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jlong
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 Posted - October 18 2006 : 8:30:18 PM
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This is kind of like the old joke where if you play country western music backwards, you get your wife and your home back.
But, this is no joke! If you get on the floor and run Tyco, you start remembering stuff you could never remember before. I now remember the names of my fifth, sixth, and seventh grade teachers. The girl I dated in 6th grade (who thought my trains were cool). I remember crazy stuff like Brady Bunch and Partridge Family episiodes or my sister's favorite rock band. I could go on and on.
It's cylical too. I also began to remember vividly, a neighbor pal who got a set of Tyco illuminated streamline coaches. It was a big thrill to watch those coaches blaze around his layout in the dark. So I nabbed a set of NH on ebay last night for my floor track central. Got more track and a styrofoam tunnel on my way home tonight. This is gonna be a blast let me tell you!
John Long
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Posted - October 18 2006 : 9:02:05 PM
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Well thats what happens when you inhale too many model train fumes. I guess running the trains on the floor wakes up the kid part of your brain. When u run into the living room christmas mornin at 5:22 and spend the next 2 hours settin the thing up on the carpet. Then your dad comes out and tells you to go to bed...or maybe thats just me. Either way, all those fumes have gotta do somethin.
-cheez
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Posted - October 18 2006 : 11:20:56 PM
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John: (or did mom and dad call you Johnny?)
Awesome!
Glad the Forum helped propel you back to the "Happy time." Proves the neotenic power of nostalgia once again.
I'd help with the Girder and Panel bridge if invited; maybe bring over a Hoveringham Tipper and Denver Fire Pumper stuffed in a shirt pocket and a firm fistful of something with electrical pick-ups, maybe a redbox EMD-F in New Haven to drag that fancy new "Deep River" NH observation of yours around the tracks...
MagnoliaAcademy
(The 1961 Colonial Limited NH Passenger set is a personal favorite of mine--good livery choice for your rake of streamliners.)
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Posted - October 18 2006 : 11:53:16 PM
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LOL, I always tell my wife that trains preserve brain cells, because I spend all my money on them instead of booze...
Although I've wanted a faird share of swigs after one too many hours fighting with truck springs and detail parts and decaling and...
As for fumes... ahh! Ain't no better smell in the world! And proves my axoim: Tyco powertorques: Great runners until you let the smoke out.
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jlong
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Posted - October 19 2006 : 07:31:48 AM
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quote:| John: (or did mom and dad call you Johnny?) |
When I was bad she called me that which was quite often. You're welcome to come visit anytime.
John Long
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Posted - October 19 2006 : 1:45:36 PM
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John:
Thanks for the invite, buddy. I've decided to bring over my Green Bay and Western DL701 Alco and Big Hook Circus train when we play. It came out the first year of Life Like Trains and has Life-Like boxed versions of many of Varney's last offerings, plus the NYC crane car, container gondola (the one with wll the little opening hatches), and flat car with two circus wagons. It has also gotta bunch of signs, light poles, billboards n' a truck ramp with a little 1953 Ford flatbed truck. Pretty keen! All that red and grey and silver should go perty gud with yer CBQs and fancy Hew Haven stuff!
Stevie
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 Posted - October 20 2006 : 7:54:59 PM
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| I hear you john. Tyco for me also brings back vivid memories of my younger days-- one being coming home from school and palying with my golden eagle and silver streak set up on my wooden bedroom floor and as the train would round the curve the track would move each time until it came apart and then derailed with a spectacular tyco crash. I also remember setting up a bridge and trestle in over and under and the train falling off where the track seperated or a trestle moving and causing a derailment.
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Posted - October 20 2006 : 8:06:39 PM
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Derailments, engines falling thru trestles... Geez, Brian, I didn't think you had any of that "Gomez Addams" train operation in ya! Good to know. Did you and your buddies stage Tyco vs. AHM "cornfield meets" as well?
