MR wig wags of the time and what I could find in our local hobby shop. Not much!! Some things caught my eye while others did not. That would be the late 60's. Into the 70's thru the 80's I was busy raising my own family and time for a layout...well...there wasn't any. Now into the 90's. Sigh!! I end up being talked into moving to Ohio. The do nothing state. They say nothing as you come into the state "Hi" in the middle and nothing as you leave. Despite that. I'm influenced to go to work for a large hospital in Kettering. I wasn't good enough. In short time, I end up working for a hobby shop. Should of known better then to move to Ohio. Learn as we go. Still can't get that bitter taste out of my mouth. In the hobby shop, my favorite job bar none. No money in it but look at all the toys we got to play with. We sold a variety of scale model trains. In N scale we knew about Atlas, Arnold, Rivarossi, Peco, Model Power, Life Like, Fleischman, Mini-trix, Micro-Trains, Round House, some Centrailia (with a ?), Concor but not Sekisui. You ought to hear me try to pronounce Sekis-s-u=E. No offense intended. It wasn't until we got in, and got to play with, a Atlas/Kato SD7 in SP Black Widow livery. Kato, what's this Kato on the bottom of the chassis? I learned about Kato. There is a back story here worth telling just not here and now. I still own that unit. It wasn't as refined a runner, or as detailed as today's models. They have improved what we can buy today. Still it was NICE! Now, I compiled the list above from my inventory of products I bought while i worked for the hobby shop. What surprised me. In my tote with RIP train cars. That's not rest in peace. The "Repair In Place." I have a Sekisui kit of a Santa Fe Lounge, streamlined passenger car. Say what? I have no idea when or where I picked it up at. Perhaps a club flea market in Riverside or San Bernardino. Unfortunately, heat has done a number on it and it's warped. Would make an odd runner on my layout. Jack up the rear trucks and use it as a caboose. Just kidding. Thought I'd put you to sleep with some of my personal history and insight. Nap Time!! Later!
The Atlas RSC2. It was my first N scale locomotive along with a number or Union Pacific Atlas Streamline passenger cars. My dad loved the set and I never saw it again. The last time I saw the RSC2 was when it pulled DAD's UP passenger train around the dinning room table. I would later purchase a Santa Fe set of FM/Erie Builts BUT didn't like the way they were powered. The same could be said of the E8. Sucked. Doug, you had to do it and put up a B-mann. I bought several of those GP40's. They never looked as good as that picture does. First ones to hit the bottom of a trash can. Suckered... for their products, way to many times. Later.
The Atlas Freight Car ad showed two roadnames for the Jumbo Tank Car that were never released: Burlington and Chicago Great Western. Instead, the roadnames were Shippers Car Line (as shown in the ad), Suburban Propane, and Warren.
The Sekisui passenger car would most likely be an early Con-Cor as Sekisui initially made Con-Cor's rolling stock. Doug
Yes the initial Bachmann GP40 was atrocious-looking. Primitive and fat. They redesigned it in 1969 so it looked better but Bachmann always had a problem with their scaling and the hoods being fat. The nose of their F units was terrible, too. I have a couple of them because they were really cheap (I forgot where I got them) and they actually run pretty well but LOUD. Doug
Yes and their other stumble was listing a #2145 "Northwestern" SD45 among the five roadnames sold, when it was never made and it is not definitively known what they meant by "Northwestern" although it was most likely "Chicago & North Western". Didn't some other importer (Trix?) release the other two Atlas-that-were-never-Atlas Jumbo Tank Cars listed here? Doug
Yes, I bought two of them. Odd looking tank cars. They didn't look as nice as the Atlas picture. Large handrails and steps. I found some prototype pictures of these with the ladder and steps removed on one end. I removed the steps and walk way off of mine. Still doesn't look right. Doug, since you have access to the old adds. Do you have anything on a PMI manufacturer? They put out some N Scale, FP45's in the Santa Fe freight livery. They didn't look bad but the way they powered it up just didn't get it. In my RIP tote, I still have it. I've been waiting for a chassis manufacturer to come out with a Kato style mechanism. Me thinks I will be waiting for a long, long time. I don't have an ad, but Athearn finally changed hands and the new owners, started putting out N Scale. So in my collection I have several of their FP45's. Nice runners. More as we get into this discussion. Later!!
Up to and including the 90's One of the problems many of our N Scale providers had was license to use various railroad symbols. Perhaps there is a better way to say that. One was Union Pacific. You could produce a motor like the RSC2 as along as the symbols don't look like the real deal. So, a lot of train equipment came out with various road-names but the font would not be identical to 1x1 foot scale. Then the railroads decided you couldn't play with symbols and the look a-likes had to go. Finally they broke down and licensed the toy train manufacturers. Did that change things for us hobbyist? Let's just say it was the talk, at the train shows. About time. Again later!!
Regarding Rick's flat cars from the late '60s, is it possible that Kadee/Micro Trains sold kits prior to releasing their first assembled ready-to-run boxcar in 1972? Could those flat cars have been built from kits?
Your memory is amazing Doug. When I read your post, I recalled that indeed there were some Roco 33K Gal. tank cars produced for Postage Stamp/Minitrix, including SP, GN, GATX and Mobil. I'd forgotten all about these.
No, the first Kadee Micro-Trains freight cars were the 20000 series 40 foot boxcars. Flat cars were among those items released as kits, but that came later. I'd have to dig to determine when that was since it's not immediately obvious. My understanding from a former MTL staff member is that some kits languished in the factory for years after they were issued. I personally received what I was told was the last "Crandic" gondola kit in stock, found in a dark corner of the building. (And yes, I assembled it.)
Believe me, I would have remembered if Kadee had released car kits before the unveiling of the first RTR cars in 1972. It would have been a "life-changing" event. Doug
I will keep PMI in mind as I go through my old magazines in search of ads. Their FP45 was made by Lima in Italy, the same model sold by AHM with the "pancake" vertically-mounted motor over the rear truck. The flanges were the largest I have ever seen and they didn't run very well, mainly due to production shortcomings. I turned down the flanges on mine and worked with the mechanism to get it to run fairly decently. I got mine at Woolworth's at the Apache Mall in Rochester, MN in 1974. It was about 3 - 5 bucks. Doug
Thanks, Dan. It's easy to remember things that were so important in life. Now, I may have forgotten most of the trigonometry, algebra, and calculus I learned back then, but N scale, not very likely. Doug
' Need to note the flats I have are not "Kadee Micro-Trains". They are Kadee N Scale flat cars. I have no idea if they came ready to roll or as a kit.
