Nov 15, 2013

Pssst! Wanna buy some history?

(Workshop member Jim Martin visited a local train show... and files this report):

I saw and held some remarkable S scale history this past weekend.

A few weeks back I wrote about my S scale mentor, Arthur Lomax, who passed away almost 13 years ago. Arthur was in S a looong time, and the collection he left behind is a tangible record of 3/16"=1' scale. This past weekend his son Phillip Lomax and I worked a table at the Ancaster, Ontario model railroad flea market, selling off much of Arthur’s stuff.

Friend David Woodhead (the guy who composed and played the great original music for The ModelRailway Show podcast) dropped by the table for a visit, and like me, was fascinated with what he saw. Thankfully he had his camera with him.

Exhibit A: HO wasn’t the only scale to have a model of the iconic B&O Docksider. Rex made a fine quality model in S back in the 50s. This one still looks good, and looks ready to get to work in the tight confines of an urban switching layout...


Exhibit B: The two Alco yard switchers you see at the far end of the table are by Miller, probably late 40s or early 50s. They weigh a ton and have actual traction motors on the axles - four per loco - but no gearing. Each motor armature is the axle! Not a lot of low speed control. At full tilt they would likely become armour-piercing shells...


Exhibit C: Wow - an unassembled 75-year old locomotive kit with original box and instructions! This is by The Cleveland Model and Supply Company, Inc. - and the instruction sheet is dated 1937. Back then Cleveland called 1:64 “CD Gage”. David especially liked the lettering font on the instructions. It looks like classic “draftsman” and appears to be done by hand. As for the kit, check out the wood boiler and tender body. Tender rivets are an embossed paper overlay. The white metal bits all appear to be of high quality. This has to be a rare find. It should remain forever unassembled as a part of our history...






None of these items sold - they are still available to interested hobby historians. And there are even more historic loco kits that didn’t make it to the show. Perhaps we’ll look at them in a future post...

- Jim