Modern era standard gauge just found.........

MrAllied: This rare find gets my WOW today!

Thanks for sharing.  Looking forward to see the G!

Well, here's the GG1.  She is about 30" long and weighs about 30 pounds.  Everything appears to have been designed so that it could run 24/7 for years.  I cannot imagine any model locomotive, other than a big, live steamer, that has been engineered like these Gold Standard Engineering GG1's.   The fellow who produced these, Robert C. Hendrich, actually lived in Glendora, a suburb of Los Angeles.  I believe we were both members of TCA Western Division at the time, but I have no memory of ever having met him or seeing him display these gorgeous models at a meet.  Only 58 of these GG1's were built, available in Brunswick Green as mine is or Tuscan Red.  I wonder if one is rarer than the other?

Wow! What a beautiful engine and great set of cars. Thanks for sharing this find with us all. I know from experience that this isn't your first great find, and I'm sure it won't be your last. Please share with us all more often! I only wish I lived closer so we could video the beast running on the 084 loop on my standard gauge layout. It would dwarf the E2's and JAD Hiawatha's! Glad you decided to start this thread and I hope to "see" you on here more often. Eric

A TRUE GEM, and probably almost worth its weight in the proverbial gold!

Well today, I rigged up a test stand, so I could put power to the GG1, as I didn't have any standard gauge track.  I hooked up a tiny, 60 watt, Lionel transformer to the beast and at the slightest movement of the throttle, her twelve drive wheels began to spin.  There is a 3-position, toggle switch mounted on one of the power trucks, with which you can select forward, off and reverse.  The headlights are directional and both still work.  I was amazed at the smoothness and relative quietness of the motors and the geared trucks.  True engineering excellence!

Many of you have been very helpful in sharing information about this Gold Standard Engineering GG1 and I thank you very much.  I knew pretty much nothing about these models, but am learning more every day.   I learned that Bill Hendrich serialized these models by stamping a serial number in the bottom edge of the body casting, right between the two power trucks.  Knowing that his glorious machines were quite heavy, he made it easy for folks to see the serial numbers, by stamping them in REVERSE, so that one can simply put a small mirror below the number and read it.  My model is No. 25, which puts it in the "later" period of the run.  This is significant, as the builder continued to improve the models as he went along, with No. 20 being a significant turning point.

The first models were delivered with 20:1 gearing and the two motors were wired in series, so the loco required 20 to 30 volts to run.  After serial No. 20, the motors were changed from the original Dayton motors to Redmond motors, which were then wired in parallel, so they only required 12 to 20 volts to operate.  In addition, the gearing was changed to 10:1, which gave the model a bit more speed.  Pulling power was NEVER an issue!

It would appear that the best information is that a total of 62 Gold Standard Engineering GG1's were produced, but only 40 or so were standard gauge, with the Tuscan Red model being more common than this Brunswick Green example.  The remaining models were delivered with G Scale running gear.  

So, only a very few operators of standard gauge trains will ever have one of these jewels on their layout.  Only 40 or so out there and I have already heard of at least two fellows who own multiple examples.

Hope you are all doing well,

Allen Drucker

Allen- Nice to see you are still "playing" with trains. I remember you when I was a kid and you were the auctioneer at the monthly MTA (Model Train Association) meetings in Bellflower and TCA Western Division meetings at Bateman Hall in Lynwood. (I think those were the locations if memory serves correct?)

I had visited your store several times and attended a few of the auctions at the store-those were really great events.

Great memories of great times. The hobby was certainly different back then!!

@Trinity River Bottoms Boomer posted:

Mr.Allied: A magnificent machine if ever there was one.  Thanks for sharing the photos.  It's well out of my range (and distance, as I reside in Germany) but who ever ends up with this model I already envy the person.

"Papa", are you listening?

I have a green Waterman GG1, same number.

Steve

@GZ posted:

Allen- Nice to see you are still "playing" with trains. I remember you when I was a kid and you were the auctioneer at the monthly MTA (Model Train Association) meetings in Bellflower and TCA Western Division meetings at Bateman Hall in Lynwood. (I think those were the locations if memory serves correct?)

I had visited your store several times and attended a few of the auctions at the store-those were really great events.

Great memories of great times. The hobby was certainly different back then!!

Those were great days at those old club meets.  You probably remember my dear friend John King, who was the main auctioneer back then.  We all loved to watch him do the auctions.  Then, one meet, he didn’t show up, and then at the next, he wasn’t there either.  He had found a new girlfriend!  So, the auction was done by old Bill Harris.  He would take a 400E loco and start the bidding with “Dollar, dollar, dollar.....and a half and a half and a half......”

