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Hello all  

The O scale world is very lucky it attracted a few men from  wealthy families to  push it to the main stream of the hobby world ....one of those men was Rollin Lobaugh .. who had a machining company in San Francisco.   Rollin  offered screws and other small bits to the O scale world in 1931 ..and continued to add products annually.  the 1934-6 Lobaugh catalog in addtion to O scale also offered 7 /16" scale ...standard gauge ...think an O scale car on steroids ... beautifully hand  built, painted and lettered all for about  $20-30 per car perfect for the middle of the depression ...and way too big for the average home ...thank heavens Rollin was not average and continued to offer items for  his piers ...but in the O scale world .  

1937 Lobaugh introduces the SP   0-6-0 ,Mountain , and Mikado   all in 17/64ths scale   ( proper scale for O gauge track) ..in the catalogs kits or RTR cars are offered in 17/64ths or 1/4" scale .    1937-1939 the engines have conventional open gears for a drive .  

Many talented model railroaders work with and for Lobaugh beginning in 1938     Earl Allison ( engineering dept) , Jerry White (builder) Frederick Shaw (painter).   

1939 the Challenger is introduced  1/4" scale 

1940 the new enclosed drive gear is used on all locomotives  including new  UP Northern  17/64ths , Berkshire and Pacific both 1/4" scale . 

1941 the American  4-4-0 

Spring 1942 closed for WW2 war production work

Machinists strike Oct 1945- June 1946  keep Lobaugh production from restarting .  By August the new motors are available and the new stamped brass enclosed drive is advertised for the Berkshire. 

1947 Pacific reintroduced 

Postwar priorities must have changed with Rollin ...he bought out his partner in the machinist business  ..but he just seemed removed from the model train business ...first post war catalog 1950 ... no photos of proud Rollin holding a Lobaugh engine as found in the prewar issues. 

 

Ellis takes lead of model train line .. 1950 + - ..  060 now  1'4" scale 

1952 Greenbriar  introduced 

1956 Ellis takes control of the Lobaugh train division  , new Challenger , Climax ,&  Mogul introduced 

1959/60 Ellis losses Lobaugh train division  back to Lobaugh . 

 

There are many more details to fill in ...  but a rough working timeline ... now some photos 

Open gear 17/6ths  0-6-0  ( sad early engine in need of a tender) 

1940-42 Challenger, and Northern ( not built as a UP..but same chassis) 

Post war Pacific  and Greenbriar

Cheers Carey

 100320014509212000060926201846_HDR~20903201722_HDR~30903201723b_HDR~31003200204~21001200147~2 [1)0921200020_HDR0926200059_HDR~20926200054~2Greenbrier 1953 catalog 

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  • 1001200147~2 (1)
  • 0921200020_HDR
  • 0926200059_HDR~2
  • 0926200054~2
  • Greenbrier 1953 catalog
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Hi Carey,

 

I have Lobaugh catalogs from the early 1960's.  At the time the company was owned by Jack Campbell and based in Los Angeles.  I know we were still able to get some Lobaugh kits and parts at Model Railroad Equipment Corporation (NY) in the 1970's. I think Lobaugh models went directly from Al Ellis to Jack Campbell around 1960 then mostly to Locomotive Workshop & Trackside Specialties in the 1980's.  It is now owned by Stevenson Preservation Lines.

 

BTW, the Rollin J. Lobaugh company is still around for metal fabrication and CNC machining and is still located near San Francisco in Belmont, CA.  see"http://www.rjlobaugh.com/"  Rollin passed away in 1965.

 

JJ

I met Jack. For about 25 years I owned Jack's display Challenger - the last completed Lobaugh kit owned by Lobaugh scale models.

I also met Al Ellis - nice guy, but difficult to interview.  My best interview (published) was with Bob Smith, about the history of the PA models.

But I digress - here is the Pratt/Lobaugh 1937 SP switcher in 17/64.  Hold your breath; you get to see one of each!