John: Do you remember those AHM bonus packs with that nifty european-prototype crane (Liliput), generally red and black in Erie livery? It had chain instead of nylon string and two small controls protruding from one side. Just though you might need wreck removal capability on your floor-pike and they show up on eBay with some frequency (almost always mis-identified.)
MagAc
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Posted - October 20 2006 : 9:02:53 PM
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Yes i do MA. I forgot to add the staged head on collisions with my friend who lived next door. He had bachmann and most of the time my tyco sent his bachmann engine flying as i had the 630 and he a f7-- We also set up trestle jumps-set all trestle from the 33 piece up and try to land on lower straight track and keeep moving.
Edited by - Brianstyco on October 20 2006 9:04:55 PM
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Posted - October 20 2006 : 9:09:50 PM
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630 vs. EMD-F? Hardly seems fair. Perhaps a rematch is in order: say collision at dawn with DC-91 equipped Cary-bodied EMD Es at ten paces. I'll volunteer to act as second...
MagAc
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 Posted - October 20 2006 : 11:01:41 PM
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Ppfffshaw. Ya'll are just rookies in the Gomez Addams League. ;)
What I wanna see is a heavy diecast steam waltz, with lightwieght freerollers in tow. Best accordion wins!
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Posted - October 20 2006 : 11:50:58 PM
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Brian:
It seems the Yankee in the cheap seats has expressed some doubt about the cornfield meet credentials of we 'Heels. I think the retarditaire reference to late-unlamented Watt-related technology in its most vulgar form--and the suggestion we would actually employ such ancient and shopworn creatures as Palace varnish--diminishes the Hiddenite-like compression resistance of my original suggestion.
Sure, you could stage a big, splashy steam meet and scatter cast iron and sheet steel and mahoghany and stained glass and coal and body parts all over creation, that's just flash. EMD-Es at ten paces is chrystalline clarity, man. It is throwing two cement blocks at each other. Simple, brutal, final.
Now that's a cornfield meet. 100% attrition, not just the guys in the losing cab "scalded to death by the steam."
MagnoliaA, where the "Shoo Fly" goeth
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jlong
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Posted - October 21 2006 : 11:35:49 AM
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quote:I hear you john. Tyco for me also brings back vivid memories of my younger days-- one being coming home from school and palying with my golden eagle and silver streak set up on my wooden bedroom floor and as the train would round the curve the track would move each time until it came apart and then derailed with a spectacular tyco crash. I also remember setting up a bridge and trestle in over and under and the train falling off where the track seperated or a trestle moving and causing a derailment.
Originally posted by Brianstyco - October 20 2006 : 11:54:59 PM
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Brian, oh yes, I remember the faulty track crashes. It was brief as dad had the sense to set up a platform in the corner of the basement where we tacked the track down. Too bad they didn't have locking roadbed track when we are kids.
Magnolia, funny you mention the AHM crane offers as there are a couple cranes up on ebay I have in my watch list. They are downright cool. I don't recall the bonus offer in MR but will look through my pile.
My interest in AHM spawned last night as the train gods dropped an MDT ATSF switcher on my porch. My first HO engine - 1967. I cleaned and lubed the mechanicals and she took right off sounding like a coffee grinder. Man what a trip. Well, that wasn't enough as I went back to ebay and nabbed a "buy it now" AHM set.
John Long
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Posted - October 21 2006 : 12:47:54 PM
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John:
Guess I saw the same Buy it Now set you scored. If the same I viewed, it was an undervalued beaut. (Just too many sets, too little time!)
AHM offered a lot of "value packs" in the sixties: one had those beautifully decorated PS-2 covered hoppers (remember the "Jack Frost" sugar cane car?), there were loco and caboose sales, firecracker specials, inflation-fighter sales, savings sprees, October O scale, and a ton of others. When AHM acquired distribution of the Roco stuff, including their nifty wreck crane and boom car, they dumped the remaining inventory of the Liliput cranes in those "gift packs." They ARE beautiful--and superbly functioning--cranes (better working than the Rocos they replaced, just "too european-looking", I suppose--they are modeled on the DB Krupp-Ardelt prototypes.)
