Model Train Journal

Hello door stop collectors

Hines introduces the Mikado May 1946 .. following year the 080

Found some stamped numbers on the bottom of the Mikado's frame ...can one assume this is it's serial / production #? ....

All Hines Mike and perhaps Consolidation owners race to your engines and tip them over ( please ) and see if there are any stamped #'s underneath ... The Consolidation and Mike seem to have a very similar frame so numbers may be under the Consolidation also ...080 is quite a bit different open frame .... I did not see any numbers stamped on my 080 ...but it could be a Pearce ?

So from the two examples so far we have 188 and 295 ...... Hines was able to build and sell 300 + - Mikados ... ?

Gordon Varney hits the O scale world with his ten wheeler towards the end of the year ... claims of 1000 sold ( at $100 each ) ... over about a year ...he does another run ( 1000 ? ) and decides the O scale market is just chump change compared to his HO line and hungry market ...so he dumps his O scale to General Models ... who slashes the price basically in half to move inventory ....

1000 O scale engines even after the pent up desire for a new engine after the war ..is a lot to absorb in the little O scale world ... I'm sure Gordon Varney felt he had flooded the market , grabbed the quick money and moved on where more fish were biting in the HO gauge pool .

Lobaugh claimed 2000 Berkshires were sold in their 1953 catalog ....

The Lionel 700E was suppose to be serial numbered and dated ...anyone out there have any production run numbers ?


So is it possible to have sold 300 Hines Mikados 1946-1950 ..before Pearce took them over ?
In Keith Wills American O scale ... he mentions Hines had produced a Pacific and a Mountain ...any examples out there ? ..do they have the same lovely detail cab sides and fine rivet heads on the tenders? All designed by Lenoir ? any stamped numbers on the bottom ? ..

Thank you
Cheers Carey

Carey,

I have a Hines USRA Heavy Pacific kit in the Hines Lines boxes with the aluminum USRA tender that I believe originated with Megow and finally wound up at All Nation. I have seen assembled models of the Hines Pacific at the Cleveland show and that is where I found my kit several years ago.

I will get around to building it.

Joe

Looking. I thought I had a mechanism around here somewhere. There is one out there with 355 on the aluminum tender. Dead-smooth. I restored it for Frank Thomson of Philadelphia (RIP). I may have a photo somewhere.

60 types of trucks,

And what do we have available to us today?

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:60 types of trucks,

And what do we have available to us today?

I would think that between Rich Yoder and Bill Davis there would be at least that many types of trucks available, and add San Juan to the mix if you don't mind delrin.

I can't comment about the number of trucks available today other than to float out this bit of snarkiness: If you look on eBay and at shows and auctions you can in time find most if not all of the trucks ever offered. Having no aversion to used equipment helps but even if you do new-in-the-box is often found. As example A, I have a new-in-box set of Hines Napolean Hat trucks and have seen two others go by (which I didn't buy as others became available in the interim). Not helpful if you need six sets tomorrow, but, again as an example, I have collected ten sets of the fine Kemtron UP passenger car trucks one or two at a time. I imagine this is moot for most however as many old trucks will be considered too crude for many contemporary modelers.

Otherwise, I will say that the Hines Mikado is a timely subject for me. One of my good "doorstop" buddies is John Fisher, who was one of the authors of the "Old and Rare" column in O Scale Railroading magazine and a fine modeler as well (I bought three of his locomotives off eBay before I knew who he was). John wrote an article on the Hines Mikado but the magazine went kaput and the article was never published. In recognition of John's contributions I am updating his article and will submit it as my next column for O Scale Trains (giving John due credit, of course). It should appear in issue #95, which will appear in December. For now, I will say that I have identified five different versions of the Hines Mikado, from its introduction in 1946 to its reissue by Stevenson Preservation. Neat model.

Jim

Hello Jim
Look forward to reading your up and coming article about the Hines Mikado .
Cheers Carey