Messing with Some Vintage HO Stuff....

How right you are, Mark!

"Vintage" in model railroading really covers a huge spectrum.

Suydam:

I've ended up with a NIB Suydam "Ye Olde Curio Shoppe" kit that I think can make a pretty neat little structure. I intend to use it on my 1880s theme layout I'm seriously contemplating.

Andre

IF: you ever have a desire to run your stuff "old school", and you get a chance to pick up one of these:

...you won't believe how smooth this will make your stuff run.

The pulse is a little harsh, but it really isn't needed. It works great for HO engines; a bit on the light side (power-wise) for anything larger. It kinda reminds me of its contemporary stereo equipment...

Mark in Oregon

This is a recent find and a good one too! A very rare 1967 vintage Märklin HO 3045 Danish 2-10-0. This example is C9+++. Diecast boiler and frame,smoke unit and a real stump puller! I've been looking for this engine since it came out in the late 1960's.

Ricky

Interesting paint scheme; colored bands around the stack.  I was gonna ask if this is AC, until I read your bit about "HO 3- rail"... 🙂 Is the engine itself powered, or is it tender- drive?

Mark in Oregon

@Strummer posted:

Interesting paint scheme; colored bands around the stack.  I was gonna ask if this is AC, until I read your bit about "HO 3- rail"... 🙂 Is the engine itself powered, or is it tender- drive?

Mark in Oregon

This loco is indeed 3 rail/stud AC.The motor is located in the boiler. Fleischmann,as well was several other european makes, used a tender drive in many of their steam engines from the mid 1960's on.

The Rivarossi FM C-Liner rivals the Athearn F7 for longevity.  Even Lionel HO had them.  HO Collector magazine did an in-dept article about the Rivarossi C-Liner some years ago.

These are from AHM in the 1980's.  I lopped off the pilot extensions and filled the gap with styrene.

The mod improved the looks, but the old Rivarossi's don't hold a candle to the later (1990's?) Proto 2000 C-Liners.

Rusty

Rusty

Is that Kato Unitrack in your photos?

Mark in Oregon

@Strummer posted:

Rusty

Is that Kato Unitrack in your photos?

Mark in Oregon

Yep.  Bought a package of straights for photo purposes.

Rusty

I been collecting vintage HO for 14 years now. Mostly TYCO some Athearn Marx and AHM. I even have 2 mint American Flyer long box sets from 1960.

A couple weeks ago early in the morning at the Kutztown show a guy I know tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I would be interested In a TYCO set ? I walked with him to his car and he showed me this set...I asked the price and when he told me I paid him off without question. I been looking for this set for 11 years !

Bob:

LOVE the set!!

Andre

@taycotrains posted:

I been collecting vintage HO for 14 years now. Mostly TYCO some Athearn Marx and AHM. I even have 2 mint American Flyer long box sets from 1960.

A couple weeks ago early in the morning at the Kutztown show a guy I know tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I would be interested In a TYCO set ? I walked with him to his car and he showed me this set...I asked the price and when he told me I paid him off without question. I been looking for this set for 11 years !

Oh man...  At 11 years old how I wanted that set.  It taunted me from my LHS's window.  Instead my folks bought me a Marx set from Sears.

Rusty

@Rusty Traque posted:

Oh man...  At 11 years old how I wanted that set.  It taunted me from my LHS's window.  Instead my folks bought me a Marx set from Sears.

Rusty

And for Christmas '62 I wanted a Marx set from Sears that turned out to be out of stock... and my folks ended up getting me the set of a life time: My Lindberg Lines set!

Irony.

Andre

Speaking of Marx ! At the May Kutztown show I was able to pick up this set for a mere 40 dollars. The set is the most perfect example of any Marx set I own. There isn’t a single broken step or rail missing on any of the cars even the stack is on the caboose !

Great snag, Bob!

