Anybody ever hear of Right-of-Way (ROW) trains?

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Hokkanen:
Wondered if any of you have enough experience with Right-of-Way brass to attest to their quality or lack thereof?

I do. They were state of the art in their time. Brass made at the same place as Overland makes their equipment (Ajin Precision of Korea). They used Pittman motors (7 pole, skew wound, ball bearing end bells, and rare earth magnets), not the usual Mabuchi crap. They had constant lighting and the first ever digital on board sound system (not so hot by today's standards, but it did have the first neutral sounds). The articulateds had two vertical motors and both drive trains pivoted allowing 042 curves for even 2-8-8-0's.

Their transformer was the first to achieve 400 watts.

They also had the first three color signals for tinplate/hi-rail trains that were electrically compatible with ac operation.

Any questions?

Regards,

Lou N

TCA 76-10069

I heard that they had some fantastic transformers and control equipment, in addition to their brass line, which were ahead of their time in both design and reliability.



Thanks,
Mario.

Great stuff!

Lou knows a whole lot about the firm...insider info, if you will.

Here is some additional info on Right-of-Way.

They made really nice equipment (but expensive) for the time.

Bill Benson had a huge layout that appeared in CTT, I believe.

As I recall, they went out of business when they took orders for diecast EMD FT diesels that required a deposit. I think these were going to be made in Hong Kong instead of the by usual the supplier in Korea. There was an issue with the supplier and the FT's never were delivered. The people that pre-ordered these lost their deposit money. If any of you have a better memory of this, please correct me.

http://articles.chicagotribune...ocomotive-real-thing


http://www.tcaetrain.org/artic...ow_salute/index.html

Not only did Right-of-Way make great trains for it's time but they also made some great signal accessories as well. Below is a link with a video with some Right-of Way crossing signals with sound on my layout. The crossings kits came with two cross bucks with LED's and a separate flashing circuit board. In addition you could also add the optional sound kit. In the video notice how the warning bell sounds shut down after 12 seconds but the LED's continue to flash until the train clears the block.Right of Way Crossing Signals

Here is a photo of a Right-of Way Caboose. Great stuff. BF

They also built a variety of turnouts and crossings. I have several including a yard "Y" on my railroad. Not up to today's Ross quality but they work fine for me. Sometime in the '90 I took my kids to his open house in Akron. Quite an event and the layout was impressive.

they made some beautiful pa units in the early 90's and some great brass
articated steamers for their time.ebay carrys some row items from time to
time under o scale-brass.

I've the ROW SP Daylight PA ABBA set, with the optional powered B. The only "hookie" feature is the reverse switch sticking out the top of the unit.
And they run VERY slowly unless one does a fix involving disconnecting a diode or something like that; have the diagram around somewhere from the guy who designed some of their boards.
Also have the ROW big transformer, which powers everything except the trains.
Very powerful, but has touchy circuit breakers which trip below 10amps.
Underappreciated trains for sure.
There was a full Daylight set, ABBA plus ALL the cars, on eBay last year. He was asking $1k and it didn't sell!

I had two locomotives. They were fantastic. I still run two ROW transformers on my layout today. In my opinion the greatest power supply ever.

BTW, not everything made by ROWI was great. Their "hand made switches and "doubler stack cars" have a lOT to be desired and one needs to STAY AWAY from their switches & doublestacks! Steve B of Ross Custom Switches first started at ROWI and help build the switches [for wich he GREATLY improved when opening up his own line of switches].
ROWI's switches- while individually spiked at each tie- were not machined correctly at the frog plus had NO RIGIDITY and constatly had moving rails and switch points. For the ROWI price, the quality was really not there- but at the time, not much competition existed [Curtis was not advertising much and Gargraves wasn't any better]

One of thier "new freight car developments" - the double stack cars had a lot of marketing hype but bad delivery of a shoddy product. The cars warped down in the middle and their detail was minimal at best. Again not much in competition until K-line came along in 1996.

For me, I have the PRR T1 that I am seriously considering selling as well as the PRR PA-1 a-B-A set that I will Never sell unless needed. I also have that 400w block Powerhouse that's well built and will not sell that baby!

quote:

I still run two ROW transformers on my layout today. In my opinion the greatest power supply ever.

No question about it! That powerhouse has yet to be surpassed in the world of O gauge model railroading.

I have 1 of their transformers, there is no equal. It will run trains all day and never get warm. Only has 1 thing missing. A direction button. When I ask them about it they said their engines did not have flywheels so sudden stops were a no-no.

Speaking of ROW, does anyon e have instructions for wiring their crossing signals? Can they be wired with an isolated rail or a IR train detector?
Marty

quote:

Originally posted by martind:
Speaking of ROW, does anyon e have instructions for wiring their crossing signals? Can they be wired with an isolated rail or a IR train detector?
Marty

Yes they can be wired either way to activate. I belive I do have some instructions at home on these. I can send you a copy.

I concur, ROW made good stuff, most of it was top shelf.

I have a set of ABA PA's packed away and a number of their cabooses. All brass construction.

Here are a few shots of a ROW CA-4 on the Eastern District. The CA-4's were originally built in 1944 and some were not retired until the 1990's. This particular number UP 3821 was retired on 01/21/92 and was renumbered to UP 25121 in April of '59.

Donald

Many of their locomotives are around 10 years old, so I would want an opportunity to test before buying. Of the three articulateds I have seen, two had developed mechanical issues. Also at least some of their brass locomotives are not as detailed as more current products.