MagAc
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jlong
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Posted - October 21 2006 : 4:26:53 PM
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quote:John:
Guess I saw the same Buy it Now set you scored. If the same I viewed, it was an undervalued beaut. (Just too many sets, too little time!)
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Blue and yellow ATSF RS-2 set. It was a no brainer. The real shocker is I stopped at a hobby shop today and in his "used" department, he had a Matching NOS AHM ATSF RS-2 dummy for $10.00. It has the same cab number as the powered engine in the set. This is out of maybe twelve boxes of vintage AHM. Man what a score. He also had the Kalmbach book on steam engine build ups. It's a good book but pretty basic. Great for someone like me who is tackling a steam engine for the first time. There is a chapter on building and detailing a Bowser kit which is pretty much in line with a Mantua build up. It seems like the more you accumalate, the more you remember as he had some 60's/70's PFM and Alco Models brass straight out of MR ads that came in too. Made a couple glances and had to get the hell out of there before I got my tit in the ringer.
John Long
Edited by - jlong on October 21 2006 4:29:59 PM
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Posted - October 21 2006 : 9:41:07 PM
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John:
Kalmbach book..."its a good book but pretty basic." Hence my reference to it as a primer, since you're more or less getting your feet wet with an HO steam build-up. (It is, I suppose, rather like doing a two-rail O build-up but there are certain matters relating to the much smaller materials-- valve gear, bearings, gears and wheel sets--that might become a bit frustrating--coming as you do from a long-time O-scale background.)
What a synchronystic moment, also, finding that SF RS-2 dummy right on the heels of scoring your set on-line.
As for the old PFM, Gem, Akane, International and so on: they're pretty, I guess, but I'll stick with the "hit 'em where they aint" collecting philosophy and stick with American-made vintage HO (and certain tinplate Hi-rail HO.) Don't need to go down that wallet-singing path to have fun in this hobby, after all.
Regarding the AHM Liliput crane. I went thru a stack of old AHM cut-books and catalogs and found the "gift set": it is in the 1963 offerings, listed as No. 5200 "four car gift set with 'FREE' crane." Very cool packaging, wish I had same (alas, only the crane).
MagAc
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jlong
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Posted - October 22 2006 : 12:09:45 AM
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I hear you on vintage brass steam. Tempting but really not my cup of tea nor is it in my budget. Much of the old brass runs like crap and the solder joints are frail. A custom paint Alco models high nose 628 for $125 was very tempting let me tell you. If it runs decent, well maybe. But just once.
As far as HO steam is concerned, a Mantua Pacific is on my list but my heart has settled on 60's/70's AHM steam. It will be for display and circle running. I've spent many hours gazing at it and it's plain fascinating. The prices are reasonable and it's not difficult to obtain.
On the Mantua kit. You have to do something for the first time to know how to do it. Many thanks for your sound advice and I hope I don't pester you with to many questions. If the real difficult parts such as driver quartering or gear alignment are done, I should be OK or maybe these need to be checked. I feel half prepared for this as I do have an accumalation of jewelers screwdrivers and hex wrenches, screw pickers, drill vise and bits, dremel tool (w/reostat and drill press stand), files, tweezers, picks, etc. A magnifier lamp and 4 power reading glasses as well. My hands did get some training last year as I built a couple N scale laser structure kits. The first turned out so so and the second was better. Also dissasmbled and fine tuned a few Atlas deisels and got proficient at it. The details for Kato N scale mikes you have to attach yourself. The stancions were challenging let me tell you.