Back then—well before I had my store—I was chasing old trains and would always run a bunch of stuff through the auctions.  With John King, it was great, but with old Bill, it was a disaster.  I was getting killed, so one meet, scared to death, I said to myself “I can do better than old Bill,” so I gave it a try, auctioning my own stuff.  I thought I was horrible, but then the next seller said “You’re way better than Bill, would you please sell my stuff?”  And that’s how it started.

I got my State Auctioneer’s License and did the auctions for decades.  My last auction was in October of 2006.  Had I known it would be my last, well, I might have said something to the audience, but who knew?  These days, live auctions, with no internet presence, just don’t work anymore, which is very sad.

John King. A name I haven't heard in a long time. I was lucky enough (on more than one occasion) to have him give me $1.00 to draw raffle tickets at TTOS meets in Arcadia at the Masonic Lodge. It was always great fun watching him auction off trains until late in the night. At least it seemed late, I don't think I was more than 10 at the time. Auctions have certainly changed since those days! But I still have some of the trains I bought in those auctions! Great memories!

I used to absolutely LIVE for those auctions!  When, around 1971, I went for my basic training up at Ft. Ord, once I was able to get a weekend pass, I would fly out of Monterey, into LAX, where my girlfriend would pick me up and we would drive straight to the Friday night train meet.  Those were the days, long before LAX became so ridiculously congested and overcrowded.

I remember John King and Bill Harris. I think Bill Harris even started an Antique Toy Club that he ran.

Other names I remember were Don Ladenberger, Chuck Stone, Jerry Rokas, Lyle Kane, Ron Wade, John Daniels, Ed White, Colonel Bragg,  the Stearns family, John Parker etc. I wonder how many of these people are still around or still active in the train world? I was a teenager at the time and these people were a lot older than I was!

Those Friday night train meets were epic. You never knew what was going to turn up. It was so exciting in those days because the vintage trains were coming straight from homes, garage sales, antique markets, etc. I also remember them running very late into the night.

I left SoCal in about 1990, and that is also when I got out of train collecting and sold my prewar standard gauge collection. I just got back into prewar standard gauge about five years ago after having been completely removed from the toy train world for nearly 25 years. It sure is a different collecting world than when I first collected.

It is interesting to think that there was a train world where the new Lionel MPC trains were the latest and greatest in terms of new technology and there were no reproductions or re-issues. Prewar standard gauge was king back then.

Don Ladenberger lives in San Diego now.  Chuck Stone and Ron Wade are still kicking, but everyone else you mentioned is no longer with us, with the possible exception of Ed White, for whom I have no info.

Yes, it was so different and so exciting back then.   I was strongly opposed to the reproductions, as I felt they diluted the hobby.  When you saw a President’s Special at a show, you were just thrilled, knowing what a rare sight it was.  After my dear friend, George Sirus teamed up with Art Varney, to reproduce the PS and other AF & Ives 19” sets, it really changed things, at least in my eyes.  I even ended up owning a “one off,” Hamiltonian two-tone red President’s Special that George made just for me.  I had always commented on how AF should have made the set as pictured on the cover of the 1928 AF catalog, so George did one set for me.  That said, I wish none of the classic trains had ever been reproduced.

SORRY, but I have to respectfully disagree about your dislike of reproductions. Many of us without the advantage of having been there in the "good early days" of collecting, or not having the financial ability to buy pristine examples of the original classic standard gauge, would not have been able to own them were it not for folks like Mike Wolf, John Daniels, Sirus and Varney and many others. There are many approaches to this hobby of ours and ALL are valid, but we will have to agree to disagree! :-)

@Tinplate Art posted:

SORRY, but I have to respectfully disagree about your dislike of reproductions. Many of us without the advantage of having been there in the "good early days" of collecting, or not having the financial ability to buy pristine examples of the original classic standard gauge, would not have been able.to own them were it not for folks like Mike Wolf, John Daniels, Sirus and Varney and many others. There are many approaches to this hobby of ours and ALL are valid, but we will have to agree to disagree! :-)

This ^^^, and I also enjoy reproductions because I can run beautiful trains without fear of destroying the value of an original.

