Doorstops - Cast Brass, Bronze, Aluminum

[herronpeter]

I know very little about older 2 Rail 0 scale. Can someone give me a date range for these models, 20's 30's 40's or later????

Thanks,

Peter

[stephen neill]

Peter - If it is accepted that a doorstop is an engine that has a cast metal body, the majority of the models we are talking about were made in the 1940s and 1950s.

There were very few O scale models produced in the 1920s, and of course even fewer of them have survived. The only manufacturers that started in the 1920s that come quickly to my mind are Icken and Alexander, though I am confident that there were perhaps a bout a half a dozen more. While we can find and identify models by both Icken and Alexander, both continued to make models into at least the 1950s or later, and determining that one of their models was actually made in the 1920s, even if you find one, is difficult at best as they continued to make some of the same things in later decades along with making other things.

The 1930s is a little more doable. There are more manufacturers and more catalogs and both Model Railroader and Model Craftsman (later called Railroad Model Craftsman) were started in the mid 1930s, so there is more information to work with. Walthers, Lobaugh, Scale Model Railways, Scale-Craft (then called American Model Engineers, Inc), Lenoir, and many others started in the 1930s. There are things that these companies made only in the 1930s. I have a few Walthers items that were made only in the 1930s, and I have a Jerry White engine that he made only in the 1930s (the tooling was passed to someone else, but the chance that my engine was made by them is quite small).

By 1960 the only things that come quickly to my mind are some aluminum castings made by Penn-Erie and Locomotive Workshop, but I am confident that there are a few others that I just don’t remember right now.

Keep in mind that a lot of the tooling was passed to other individuals and companies and was used by them for a number of years. A fair amount of that tooling still exists. I have a little of it; others also have some; Bob Stevenson has a lot of it.

Steve

[bob turner]

Don't forget - All Nation Steamers qualify, and they were available brand new until about five years ago. I think they lost some charm when Babbitt took the running boards off the match plates.

[rrjjf]

Bob,

In the last couple of weeks I picked up an original Varney B&O Ten Wheeler on ebay in the original blue steel box ( a bit rusted). It is all there including a nice set of drawings and detailed written instructions. I have had several AN B&O Ten Wheelers over the years but always wondered what the original Varney product looked like so I bought this one to look it over. The cast boiler is pretty smooth. Cab sheet metal was factory soldered. Flanges on pilot truck wheels fit in an NMRA gauge but look high and sharp.

I will probably do some modifications to this kit when I get around to assembling it. I will not be using the original motor but I will install the original worm and gear assembly with the ball thrust bearing. I already have one of these locos that I picked up at the old Easton PA meet many years ago disassembled in a shoebox for $75.00. I reworked it considerably and it is 95% complete and I should finish it first.

In 2018 I plan on working on my own locos a bit more than I have been for the past 15 years. I will still do some conversions for folks but not as many as I have been doing. As your brother and you have found out, machining drivers can become tedious. Once you have done a few thousand drivers it gets kind of old!

I also have a decent collection of doorstop era steam locos and loco kits that have come my way over time that need attention before I pass from this world as well as some US Hobbies and Max Gray PRR locos that I want to add some detail to.

In the past month I have converted another MTH Erie Triplex, an MTH DM&IR Yellowstone, a Sunset Jawn Henry and two Lionel Baldwin Centipedes along with some LIonel U Boats, Today I am working on a Lionel C&O 2-6-6-2 conversion. The shop has been busy.

I enjoy all the information on early O scale locomotives on this forum. I picked up 1939 and 1940 bound volumes of MR at the Cleveland O meet in November. There was some serious model building going on at that time including small scale live steam. Saginaw was introducing their PRR H-10 kit at $39.50. That was a reasonably low price back then but still more than most folks were earning in a week. Things were starting to really happen in O scale at that time but WWII really put the brakes on O scale production in 1942.

It is a totally different hobby today for most O scale modelers. I consider myself "old school" although I do have some modern era O scale produced by Sunset 3rd Rail.

Joe

[rex desilets]

"... I do have some modern era O scale produced by Sunset 3rd Rail."

Now, THERE is an endorsement!

[Robert]

I enjoy most every aspect of this particular forum...Where doorstops are concerned, I have limited experience. However in the interest of participating here is a shot of my doorstop CLW H10 when it was nearing completion.

Robert

CLW H10 Kit (161).JPG

[Carey Williams]

Hello all ..
thank you for posting your vintage pieces

today we have the General Models steamers introduced 1948-50 ..utilizing many parts from the Varney 4-6-0 engine which they also sold /made .
Both Mountain and Articulated have GM on the builders plate .....later models post 51 /52 can be found with AN on the builders plate whilst under the ownership of All Nation .
No markings that I can find on the Atlantic or Pacific .... boiler castings were Adam and Sons ..
for more info about the General Models line please see posting Mouse that roared at
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=17035&p=318301&hilit=mouse#p318301

Here we have the Atlantic , Pacific ( shown with Atlantic tender sorry) , Mountain and Articulated shared the same tender . Atlantic and Pacific seem to share the same drive as do the Mountain and Articulated ..all seem to have the same Varney drivers and front pilot wheels .

Cheers Carey

IMG_7032.JPG (1.45 MiB) Viewed 6319 times

IMG_7034.JPG (1.23 MiB) Viewed 6319 times

[rex desilets]

I enjoy most every aspect of this particular forum...Where doorstops are concerned, I have limited experience. However in the interest of participating here is a shot of my doorstop CLW H10 when it was nearing completion.

Robert

CLW H10 Kit (161).JPG

Not near crude enough to qualify as a doorstop.

[bob turner]

Yes, but my definition is cast brass, etc, and all Saginaw and a lot of CLW qualifies. That boiler started out sand cast. Not sure how Bob improved the casting, but he made it smoother. Still a giant casting. Early CLW had an all sand-cast tender as well, and cast iron drivers.

[Robert]

I enjoy most every aspect of this particular forum...Where doorstops are concerned, I have limited experience. However in the interest of participating here is a shot of my doorstop CLW H10 when it was nearing completion.

Robert

CLW H10 Kit (161).JPG

Not near crude enough to qualify as a doorstop.

My doorstop only qualifies because of it's cast boiler...beyond that attribute I suppose it's in it's own category.

Robert

[bob turner]

Time for my PA Doorstops

Adams PA.jpg (597.04 KiB) Viewed 6245 times

[R.K. Maroon]

Bob, is the snow plow pilot of your own making or after-market? It's a nice touch. Not all of the SP units had them but enough did to make it a natural configuration to model.

Jim

[stephen neill]

Does it say Adams inside of it, or does it say CLW? Adams cast them for CLW; I don't remember ever seeing one that said Adams inside.
Steve

[bob turner]

I have six. I thought a couple said Adams, but not sure. Plow is just heavy gauge brass soldered in to a properly notched pilot.

[bob turner]

A couple more attempts here - and maybe I will post to the domestic non-doorstop thread a couple more times. The imported brass thread is toast, apparently.

Here is one from Allan Wehrle - it almost died!

CLW Wehrle.jpg (28.86 KiB) Viewed 6168 times