does anybody know a good company that makes ho trains in the 1880 to 1910's era that makes products like overland coaches 2-8-0s and early D&RGW standard gauge trains that are affordable? :-\
shay-
What, specifically, are you asking about?
-- D
sorry i could of made that clearer i am trying to model the Denver and Rio Grande in a freelanced model that will take place between 1880 1920 and it will also include a branch line mining railroad. i already have a beautiful 4-8-0 that looks like it was an older engine made by Tyco and am in the process of biding on an D&RG roundhouse shay but now that roundhouse is out of business :'( i dint have a direct source for earlier prototypes that is affordable.
This firm is considered a classic for material from the era you describe:
https://www.labellemodels.com/
Steel freight and passenger cars would be part of the latter part of your time period. These would include the heavyweight passenger cars from Walthers and Branchline (recently purchased by Atlas), and appropriate freight cars from Red Caboose and Intermountain, specifically the PRR X-29 box car. Also from the latter part of the time period would be cars from Tichy, specifically the USRA designed hoppers and the box car. Bowser makes a Pennsylvania H-21 hopper that is right for this same later period with some modifications, but it's not likely you would have seen one that far west.
Another firm makes car kits that are largely from the latter part of your time period, but the models themselves are of older design (they've been in production since at least the 1950s), and they are fun to put together, or at least I think so. You may particularly want to check out the general freight-car link on this site, and scroll well down the page to look at the "Truss Rod Oldies:"
http://www.yeoldehuffnpuff.com/
Hope this helps out.
You have to buy and also build parts and pieces from different companies and ebay, there are many parts and pieces around.
Bachmann has a HO tender drive 4-4-0 that is about 1870 era. Other locos from Bachmann are about 1915 and up for era.
You might back date the 4-4-0 and 4-6-0.
Good running 1880 to maybe 1910 will be brass and expensive. There are a few plastic around that might fit but not Bachmann so I cannot mention them.
You mention a Tyco and that is HO scale.
Rich
The Bachmann Richmond 4-4-0 in its original configuration would fit in. The prototypes were built for the Ma and Pa in 1901. The Baldwin 4-4-0's are also from that same general period, as is the Ten-Wheeler. The MCD/Roundhouse Old-Time 2-8-0 and 2-6-0 kits also fit in there well.
MDC had some nice open-platform passenger cars recently that are also correct. Mantua made some mid-19the Century freight and passenger cars that still show up at train shows and on E-bay. Wood was still the predominant building material for rolling stock at the end of the 1800's. All metal cars became the standard in the WWI era and after, but even then there were a lot of wood-bodied and metal underframe cars built through the 1920's.
shay-
My favorites from that era are the wooden passenger kits from LaBelle and the Central Valley freight cars. Both are wood kits which will require some time and skill. To me that's a benefit, not a liability. The LaBelle cars must absolutely be considered craftsman kits but either can result in a museum quality model. Overland passenger cars are available. Many of these items are out of production but you can find them on ebay.
You might also consider HOn3 for your branch line. A little dual gauge track at a small interchange would look great and help to distinguish the separate line.
Good luck with your search and model railroad.
-- D
thanks for all the help guys also i am on a fixed budget (summer job and birthday money) so many of the brass and hon3 things are a little too expensive :'( but fortunatly their are alway train shows and swapmeets that always have something inturesting i am attempting to bid for an MDC climax for my branchline and i also remember in the walthers catolog i have there were some inexpesnive early era hoppers that ill likely get.
'Roundhouse' old time cars and locos are available through Horizon Hobby http://www.horizonhobby.com/Trains/ (http://www.horizonhobby.com/Trains/) The manufacturer code is RND. Horizon purchased Roundhouse shortly after they took over Athearn.
Mantua also makes some nice old time stuff. It's available through Horizon (Mfg: CSM) and Walthers (Mfg: 455). Quite a bit of it will fit in the time period you're modeling.
The prices aren't all that bad, and the Roundhouse and Mantua equipment runs fine on Bachmann's EZ-Track. It's also not that hard to repaint something you like that doesn't come in D&RGW colors and lettering.
Len
i already have some nice mantua trains and also i have a beautiful roundhouse drovers caboose and i will attempt to get their high boilered climax from ebay for the short line
shay-
Yes, brass is usually pricey and the same is pretty much true for HOn3. However, you can find things at reasonable prices if you watch ebay and attend train shows. Actually, your choice of prototype, early railroading, is among the more expensive options. That's because the majority of modelers prefer the steam, transition or modern eras. That in no way means you shouldn't model the first 50-75 years of railroading. But its relative unpopularity means that the selection of equipment is limited and the prices comparatively higher.
I find railroading's youth to be particularly interesting and the locos quaint in the extreme. However, I model the peak of steam and beginnings of diesel because I find that time even more interesting and varied.