Even the pressed cardboard handle wafers on the transformer are perfect! I had one of those types of transformers via a Marx set I received for Christmas when I was in maybe K or 1st grade in the late 50s. It had such a transformer, I think? (Perhaps it was a separate purchase?) Anyway, the pressed cardboard didn't survive on one side (I think it was the directional side), but I liked that little transformer for it reminded me of the Holy Grail of model traindom: What I later learned to be a Lionel ZW.

That Rock Island set is probably one of the best looking sets Marx produced in HO. The colors on the engines and caboose really snap.

Andre

...some Ulrich projects...

Anyone care to guess the closest (and currently available) match to the "410M" boxcar red paint? 

Mark in Oregon

@Strummer posted:

...some Ulrich projects...

Anyone care to guess the closet (and currently available) match to the "410M" boxcar red paint? 

Mark in Oregon

I would guess Tru-Color paints.  They have all sorts of flavors of boxcar and tuscan reds.  By clicking on the number series the color charts appear.  The colors as shown will, be dependent on your particular computer monitor.

Rusty

@Strummer posted:

...some Ulrich projects...

Anyone care to guess the closet (and currently available) match to the "410M" boxcar red paint? 

Mark in Oregon

LOVE that 1950s "needle nose" KW! Trailers too! Well shucks... also the car!

Andre

Here's Marklin's HO E03 from the late 1960's - the first of many versions of this beautiful locomotive that Marklin would offer. Mine still looks and runs great!

Currently cleaning out my storage unit.  I have all sorts of vintage HO hidden in those boxes.  Photos when I get to them.  Hobbytown PAs, Cambro cast brass and aluminum castings, Varney, Penn Line, older MDC, and who knows what else!  It's been a while since I've been through those boxes.

@Rusty Traque posted:

I would guess Tru-Color paints.  They have all sorts of flavors of boxcar and tuscan reds.  By clicking on the number series the color charts appear.  The colors as shown will, be dependent on your particular computer monitor.

Rusty

Thanks Rusty. I went back and fixed the spelling: "closet" to "closest". 😁 Will look at those paints...

Mark in Oregon

@Strummer posted:

...some Ulrich projects...

Mark in Oregon

"So, be one inch tall with Ulrich.".

I have some old HO models left over from my Uncles late modeling days in the 70s/80s I've been working on repairing for static display. I'll have to take some pictures. Mostly it's kit built stuff, painted to loosely resemble Lakeshore Electric Railway stuff: a wooden boxcar, and a interurban. There's also a SW 1 from Atlas iirc that was originally an EL loco but was repainted in a speculative LSE scheme, along with a caboose (the later sadly beyond saving).

Here's something I'd not noticed before.

I've had a handful of old Akane steamers for years; a Pacific and (2) Mikes. the Mikes have build dates of December 1960 and September of 1961; they both have rather crude air pumps:

The Pacific (build date June 1961) has an air pump that looks like this:

This looks more like the Cal Scale pieces I bought back in the '70s and '80s.

Dunno if this will be of any interest, but since I just now noticed it...

Mark in Oregon

Speaking of vintage brass:

N5 Cabin by TTD

Mack Railbus.  Manufacturer unknown

@Rusty Traque posted:

The Rivarossi FM C-Liner rivals the Athearn F7 for longevity.  Even Lionel HO had them.  HO Collector magazine did an in-dept article about the Rivarossi C-Liner some years ago.

Rusty

I got a pair of these in UP when I was about 9 in the AHM blue and yellow box.  I just found them the other day, but the box is buried currently.  Photos when I pull them out.

My most powerful DC transformer is this one.  Don't know much about it, but it runs my O very well too.  Picked it up for $30 at a local TCA auction. 

While not vintage, I have a pretty nice selection of brass top MRC controllers as well as some Tech II and Tech IV controllers.