John Long
Edited by - jlong on October 22 2006 12:18:16 AM
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Posted - October 22 2006 : 11:41:13 AM
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John:
I truly forgot about you N-scale adventures. I got off the N-train about a decade back (wife pressure--"too many trains"--she was absolutely right!). All I kept were my Lone Star Treble-Os from the early sixties, grand-daddys of N.
I was quite sure an old hand like you wouldn't have much difficulty with the Mantua Mike, merely suggesting there are inherent modeling differences compelled by scale reduction.
Nuff said on that matter. Whacha got yer cap set for with regard to AHM steam? (I love the stuff.)
MagAc
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jlong
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Posted - October 22 2006 : 3:00:30 PM
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quote:Whacha got yer cap set for with regard to AHM steam? (I love the stuff.)
MagAc
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Depends on the mood I'm in. Y6B and IHB 0-8-0 at the moment. Tomorrow it will be something else. I like it all. Espee Cross Moffy is high on my list as well.
John Long
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Posted - October 22 2006 : 6:45:44 PM
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The Riv. NW and PRR Y6Bs are VERY impressive performers, seemingly defiant of even the smallest radii curves. They're amazing engines and a real blast to watch. My ONLY gripe with them is similar to that of many of the Riv. steamers (virtually all the articulated big steam): the tenders all require additional weighting. The tenders as supplied don't track worth a tinker's damn and with any kind of drag attached are downright infuriating. Still, they are worthy of your every collecting intention. (I like the Challengers as well, though I heartily encourage you to get a Bowser Challenger--you won't regret it.)
MagAc
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jlong
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Posted - October 22 2006 : 11:12:18 PM
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Holy cow! The Mantua Mike kit has been around for a long time! I have the Oct 51 issue of Model Railroader which features a Mantua Mike project. It's built into a Pere Marquette style Berkshire and has fabrication drawings for domes, steps, plumbing components, etc. along with a list of Varney parts. In 1951 the Mantua Mike listed for $34.95. I got mine from a hobby shop on ebay for $44.95 mint sealed.
I spose screwing down some Athearn freight car weight stock would solve the tender weight problem with AHM steam. I must finish my Mike before even thinking of taking on a Bowser Challenger. The Tyco Prarie kit looks enticing as well.
I finally got a chance to really read my steam engine project primer and a Bowser build up does look like a fun project. You can really go nuts with detail and drive upgrades. Looks like I should invest in a quartering tool and puller if I want to get serious with this stuff. For now, I'll cross my fingers the drivers are in quarter and gear alignment is good as delivered with the Mantua kit.
John Long
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Posted - October 23 2006 : 7:16:26 PM
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John:
Supposing you have a late-generation of the Mantua Mike kit (plastic cab, pilot, tender shell, open gearing, should be perfectly fine as delivered. Puller an eventual primal scream preventer, however, and strenuously recommend.
MagAc
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jlong
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Posted - October 23 2006 : 9:44:24 PM
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I agree on the puller as well as an NMRA gauge as wheels sometimes need gauging with HO. 10 bucks for a puller is no big deal compared to 40 bucks for a quartering tool. Yes, the kit appears to be a late Mantua kit with plastic tender shell and cab.
John Long
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Posted - October 23 2006 : 11:11:37 PM
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John:
Nice to see you're interested in the Tyco/Mantua Prairie kit as well. It drew pretty much rave reviews from RMC and MR upon its debut. It is a fun build, very amenable platform to super-detail.
In the interim, if you get a chance, check out the really scarce pre-AHM Rivarossi Hiawatha (Atlantic configuration) loco kit currently on eBay listed as "Vintage Rivarossi HO Hiawatha." This was sold in the US through the old Aristocraft catalogs and is quite scarce. They (Aristocraft) actually sold a RTR version of this engine with Hiawatha-inspired passenger cars in 1955. VERY COOL. Very banging deep pockets trainset (wish I had one but, alas, must settle for an old kit build-up loco only). The kit currently on eBay is apparently NOS unbuilt. WOW!
