Skip to main content

I'm continuing my education of all things standard gauge and have discovered the Greenberg books of Lionel catalogs and have recently bought a couple on ebay.  I searched and unless I'm mistaken, Greenberg did not make similar books for American Flyer and Ives, so is there an alternative source for these old catalogs?  Any help would be much appreciated. 

 

 

Thanks,
John. 

Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Hi John,
 
My company (HSL) now offers over 24 different volumes of train hobby-related digital archive products.  There are four products that contain much in the way of standard gauge material including one that covers the entire American Flyer Chicago Era.  Please click on this link for more information:  http://www.hslinc.com/dahome/dahome.html .
 
The American Flyer Digital Archive 1907 - 1937 contains all known consumer catalogs, many dealer catalogs, and a variety of bonus material.  Full details are on the web-site.  The Lionel Consumer Catalog Digital Archive volumes contain a wide variety of information above and beyond just the catalogs.
 
 

 

 

af_1907_1937_dvd_case_cover_front_large

 

  

lionel_catalog_da_front_cover_1900_1924

 

lionel_catalog_da_front_cover_1925_1942

 

lionel_tlm_1930_1936_dvd_case_cover_front_large

 

 

Attachments

Images (4)
  • af_1907_1937_dvd_case_cover_front_large
  • lionel_tlm_1930_1936_dvd_case_cover_front_large
  • lionel_catalog_da_front_cover_1900_1924
  • lionel_catalog_da_front_cover_1925_1942
Last edited by John Holtmann
Originally Posted by chug:

.... I own John Holtmann's Lionel archive and it is an excellent source of reference.

 

...

 

Eric Hofberg

TCA, LCCA

i couldn't find this information on the web site, but i am wondering how the catalogs are formatted.  are consecutive pages (with spanned images) concatenated?  or are only individual pages viewable?  what is the format of the page images and what is the maximum resolution?  to answer some questions on this forum, i sometimes crop pieces off my scanned catalog images to use as examples.  is this possible with these digital catalogs?  or are the only images accessible through screen capture?  that is, are the raw images available to use (eg: Save image as...)?

 

there are repro American Flyer catalogs.  i was missing 1932 and managed to pick up the repro for a pretty reasonable price.

 

thanks...gary

Hi Eric,

 

Thank you for the kind words.

 

Yes, I will be at York in the Orange Hall next to my friends from OGR and across from Ross Custom Switches.  I will have all products available.  I will also be able to demonstrate all products to anyone interested.

 

Regarding an Ives catalog archive, I would find that very interesting and I have been accumulating some catalogs in case I would pursue that project.  Unfortunately, I do not have access to most of the early 1900 - 1920 catalogs that would probably be of most interest to folks.  I am also unsure of the interest level in an Ives catalog archive.  However ... I do take note when someone asks!

 

Thanks Eric.

 

 

Hi John

I have John Holtmann's Digital Archive CD's for the Lionel pre war 1900-1942 (two CD's) as well as the American Flyer 1907-1937 catalog CD and there is no finer source of information available anywhere else. All the catalogs are there and you can enlarge the pages and see and read all the details. It is a treasure trove of information. Get these you will not be disappointed.

   

I too would love to see John Holtmann produce a CD with all the Ives catalogs.

 

Enjoy

 

Frank

Originally Posted by overlandflyer:
Originally Posted by chug:

.... I own John Holtmann's Lionel archive and it is an excellent source of reference.

 

...

 

Eric Hofberg

TCA, LCCA

i couldn't find this information on the web site, but i am wondering how the catalogs are formatted.  are consecutive pages (with spanned images) concatenated?  or are only individual pages viewable?  what is the format of the page images and what is the maximum resolution?  to answer some questions on this forum, i sometimes crop pieces off my scanned catalog images to use as examples.  is this possible with these digital catalogs?  or are the only images accessible through screen capture?  that is, are the raw images available to use (eg: Save image as...)?

 

there are repro American Flyer catalogs.  i was missing 1932 and managed to pick up the repro for a pretty reasonable price.

 

thanks...gary


Hi Gary,

 

Each page is scanned individually but much effort was expended to make sure the pages line up as you scroll across the page from left to right.  I do have a couple of sample images on the web-site:

 

http://www.hslinc.com/dahome/dasample.html

 

The pages are saved as JPEGs at 100 DPI which provides plenty of resolution for online viewing and casual prints.  A snippet or two could be taken from the images for reference but, as you can imagine, full blown replication would not be acceptable.   

 

Please let me know if I can provide any additional information.

 

 

Originally Posted by LVfan:

Hi John

I have John Holtmann's Digital Archive CD's for the Lionel pre war 1900-1942 (two CD's) as well as the American Flyer 1907-1937 catalog CD and there is no finer source of information available anywhere else. All the catalogs are there and you can enlarge the pages and see and read all the details. It is a treasure trove of information. Get these you will not be disappointed.

   

I too would love to see John Holtmann produce a CD with all the Ives catalogs.

 

Enjoy

 

Frank

 

Thanks Frank for your kind words and continued support!  I hear at least a few votes for an Ives offering!

