All Nation Line Revived

With the loss of active O gauge importers/manufacturers (whose products could be converted to O Scale), any new producers entering the market is a good thing. They may start with a few small items and then expand into new products.

MELGAR

Is there a link to Conductor Hobbies? Can't find it in google.

RAY

Try this for the website

https://johnwubbel.com/crh/O-S...-Rail-Parts-Catalog/

I would like to see the all nation diesel drives made available.

Which part was purchased?    the diesel/car kits line that was last run by Bill Pope, or the Steam Kit line which was bought by Babbitt, then BTS, and was announced up for sale recently by BTS?

The diesel drives and kits are probably the most marketable.    Those are still very creditable models and there are lots that might need replacement parts.    An upgrade to such things as windshield glazing and a few other things would make the F Units very desirable.    The last new F unit castins I saw were very sharp and detailed.    They still make a good running sturdy F unit model.

This is exciting news.  I'd like too see the following:

• Full kits and parts available for the 64' coach / coach-baggage / baggage cars.
• The 64' car available as an open end observation car.  I have plans to mod a coach, but a new kit for that would be nice.
• The full line of truck assemblies, especially the 4 wheel AAR passenger car trucks.

The later All Nation line was purchased - Bill Pope's Barn as far as I have been told and reported in O Scale Trains Magazine. 

I don't know if John is looking at this forum and I don't know if you can send him requests yet but an upgraded version of the Walther's Old time coaches might catch my eye also.

John has already done nice things with 3D printing including the full fuel tank for the All Nation F Units.  They fit up very nicely and really improve the model.  I am waiting for his DCC decoder platform for the Pittman motor version fo the F's - should be available soon.

Did All Nation sell the passenger cars to Walthers or was that the other way around?

What price point do you think Conductor Hobbies would have to hit to sell the F unit engines and drives?  I've built a few of the F units, and they take a fair amount of time to finish off and they don't have the flexibility of the P&D units in terms of dynamic brakes and fans.  I'm not being negative, I'm just asking what people think.  The gear drives seem to run forever if you keep them lubricated so I can see a market for those if the price was right.

I'm really looking forward to what he decides to do and what he brings back to sell.

@prrjim posted:

Which part was purchased?    the diesel/car kits line that was last run by Bill Pope, or the Steam Kit line which was bought by Babbitt, then BTS, and was announced up for sale recently by BTS?

Everything that was stored; not the steam line.  That's a different sack of anacondas.

And everyone can speculate all you want but John has a big truck load of "stuff" to sort and catalog.  It's not like this is a turn key reboot with everything ready to put on the web for you to order.  Give him some time.

It's funny -- for our future sometimes we have to look to our past. I think the re-emergence of the kits would be a good thing as importers' projects are becoming fewer and farther between. The passenger car kits would be nice to see again (I've avoided the ones on eBay as parts are sometimes missing). Fortunately, Scale City Designs grabbed the Keil Line detail parts so you can build out a kit as you desire.

I'd like to see the F-unit and SW kits come back as those I've observed were noisy (gear drive), but seemed pretty solid (it also helped that the superstructure was diecast). The drive components would be nice to see for separate sale.

@Tom D. posted:

Did All Nation sell the passenger cars to Walthers or was that the other way around?

What price point do you think Conductor Hobbies would have to hit to sell the F unit engines and drives?  I've built a few of the F units, and they take a fair amount of time to finish off and they don't have the flexibility of the P&D units in terms of dynamic brakes and fans.  I'm not being negative, I'm just asking what people think.  The gear drives seem to run forever if you keep them lubricated so I can see a market for those if the price was right.

I'm really looking forward to what he decides to do and what he brings back to sell.

As far as I know the All-Nation and Walthers passenger cars were competitors as the kits from Walthers were typically 80' or 60' for the heavyweight cars.  Someone knows more about this than I do however.

When Walthers ceased US manufacturing, the O scale line was sold to Bill POpe's All Nation  The casting for same were being done by Keil-Line, now Scale City Designs.  So if the kits are to be reissued,  some of those with casting will need to have parts from Scale City Designs.

The high pressure die castings of the F Units and SW are problematic.  Bill told me shortly before he passed that the B Unit die was destroyed in error at the casting house.  I am not sure that  the other dies were in useable condition.  The die cast trucks for the F Units had been rerun in soft metal - not a good sign.