MagAc
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jlong
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Posted - October 23 2006 : 11:32:17 PM
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Omigosh, it's up to $308. Wow is right. I saw four mint mini movers go for $75 last night. Here I was going to proxy $35. LMAO!!! I see late Rivarossi Big Boys are hot. I saw one go for $300 or something.
I'll stick with the not-so-hot stuff such as the NH C Liner I won for like $20.00 or something with shipping as they arrived tonight. Breaking it in(de-minting) as I type. Very sharp engine. I really need another.
John Long
Edited by - jlong on October 23 2006 11:42:09 PM
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Posted - October 24 2006 : 12:13:42 AM
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John:
That was a great price for the Tempo C-Liner in NH. They are pretty popular with collectors (owning a shiny new one now I'm certain you can see why). Just to tease your collecting propensity, let me add there is an unpowered A as well. NH is also one of three liveries for which AHM offered a B. They are pretty aggressively sought but you should be able to locate one. Lastly, there is a terrific matching NH caboose offered by Rivarossi and included in the early ('64-'67) NH sets.
Riv. Big Boys have begun to take off over the last couple of years, seemingly regardless of their vintage. They ARE spectacular. I might be more inclined to seek out the plentiful Y6Bs per your original wish list. They, too, are absolutely grand but as-yet don't seem to drain the bank book quite as bad as the Big Boys, Challengers and Cab Forwards.
And they are, plain and simple, an operational BLAST!
MA
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jlong
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Posted - October 24 2006 : 1:53:54 PM
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The NH C-Liner has awesome decoration. I love it. Two or three Y6B's came up on ebay Sunday night. One of which has been re-motored with an NWSL kit. Being tampered with, it may not entice a bid war and since I want a runner, it may be a sensible choice if I can get it at a nice price.
John Long
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Posted - October 24 2006 : 3:17:48 PM
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John:
Don't think either of us will atempt to snipe the Rivarossi Hi-rail Hiawatha, eh? $676 with eight hours still to go. The Riv. Hi is one of vintage HO's holy grails, as you can see. Jeez!
The NH Westward HO set was catalogued with NH C-Liner A and B, Rivarossi NH crummy, box, stock, tanker, hopper and gon. There were frequent substitutions (a common and frustrating AHM occurence), typically, Rivarossi open hoppers substitued with the fancy new PS-2 covered hoppers when available.)
The powered NH C-liner was delivered June of '63 to AHM, the NH Bs date from 64/5 as I recall, with the PRR, SF and PRR offered.
MagAc
ps: your recollection of the IHB switcher compelled me to crack a long-neglected box open, lube one up n' watch it run. Tank ewe.
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jlong
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Posted - October 24 2006 : 11:49:48 PM
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quote:| ps: your recollection of the IHB switcher compelled me to crack a long-neglected box open, lube one up n' watch it run. Tank ewe |
Hot dang! I did save a handful of HO favorites from my late teens. One being an Athearn UP SW switcher. It hasn't been run since 1979 and tonight with a little cleaning and lubing fired her up. She's running strong but she's a noisy beast. Noiser than my Tyco GP-20. Or just as noisy if not noisier than my new C Liner. The noisiest is the Plymouth switcher. HO was noisy when we were young wasn't it? If I'm patient, I should be able to find a B unit for the C Liner. I see a ton of C Liners on ebay which may be why the prices are low. Espee Cross Moffy's are downright bitchin. Gotta have one of those for sure.
John Long
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Posted - October 25 2006 : 12:05:35 AM
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John:
You'll find a NH B, I've every confidence. In the meantime sounds like you're having a great time on the floor with the other motive power, old and new.
How 'bout the auction close on that Riv. Hiawatha. Finding one of those would be sorta like discovering Milwaukee Road's Northern Hi no. 10 sitting forgotten in some tumble-down shed outside Minoqua, eh?
