Skip to main content

After a NYC ToyFair I was attending closed for the evening, I wound up walking out with MDK, and his associates. They began looking to hail a cab, and I asked him where they were going.  JFK, he replied. I offered him a ride, as I live not too far away. We had a pleasant conversation, and he asked me if I was a member of the KCC. I was, and so informed him. He said “Great, I love to meet our best customers in person.” When we got to the terminal, he offered $$ for gas. I declined. 2 weeks later, an entire K-Line Train Set showed up at my house!

That certainly increased my enthusiasm for K-Line!

IDK why you are holding a grudge. K-Line was on shakey ground to begin with on thin profit margins, flooding markets with lots of product, and questionable technology - funny how they got EOB about 9-10  months AFTER the other guy developed and market it.

As another forumite eluded, I too believe K-Line would not have survived the 2008 Samhongsa fallout esp with their precarious finances.

IIRC, a settlement was reached between K-Line and Lionel that would have allowed K-line to continue operations. However, after the settlement was announced, K-line issued a press release that completely misrepresented the facts of the lawsuit and the settlement. Lionel and the court both took issue with that and the penalties and revised settlement imposed by the court are what precipitated K-Line's bankruptcy. Whether K-Line would have had the financial wherewithal to continue operations after the initial settlement is unknown, but it is clear that by issuing the press release that led to changes to that first settlement with Lionel, their fatal wound was self-inflicted.

@redrockbill posted:

IIRC, a settlement was reached between K-Line and Lionel that would have allowed K-line to continue operations. However, after the settlement was announced, K-line issued a press release that completely misrepresented the facts of the lawsuit and the settlement. Lionel and the court both took issue with that and the penalties and revised settlement imposed by the court are what precipitated K-Line's bankruptcy. Whether K-Line would have had the financial wherewithal to continue operations after the initial settlement is unknown, but it is clear that by issuing the press release that led to changes to that first settlement with Lionel, their fatal wound was self-inflicted.

That is EXACTLY how I remember the events that lead to K-Line’s demise.

Like many of the responders, count me in as a K Line fan. Off the top of my head, who could not like their diesels ( Fs, Es, GPs, RSs ( nobody else did a PRR Hammerhead)), 15 and 18" passenger cars and interurbans, some really neat motorized units like the box cabs, Plymouths, etc. Some of their cabooses were stupendous IMHO-and if you are a 6464 box car enthusiast, the K Line 641 series fit your bill perfectly-and much less costly than other companies similar offerings. Add to those their milk and reefer cars, die cast hoppers, circus cars and die cast 16 wheel flats with some neat loads. Belonging to their "club" allowed for some really neat additions of mining sets and passenger car sets including cars and engines-all at very reasonable prices.  Being an old timer, I have been at this hobby for quite some time and believe that K Line was what Lionel use to be like-that toy train company whose catalog(s) you eagerly anticipated and looked at again and again for some truly affordable additions to your existing collection. Like many of you, I am sorry that they are gone.

After a NYC ToyFair I was attending closed for the evening, I wound up walking out with MDK, and his associates. They began looking to hail a cab, and I asked him where they were going.  JFK, he replied. I offered him a ride, as I live not too far away. We had a pleasant conversation, and he asked me if I was a member of the KCC. I was, and so informed him. He said “Great, I love to meet our best customers in person.” When we got to the terminal, he offered $$ for gas. I declined. 2 weeks later, an entire K-Line Train Set showed up at my house!

That certainly increased my enthusiasm for K-Line!

Wonderful story!  Thanks for sharing

I love K Line!! I actually have the American Freedom Train with the loco 2 showcase cars, two display cars, and the observation 205. I would love to collect the rest of the display cars and the 4 car passenger set, but its a nice setup as is!! I love the boxes for everything and I even have the shipping carton.

I know some don't like the gs-4, but this is one of the better semi scale locos in my opinion. Smokes great too!!Screenshot_20210506-110556_Gallery

I have a picture if it on the shelf, but excuse the mess I've been doing work in the basement

Gino.

Attachments

Images (1)
  • Screenshot_20210506-110556_Gallery

No one has mentioned their Service Department.  When I lived and worked in Cincinnati I took a package to the UPS station at 8AM on a Monday.  When I arrived home Friday evening, the same package was at my front door.  Before I even got out of my car I was livid thinking UPS fouled up the delivery.  WRONG!  The package arrived in Chapel Hill Wednesday morning, the item was repaired and shipped out that evening in time to be delivered in Cincinnati on Friday.  I cannot remember the names of the people in the Service Department but they were good.  John

I collect and run K-line scale freight and have for years. Being from Pittsburgh, K-line had the best series of scale Heinz cars. I have collected most of them.  I recently finished purchasing the historical railroad art reefers.  Towards the end, K-line made several scale box cars and reefers that grace my railroad. I love my K-line scale PRR steam engines. They made several PRR heavyweight passenger cars that are fun to upgrade.  I have been fortunate to not have any issues with the trucks.  They made some unique items like the Porters and Plymouth Switchers.  You can still get these used for a reasonable price.

