The Tridaily Doorstop -- Bob's Mexicano Electric

[ScaleCraft]

Wait!

That flock of GOOSES flying overhead caused me to rethink this.

[ScaleCraft]

The good thing is that a flock of CABEESE won't drop CABOOSESHIT all over your freshly washed car!

[E7]

Affirmation of why Turner got the boot from OGR.

[bob turner]

I did this one before, I think. Not my favorite caboose, but genuine Lobaugh with ATSF trucks. Too lazy to change them.

[R.K. Maroon]

#23 -- Varney/GMC/AN 4-6-0

This is, I believe, the first post-war model in this thread. This ten-wheeler was developed by Varney and introduced just after the war. It's original list price was $100, which was an enormous amount. The Varney ads stated that their first production run of 1000 sold out in a matter of weeks (mostly to dealers, I assume). It's a B&O prototype, but I think it looks quite good in MKT:





Varney sold their O-scale line to General Models. They used the this model as the basis for an expanded line of steam locomotives, reusing as many parts as they could (for better or worse). All Nation wound up with the line after the GMC bankruptcy. I guess I should include Babbitt here as well, as they bought the All Nation line of steam somewhere around 1990(?). I would guess that this is the #1 selling O-scale steam locomotive of all time. They run well when properly set up and lubricated, and they seem to last forever if well maintained.

Jim

[ScaleCraft]

I've got a couple.
One is this one, no idea....cast lead or some such boiler. Much longer pilot to back of cab, tailstock extended. In pieces when I got it. Had inside cant cylinders for Stephenson, missing all the bits, so back-converted to what you see.
We did find the smokebox front, now installed.
NW2 cab back.

[De Bruin]

I like these a lot as well as the Mogul and Atlantic versions they "spawned."
Jim, the only thing that Katy 10 wheeler needs is a centered headlight, otherwise really nice looking engine and one just begging for a green combine and coach or a string of wood cars with a big yellow mixed caboose.

[R.K. Maroon]

The only thing that Katy 10 wheeler needs is a centered headlight

And perhaps a steel plate pilot:


I found this photo on the internet but forgot to record the attribution. Nice pic. My apologies to the source.

It's just begging for a green combine and coach...

How about some head-end cars and an extra coach to go with that combine and coach? I think this is St. Louis, but perhaps others can confirm or correct.

...or a string of wood cars with a big yellow mixed caboose.

DIck Keulbs had a caboose like that. I was hoping it might show up as part of his estate, but I don't know what happened to it. I have a nice caboose though, so I am not complaining:

[De Bruin]

....How about some head-end cars and an extra coach to go with that combine and coach? I think this is St. Louis, but perhaps others can confirm or correct.

Sure! both the Katy and SLSW had 10-wheelers big enough to tote quite a few cars. Agree that shot is St Louis, likely west of the terminal, the elevated crew foot platforms (as seen in the lower right) radiated quite a bit in both directions out of the throat along the track work.

Nice caboose!

[R.K. Maroon]

Thanks, Pete -- It is a nice caboose. But I can't shake loose the notion that Ten-Wheelers were meant to haul passenger trains.

Here is the underside of the engine and tender:





The only surprise here is the presence of a circuit board up in the tender, which one would correctly suspect has something to do with headlight operation. Very happily, the unknown modeler took the time to install a directional, constant-brightness headlight and back-up light, as can be seen in these brief test run videos:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hw153678efj01lp/20220309_153453.mp4?raw=1

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m3hs4ipqusj19d0/20220309_153800.mp4?raw=1

[R.K. Maroon]

Varney introduced the Ten-Wheeler with an unprecedented four page ad in Model Railroader:



Again, these originally sold for $100, and, if you believe what Varney reported in a follow-on ad, the first 1000 units sold out quickly. That's $100,000 of revenue at the retail level, which is an amazing amount for a single locomotive model, especially in 1946. Hell, it's nothing to sniff at now!

Not surprisingly, the price of the model fell precipitously after the original wave of Irrational exuberance diminished. Here is the model as listed in a General Models catalog just 2 or 3 years later:



I am not sure of the source of this photo, but it's a glamour shot from the early days:



I think this model still holds its own today. Hat's off to Gordan Varney.

[bob turner]

John Dill (RIP) broke the record. Sold a non-operating version for $750 at an OSW over a decade ago.

[R.K. Maroon]

#24 -- Mi-Loco UTLX Tank Car

Here is a Mi-Loco tank car, hand-lettered for the Union Tank Car Company:





These are rare but not mythical. Cast aluminum, 17/64s, made for only a brief period of time in the mid 1930s.

Jim

[bob turner]

This one is a Mini-Scale, and is of a heavier alloy than MiLoco. I have two almost identical MiLoco tanks, one of them polished aluminum. They are indeed intriguing models, full 17/64 scale, and cast in halves which get glued together. Note my trucks - not sprung, but still close to Athearn in appearance.

As you know, I prefer Lobaugh trucks, but I agree with Si Simonton - the most accurate Bettendorf in O Scale was indeed the Athearn. Here's my photo:

[R.K. Maroon]

Nice Min-I-Scale tank car, Bob. In the early days of my forays into historical O-scale models, I lumped Mi-Loco and Min-I-Scale together, as one followed the other and their product offerings were similar (and both 17/64's). However, Congress Tool, which wound up with the Mi-Loco line as their chief creditor in bankruptcy, actually retooled the line from sand cast aluminum to die-cast white-metal. As a result, the Min-I-Scale models are a step above their Mi-Loco forebears, and I no longer think of them as one in the same.

Here's a close-up of the hand-lettering on the Mi-Loco tank car:



This is better than average hand-lettering (by far). If I could hand-letter this well, I would.

Like Bob's tank car, this Mi-Loco does not have the original trucks:



Note that the couplers pivot on the king pins, but are not fixed to the trucks. This is one of the tells of a Mi-Loco model. Did any other manufacturer do it this way?