Lobaugh 12211221 is now on display in Deming, New Mexico.  It was the shop switcher in San Jose back when boilers were green and road names were raised nickel silver.

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  • Lobaugh 1221

Yeah, ok.  I guess that one was too primitive for this crowd.  Here is the postwar version, parked with the Stevenson Preservation Models display switcher.  I should add that my friend George Wilson (RIP) did a lot of work on the post war version, and his name appears on several Lobaugh kit blueprints.

Green boiler 021

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  • Green boiler 021

I was thinking I was following the catalog order by posting the 0-6-0s first.  Not true - the 1941 catalog starts with the FEF.

The order is then the B&O Pacific, the D&H Challenger, the UP Challenger, the NP Challenger, and then the smaller NH 4-4-0.

Then come the SP and MoPac Mountains, the SP Mike, and the CNW Berk, and finally the lowly 0-6-0.  So as usual, I started hooked up in reverse! 

There was a 1941 supplement with an AC-8 Cab Forward and a GS-3 Daylight.  We think there may be under 20 Cab Forwards out there, and I have seen only two original tenders.  Gerry White told me personally they never quite got the Daylight off the drawing board - the only part we are aware of is a roller bearing (GS-5) trailing truck casting.

A note on my Lobaugh - about half of it arrived here already built up.  Some came really trashed, and others required only a bit of mechanical work and some paint.  Only one kept the paint job it had on arrival.  The Stevenson 0-6-0 was assembled here for Bob to display, but the one behind it is a genuine 1950 version, and received only paint and decals.

The FEF below came to me fully assembled.  I had to remove the cab and lower it, and in general adjust things, but the rest is genuine 1941 Lobaugh - well, I added firebox sheets.  The tender came with a sprung Centipede truck.

829

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Last edited by bob2

I found a couple more Lobaugh refrigerator cars.  One early prewar style Yellow PFE like I already have, one, I think, post war Orange  PFE but still single herald, and ART and FGE reefer.  I only have the 1941 catalog but remember Bob mentioning some of the postwar versions and and was curious how many of those PFE versions they did?  I think they also did a 50 footer and a rebuilt wood side but steel end car.  On the wood side, was the lettering done by hand or decal? Since I didn't get to see the other side of the cars, I am hoping the PFE cars have the proper UP opposite side and not two SP sides!!

bottoms of Lobaugh reefersLobaugh ART-PFE-OrangeLobaugh WFE and Yellow PFE

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Hi Dennis!  I had figured I killed this thread with my grumpiness.

I do have a pair of Lobaugh ice cars.  For my money, only the cabeese and tank cars are of interest - but I believe the orange used on PFE cars is brighter and richer than anything we have today.

For structure, I prefer All Nation box/ice cars.  Most are steel, but they seem to last a lifetime if you don't leave them out in the rain (or let cats pee on them).

No cats around here although I did have a squirrel manage to get in the basement last year and run a round and climb on the shelves before I could trap and remove him lol.  Named him George and so all squirrels we see are now thus called George or George's cousin lol.

I'm still waiting to fall into a good tank car or two so for now just have a few ice reefers and a box cars. lol  Scale craft is so much easier to find!  I do have a decent amount of All Nation boxcars and Ice cars as well  Have to get a bunch of them together and do a comparison.  Might be entertaining.

I prefer the All Nation because the steel is about 25% thicker.  The Lobaugh box cars are brass, but I think they were using up shim stock.  The sides and underframes are, of course, works of art.

To continue (?) the 1941 catalog, the next item was the B&O Pacific.  I have only seen the picture in the catalog, and one boiler, which I captured.  I am quite sure more of these exist, but as to where they are . . .

The catalog photo shows it to be similar to the postwar pseudo-USRA Pacific in all aspects except boiler shape, so I just married up the two.  Only one prewar model is more elusive - that is the MoPac Mountain.  I have heard that one exists.

Lobaugh P-1 Pacific

It is not finished yet, and of course B&O was a coal road, so the tender is sort of incorrect.  I have lots of tenders.

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  • Lobaugh P-1 Pacific

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

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