Mallard4468: Point well taken! :-)

@Tinplate Art posted:

SORRY, but I have to respectfully disagree about your dislike of reproductions. Many of us without the advantage of having been there in the "good early days" of collecting, or not having the financial ability to buy pristine examples of the original classic standard gauge, would not have been able to own them were it not for folks like Mike Wolf, John Daniels, Sirus and Varney and many others. There are many approaches to this hobby of ours and ALL are valid, but we will have to agree to disagree! :-)

Well, I certainly understand your point of view and also realize that my feelings on the subject are not shared by very many others.  To me, there were so many wonderful models that could have been built, WHY copy something from a previous manufacturer?  Even though I felt his models were cheap looking, I had no problem with the pieces John Daniel made, such as his standard gauge Hiawatha, as it was something that had never been done before.  Yes, we will agree to disagree.

:-) :-) :-)

OK, lets get this back on track to the original discussion.  If you all want to discuss the merits of the making of reproductions, then start a different thread with an appropriate title so that others can find and participate in that discussion.

I always love it when something that is supposed to be a fun hobby, has to be hemmed in and stifled at every turn, just to make sure that everyone follows the “rules.”  This thread evolved naturally, just like a group of guys at a train show, talking.  It’s not like, out of left field (sorry, didn’t mean to throw a baseball term in there) someone here decided to talk national politics or something.  What is wrong with a thread starting out with a topic of modern era standard gauge, evolving into a discussion of reproductions?  

MrAllied: There's nothing wrong throwing a baseball term into your thread!  Wonder how many OGR members love baseball?  I was built 7-4-1946 in Dallas, TX and grew up loving baseball.  My grandfather loved to watch boxing on our 1951 Westinghouse TV.  Though I'd sit on his lap every week and watch the matches with him I didn't become a boxing fan.  I retain fond memories of flipping the pages of Sears Roebuck catalogs to check out the trains as well as the Ted Williams signature baseball items too!

If I'd had the $$$ and it were possible, I'd loved to tried to acquire the standard gauge collection that the late W. Graham Claytor Jr. possessed.  We became "pen pals" while he was president of Amtrak.  I was a passenger service rep with Deutsche Bundesbahn (German Federal Railways) at the time.  I still have the letters he wrote me plus the black and white professional glossy 8X10 signed photograph in my paper collection of trains stuff!  Regretfully, I lost the letters I exchanged with the late John W. Barriger III (then president of the Katy) while I was serving in Germany in the US Army Transportation Corps in the mid-60s.  He and Mr. Claytor were two of the best  20th Century railroad men in my opinion!

On the subject: I regret I didn't learn about McCoy standard gauge trains when they were introduced to the hobby.  I'm still in love with the jade green Great Northern set that featured Rocky the GN goat on the box cab electric and cars.  I still believe it remains one of the most beautiful modern day standard gauge sets produced to this day!  WOW!

Item: This is your thread MrAllied, so go ahead, do it your way!

Respectfully,

Joseph Toth Jr.

Digatal Subscriber/Supporting Member

USATC Vet, 49th Transportation Group Germany, 1964-1967

Seventh Army European Command

I served with Pride!

Joseph: WELL STATED! MrAllied: I agree about the thread evolving and we were civil about our differences! :-)

@MrAllied posted:

<snip>

Yes, it was so different and so exciting back then.   I was strongly opposed to the reproductions, as I felt they diluted the hobby.  When you saw a President’s Special at a show, you were just thrilled, knowing what a rare sight it was.  After my dear friend, George Sirus teamed up with Art Varney, to reproduce the PS and other AF & Ives 19” sets, it really changed things, at least in my eyes.  I even ended up owning a “one off,” Hamiltonian two-tone red President’s Special that George made just for me.  I had always commented on how AF should have made the set as pictured on the cover of the 1928 AF catalog, so George did one set for me.  That said, I wish none of the classic trains had ever been reproduced.

Ah, (in the voice of Raymond Burr) but did you not sell reproduction tinplate out of your store? Did not Tom Snyder purchase some of the reproductions from you and had heaps of fun running them? Does that not answer the question? 

By the by, I did very much enjoy visiting your store in the day. It was 'a must stop and see' when I was in LA. I still fondly recall buying some original Gilbert over the counter from you personally.

All in good fun.

Bob

Well, I was, still am and probably always will be a merchant.  Once the models were produced, what was I going to do?  Pretend they didn’t exist?  I had the kind of store where folks expected to see most everything that was available in toy trains and model railroading, so I dealt in the reproductions, I sure did.  Here’s a photo of the front counter, with reproduction standard gauge on display.  By the way, thank you for your patronage back then, it was most appreciated.

