Childhood Memories - Athearn HO New Haven Set

Proof Read after posting and should have said place living did NOT line-up.

BTW, I mentioned in a previous post that TO ME, for an incorrect color scheme, Personally I think this is way Shaper then the ATSF Black Passenger Cars that many K-Line Guys go crazy for.  This to me is the one they should have made instead.

I  would suggest it to Lionel, but they no longer make Beautiful Aluminum K-Line Cars, just the plastic ones which IMO aren't in the same league.  The price they sell for reflects that!

Don't forget the RDC's.  Inaccurate, but attractive.

Rusty

I grew up with HO trains too. My first set was a Lionel HO ATSF streamliner set with an ALCO A-B for power and a set of aluminum coaches. The loco had a worm drive that could pull out tree stumps. I don't think the set was ever off of either of my layouts.

Great memories for sure.

Bob

Thanks for sharing your HO memories ML Steam!

Your set is a treasure, especially to you. You are correct: You would bitterly regret parting with it.

As a lad in the late 50s into the 60s, I never received (or purchased on my own), a Lionel set. Some of my friends had them, and I admired them greatly... but my life long modeling interest went with HO.

SO, my earlier model train memories are also mostly centered around HO. (However, in '59 or '60, I was given an 1940's era Marx 3/16" litho set that I really enjoyed until my HO Lindberg Line set I received for Christmas in '62.)

Hang onto that spectacular Athearn NH set and enjoy it! Hopefully you can find a place to display it?

Andre

Great looking set!

Peter

Thanks guys for all the Likes and Positive Replies!

BTW, Forgot to mention that the Loco has Gear Drive.  All the other F7's we had prior were HiFi Drive (twisted rubber bands for Guys reading this, that were not into Athearn HO).

dkdkrd - Glad to see the "Youngest Generation" is into Trains, he's adorable, and has good taste in trains!  LOL

Rusty - I have an RDC "somewhere"?,  (I know I haven't sold it).  Bought as an adult, oddly they were HiFi Drive right up to the end of the blue boxes in the 1990's.

@Rusty Traque posted:

Don't forget the RDC's.  Inaccurate, but attractive.

Rusty

The original Athearn RDCs were actually pretty accurate.  Scale length and sold as kits.  I need to look at my dad's as he has several.  I think they had tower geared drives.  Not as easy to find though!  I have a set of the later "shorty" ones that I hand repainted into Amtrak in HS.

The later releases kept their Hi-Fi drives up to the end.  Mine won the Allentown train meet races every time!

You are lucky to have received an Athearn set.  I got my first HO set in 1976 and it was Tyco.  I was only 7 so the rather poor quality of model trains in general at the time at the entry level was not as noticeable.  Athearn was out of the set business at that time, but my uncle got me an Athearn PRR SD9 and PRR caboose when I was 10 and I was in heaven!  I still have the SD9 while the Tyco set got repainted and eventually parted out.

Like you, I loved passenger trains and that has continued to this day.  It is a disease.  I have lost count of the HO and N passenger cars in my collection and I am well over 200 scale length passenger cars in O now. 

I need to get out the calipers and measure the "rod" diameter and the "wheel" diameter to figure out the reduction ratio.  I am guessing about 10:1.

The first a layout we had when I was a kid had a pretty good incline.  So if too many cars were added, I not only got to experience the smell of ozone from the open frame motor, but it was mixed with the smell of burning rubber.  I quickly learned to add the "Helper Unit Finger" to help push it up the grade.  Otherwise time to take it apart and replace the rubber bands.  LOL

But yes unburdened with a train they were Fast.  The quickest was the Hustler it could take the curves full speed without flying off the track.  Plus it had a great power to weight ratio.  Basically a motor with a plastic shell hiding it.

I ended up repainting my Hi-Fi F7 into a CNJ paint scheme.  While it is not totally prototypical, I did a decent job of it as I was in my 20's at that time and learned how to paint and decal fairly well by then.  Since the rubber bands always dried up, I ran it as a dummy behind my similarly painted Tenshodo GP7 and F7B units. 

Never underestimate the power of on 0-5-0 switcher!

I have two! 

I have been buying mainly 15" and 18" K-line.  I only have a few 21" (cost and operating constraints).

