>Of all the different manufacturer's of passenger kits over the >years in S, we've neglected to mention those once produced by our own >Ed Loizeaux.
>Bud Rindfleisch Golly Bud, even I had forgotten about those. And there is an interesting story behind the story which I will share. Hit 'delete' now if you have no interest in S history. The times they were bleak. No passenger cars. No 36" wheels. None! So if'n ya want something bad enough, ya gotta do it yerself. Just like Dick Karnes and passenger seats, etc. So I took some old Chester stamped metal sides and approached a fellow who claimed to make stamping tooling. I asked him if he could make tooling that would stamp the sides out of thin sheets of styrene. He said "sure" and quoted me a price of, I think, about $400. Two months later he calls up and says it cannot be done. We got together and looked at the tooling which was all finished. The tooling looked OK to me and so I asked what the problem was. Then he shows me the stamped styrene pieces and it was obvious that the tooling could not (or did not) cut cleanly through the plastic, but sort of pushed and smushed it's way into the plastic and eventually broke through to the other side. All around the windows were "craters" from the pushing forces. What a bummer..... He explained that he had tried many different thicknesses and types of plastic, but that all the results were pretty much the same. He was hoping I'd say all was OK, but I couldn't accept such a result and he understood that. So the tooling was unacceptable and the project died right then and there. Then he says, "if you want the tooling you might as well take it for free." "That way I will not have to cart it off and dispose of it," he said. So I took it since the price was right. A month later the idea dawned on me that maybe cardboard would work in lieu of plastic. I got some thick plastic coated cardboard typically used for menus at cheap restaurants and did a test. It worked!! And some S scale passenger cars were born. Russ Clover of Clover House cut the wood roof stock to match the curvature of AF passenger cars. Barney Daehler made the end patterns from sheet brass with some rivets and stiffening ribs. The ends matched the wood roof curvature. The trucks were made from modified Enhorning sideframes (cast springs removed, etc.) with added details. A PSC HO tender truck brake cylinder was used for the brake cylinder and looked pretty darn good. Real springs, etc. rounded out the parts list. Eric Bracher of Rio Grande Models had a white metal casting machine in his garage at the time and did all the casting of the ends and sideframes. Bolsters were made by a local shop and were simply bent strips of metal. And the trucks were born -- but without wheels. I had all the parts. I had the customer's money. I did not have wheels. What to do?? So I sent out all the orders (well over 400 pair of trucks) along with a letter stating that the wheels would be coming along later whenever I could get some. The amazing part is that nobody even complained. They all understood the situation and were patient about the whole thing. Can you imagine that happening today? Wheelsets from Robt. L. Miller Co. were quoted with a minimum order of 10,000 wheelsets. Man, that was a lot of passenger cars for S scale. No way, Jose'. Then I realized that express reefers used 36" wheels, so did tender trucks, etc., etc. So I got on the phone (no email back in those ancient days) and called up every manufacturer of S rolling stock and started to accumulate orders. John Bortz bought a bunch, Frank Titman bought a bunch (I think), maybe Claud Wade, etc., etc. In two weeks or so, I had orders for 8,000 wheelsets, but Miller would not accept the order unless it was for 10,000 minimum. Next call went out to Dick Cataldi who was NASG's President at the time. He instantly agreed to have NASG buy up the last 2,000 and the wheels got made. NASG was sure on my "heros list" for that decision. Eventually all the 36" wheels were sold off, but it took years. Many S projects in those days had stories like this and it was not particularly unusual to see folks doing ridiculous things to get new S products to the market. Simple communication was difficult and the US Mail took forever. In spite of SPAM, the internet sure makes a difference these days. Now we do the same thing (essentially) only it is with folks in China instead of Pennsylvania. I just had a loco made in New Zealand and that effort would not have been possible without the Internet. Flat out could not have done it. Twenty years from now it will be with the folks on Mars......?? Little green men making train parts. Can you imagine that? Anyway, I thought you might enjoy that little true story. Thank goodness the hobby (and scale) have moved forward since that time. Consumers today truly have it easy -- even if the local hobby shop shelf is devoid of S stuff. Cheers.....Ed L. To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL; to reply to the sender, use REPLY. For those of you on DIGEST mode, all REPLY messages go to the list (remember to edit the SUBJECT of your message). Change message settings, use our CALENDAR or LINKS, view shared files or photos, view the list archives, GO TO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