MrAllied, you made my day!  The photo of your front counter transported me back to Hall's Hobby House in Dallas.  I became close friends with Bobbye (Miss Hall as she was know to her regular customers) over the years.  Even after my move to Germany in late 76 we continued to exchange Christmas cards every year.  Her biography written with Tim Blackwell,  "Tracks from Texas to Tokyo" published by Cowcatcher Magazine, is a great read!

Thanks for sharing.

Joe

Ah, memories! BTW, QUITE the shop! :-)

Thanks guys, here are a few more.

WOWSA! Wish I could have visited! :-) Have stayed in San Francisco for several months but never got to LA.

MrAllied, respect!  What a clean and well stocked shop it was indeed!  North America and Europe continue to loose these traditional shops where many model railroaders could "hang out and talk trains" with owners and regular customers alike.  Hall's remained open every Thursday (Thanksgiving excluded of course) until 8 PM.  Thursday was at one time when the stores in downtown Dallas remained open late so the ladies could shop and enjoy and evening on their own.

Bobbye was a natural born business woman and saw the advantage so did the same for the guys.  She always had a table full of trains and things on sale, often overstocked inventory, which for the most part was gone by the time she closed up the shop.  There was a coffee pot with fresh brewed java next to the Coke (Reg.U.S.Pat.Off.) machine and was always Free!

Sadly, all gone now, but happy memories remain just the same to this day.

Joe

Bobbye Hall was a good friend of mine.  We were a dealer for her Hallmark Models brass imports.  She was a great person and certainly one of a kind.  RIP dear lady.

Was an AWESOME store, certainly the best facade, and right up there with the tops in presentation of the trains in the shop, probably the finest hobby shop in the land.  (have not been to all of them, existing or former, so hard to say who was #1).

Back in the day in NYC, we had nothing that came close on presentation to Allied, including the legendary Madison Hardware (East 23rd St.), Polks (5th Avenue) and Carmen Webster's Model Railroad Equipment Corp. (West 45th St.)!

Of course, we DID have the legendary Lionel Showroom (East 26th St.) and the equally legendary Gilbert Hall of Science (West 24th St.)! :-)

Worked in West LA for a few years in the mid 80s and would stop by the old store on Friday evenings to drool while waiting for traffic to thin out.  Visited the new store once while visiting - a great presentation.  Wish that stores like that could survive.

AMEN, brother! :-)

Just thought I would mention that as of Wednesday, January 20th, the GG1 is listed for sale on eBay.  There are several additional photos posted there.  Thanks again to everyone who posted information here about these magnificent models and to those who contacted me by other means.  I received a wonderful education on the Gold Standard Engineering models and it is very much appreciated.

@Mallard4468 posted:

Worked in West LA for a few years in the mid 80s and would stop by the old store on Friday evenings to drool while waiting for traffic to thin out.  Visited the new store once while visiting - a great presentation.  Wish that stores like that could survive.

Well, by the mid 80’s, I had renamed Allied Models to Allied Model Trains, to define our specialty, and the store looked like this:

The GG1 loco that was the topic of this thread, has been sold.  Thanks to all here who provided information about the very rare loco and also to those who made serious offers.  As is my policy, I will not divulge the buyer’s name or the price paid.

Hope you are all doing well,

Allen Drucker

A HAPPY ending for you and the lucky recipient! :-)

MrAllied, I'm not surprised one single bit that the GG1 didn't stay in your possession long enough to collect so much as even one partical of dust!

Thank you once again for posting the photos of your shop.  They enable me to take a sentimental journey back in time when I'd "hang out" at Bobbye Hall's Hobby House in Dallas, TX, as well as Chester 'The Most' Holley, in his shop and house in Tampa, FL.

Did you ever have an operating layout in your shop?  Neither Bobbye or Chester had one, although Chester did have an oval of G gauge track set up on top of the roof of his original train shop which was enshrined when he had a huge metal building erected over it.  Every Saturday, an LGB train could be seen operating around a large live steam size wooden Seaboard caboose which always attracted the customers and was a big hit with kids of all ages!

A shot of Chester's shop, taken from the roof of the original building, can be seen in OGR Run 119 on page 33 which featured Chester in an artical about the man and his collection of trains in all gauges which dated back to his childhood.  The title of the artical is Chester Holley's Childhood Dreams Last a Lifetime.  Page 34 shows Chester seated in his livingroom holding a passenger car from his first train, which was given to him by his father, shown in a black and white photo on the same page.

Joe