(Come to think of it, I did find a Harley WLA in military paint wedged in the rafters of an old haymow near Tomahawk years ago, so ANYTHING's possible.)
Here's hoping we both find Riv. Hi's languishing at the local flea market for a sawbuck!
MagAc
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jlong
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Posted - October 25 2006 : 07:40:14 AM
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Yes, I'm having fun on the floor with this stuff. It's a moment when collecting really pays off. I never heard of Rivarossi Hiawatha kits until you pointed me to one. At that price, I wouldn't want to build it. I recall Model Railroader staged an old Hi found in a barn covered with weeds (1984 issue). I understand engineers nearly wet their pants at high speeds with the Atlantics as they swayed acoss the rails only having four drivers. Milwaukee Road pretty much disappeared when I moved to this state. It was CNW and WC which is now CN. We get to see Montreal built diesels blasting through town quite often.
John Long
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Posted - October 25 2006 : 2:17:55 PM
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quote:
(Come to think of it, I did find a Harley WLA in military paint wedged in the rafters of an old haymow near Tomahawk years ago, so ANYTHING's possible.)
Originally posted by MagnoliaAcademy - October 25 2006 : 04:05:35 AM
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Tomahawk!?!?!?!
W.Va.?
(as in Eastern Panhandle)
I may know you!
(be afraid, very afraid[:D])
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Posted - October 25 2006 : 2:29:16 PM
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Northwoods HI
John:
That anniversary MR story, framed around the fictional discovery of one of the legendary High-speed HIs abandoned in a WI barn, has its nexus in an honest to goodness bit of northwoods train mythology centering on the HI's little cousin, the Northwoods HI.
As opposed to the state-of-the-art super streamliners who were in "fleet of foot" competition with CNW's "400", the Northern HIs were shrouded and streamlined pedestrian G6 ten wheelers dating back to 1900! They were sort of like a thirties version of one of those kit-car VWs with the Rolls Royce grill!
Still, demand put two of them (nos. 10 ans 11) in service on the high-profile run between New Lisbon (near the Dells) and Minoqua. This run was pipeline for all the Chicago and points-east resort trade traffic to the "Northwoods" (ala Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and the raft of others who vacationed in lodges "up north" before the war.
In any event, interest in the long-lost Northern HIs resurfaced in the late fifties when some research determined that no. 11 was unshrouded in 1948 and scrapped in 1951 but the fate of no. 10 was "undetermined."
The resultant speculation was the mystery-shrouded Northern HI no, 10 was parked in some trackside barn or on some scrap line somewhere in Northern WI.
THAT is the nexus of the MR Anniversary story, I suspect. And, regardless, it is a great bit of HI mythology and a fun autumnal Wisconsin mystery.
This is all making me very homesick but I have to wait 'til mid-November to head up to the Wisconsin house (25 miles or so from New Lisbon and right next door to both the abandoned "400" and "Hiawatha" mainlines).
As a final note, the Riv. HI kit fetched $1286.19 plus shipping. The entire train set, as sold by Aristocraft in 1956, fetched a whopping $49.95 msrp (and that was RTR, two coaches, track, decorated in Milwaukee Road colors)
MagAc
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Posted - October 25 2006 : 2:36:53 PM
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Bob:
The Tomohawk to which I was referring is neither W. Va's or the Tomohawk, NC, near ye old Magnolia Academy. It is an old northern Wisconsin lumber town near the route of the Northern Hiawatha discusses in the previous post.
Alas, therefore, no relation, I suspect. Most of my real-life relatives wish they were so lucky...
MagAc
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Posted - October 25 2006 : 2:50:08 PM
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Ahhh!
I had heard of an old H-D in a barn in Tomahawk W.Va., and thought it was you.
Guess your safe then...[:D]
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Posted - October 25 2006 : 3:03:44 PM
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Jeez! That ancient bike in a barn "urban myth" must be as ubiquitous as the one about "the bargain-priced old 'vette and the suicide."
