In the earlier days of large scale, there were a few more brands of large scale that we no longer hear much of. Either due to being to “toy like” or to a scale ratio that isnt well supported/loved. Trains from Kalamazoo(kept alive to some degree thru Hartland), Lionel Large Scale, Delton, REA, ect. Today, many of these are bargains for the smart shopper. Sure there are dealers that think because it has the big “Circle L” of Lionel on it that its worth more than a current USA trains product. But I can find rolling stock in the under $50 range and many times much less expensive than that. Yes the GP9/GP20 has swinging pilots but so does the current MTH gauge one line of diesels. Swinging pilots allow operation on tighter curves that were much more common in the early days, and I suspect today even though not talked about much. I know on my railway, R1 curves are a requirement, even R2 isn’t possible other than in one spot. This precludes running pretty much anything from USA’s line of diesels. An old Aristo FA1 does ok, even with knuckle couplers. All of these earlier trains sort of followed LGB’s rule that they were able to operate on R1 curves so that anybody could run them. Yes bigger curves are better, but for those like me that cannot go bigger, these early trains give you more options for rolling stock and atleast a couple models of first generation EMD road switches that can handle those curves. Mike
Yeah, the early stuff mostly worked on R1 curves.
Some of the early stuff only needs a few tweaks to become a good member of society.
Like the early MDC stuff, really nicely detailed and well scaled to 1:32, but the trucks were crap, would literally disintegrate. Add new trucks and nice rolling stock.
Same with some of the Lionel, like their ore jennies. (the shorty hoppers).
I think you left out the Buddy L stuff, which is another brand that seems to fit your criteria:
http://www.tcawestern.org/buddy.htm
The steam crane is cool, and some of the Chinese made stuff.
Greg
Greg the Buddy L stuff (the REAL buddy L line) were not Gauge 1 but ran on 3-1/4" gauge track. Some fellow at the WGH show last weekend had that dredge crane for sale…$900 big ones! These things are really big! Wish I could afford that line up.
The Buddy L name was resurrected about 10-15 years ago for some really low-end G-scale trains.
It was theorized at the time that a Chinese factory must have been using older Bachmann Big-Hauler molds, they had one locomotive and some cars:
I saw some in person at Ridge Road Station, but never bought any…pretty cheap and junky.
Scot
The cars in the Buddy L set were Bachmann cars. I bought a set of them because they were cheep, ah, inexpensive.
its a shame that little 2-6-2 has a crap drive. With some weathering and detail work, it reminds me of the old PFM/United brass logging engine offered years ago in HO scale I have always watched for one of those 2-6-2’s at a show for a really cheap price that still ran to just tinker with. I left those out, along with the New Bright stuff as its so low quality normaly. Atleast the old Kalamazoo and Lionels that suffered from horrible power pickups, take well to battery power. My little Lionel 0-4-0 saddle tanker just purrs around my overhead loop with onboard battery power. Towing 3 Lionel box cars and 2 USA wood side reefers for almost 2 hours now on one charge. Mike
Apparently the drive on the suedo-Bachmann Buddy L wasn’t too bad, or at least a tad better than the then offered Bachmann drive (3rd gen pre-Annie IIRC). I have one somewhere, was always planning to convert it into a 2-6-2T tanker. IIRC its an anemic performer due to being too light, on my former layout it couldn’t even muscle the bobber caboose alone over my 4% grades, it would just stop and spin its wheels.
I once bought a set of rolling stock from Buddy L and it was decent enough and even came with metal wheels. I later picked up a loco like the one that Scot posted but I agree that it wasn’t the best runner. I did like that copper boiler. Didn’t someone on the forum take one of those and fixed it up and repainted recently?
Kalamazoo and Hartland are decent products. I never did care for the Lionel large scale stuff but to each their own.
Mike T if you are looking for equipment to run on your tight curves Bachmann makes a smaller 2-4-2 loco with metal gears and it is nice for about $120. If you want a modern diesel you might be able to get away with a USAT NW2 or a S4. I have run mine on 4’ diameter curves but not extensively.
