Not enough O Scale around here

[Roy]

Almost all of my Sunday Knott's trips were before admission was charged. I remember the two Standard gauge trains that ran around the ceiling in the train shop, by depositing a coin in a box. I also got the booklet about the Ghost Town & Calico, which I still have.

It's odd, but Walter Knott started his Ghost town collection as a pleasant way for folks to wait for a table at the chicken dinner restaurant. Most of the buildings there were moved from Calico, which was a genuine ghost town. He had the three foot gauge train operating in 1952, three years before Disneyland opened. So, Knott's was really the first "theme" park.

[ScaleCraft]

When we were cleaning out my great-grandparents house in Inglewood, prior to moving great grandmother to Seattle area, we found all sorts of stuff. Back in the day where artists painted family "portraits", charged one price for head, another for head and shoulders, lace more, full body big price jump.

My Mother took all this stuff to Knott's (we were in Anaheim at the time) to sell or donate for period pieces inside buildings.

This salesman type came into the waiting room while she was waiting for her appointment...and he wanted to see Mister Berry. They were old friends, you see, as he tried to convince the receptionist to let him in before anybody else...know each other for years.

Finally he was convinced to give up, make an appointment and go away.

Which he did, finally.

Everyone in the room had a good laugh once he was gone.

Sure, I knew Mister Knott Berry when he was a kid, right?

[bob turner]

Here are a pair of John English die cast coaches. The full length coach died this AM due to zinc pest - it is swollen in this picture, but a gentle attempt to straighten it resulted in little pieces of die cast.

John English.JPG (957.05 KiB) Viewed 7222 times

So I have a set of three Walthers "Pug" cars - much nicer looking, and the only die cast is the Central Valley truck side frames, which seem bulletproof. Diaphragms need to come off . . .

Walthers Pug.JPG (950.65 KiB) Viewed 7222 times

[ScaleCraft]

Here are a pair of John English die cast coaches. The full length coach died this AM due to zinc pest - it is swollen in this picture, but a gentle attempt to straighten it resulted in little pieces of die cast.

John English.JPG

So I have a set of three Walthers "Pug" cars - much nicer looking, and the only die cast is the Central Valley truck side frames, which seem bulletproof. Diaphragms need to come off . . .

Walthers Pug.JPG

so....those English cars...one piece castings, floor,roof/sides/ends?





If that's it, want it?

[bob turner]

That is a kind and generous offer. I only keep this stuff for nostalgia, and this week it all goes back into the box, carefully wrapped for another quarter century. Next time I open the box I will be 103 years old!
Your casting deserves a better home than that.

I am still indebted for the NP Challenger decals!

[bob turner]

Here is the Bowser K11 - I built it when I was 8 years old. I remember being a bit panicked when the kit said to use carbon tet to clean out the axle bearing slots before assembly. That was before it was discovered the stuff was deadly. I think I used lacquer thinner. Worked fine. This one was decidedly a good runner.

Bowser.JPG (1.08 MiB) Viewed 7181 times

I note that Bowser used Buckeye trucks on their SP 160C tender - something the SP never did. Of course NYC never used any SP tenders, so I suppose it was ok. I too put Buckeyes under an 160C - now behind my AC-4.

Here is the O Scale equivalent of the Bowser:

NYC K11.jpg (644.93 KiB) Viewed 7181 times

[Carey Williams]

Hello all ..fun to see all the old HO ....

if you have a few hours you may enjoy this website ...which has a wealth of literature about HO .....also a bit of O hidden here and there ....

https://www.hoseeker.org/lit.html

Rail Kings had a much smaller version listing O scale catalogs ..but that no longer seems to be on the website .


Gordon Varney was an early advocate for HO ....prewar ... tested the waters postwar with O gauge ..and was happy to jump out ... concentrating on HO where the larger market and more money was .

Gordon Varney 1952.jpg (237.04 KiB) Viewed 7159 times

docksider production.jpg (232.3 KiB) Viewed 7159 times

[bob turner]

Which one was Gordon?

Here are the ubiquitous F3s - all die cast, with little springs for fan belts on multiple segment pulleys. They probably still run, with a little cleanup.

Varney F3.JPG (841.68 KiB) Viewed 7140 times

I have spare bodies, but have never heard of zinc pest in any Varney stuff. Maybe he used a Detroit die caster - they make door handles and convertible top parts from zamac that never die of corrosion. They do get pitted, and are hard to re-plate, but they do not swell and disintegrate.

[ScaleCraft]

oh, LOTS of Zamac-Rot in Varney stuff. But, Gordon decided that shells and boilers were more critical, and started casting those in pewter.

From an e-mail from a guy who "interviewed" Gordon long ago:

"Actually, all of the tender floors were made of zamac (trademarked as Zamak), and the quality of it really depended on the batch of metal that was used for a particular casting. What caused the crystallization was improper quality control as it was being formed. Zamak consisted of zinc, aluminum, magnesium, and copper, and if something else entered the scene, and not skimmed, it could produce the problem we all face now. Of course, much of the zinc-rot began within months of the pour, and with age more showed up. This is one of the reasons that Gordon V. went to the pewter type boilers, I guess he figured that the smaller zinc parts could be replaced with less upset than the whole boiler that was usually detailed and painted by the talent of the customer. Albert Mercer, Linwood Stauffer and Robert Faust probably had the same idea when they started Penn Line."

Had a 2-8-0 that needed almost everything.

I have probably 10 of the F-3's in A and B configuration, not quite half spring belt drive. Neat to make them freight haulers one day, fast passenger the next.

[Roy]

I had a Suydam interurban which used coil springs as drive belts. Also, an Athearn F7 with Hi-F (rubber band) drive. Are these at all similar to what you're talking about?

[ScaleCraft]

Suydam, maybe, Athearn, no. Hi-F used the rubber bands as drive AND allow truck rotation. Varney did not. Motor bolted to truck, pulleys next to each other, everything rotated together.

[bob turner]

System kick everybody out? Or just too sunny for trains? I shall get the last of my HO posted soon.

[Carey Williams]

Hello all ..Gordon is the gentlemen standing ...
here is my favorite Varney engine the streamlined steamer ...'
I have one ..seeking a tender ...

varneycatalog1940pg24.jpg (323.92 KiB) Viewed 7044 times

Varney tender.jpg (56 KiB) Viewed 7044 times

cheers Carey

[bob turner]

Build one out of a wood block while you wait. Or send dimensions here and I will get you started. Wait - HO? I can't see that small!

[Carey Williams]

Hello all ... here are the other two vintage HO scale streamlined steamers ... Penn Line Crusader 1948 and the Rivarossi Hiawatha 1951 -... Hiawatha was imported by Polk ..Polk later set Lionel up with Rivarossi for their long overdue entry into HO
Cheers Carey

pennlinecrusaderpg01.jpg (281.68 KiB) Viewed 6980 times

Crusader Penn Line mine.jpg (770.3 KiB) Viewed 6980 times

Hiawatha Polk ad MR Dec 1951.jpg (791.76 KiB) Viewed 6980 times

Hiawatha Rivrosia.jpg (1.05 MiB) Viewed 6980 times