Last edited by PRR Joe
@Artie-DL&W posted:

Oops, I forgot I had a box cab, and a Plymouth switcher in Pennsy colors. The box cab is sidelined with a bad bulb in one headlight (can’t change it out), and the Plymouth is a great little engine, but I’ve loaned it out to a museum out here that’s dedicated to ice harvesting techniques and early ice harvesting and so built a display for them with an Atlas ice house and loading dock, and a few Atlas reefers.

Like you my K-Line New Haven boxcab electric has a bad bulb right out of the box. Both headlights on one end light up when going forward in that direction, on the other end only headlight lights up when going in that direction. Sadly I didn't discover this until after K-Line went out of business.



Have you found a fix yet?

I thought I'd have posted in this thread before, but a review says otherwise...

Off the top of my head (meaning I've probably missed some since I haven't inventoried them all by a long shot):

--A number of blue-box "traditional" K-Line cars, among them a CSX crane and its tender, the latter noteworthy for not having fast-angle wheels (something I discovered when I noticed its wheels making an unusual noise), and a couple of their 027 three-dome tankers, and one or two Christmas boxcars sourced from the KCC Toy-Fair open house, one or two other Toy Fair boxcars, a KCC "new look" boxcar from their upgraded traditional boxcar tooling, and a chrome-plated TTOS anniversary boxcar.

--At least six of the 027 cars offered as freebies to KCC members at K-Line's York presence.

--At least two of their two-bay 'traditional' hoppers (KCC and Boraxo)

--Up to four Five of their die-cast hoppers (four B&O and one ATSF), and  one of the 40' die-cast boxcars (RailBox)

--A pair of their 50' flatcars (NS and CSX).

--Both versions of the die-cast Rock Island gondolas

--Two of their 16-wheel die-cast flatcars, one depressed-center, one not. (I think I got these at the KCC Toy Fair open house)

--Two extended-vision cabooses (Westinghouse and Conrail), two ex-Kusan cabooses (one NS, the other I'm not so sure of), and one of their shorty bay-window cabooses (ATSF) directly descended from Marx (and I believe, also acquired at a KCC open house at Toy Fair).

--Three single-unit Husky-Stack doublestack cars, a pair of the two-unit Thrall doublestacks, a single unit Thrall car, plus three sets of two-unit TTAX spine car sets.

--Four of their Roadrailer-like RailMate trailers.

--Three Plymouth switchers and 40 of the little two-axle hoppers that went with them.

--The Greenport Scoot set plus two add-on coaches.

--The KCC CSX SD70, Amtrak F40PH, Chessie GP38, two each of  the Chessie S-2 switchers, 2 each of the NS MP-15's, one Kennecott MP-15 (plus the work caboose), one clear-shell MP15 prototype (came from our own Alan Miller) and one Virginian Train Master.

--Steam: scale and traditional NYC Hudsons, scale B&A Berkshire, and their first-issue ATSF 4-6-2 from the Marx 333 tooling, and the Pennsy A5 0-4-0.

--four or five of their Kusan-derived tank cars (Santa Fe and Ewing Oil)

--six (?) aluminum tankers (BP 3-pack, Engelhard, BN and BASF)

--five aluminum Centerflow hoppers (ATSF stainless-finish "Super Hopper" scheme), plus two more twin-bay Centerflow hoppers (Chessie)

--One of the voltmeter boxcars (UP)

--Four packs of ATSF and DMIR ore cars, plus singles of the KCC "Big Red Line", TCA (or was that TTOS?), Pennsy, and Great Northern.

--KCC Golden State E8 AA and eight of the 18" Golden State coaches. I'm only missing the second vista dome, the K4632-29841C "Golden Outlook" (and still looking for it). Some of these I got direct from the KCC Toy Fair open house.

--four 18" Amtrak Superliners.

--three coil-steel cars (BN, 2x BNSF)

Oh, and an addendum, 14 (!) additional aluminum tankers acquired this year via Cabin Fever.

[2023 edits]: Added an Alcoa four-bay ACF hopper, the yellow-band and green-band (10/2023) Santa Fe aluminum tanker from a four car set

I guess I can count myself among K-Line fans then

---PCJ

Edit: 1/2/23: found my diecast hoppers and updated

Last edited by RailRide

Although the initial post focused on locomotives, I enjoy the only K-Line product I have; the K324 0-120 curves. The track has been very durable and it seems to stay cleaner relative to other O track I use. Once I get a permanent layout, I plan to use the track on the highest loop running primarily passenger trains. Here’s an image of how it’s used on my current temporary layout, mated to O54 curves… 978914E2-3BED-4806-A878-560CAA2918EC

Attachments

Images (1)
  • 978914E2-3BED-4806-A878-560CAA2918EC

Add Reply

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.
×
×