I was on a haitus in the model train hobby when Right of Way Industries came about. Everything that I have seen from ROW was well made, highly detailed, O scale and ran great. The company used premium components to make what was strictly top shelf stuff.
By the time I got back into the O gauge hobby, ROW was history. They must have closed at least 10 years ago. Sadly no one ever came forward to restart production of the line. At its peak ROW was a million dollar train business with some unique products.
From what I have read the owner of the company absconded with the assets and then closed under mysterous circumstances. Bruce Benson may have even been incarserated.
It is surprising that no one has moved to track down the tooling, dies, masks, and parts inventory in order to restart the line. They were quality products and there is a market for them.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Gerry Burns:
Here is some additional info on Right-of-Way.

Bill Benson had a huge layout that appeared in CTT, I believe.
QUOTE]

It was in OGR.

Lou N

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Kerrigan:
Also have the ROW big transformer, which powers everything except the trains.
Very powerful, but has touchy circuit breakers which trip below 10amps.
QUOTE]

Sorry about the circuit breakers; it was a UL issue. The transformers inside were by Signal; American made and the best. Would run at 125% of rating all day. We had to back down to 8A breakers.

Lou N

quote:

Originally posted by Jim 1939:
I have 1 of their transformers, there is no equal. It will run trains all day and never get warm. Only has 1 thing missing. A direction button. When I ask them about it they said their engines did not have flywheels so sudden stops were a no-no.

I answered this "direction button" issue many times. You don't want to have the opportunity to quickly go to neutral, then to reverse with the available power, say at half speed. Remember, these are not toys or sewing machines; they are miniature versions of heavy machinery. The stress/strain curves are the same!

Lou N

They had some great layouts at York (well before cell phones were an issue).

Although ROW made some nice trains i would not give them the time of day. They left me holding the bag when i ordered 2 sets of the FT along with the down payments for such. Never a response or a note on why they could not offer refunds, many people lost money on this unethical way of doing business. This is why till this day i don't ever put money down on a product, be it trains or something else. When ROW finally went out of business it was good riddance as far as i was concerned. Think I'm holding a grudge?

Dave

Their articulated engines were the first to do 042 curves, and their Shay was VERY powerful. Benson had a huge display layout at York that showed how much all his engines could pull. In the OGR (then OSR) article Benson described his target customers as "Doctors, Lawyers, men of business", which pretty much excluded me. ROW & MTH were the first to put big steam into the 3-rail market.

quote:

Originally posted by woojr:
They had some great layouts at York (well before cell phones were an issue).

We were the last ones to leave. They were locking the doors behind us.

Usually we left at 6pm Saturday.

Lou N

We have a set of their D&H PA's available here
http://ogaugerr.infopop.cc/eve...9103053/m/9802928127

ey Lou N,

were the plastic cars;

flats w/ tractor loads
3 bay hopper cars
contracted uot my weaver models/ the molds sure look similar

and what happenned to the 40' container?

quote:

Originally posted by Allan Miller:

quote:

I still run two ROW transformers on my layout today. In my opinion the greatest power supply ever.

No question about it! That powerhouse has yet to be surpassed in the world of O gauge model railroading.

You might want to amend that to say commercially available. I have three of these. Tim, the tool man, Taylor eat your heart out.





Pete

The ROW PRR T1 and brass Broadway Limited set.

There are so many stories about Benson that I never knew which were true.

At one point he said in an interview that the reason his engines were so expensive was that he was only marketing to doctors and lawyers who could afford them.

At one time he was part owner of one of the ex-Reading T-1's (real). I still have a little note that he sent out looking for investors in the engine.

John

3rail: Love your layout in Run 255.

Correct me if I've got the date(s) wrong, but I believe in the mid eighties, Trainland was selling a NYC ALCO PA ABA set by ROW for $1400. Almost 30 years ago, and an asking price of $1400!!!

quote:

Correct me if I've got the date(s) wrong, but I believe in the mid eighties, Trainland was selling a NYC ALCO PA ABA set by ROW for $1400. Almost 30 years ago, and an asking price of $1400!!!

sorry but you are right on the price but wrong on the timeline. while ROWIstarted out with switches in the mid 1980's, it was not until may 1990 when the announcement went aout for the Pa a-b-a sets. they were delivered somewhere between November 1990 and April 1991.

I met my friend's uncle at his mom's funeral. He got a ROW engine he had to sneak into the house because it was over one thousand dollars. My friend put us together because of our hobbies. The uncle wondered where he was going to get parts if something happened.

Although Benson made some business mistakes, his home layout featured in both OGR, and CTT was awesome. 4 levels, 6 track mainline and measured something like 30 x 70 feet. I still have those issues and like looking at the photos of his home layout.

I have the dockside loco. Bought it through OGR when the buy sell was done through the magazine and not online. These still show up on ebay from time to time at about 50 - 60% of the original cost. I like it because it ran slow at a time when other models tried to jump off the track. I would love to get one in 2 rail. Still one of my favorites as long as you like conventional running and no sound.

quote:

Originally posted by CentralFan1976:
I heard that they had some fantastic transformers and control equipment, in addition to their brass line, which were ahead of their time in both design and reliability.



Thanks,
Mario.

Who did you hear that from?

Lou

quote:

Originally posted by HenryL:
I have the dockside loco. I would love to get one in 2 rail. Still one of my favorites as long as you like conventional running and no sound.

There were 1200 pcs made. ROW bought 600. I think Sunset bought a bunch and had them converted to 2 rail.

Lou N