-- D
yes i know i love oddball engines and finally i got an mdc climax from eBay but i hope its in good condition i read reviews of the company and it had 20000 good reviews and 250 bad reviews... back to engines. the reason i love shays, climax's, narrow gauge ext but the reason is first hand experiences like riding the durango & silverton cumbress and toltec Cass scenic railroad and 2 first class cross country amtrack and i have been to the big railroad museums like steamtown USA in Scranton PE and the RR museum in green bay and in Duluth and greenfield village Henry ford museum and colorado railroad museum and i have my own railroad-ghost town-mining-model railroading library. and everyone in my family likes trains.
shay-
I take it from your last post that you are a midwesterner. That opens up some great train opportunities. Be sure to check out the trains at the Rosenwald Museum in Chicago (aka Science and Industry). In addition to the exhibits in the main building they have a 2900-class ATSF Northern and the original Pioneer Zephyr. The Illinois Transportation Museum in Union, IL, has an excellent cross section of railroading and they operate all sorts of things at various times. The Missouri Railroad Museum is just outside of St. Louis and it's one of the best collections I've ever seen. Last, the Mid-Continent Railway in North Freedom, WI, operates steam, including Fall color trains and snow trains. St. Louis is a hike from Chicago but Union is between Chicago and Rockford, and North Freedom is just another hour or so beyond Union. A more distant destination is St. Paul, MN, where the Minnesota Transportation Museum operates an original Great Northern Roundhouse. They've installed a turntable and their main activity right now is restoring two Northern Pacific Pacifics for operation. Then they'll rebuild an NP Ten-wheeler which they ran until its boiler license expired. MTM also operates a trolley in south Minneapolis and they used to have a steam launch on Lake Minnetonka, west of the cities. You could do worse than to spend a week hitting these highlights in the central midwest.
-- D
Quote from: Doneldon on September 30, 2011, 02:12:14 AM
shay-
I take it from your last post that you are a midwesterner. That opens up some great train opportunities. Be sure to check out the trains at the Rosenwald Museum in Chicago (aka Science and Industry). In addition to the exhibits in the main building they have a 2900-class ATSF Northern and the original Pioneer Zephyr. The Illinois Transportation Museum in Union, IL, has an excellent cross section of railroading and they operate all sorts of things at various times. The Missouri Railroad Museum is just outside of St. Louis and it's one of the best collections I've ever seen. Last, the Mid-Continent Railway in North Freedom, WI, operates steam, including Fall color trains and snow trains. St. Louis is a hike from Chicago but Union is between Chicago and Rockford, and North Freedom is just another hour or so beyond Union. A more distant destination is St. Paul, MN, where the Minnesota Transportation Museum operates an original Great Northern Roundhouse. They've installed a turntable and their main activity right now is restoring two Northern Pacific Pacifics for operation. Then they'll rebuild an NP Ten-wheeler which they ran until its boiler license expired. MTM also operates a trolley in south Minneapolis and they used to have a steam launch on Lake Minnetonka, west of the cities. You could do worse than to spend a week hitting these highlights in the central midwest.
-- D
actauly i have been to all of those but the ones in st louis st paul and north freedom and the museum of science and industry one is nice but it is slowly falling apart like people are fallen over scenery falling apart and trains broken and there are a few more nice museums i forgot to mension like the quincy mine & hoist musuem that has a cog railroad and mine tours and they are restoring a company roundhouse so they can put the 4 steam engines (quincy and torch lake RR) into as a museum and they have a nice little g scale layout there and the other museums in Indiana i forgot to mension were the Monon rr museum the North judson museum with a pere marquette 4-6-4 that runs and a small tank engine switcher. it is also nice to be within 200 miles of almost all of those and walthers so when i order from there it takes about 3 days to ship.
The 2900-class ATSF Northern was moved to the Illinois Transportation Museum in Union, a few year back. There is a 2900-class in New Mexico that they to have running next year.
RAM-
I wasn't aware that the SF Northern was moved to Union. It was at the Rosenwald last time I was there. Of course, that was with my middle grandson on his first airplane trip when he was seven. Now he's in high school. Wow. I'd definitely have gone to see them move that thing out of the museum.
I just barely recall when they moved it to the museum property. They laid rails in the street from the IC RR and dragged it with a bulldozer. I was lucky to know when they delivered the loco because it was kind of a quiet thing to discourage crowds. But my father worked for the Santa Fe so he knew when the move would happen. I hope it isn't sitting outside in Union. It took quite a beating in the 40-some years it sat by Lake Michigan. The vandals didn't do much damage but the weather was hard on it. The museum spiffed it all up when they moved it into the parking structure. It would be a shame to let it rot again. There isn't much inside space in Union compared to the huge collection of equipment; I hope this loco got some of it.
It was an even bigger deal when they moved the German submarine across the Outer Drive from Lake Michigan. It had traffic screwed up for days. But that's not a story for a train board.
-- D
hi everybody just letting you know that i am back.