I like the 18" best, and I think it is sub-conscience, because Growing up I liked these Athearn's and thought they looked "right".  I remember buying some Walther's as an adult and they looked too long.   Athearn Cars as you know are 72', except the RPO is 60'.

BTW even the Athearn's going around a 18" radius didn't ever look right to me so.  As is often said here, it is what is "right" to each modeler.

OTOH - If I had the funds not only for the cars, but also the space for my ultimate layout, it would in an abandoned enclosed football stadium and I would be running G-gauge Live Steam.

The step from HO to 3R is where I think I will stop.

My last Loco Purchases were used F-3/7 Stewarts (Kato).  Unfortunately the Stewart FT's I bought found were NOT Kato (they were only OK).  I sold them!  I had a friend at the time, that told me how well his Kato's ran, he was into contemporary modeling.  That's what prompted the purchases.

Don't know if you have any, but properly lubricated and broken in with my MRC analog transformer set on pulse these babies could crawl so slow you could hardly tell they were moving.  Quiet?  OMG

That is a really nice set, Jim!  My first set was a cheapo Tyco freight set, but a few years before Jonathan got his.  Dad said a train set was too expensive for a Christmas present, so I needed to save my money.  When I had finally saved enough (I think it was 1968-69 as I was about 12) he drove me clean into Pittsburgh to get a set.  I ran it and ran it, but It was damaged by heat (the plastic got soft and distorted) in storage.  I have been in O gauge 3-rail over 10 years, and it works well for me since I have trouble handling small things.  Thank you for sharing your story about the NH set.

@GG1 4877 posted:

The original Athearn RDCs were actually pretty accurate.  Scale length and sold as kits.  I need to look at my dad's as he has several.  I think they had tower geared drives.  Not as easy to find though!  I have a set of the later "shorty" ones that I hand repainted into Amtrak in HS.

The later releases kept their Hi-Fi drives up to the end.  Mine won the Allentown train meet races every time!

Perhaps I should have clarified.  I was referring more to the McGinnis-inspired paint job on the Athearn New Haven RDC's.  I have a later pair that's "properly painted."  I still would like to pick up a pair in the black/red/white one of these days.  It's too bad Athearn never released a geared "shorty" version.

I think there's credit where credit is due:  Athearn masterfully shortened the RDC's (and passenger cars) without making them looking awkward in order to look and operate better on the typical 18" radius "standard" of the time.  I'm given to understand that Athearn essentially removed a window pair to do the compressing.

BTW, my second HO set (first was a MARX set) was the Athearn Hi-F Santa Fe passenger set.

Rusty

@MainLine Steam posted:

Don't know if you have any, but properly lubricated and broken in with my MRC analog transformer set on pulse these babies could crawl so slow you could hardly tell they were moving.  Quiet?  OMG

Yep.

I've played around with all the different scales (except G) and I believe there aren't any manufactures that can better Kato's drive: smooth, reliable and unbelievably quiet. Too bad they've never done anything in O scale...can you imagine? 🙂

Mark in Oregon

Thanks guys for adding to the topic.

Mark B - Thank you.  BTW, I know what you mean, the reason this sticks as a Favorite Childhood memory is it was "out of the ordinary" to get something so nice, so easy.  It helped that Dad liked HO, he had some from his post "High School Days".  Early Athearn "Craftsman Kits" (Pre-molded Plastic days).

Interestingly, (you guys may be aware of this), Athearn Continued to make Metal Line Kits Even after they went big time into the Plastic Kits.  I was actually shopping for some of these on eBay last year, when I stumbled across Athearn O Gauge Kits and saw the current "depressed price" situation.  The  Athearn O Scale kits sell for the same price as the HO kits!  From there starting look at other O items, and decided time to make the change!

Rusty - My RDC is like your RDC-1.  At the time I bought it, Athearn NH Passenger Blue Boxes being sold were Silver with the Red Window Stripe.

Mark in OR - When I made the switch to O I checked to make sure Kato never any.  I took me many years in HO to find out about these as mentioned above.  I had bought some New Proto 2000's and was considering New BWL, but after getting the "used" Kato's realized what a deal they were.  Like in O, there are NIB Stewarts out there, if you are patient enough, for a fraction of the Price of a BWL.  I have a ABBA Santa Fe Set with added details.  I will put it up against a BWL any day of the week.