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WftTrains posted:

That was Kusan that made some O gauge trains in Mexico in the 1950's.  See forum member robertstrains.com website for more info.

Bill

Kusan never made diecast diesels in Mexico or the U.S. - the only diecast found on the KMT/Kusan F unit that originated with AMT/Auburn in Indiana are the frames and truck assemblies.  I have 2 pair of the made in Mexico diecast Deses F units painted in orange and green NdeM; they have diecast shells, frames and truck assemblies.  I don't know the name of the people involved in the production of those beautiful models.

Thanks a lot for the pictures now some memories come back.

I started this hobby many years ago,all because my uncle Jesus had a great lay out,and I was fascinated with it and He was proud to 

show me he's new acquisitions every time  he came back to Mexico from New York or Chicago.

once he showed me an engine with great pride and I said wow uncle this is the heaviest diesel model I have ever seen .did you buy it in N.Y.? No.....I said aha!!!!! Chicago,no He replied ....I said Paris.no Mexico City .

He then told me the story that he met this gentleman Mr. deses and they became friends.Mr. Deses was an engineer and entrepenure that was fabricating these models trying to compete with Lionel.

the quality and technology for those gone days was superb in any aspect,this model came with Santa Fe silver and red not the typical N de M.It was obvious He was targeting the U.S. Market and my uncle bought it.

he told me the story: Mr. Deses ,we are good friends and I expect you will sell my this model at Your cost,wright? And He replayed " I can't do that with a friend,I will sell it to You at retail price because at my cost You will end up paying the times more"

I have that engine in my collection after a long time asking my aunt were that train was? And She always answered "you will have to ask each one of your sixteen cousins". I did that for years,none of them followed the hobby but each one of them got a portion of my deceased uncles collection....sadly I finally found this engine in its original box but someone had taken the motor and other components out.

In one corner of the box you can see the price marked at 625.00 pesos ,about 50.00 dollars of those days.

I have a copy of an article that seems to be from one of the earliest issues of C.T.T.

I will post pictures of the F 3 and the article when I get back home in Mexico.

thaks to all....end of my story

There was a man named Thompson, in Long Beach, California, who sold and repaired Lionel, American Flyer, and Auburn O gauge trains.  He had a fairly large layout in his workshop, and I believe he was an authorized Lionel repair shop.  My parents took my brother and I there on several occasions in the 1950's, to watch trains.  Once, he had some of the Mexican Deses F3's running.

I am glad I continued to follow this thread.  Very interesting....a brand I had never heard of....that chassis and power trucks show a lot of engineering went into developing those...now, if one of those shows up in an internet auction, and the auction says "rare", that will be a legit statement.  Wonder if any of the live train auction houses have ever sold one?  Ever seen at York?

They are extremely well built, and need plenty of voltage to run.  The mechanism is really neat to watch with the shell removed.  The reverse unit was sourced from Gilbert/American Flyer.  The nose/windshield and headlight area, like most early F unit models in O scale isn't proportioned too well and were cut too large (Lionel windshields are too squinty, while AMT/Auburn/KMT/Kusan and Atwater/General Models/All-Nation are too big).   The trucks are also on the short side.

I have two pair of the green and orange NdeM units in their boxes, and one set has the instruction sheet (in Spanish).  The box for one of them has a Sears store in Cleveland price sticker (one set came from Sal Olsen via Ebay - they didn't have their boxes, and about a year after the purchase Mr. Olsen sent me a package with some boxes that he came across; he'd remembered my name and sent along a note saying enjoy the boxes).  One of my B units has a bow in the side from I'm assuming zinc pest (Dorfan's Disease).  I took a pair to one of Greg Stout's auctions years ago when I worked as one of the runners, and stumped a lot of experts who had no idea about what I had.  I'd venture a guess that none of them has acquired a set yet - I've seen about a half dozen on Ebay over the years, and I won four of them.  I still haven't seen pictures of the Santa Fe version, or a picture of the A unit in gray (I missed out on that B unit many moons ago).  O Scale Railroading had an article about them maybe 40 years ago - that was the motivator for me to eventually track some down.

Last edited by MTN

What a nice comment,thanks a lot.

I do remember some time ago I was bidding fiercely o n E bay  and there was only two of us going up the ladder until I gave up I said to myself ,he will beat me to death I better let it go,I am almost sure it was You who I was bidding against because latter I got A copy of the article in the mail,sent here to Mexico.

glad to hear I am not the only crazy guy on this issue,I will send you a picture of the Santa Fe  when I get back home.

did you read in the thread how I got to know this engines? Interesting no?

my best regards.

jorge

Jorge Gomez Espana posted:

What a nice comment,thanks a lot.

I do remember some time ago I was bidding fiercely o n E bay  and there was only two of us going up the ladder until I gave up I said to myself ,he will beat me to death I better let it go,I am almost sure it was You who I was bidding against because latter I got A copy of the article in the mail,sent here to Mexico.

glad to hear I am not the only crazy guy on this issue,I will send you a picture of the Santa Fe  when I get back home.

did you read in the thread how I got to know this engines? Interesting no?

my best regards.

jorge

I'm looking forward to seeing a picture of the Santa Fe model you own - thanks for posting your story!

Jorge Gomez Espana posted:

Tom I had it in my hand but never saw one of  them running. How did they look? 

Thanks a lot 

Jorge 

Jorge, I was just a kid, and this was 60 years ago, but they looked pretty good compared to my Lionel 2353 F3's with the inaccurate nose and windshields.  They were moving right along on the track, but I can't say more than that.  I knew about N de M from reading Railroad Magazine, and seeing the models was a very pleasant surprise.

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