Here are some gorgeous Ives and Lionel sets from the Toy Train Museum in Strasburg. I am looking forward to all of the Ives and Dorfan Standard Gauge MTH is about to reproduce. I am excited to actually own some new standard gauge - most of the original sets (as seen above) are not in great shape. They've seen some serious play (scrapes, scratches and dents) plus the castings weren't always too reliable.
MTH seems to be doing a great job reproducing many of the classics as well as some "lost" classics (Dorfan engines, Ives cars, etc).
Outside of MTH, Joe Mania and Jim Cohen, who else is building new standard gauge? My favorite question is this: "If you could produce anything in standard gauge, what would it be?" The reason I ask is not arbitrary - I am considering building some of my own standard gauge and dipping my toe in the market.
There are some things in standard that I would like to see that just aren't going to get built -
- The Flying Yankee
- Budd Cars (ok, I'd also like to build some Interubans)
The Budd Cars are for the Post War side of me that doesn't feel like running Post War
O Gauge Cars
- The Aeolus
- The Mercury Set
- A nice Doodlebug (yes, I know McCoy did them and they are really nice, I just can't get my
hands on one)
- A handcar (yes, I know McCoy did them (and they are really cool) as well and I can't seem to
get one either)
- A subway (not the one's MTH is doing, one of
the first subways that had wicker seats).
- Any ideas? The subway below looks a little like
Joe Mania's Hudson Tube Train (can't wait to get my hands on one of those)!!
- What about rolling stock and passenger cars?
State Cars are nice but we've seen them run and reproduced so much....
4 comments:
I don't know why no one has reproduced the 381S double motored 381 prototype that is in the Shempp collection. You'd think it would be a natural - one one of the original, so no one has one, and the potential market is both people with original state cars and repro state cars. Not to mention all the 200 series cars you could pull with it. hell I'd probably buy one and I don't do anything made after WWI!
It's funny, I recall hearing about the 381S but I have never actually seen it. Where is there a picture of it? Can anyone send me the pic so I can post it for all to see?
Ok, found it. Here's the link:
http://www.tcamembers.org/articles/chronicles/shempp/images/brute_close_2.jpg
Anyone been to this museum?
Not sure when you visited, but the museum reorganized the Shempp display several years ago. Still pretty full (they are trying to show as much as they can with limited space) but there's more interpretation. Also, the Historical Society did not buy the collection. The Williamsport-Lycoming Foundation bought it from Mr. Shempp in the 1980s and loaned it to the Historical Society, later donating it to them outright in the 2000s.
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