  

Thanks John, just ordered 3 of your digital archives.  If all goes well, I'll be ordering more in the future.  I also would like to see an Ives digital archive, like others here have mentioned.  Maybe you could do another CD including the likes of Dorfan, Boucher, Voltamp, etc. and since the volume of material would be much less than the other big manufacturers they could be put on a single CD.

 

 

Thanks again,

John. 

Originally Posted by John Clifford:

Thanks John, just ordered 3 of your digital archives.  If all goes well, I'll be ordering more in the future.  I also would like to see an Ives digital archive, like others here have mentioned.  Maybe you could do another CD including the likes of Dorfan, Boucher, Voltamp, etc. and since the volume of material would be much less than the other big manufacturers they could be put on a single CD.

 

 

Thanks again,

John. 

John,

 

Thank you very much.  Your order will ship today and you should have it by Wednesday.  Please let me know if you have any problems or questions with these products.

 

I agree that including Dorfan and some of the others would be nice.  As much as anything, it is a matter of having access to the material.  Most of these products were developed with the assistance of others (Bill Schmeelk, Bob Osterhoff, etc.).  The material for the American Flyer volume is compliments of Andy Jugle, a fellow AF enthusiast from your area.

 

Thanks again.

 

John,

 

Regarding the possibility of doing an IVES CD, I'm reasonably sure that members of the IVES Train Society (meeting in the orange hall on Friday) and the TCA library might be good resources. I have a fair number of original Ives catalogs that you are welcome to access for this project.

 

Eric Hofberg

TCA, LCCA

Originally Posted by chug:

John,

 

Regarding the possibility of doing an IVES CD, I'm reasonably sure that members of the IVES Train Society (meeting in the orange hall on Friday) and the TCA library might be good resources. I have a fair number of original Ives catalogs that you are welcome to access for this project.

 

Eric Hofberg

TCA, LCCA

Hi Eric,
 
Thank you for your offer.  I will contact you off-list just to compare notes in case this would ever come to fruition.  Ives1122 and Rob English, two fellow train friends from St. Louis, have been encouraging me to more strongly consider this and have suggested the Ives Society as a source.  I have actually inquired with the TCA library as they have generously allowed me to scan items when I am in the area.  However, they have a strict policy of not allowing material off-premise and I would need much more time than I have when I am in the area to scan the material properly.
 
 
Originally Posted by John Holtmann:
...

The pages are saved as JPEGs at 100 DPI which provides plenty of resolution for online viewing and casual prints.  A snippet or two could be taken from the images for reference but, as you can imagine, full blown replication would not be acceptable.

 Lionel.1928.No.300.bridge.orig

 

Lionel.1928.No.300.bridge

 

100 dpi is ok for screen resolution, but for printing i prefer 300dpi+.  you have to admit, some of the old graphics (with a little manipulation) should be hung on a wall rather than closed up in a catalog page and sitting on a shelf.

 

by the way, now at home, i checked the 1932 Flyer repro catalog and it is indeed a Greenberg (1975) reprint.

 

cheers...gary

Attachments

Images (2)
  • Lionel.1928.No.300.bridge
  • Lionel.1928.No.300.bridge.orig
Originally Posted by C W Burfle:

I am surprised that nobody mentioned the free material provided by RFG. ...

unfortunately that site is almost entirely Gilbert (ie: post-1937) Flyer.  i just picked up 1927-1941 catalogs that i'm in the process of scanning.  luckily catalogs in this era averaged 40-50 pages, not like the current, multi-volume monsters.

Originally Posted by Samplingman:

Hello John -

 

Has there been any new development in the tablet versions of your great product?  I'm looking to fill the last remaining space on my iPad!  See you in a few weeks at York.

 

 

Hi James,
 
So far, just the Lionel Consumer Catalog Digital Archive 1925 - 1942 Tablet Version and the Lionel Consumer Catalog Digital Archive 1945 - 1969 Tablet Version (both of which you already have).  I will keep you posted if/when new ones are available. 
 
Thanks for your kinds words and continued support.  I will see you at York!
 

I just wanted to follow up on my original post.  I placed my order with John's company HSL on Monday and received the items on Wednesday, very impressed with the fast shipping.  As far as quality is concerned, I couldn't be happier, the picture quality if first rate.  This actually surprised me because I have several Greenberg's Lionel Catalogs books (volumes 2, 3 and 4) and some of their pictures are very blurry so I feared I'd get the same from HSL.  This was not the case, in fact I compared the books to the images on the computer screen and the HSL product has very clear pictures.  I highly recommend the HSL products, they are very high quality at a reasonable price.

 

 

John.

Hi John,
 
Thank you for the follow-up and kind remarks.  I am glad you are enjoying the products!
 
Thanks also to everyone else who replied to this thread endorsing HSL products.  I know most of the posters are existing HSL clients and I truly appreciate your continued support.  It is very rewarding for me to be able to contribute to our great hobby is some small way.
 
Chris, please stop by next week.  I would love to give you a demonstration of the products.
 
Thanks again everyone!
 
Post

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×