Funny how those myths have an occasional basis in truth, huh?
I prowled 'round every hay mow from Glidden to Minoqua because of the rumor a route driver had seen an Indian Chief falling through the hay mow floor of an old dairy barn. The rumor was close. It was a war-era WLA (wish it had been the Indian).
MA
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Posted - October 25 2006 : 3:11:02 PM
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The best one that I was involved in involves a Mustang in a barn.
I got a call from a friend, said that there was a Mustang coming out of an old barn in northern W.Va.
So, not being a Ford fan, I went anyway, thinking that some redneck had found his dream car.
Boy was I wrong.
When I finally found said barn, these folks had the Mustang outside. They were getting ready to fire her up too, had batteries hooked up, and gas in the tank.
A V-12 Merlin DOES NOT like modern pump gas.
Yup, it was a P-51 Mustang, NOT the 60s vintage musclecar.
These Rocket Scientists were going to use the engine in a pulling tractor, and scrapp the fuselage!
The outer wing panels were missing, as was the horizontal stabilizer and fin/rudder, but she was on her gear, Hamilton-Standard prop still in place (and un cut, un-cuffed for racing)
Several of us talked these folks into selling her whole. Not sure who bought her, but the farmer's sons made out like bandits!
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Posted - October 25 2006 : 3:27:03 PM
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Razorback B or Bubble canopy D or newer?
They dug a Jug (been waiting to write that phrase now for over a year) out of the sand near Ft. Fisher two years back but it was pretty thoroughly cabbaged. It was a rather pedestrian P-47 but, still, must have been quite a shock for beach-combers. Yes, I'd imagine those hillbillies reaped quite a haul off'n them thar airy-plane parts.
That is a great story!
MagAc
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Posted - October 25 2006 : 3:31:14 PM
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D model, with post war back seat.
Had post 47 stars and bars markings.
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Posted - October 25 2006 : 3:52:07 PM
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Used to see a lot of de-milled salvage aircraft around Tulsa; F-51s, P-63s, F-8-Fs, even the odd ocassional 39Q and Hawker Tempest. Those days are, sadly, a distant memory. Yet, it is tough to imagine participating in your "Mustang in a barn" adventure! There's one to tell the grandkids.
MA
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jlong
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Posted - October 25 2006 : 9:43:20 PM
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quote:As a final note, the Riv. HI kit fetched $1286.19 plus shipping. The entire train set, as sold by Aristocraft in 1956, fetched a whopping $49.95 msrp (and that was RTR, two coaches, track, decorated in Milwaukee Road colors)
MagAc
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$1286.00 is understandable. I would gladly pay that for a Lionel 700K unbuilt scale hudson kit. (A mint unbuilt 700K kit would fetch anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000) depending how mint, complete, time of year, etc. The instructions alone are up for $425.00 buy-it-now.
I haven't been to Tomohawk in ten years maybe. Old logging town is right. There is a paper mill up there that I designed some steam and condensate systems for. Rooms were like $35 a night and beer was 50 cents a glass at the local tav.
Your sunshine special went for over $200. I got sniped out of some Tycotown floodlights tonight that I proxied $37.00 5 min before closing. Winning bid was like $55.00. Wooo.... Before that I got sniped out of a Tyco/Mantua hudson. Before that I was gonna proxy $150 on an AHM bullmoose but I backed out for some reason. I could of won it as it went for $125.00 Now I regret it. F! F! F! What was I thinking!!! Oh well, I'll go upstairs and bolt my new vandy tender to my shifter. That will make things all better. There is a show coming up this weekend anyway.