@GG1 4877 posted:

Speaking of vintage brass:

N5 Cabin by TTD

Mack Railbus.  Manufacturer unknown

Looks like you still have a nice selection of HO; thanks for showing your stuff. 🙂

Mark in Oregon

Oriental CB&Q O1a Mikado (4960) from 1980.

Rusty

@Rusty Traque posted:

Oriental CB&Q O1a Mikado (4960) from 1980.

Rusty

Although not a big fan of CB&Q steam (sorry! ), that is one very nice looking engine... .  It appears that you have quite an extensive collection, Rusty.

Mark in Oregon

I did not see any mention of Globe Models so here is the Globe F7, the father of billions and billions of Athearn F7s:

Speaking of Ulrich products, here are two Ulrich gondolas:

Oddly there are slightly different dimensions between the two.

@PRRMP54 posted:

I did not see any mention of Globe Models so here is the Globe F7, the father of billions and billions of Athearn F7s:

Speaking of Globe...  While long gone from my greasy clutches, back in the 70's, I used an A-B-B-A set of Globe F7's on Athearn drives for Santa Fe freight F's.

I powered all four units.  They fit the Athearn drive fine with little modification, even the Walthers "Diesel Dress-Up Kits" fit.  This was long before Athearn began offing the F7A with a single headlight.

Also, the articulated was a rough conversion of an AHM Y6b to a Santa Fe Y3a.  (Yeah, I know I gave it the wrong number...)

@Strummer posted:

Although not a big fan of CB&Q steam (sorry! ), that is one very nice looking engine... .  It appears that you have quite an extensive collection, Rusty.

Mark in Oregon

And most of it's in boxes...

Rusty

I was "rearranging the deck chairs" in the basement when I came across this.  My parents bought this Class 91 for me on a European trip back around 1970.  The box is long gone and there's no visible makers marks, but I think it's a Lilliput:

What's really bizarre about it is it's rigid wheelbase, the pilot truck doesn't swing.  In fact, it's powered!  Put it up on blocks and all the wheels move...

Haven't run the thing in decades, but I recall it will handle 18" radius curves.

Rusty

Huh... that is "bizarre"...

Mark in Oregon

@Rusty Traque posted:

I was "rearranging the deck chairs" in the basement when I came across this.  My parents bought this Class 91 for me on a European trip back around 1970.  The box is long gone and there's no visible makers marks, but I think it's a Lilliput:

What's really bizarre about it is it's rigid wheelbase, the pilot truck doesn't swing.  In fact, it's powered!  Put it up on blocks and all the wheels move...

Haven't run the thing in decades, but I recall it will handle 18" radius curves.

Rusty

That HO BR91 steam locomotive was made by PIKO.

@Ricky Tanner posted:

That HO BR91 steam locomotive was made by PIKO.

Thanks.  Piko would've been another of my guesses.

Rusty

Two of the most vintage HO items in my collection are the seldom seen Penn Line Crusaders. Produced for only a few months, circa 1948. Production stopped, more complex than some of the other Penn Line locos, and the owners leaned more towards producing models for the PRR. Estimations are a few hundred were produced. Far far less survive today. One of these is restored, the other all original, with box.

Now that's cool! I can only guess the original is the one in "back" in the first picture, and the upper one in the second? I think I can see decal film on the other one...

Mark in Oregon

Mark,  the restored one is the one with the smaller 118 on the cab. I acquired that one first. After I found the original one I had notified the maker of the decals that are on the restored one to see if he could correct the sizing and color of future prints of the decals to closer match the originals but he had no interest as the demand really isn't there.

@PRRK4s posted:

Two of the most vintage HO items in my collection are the seldom seen Penn Line Crusaders. Produced for only a few months, circa 1948. Production stopped, more complex than some of the other Penn Line locos, and the owners leaned more towards producing models for the PRR. Estimations are a few hundred were produced. Far far less survive today. One of these is restored, the other all original, with box.

You WIN!!!

I've seen catalog photo's, but never the model.

Rusty