My first scale model was an old dusty Megow Big Four hopper kit that had
probably been sitting on the shelf in the hobby section of the hardware store
in the nearest small city since before I was born: card with those clunky zamac
sideframes and brass wheels.
No connection I am aware of between Auel and Graceline, as Graceline appeared
in Minneapolis after WWII (Auel started in the 1930's and never left
Pennsylvania); moreover, most Auel was 17/64" while Graceline was 1/4", which
was becoming the O scale standard by then.
Jace Kahn
General Manager
Ceres & Canisteo RR Co./Champlain County Traction Co.
> I cannot remember just what trucks were used with the CD model kits (my
> first venturento S). When the Culp (Northeastern) came along we thougt we
> were in heaven. They had more detail than any HO (especialy those Megow
> lumps). The Carl Auell O gauge trucks were exceptional, and EXPENSIVE.
>
> I recall Graceline trucks in O Were those thw Auell. Walthers had those
> heavy diecast (in his monotype units. M Dale Newton used printing equipment
> for his castings. Each gauge had their varieties. And everyone wanted
> models of every type of truck out there.
>
> Perhaps because in their heyday they were pretty much the only game in
> town; they were nicely sprung back when most of us
> model railroaders preferred sprung trucks to older clunky equalized-only
> ones (and I don't intend to get into a discussion about
> whether sprung car trucks really add anything to operation). I picked up a
> pair of the Rex trucks from an estate Don Heimburger
> was disposing of at Duluth, just for nostalgia; they seem all right, but I
> shan't regret never getting any more of them. I'd guess
> years ago those were the only alternatives--until the Ace trucks
> appeared--for scale S trucks.
>
> From recurring discussions over the years, zamac crumbling apparently comes
> from dies contaminated with lead in casting, usually
> because the manufacturer was re-using zamac scrap--a false economy. I have
> Auel castings in O scale that are older than I am, from
> the 1930's, that are still sound with no evidence of decay.
>
> Jace Kahn
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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