Old MRR Items Ads

You may be thinking of Gold Medal Models, BigJake.

 

I find that my 65+ year old vision solves that problem.

 

Ummmm...it was 1978. But they did have metal wheels!

 

I have the Firestone beer can tanker as a result of a checkered family history with Firestone tires. My parent's station wagon had failed Firestone 500s that were recalled in 1978, 4 of 14.5 Million. My Dad had written Firestone regarding troubles in 1973, but Firestone denied responsibility until they were forced into action by the Federal recall. These were replaced with Firestone 721s which gained notoriety in the family when one suffered an instantaneous and complete tread separation while on the Kingery Expressway in south Chicago. NOT the place to have car trouble! So, I had to have the tank car in memory of our family's adventures with the brand.

 

Wow! It seems impossible the Firestone 500 thing was that long ago.

Doug

 

The Firestone 500 was around for a long time. Back then they used REAL cars. The kind we could drive.
I just did 1/4 miles clay ovals in my first car. A '55 Ford 4-door.

 

I highly recommend visiting the NASCAR museum & Hall of Fame in Charlotte, NC. You can see the progression of race cars, from literally "stock" cars (okay, the engine and tires were "enhanced") with even the back seat still in place, to todays race cars, where absolutely nothing about the car is stock.

I prefer watching races on road courses, where they have to race while turning left AND right!

 

I will watch ANY racing, ANY time, ANY thing! I have much more to say on this topic, but, you know, thread drift and all...

 

From JMC's 1974/1975 N Scale Catalog. Even after 50 years gone by, I still call them Kadee cars, not Micro-Trains. All of my early cars were purchased with Rapido couplers. Priced at $2.75 to $3.50 with unmatched detail, they were something quite special.

 

These ads were all in the October, 1967 MR:

This is the first showing of the red N Gauge flyer I have.



Merzbach/Arnold Rapido again. Also, note the small ad, near the top of the page, from Model Railroad Equipment Corporation, another major model railroad supplier in New York:




Nathan R. Preston expanding their line although still mostly all European prototype:


The first ad I have from Gamco, a smaller N scale distributor but had a presence in the magazines for many years:



Doug

 

Your October 1967 Nathan Preston ad page also includes N Scale structure kit maker KleiWe. I have one of their depots. The brief history of KleiWe is at http://davidksmith.com/birth-of-n/kleiwe.htm .

 

For the longest time this was my favorite Mail Order House , AHC, to order from. My local hobby shop did it's best to provide for the three of us in town. AHC despite the time it took to get a letter to them and the time to get the item back. It was a good place to shop train stuff.

I might add that JMC, wasn't a bad place either. Early version of what ConCor is today. If memory serves me correctly.

Prices were better back then. Don't believe me check out the prices. That won't happen today. Unless you find some guy selfing off his stuff at a flea market.

 

When I got the MR with AHC showing the Atlas RSC-2 in their ad, I quickly cut out the shipping label and ordered my U.P. version the very same day. I had been waiting for it, having heard from somewhere that Atlas was going to release it.

That was the "Please allow 4 - 6 weeks for delivery" era, of course and when it got close to that, I came home from school for lunch, everyday, to check the mail. It did finally arrive, I still have it, "upgraded" and it still runs. A picture of it can be seen on my site.

I know I ordered some other things fom AHC but I can't remember what they were.

Doug

 

Here's a brief diversion since we mentioned Arnold's simplified switches, earlier. Here's what the underside looks like:



The two sprung tabs have to be adjusted just right so the points move all the way to the stock rails and, at the same time, the little wiper makes contact with the copper plate for the route desired. Otherwise, that route is dead.

Doug

 

Ah yes, exactly as I remember. I might even have a ballast-encrusted example around here somewhere.

 

Remember back in the day that some mail order suppliers intoned Our Choice Road Name? Can you imagine such a thing today when buyers reject a product because the Phase IV-b version has one too many battery box louvers?

 

And I thought Peco electrofrogs were finicky. These must have been an absolute nightmare to keep working smoothly!

 

If you want to see things in today's prices, this inflation calculator will tell you. For example that $2.50 car in 1967 is equivalent to $21.90 in 2022. And that 1973 $60 Concor Blue Goose would be $395 last year, without DCC or sound!
https://www.aier.org/cost-of-living-calculator

 

We were just glad if they had wheels and ran.

Doug