The switchers will manage my curves, but 1:29th rolling stock doesnt like it much. The 1:32nd ish stuff from Lionel does much better and looks good behind my pair of GP20’s. The MTH stuff is nice, but with the price to boot. I have enough motive power. I have 3 themes I switch between. Austrian with a LGB 2073d 0-6-2. British with a Merlin Major live steamer and Accucraft Baguley Drewry diesel pulling LGB field railway stuff, and US Mainline diesel with a pair of Lionel Burlington Northern GP20’s and a mix of thier rolling stock and a few USA wood side reefers. My Kalamazoo stuff is my special Autism Express passenger train pulled by thier MCRR 4-4-0 and my back up engine from Jerry here in the site, a LGB 2-4-0. I also have a Lionel 0-4-0 saddle tanker that was in a box of junk that came in at the local shop, painted flat black. I use it to pull my LGB field railway cars. It was cheap and easy to stuff batteries in the saddle tank. Some of the Lionel stuff looks good, the Atlantic(if a bit fragile in the valve gear), the GP9/GP20’s, the 40’ box cars and tank car, the bobber caboose looks like a clone of the LGB one. I was supprised when I saw that the MTH large scale diesels had swinging pilots like thier O scale line, or atleast on the engines I saw. I would like to find a different, ie non arch bar truck for my USA woodside reefers. I tried a pair of Aristo sprung bettendorf trucks and they didnt fit. I think the Lionel ones would fit, but finding them affordably is challenging. Mike
USA sells bettendorf trucks that will fit.
And the Roundhouse/MDC/Piko cars are actually 1:32nd scale. They would take the sharper curves, especially with truck mounted couplers.
Mike, what about an LGB Stainz? Pretty common loco, and can usually be found for a song.
Greg
Once again, I am not looking for more engines. Got that covered. Just talking about brands that are under rated or underappreciated in todays market. Although a few are becoming fodder for collectors, espically a few that think some of the Lionel Large Scale line is worth its weight in gold. Mike
You can find good deals on LGB rolling stock, too. You just have to be patient. As mentioned on another thread, there are some people who think the LGB toy train line cars should be worth the same amount as a new locomotive . But they make good fodder for kitbashing, and I’m thinking about picking up some of the shorty passenger cars for the “branch line” that’s the inner loop on my layout.
Another option is to buy some of the Newqida stuff. It’s dirt cheap, and with a bit of work and some gear from your spares box can be made to look pretty nice:
That Buddy L set is what got me started on this crazy, outdoor modeling adventure. I replaced the stack, repainted it, changed the lights to LEDs, added some weight, and built an oil bunker for the tender. Here are the “before” and “after” shots:
I ran it on the patio for a few weeks until I figured out where to build a real layout. Unfortunately the factory sound system died shortly after I started building the permanent layout. Then the motor died not long after I got the layout up and running.
I just won a Keystone version of Rays Buddy L train, somewhere out it the garage I have the Circus train version but technically it’s my wife’s train so for now I can’t touch it. I want to eventually build a logging tanker locomotive out of one of them.
I have been buying stuff lately as stockpile for the long haul as I fear that between the soft market and high costs of what new products are offered that I simply won’t be able to afford any new products in a couple years, so I am re-examaning all these older brands, and looking for them, particularly the ones that have decent track records for light use as my outdoor RR will be nice and level with broad (for me) curves.
I was watching that one to. Just have other irons in the fire right now I agree with any new products being out of reach except for those with a deep wallet over the next few years. Many older engines do wonderful, once converted to battery power. Most of the 0-4-0 and early 4-4-0’s suffer from horrible power pickups. Even the little oddball Lionel wild west 0-6-0 looks the part with some reworking and onboard battery power stuffed in the boiler or rear bunker. Would love to see someone start to offer new metal side rods for all the old Lionel Large Scale steam engines. Mike
My Keystone loco arrived today, dang it’s a BIG loco for a Big Hauler variant.i actually think this might be the earliest Heritage Trains version