John Long
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Posted - October 25 2006 : 10:59:40 PM
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John:
The ghosts of some of my oldest friends are, if their is any romance in the universe, still shooting woodcock--and shooting bull--at Hawkins and running open cane-seated cedar and mahoghany Thompson Rangers and Old Town Guide Model 14 footers down stretches of the Wolf and Flambeau, the Pine, Popple and Chippewa from Park Falls to Pembine. I miss 'em and ache for the pools and ripples, the chute at Little Bull Falls, the old landing at Shanagolden. God Almighty I'm getting homesick... and feeling old before my time.
Think I'll just fire up the transformer and watch the silhouetted passengers in my streamliners go round and round in the dark.
MagAc
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jlong
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Posted - October 25 2006 : 11:14:39 PM
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quote:Think I'll just fire up the transformer and watch the silhouetted passengers in my streamliners go round and round in the dark.
MagAc
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Believe it or not, I screwed my Mantua vandy tender to my eighth wonder of the world: my Tyco shifter. And by god it worked! No fiddling. Took right off. What a sight..LMAO. I envy you for your silouetted cars. I just got a notice mine were shipped today.
John Long
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Posted - October 25 2006 : 11:57:28 PM
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Still stuck at this friggin' VDT, John!
The night train will leave the depot soon enough, though. Tyco Burlington Zephyr EMDs and a string of silver silhouetted streamliners...
Still, I'd trade the whole roundhouse right now to be up in the Central Patricia: camped on the shore of a stone-bottom lake, listening to the moose, the brush wolves, the cry of the loons, watching the northern lights through the rising smoke of an ebbing fire...
there I go again...
MagAc
The NH C-liner is gonna be a sight coupled to the silver and red Pullmans and Deep River observation.
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jlong
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Posted - October 26 2006 : 9:11:56 PM
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quote:Still, I'd trade the whole roundhouse right now to be up in the Central Patricia: camped on the shore of a stone-bottom lake, listening to the moose, the brush wolves, the cry of the loons, watching the northern lights through the rising smoke of an ebbing fire...
there I go again...
MagAc
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You may have a change of heart when it's 30 below out. My plans are to nab a Tyco NH A & B? for the NH cars. Who knows, I may find one this weekend. The C Liner will do for now.
John Long
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Posted - October 26 2006 : 9:57:01 PM
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Minus thirty is just "Springtime in Alaska."
I'd still choose the northwoods; maybe just a cabin. I could still power the circle of Mantua fiber-tied ready-track in my Little Trains T-2 set with six dry cell batteries in the power tube.
The "Colonial Limited"sets (4 streamliners) sold by Tyco had power and dummy As. An EMD-F "B" in NH was offered as a separate, presumably to add to the Limiteds and the smaller two-car-and-A-unit set in NH, the "Eastern Special" and the three-streamliner and A-unit set, the "Patriot." Tyco loved the NH streamliners prior to '65.
MagAc
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jlong
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Posted - October 26 2006 : 11:27:55 PM
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You could be more authentic and power your Tyco off your car battery and have a true gas electric. Looking at the Tyco Resource page my two favorite sets are the NH I'm building and the UP GP-20 set. I have this sneaky hunch the UP cars are going to be a chunk of change.
John Long
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Posted - October 26 2006 : 11:57:29 PM
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Still, there's something nostalgic about those five-decade old power tube Tycos. I can take the D cells outa the two Ray-O-Vac Sportsmans I've got in the tacklebox next to the loaded model 12, toss 'em in and me n' Beauregard can just hunker down and watch that silver RF-16 go round and round, oblivious of yer thirty below outside.
A loada firewood, a little bannack, a lotta beer, a Little Trains Booster n' ol' Beau... that cabin is starting to sound pretty darned good!
MagAc
(Nanook of the Nort')
By the way. Your instincts are spot-on: the UP Geep is pretty easy. The rake of UP cars will be a bit more of a tussle. Worth it, however. It makes a pretty streamliner. The seldom-encountered CN "Rapido" in black, red and white is also very striking.
Hell, all the streamliner sets are terrific.
MagAc
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