I was thinking about the Reader's Digest train set the other day. These models are notorious; I'm sure everyone has seen them at one point, especially on eBay. However, one thing I'm not sure about is how they were originally acquired. I've never purchased a Reader's Digest magazine, so how did these models come to be? From what I have read online, it was a type of promotion. Was there a page you clipped out and mailed back in? Did they come free with your first magazine subscription? These things are everywhere online, so they had to be easy to get. Just wondering if anyone knew about the business model that created them, or the magazine these first appeared in. Whatever magazine issue spawned these things deserves to be in a museum, open to the page that spread this blight on the hobby.
Back in the 1990's and into the early 2000s (I believe the trains were 1994, but it looks like different promotions continued until at least 2001), Readers Digest gave away different free sets of things if you subscribed. Most were made by a Hong Kong company (sometimes identified as from China) named High Speed (sometimes Hi Speed). There were several different sets - vintage cars (pre 1920s), cars from the 50's and 60s, fire trucks, ambulances, and, of course, the dreaded N scale 'train' set. The cars and trucks were all supposed to be 1/64th scale. Actually there was a second train set as well consisting of two engines only: the two from the golden spike ceremony, the Jupiter and UP 84. Both came in one box. None of the engines were powered since they were only supposed to be a display piece. Most likely, some of the rolling stock was knock offs of the Bachmann rolling stock. The couplers were WAY oversized and there was a plastic pin to keep the couplers from turning. The engine was a bad copy of a GP-35 lettered for the Southern Pacific. While it is possible to make the rolling stock function with some work and by replacing the trucks, they were not even good cars for the time and are terrible cars by now. Most of the vehicles came in a white box with a picture of the vehicle and either a red stripe at the top or a grey stripe at the bottom of the box with the vehicle name in it. It looks like later, they started putting 3 cars (usually the vintage cars) in a box and finally 6 vintage cars in a blister pack. I'm certain that I'm missing some but I can only speed so much time down this rabbit hole, especially a rabbit hole that I detest (on another thread, I noted that if I was given 3 wishes, one would be to strike all of the High Speed trains from the world). The promotion must have been very successful since there are ALWAYS dozens, if not hundreds of them listed on that auction site (a search for 'Readers Digest High Speed' had over 600 listings) where people seem to believe they are 'rare' and/or 'collectible'. Southern Pacific GP-35 Canister car - black SP gondola no number with tanks in it Tank car - silver SP Coal car - black SP gondola no number with coal load Stock car - black Southern Pacific on side but road name/number says D&RG 39386 Piggyback Flat - BCR SP flat with silver SP trailer Log car - European prototype no lettering Hopper Car - D&RG covered hopper Caboose - silver SP 1064 The other vehicles (that I know of) are: Early cars Ford Model T Pierce Arrow Victoria REO Alco Packard Simplex Oakland Peerless Brougham Thomas Flyer Brewster Limo Hudson Roadster Mercer Hupmobile 1910 Buick Express Transport Truck - green Express Transport Truck - yellow Polly's ice cream Express Transport Truck - Red pure mineral water Classic cars 1957 Corvette 1956 FORD F-100 TRUCK 1963 Ford Thunderbird 1969 Oldsmobile 442 1953 Eldorado 1955 Chevy Bel Air 1969 Camaro SS 1964 1/2 Mustang Fire trucks 1974 Mac 1919 Pirsch 1948 Task Master Horse Drawn Pumper 1939 Ward LaFrance 1914 Knox-Martin 1924 Buffalo 1954 Aherns Fox
