Pride Lines and McCoy Trains?

Until Arno gets his book done, this is about the best resource.

http://www.amazon.com/Americas...Trains/dp/0930625226

Steve

Thanks for the lead.  What will this future book be?

There is also a book for sale on eBay every so often about the history of McCoy trains.

Mike, I think it would be fair to say at this point without exaggeration that Arno is the world's leading expert on Modern Era Standard Gauge.  After the "big four" stopped making Standard Gauge around 1941, that could have been the end of it.  But in the 1960's, 70's, 80's especially, there emerged quite a few home craftsmen who designed and built either reproduction or new-design Standard Gauge trains in relatively low production. 

McCoy, Pride Lines, Classic Model Trains, Varney & Sirus, John Daniels, JAD, Liberty Lines, Roberts Lines, Forney, Glenn Toys, Richart, Thorley Hoople, James Cohen, John Harmon, Bob Hendrich, Williams Reproductions, T Reproductions... I'm only scratching the surface here, the list goes on and on. Which is part of the problem.  Arno has been researching for years and has more depth of knowledge about this than anyone, along with a truly amazing collection, but it seems it's never-ending because he keeps coming up with something new.

The book he's working on is to be a comprehensive and definitive history of Modern Era Standard Gauge. Until then, we bumble around in the dark.  The Peter Riddle book Steve suggested, and the McCoy book Joe mentioned, contain many inaccuracies and omissions, (Arno would say misinformation and confusion), and you have to take whatever you read in them with a large dose of salt.  But for the time being they are really the only sources we have for basic information on MESG - other than asking Arno, which is what most of us do when we get a chance, and which leads to better information.  

If you are a TCA member you have access to the TCA archives online.  John DeSantis did a series of fine articles for the TCAQ on the history of vintage Standard Gauge - and then asked Arno to write the final article, on MESG.  It is an excellent preliminary outline of the field, anyone interested in MESG should start there. 

MESG is an amazingly rich and varied field of tinplate, which is quite exciting to get involved in.  From George Templin's Standard Gauge handcars to Bob Thon's 4-6-6-4 Standard Gauge Challenger, to General Train's 2-rail Standard Gauge streamliners, it's a whole universe of Standard Gauge that Ives, Lionel, Flyer, and Dorfan never went to.

The high point for this was all in the 70's through the 90's:  reasons may be many, but once MTH grew from being a backyard operation into the huge producer of Standard Gauge trains that it is today, it pretty much flooded the market.  As you can tell from following this forum, the market seems to be pretty much divided between vintage and MTH.  There are still guys like Joe Mania and Joe Finelli puttering along making some Standard Gauge by hand, but not like in the early 80's.

But there are some of us for whom MESG is the real interest.  Many of the makers of MESG made a point of building things - Handcars, Hudsons, Switchers, Streamliners, Steeple Cabs - that the vintage manufacturers never made in Standard Gauge, so the variety is much wider than what they made or than MTH cranks out.

david

This is where Arno should wade in and tell us all "when" his book on MESG will finally be published!  NOW would be perfect for me!!

Bob

Very interesting.  I await this book.  Which TCA TCQ Issue has the Arno article?

Didn't the famous Ward Kimball design a piece for Pride Lines or McCoy?

His contribution was a design for a new tin station and tin figures for the Richart Toonerville reproduction.

TCAQ, Vol. 53, No. 4, October 2007.

Don't hold your breath waiting for Arno's book, it won't be this month.   In the meanwhile, the books recommended above can give you something to go on.  Okay the facts may not all be accurate, but it is fun reading about Standard Gauge and will go a long way to answering basic questions like how and when McCoy got started and so on.  Just be careful not to quote what you read as gospel.

The history of MESG is a story about people, and all the names you have already heard of, and then some, pop up more than once.  Many of the people were involved in more than one way, influencing or collaborating with others at different times to create different partnerships.  

Pride Lines had a license arrangement with Disney to make Disney-themed trolleys and trains; and of course Ward Kimball was a Disney man, so that combination would seem likely, although I do not know of anything specific.  That would be a question for Joyce Davanzo if you see her at her table at York.

david

I miss the days of high quality Disney licensed product.  Today it all seems to be about aligning with what is in the mass media.