OK, I've never started a thread before, but here goes. This afternoon a friend dropped by with a book he picked up at a library surplus sale "The complete book of model railroading" by David Sutton. What first struck me about it was that it was published in 1964, so it is effectively a snapshot in time of our hobby. The first thing I looked at was the section on scales. No mention of our beloved N - the author apparently unaware of the early European and British foray into N (or OOO - see thread by BarstowRick about a 1964 article on OOO) has TT as the smallest scale with some B&W photos of some nice looking TT steamers and rolling stock. Also included are some really nice photos of some very well detailed HO brass steam locos. Another striking item was a section on HO scale steam loco kits, mostly from Varney and some really gorgeous TT steam loco kits from H.P. Products Co. I had completely forgotten about those early steam kits and about the now-departed Varney too and was never much aware of the TT stuff. What was really intriguing though was a section buried in the back on an early type of command control offered by General Electric. It was called ASTRAC and apparently used radio frequencies transmitted through the rails to control up to 5 locos. All power transmitted through the track was AC. Each loco had a little solid-state (transistors!) receiver that received the instructions given by the engineer at the throttle and also used a rectifier to turn the AC into DC. Power in the rails is constant at all times and it was the the receiver in the loco that controlled the voltage to the loco motor. Other things that struck me were a special track stapler from Kadee that was designed to lay track by stapling it to the roadbed, some pretty hoaky looking (by our standards anyway) lighted passenger cars with the silhouettes of people in the windows (remember those Tyco cars?), some very nice freight car kits by a variety of manufacturers, track plans meant for 4 x 8 ft sheets of plywood, some pretty nice scenery and scratchbuilt structures, trestles, etc., a bunch of rather crude looking plastic HO F units, stunning brass Shays, Heislers and Climaxes, a prototypical 4-2-4 steamer, and 2-dimensional figures (painted cutouts of marching bands, ladies in hooped skirts, etc). Altogether this was an interesting trip back in time and it was an eyeopener about how far the hobby has come, and also how some newfangled inventions such as DCC had primitive but apparently nicely functioning ancestors.
I had that book as a kid in the 70's. Back before internet and all that it was an amazing resource, though outdated even for that time period. I pored over that thing in great depth. I can still visualize all the layouts in it. I remember one guy used wood chips and cork for rocks. I think it even had a section on traction that always drew my eye as well. I always liked the small layout plans in it. Like the atlas shelf layouts and 4x6'ers. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, I may have to see if I still have it in a box somewhere.
I remember checking that book out every week when I was in elementary school. Old though it was, it provided quite a bit of inspiration. I'd love to find another copy...
Geeky You're so right about the section on traction. The brass models that ran of of a catenary are really something.
That book is somewhere in my dad's library as well. It is an excellent reminder of how far we've come. Somewhat parallel--- anyone remember when the magazine Boy's Life carried a page or two on Model Railroading? I was never a Boy Scout but I did read the magazine while at the local barber shop.
Railroading and the Boy Scouts I earned Railroading Merit Badge when I was in the Scouts. I split my time between talking about railroads with my old rail grandfather, and then going and visiting UP's Albina Yard here in town; and working on a model layout in one of the other kid's dad's garage. It was HO and the locomotives were mostly pretty nicely running Athearns, but it was definitely a layout by committee by a bunch of kids who wanted to get the badge and move on to the next thing.
I had that book, too! Maybe I still do, I need to look through so old boxes and see. They really should be sorted through, anyway! I remember thinking that ASTRAC was the way to go! I was young then, and before I got far enough to be at all interested, it had gone the way of the dinosaur. Of course, this and tha happened, and 30 years laterI am finally moving....glacially, but moving.....
I do have that book in my bookshelf, having entered the hobby in about 1965. ASTRAC was quite well known at that time, although reputed to be pretty finicky in operation. W. Allen McClelland used ASTRAC on the Virginian and Ohio in the early days, if memory serves. The market GE envisioned for the product never developed, and it was discontinued after 4 or 5 years. David
Geeky The copy that was given to me looks hardly used. The binding and cover are in very good condition with just a couple of faint scuff marks and no edge wear. It even has the original dust jacket in very good condition with only one very small tear and a price sticker on it. It came in one from one of those "Friends of the Library" sales where a box of books costs a buck.
David Its kind of interesting that big outfit like GE would have developed and produced a speciality product for model railroading. That's really another example of how times have changed. The finicky operation might account for the demise of the product. Of course, most folks generally didn't have a lot of disposable income in those days with credit cards pretty rare, etc.
I remember a letter from John Allen in a late 1960s MR where he criticised Astrac because, unlike Block control, it could allow two trains in the same block, which he felt was not prototypical. I think he couldn't visualize one of his crew wanting to sit and be the Dispatcher instead of running trains-quite understandable considering the layout. Now that i think of it, didn't another company release a similar compatible system after GE discontinued it? EDIT from an old MR I found it was Alphatronics.