This is a lot like putting Humpty Dumpty back together again - likely the reason the line sat unsold for 10 plus years.

@j2morris posted:

When Walthers ceased US manufacturing, the O scale line was sold to Bill POpe's All Nation  The casting for same were being done by Keil-Line, now Scale City Designs.  So if the kits are to be reissued,  some of those with casting will need to have parts from Scale City Designs.

The high pressure die castings of the F Units and SW are problematic.  Bill told me shortly before he passed that the B Unit die was destroyed in error at the casting house.  I am not sure that  the other dies were in useable condition.  The die cast trucks for the F Units had been rerun in soft metal - not a good sign.

As I recall Walthers ceased US manufacturing in the mid 80's.  Correct?  I still have the '83 catalog from when I was a kid and all the great kits were still there.

All Nation (Bill Pope) bought the Walthers passenger car line along with John Keil (Keil-LIne).   I don't know how the partnership worked but Bill Pope fabricated the sheet metal parts and stampings and assembled the kits.   Keil-line apparently got the molds and did the castings.   These are now part of the expanded Scale City Designs.    AN and Keil apparently worked together to get the parts for kits together for the Passenger car line.

I have two of the All Nation NW2s.    One is as quiet as a mouse and very smooth.   It is the first one I got and has more running time.   The other I think is an older model but was never run much until a friend gave it to me a few  years ago.    It is very noisey.    I am hoping that the run time will quiet it down.

The Walthers kits were All Nation in the end, although AN still produced their own line of aluminum-sided heavyweights.  The cast ends suffered a bit - they were no longer a lead alloy, and slightly smaller.  I do hope he can stamp out steel sides; they are often damaged - nail holes and wrinkles -

As for me, I just ran out of 40-42" wheelsets, and I bet there is a pile of them in that truckload.  They were used on the Fs and the NW dummy kits.

Does anyone know for sure that it's being revived? I can see some 3D printed parts alongside what might be new old stock parts, but nothing that convinces me that it is being revived.

@Johnbeere posted:

Does anyone know for sure that it's being revived? I can see some 3D printed parts alongside what might be new old stock parts, but nothing that convinces me that it is being revived.

Yes, it is.  I got a lengthy message from John and that he has a very large truck load of everything to sort through.  Got another recently regarding traction supplies and kits that he is locating.

Expecting instant revival of a line that's been dead for ~15+ years is completely unrealistic - just sorting everything out and identifying everything will take time.  It's not like everything was set up for a turnkey flip on the lights and everything is for sale situation.  Think warehouse of boxes w/o labels covered in dust.....

Thanks for the response - sounds like pretty good reason to think it will be revived. I wanted to make sure that this wasn't just a rumor.

I certainly want to see trucks, especially archbars, offered!  Walthers once had a varied line of those.  There has seemed to be a lot of Walthers/AN heavyweight passenger kits out of attics, as well as kits for the gas electric. I just hope there are enough if us left to support a revival.

I too am really looking forward to what products or parts John offers.

I think the drives would sell if he could hit a $150 to $200 price point.  I'm not so sure about the F unit kits or the passenger car kits.  Might be better to just sell off the parts. But that's just my 2 cents.  I have no idea what the market is.

@j2morris posted:

Conductor Hobbies has purchased and is reviving the AN Line.  What do you think is worth re-releasing?  Much of the line is 50-70 years old - is there anything people want?  I think the line of trucks if reasonably priced has value.  Especially the sprung freight trucks.  Upgraded wood reefers - maybe.  Various detail parts have value.

Drive parts?

Your thoughts?

Well my first thought is what was the line in in the All Nation line to begin with? Im only familiar with their F units.

@prrhorseshoecurve posted:

Well my first thought is what was the line in in the All Nation line to begin with? Im only familiar with their F units.

Short list: Kits for NW2 and drives for those, the F units A and B and drives for those, Boxcars, Reefer, Wood side reefers, Tank cars, a long list of passenger car kits, and NS and SS interurban kits. There were also caboose kits, flat cars, and at one time hopper car kits.  Catalog used to be pretty substantial and full of parts for builders.