1960 Model Trains Magazine.

[Santa Fe buff]

japasha - I had a two unit Hobbytown with Cary FT shells. There was no way I could see how many cars the engine would pull on the club layout. I think I got to 75 cars. I also had a Hobbytown PA, Alco RS-2  and their SW mechanism. I didn't care for the switcher mechanism because of a large nylon gear. All my Hobbytowns had great flywheel drives. Another member had an E-7/8/9 mechanism. I believe it had a die cast shell. This thing had the Hobbytown centrifugal clutch and was quite realistic. It would sit and slowly gain speed like the real thing.

When I joined an HO club in the mid Seventies Hobbytowns were the engines of choice. The only real alternative were Athearn products but they just didn't work with the longer club trains.
I had seen the Hobbytown booth at my last trip to the train show at Timonium. The current owner was including can motors for DCC control. I understand that the company has gone out of business and remaining inverntory was sold off. Too bad - Hobbytown made a great diesel drive.

Was it the couplers? All my Athearn products have trouble with the couplers all the time, only all the rest work.
But it does seem more than I would expect for it's time...

[Woody Elmore]

The issue was pulling power and speed. Athearn engines were great but when you coupled them to trains 20 to 25 cars long they just didn't perform well. The metal contact strip was always replaced with wires in my club and the sintered metal wheels seemed to collect dirt.

Our club had a rule that all wheels had to be metal and all couplers had to be Kadee. When Model Power came out with their FA and B units, I had an AB combination. I made a plastic drawbar to replace the couplers since I didn't want to run them separately. It  also coupled the engines closer together so that I could add diaphragms (those silly Walthers vinyl jobs). I never had a pulling issue with the early Model Power (Roco) engines. The one problem was that the wheels would come loose on the axles. This also happened to the early Atlas engines (same maker-Roco).

I had two first run Atlas FP-9s done in Amtrak colors. They were assigned to pull this long streamlined 10 car train. Some of the cars were early Mantua metal, others were AHM with added weight and we had one full vistadome which I believe was Bachmann. Those engines ran effortlessly. Once the drawbar pin (I had these connected with a drawbar) came out and so only the rear engine was doing all the work. The engines were so well matched for speed that I didn't find out about the missing pin until someone found it between the rails somewhere!

[Santa Fe buff]

Yeah, Athearn's aren't workers, you want Riverossi, Bachmann, Life-like Proto, or Stewart.

[Pacific Northern]

Yeah, Athearn's aren't workers, you want Riverossi, Bachmann, Life-like Proto, or Stewart.

The topic is what ?

[Santa Fe buff]

Yeah, Athearn's aren't workers, you want Riverossi, Bachmann, Life-like Proto, or Stewart.

The topic is what ?

Um, a 1959 released, but 1960 issued magazine?

[kevin2083]

topic of the sentence....

[Santa Fe buff]

Once again, I understood wrongly, oh well.
The topic is about what I think are better workers then Athearn's engines, I listed them. I said that Athearn's engines aren't workers, I like Rivarossi, Bachmann, and Stewart models, and Life-Like Proto.
Don't get me wrong, Athearn has very nice engines, but some don't pull much compared to some other engines in those companies.

[Woody Elmore]

The topic was a Model Trains magazine from 1960 which lead to some comments about what was available an basically how the hobby has improved exponentially since 1960.

If you are in a flea market or train show and can pick up an old copy of MR or RMC or even Model Trains, I suggest you do because there is a great entertainment value at looking at the old ads and reading the articles.

[jsmvmd]

Dear Joe,

Indeed I did get a smile! There is a pic of her and Gene standing together, her head in a turban to cover the hair loss from chemo, a huge grin! My favorite picture of her.

I love it when these threads digress.  It was natural for this one. One time I posted something that quickly went to cars and TOC, and flathead Fords, and why not to use acetone in gas tanks, etc.   I learned a lot from that one.

Thanks for this thread, guys.

Best Wishes,

Jack

[Joe Satnik]

Dear Jack,

Your welcome.  When things pop into my brain I have to make a (fuzzy logic) decision... is this interesting/useful enough (and not too whacked out) to post? 

(interesting enough+useful enough)&not(too whacked out)=post

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

[Paul M.]

Let's see - in 1960 35 cents would be worth something like $3.35 or more today.  In perspective, in September 1959 I bought my cadet sword, brand new, for $25.  A new cadet sword today costs something like $350.  In ca 1962, the minimum wage was $0.50 an hour.
Gene

Okay, I know I'm late, but still:

Using the inflation calculator ( http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ ) I calculated that the 35-cent magazine inflates to $2.46 and Gene's cadet sword would cost $177.40 today.

[Paul M.]

Hey Gene: in 1963, the year I finished HS, the minimum wage in NYC was $1.15 an hour. MR was fifty cents and Craftsman was 35 cents. An Athearn 40 foot boxcar kit was $1.29 and little jars of Pactra paint were ten cents each.

I used to stop for pizza once a week and it cost 15 cents a slice. A hot dog and papaya drink were 35 cents from Papaya King and Orange Julius was 25 cents.

The day I  finished college I bought my first HO engine kit - a Penn Line mikado. It was on sale for $29.95. You can still get one close to that price on Ebay.

I once had every issue of MR from 1959 and Craftsman from 1963. I happily gave them away (I didn't have the room to keep them.) I wish I had them now!

More inflation calculations:

Woody's Athearn boxcar would be $8.75 now (which is more than most of us pay for the blue-box kits)

The pactra paints would be 68 cents

The pizza would be $1.02 a slice

Hot dog n' Papaya combo would be $2.37

His Orange Julius would be $1.70

and, his Penn Line Mikado would be $203.23 today.
Interesting!

[Santa Fe buff]

Let's see - in 1960 35 cents would be worth something like $3.35 or more today.  In perspective, in September 1959 I bought my cadet sword, brand new, for $25.  A new cadet sword today costs something like $350.  In ca 1962, the minimum wage was $0.50 an hour.
Gene

Okay, I know I'm late, but still:

Using the inflation calculator ( http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ ) I calculated that the 35-cent magazine inflates to $2.46 and Gene's cadet sword would cost $177.40 today.

Holy CRAP!!
I only got it for 25cents! I bought it less than the cover price, talk about a deal!!

[Woody Elmore]

Pizzas here in the NYC area run $12 to $14 for a plain old small cheese pizza. I don't know about Pactra paint but Floquil Polly Scale at Willis Hobbies is $4 a bottle.

Penn Line engines hover around one price despite the Ebay vendors' claims of being "rare" or "vintage." This is due  to the fact that Bowser still makes them-much improved.

Magazines are really expensive due to the cost of paper and publishing plus the fact that people who read paper magazines are a disappearing breed.

It's nice to talk of the good old days but I remember a lot of really shoody products. The junk manufactured by Tyco when General Foods or whatever company bought the name is an example.

[kevin2083]

I found an old tyco UP gondola that my dad bought new in the early 70's. To my dissapointment (and his), it actually crumbled when I tried to take it out of the box. I glued some parts together and repainted it, now it's about 2 ¹/₂" long. Now I'm kinda afraid to run my dad's old stuff fearing that it might not hold up much longer.