right of way industries

One of our members was a big part of the company. I'm sure he will answer any of your questions. They made wonderful stuff, still remember seeing their engines at train shows. Don

They had some very nice equipment and I'm glad that I purchased them at the time I did. 

It helped that I was single at the time! 

Very smooth running and solid. 

I was instrumental in getting them to be the very first to offer the Allegheny by hooking them up with Henry Ford Museum.   I was a member at the time and an arrangement was made with the museum to purchase a predetermined quantity that they would sell.  

The issue was:  No manufacturer at the time had made a large articulated O Gauge Scale Length Steamer and they weren't certain people would buy it due to many operators owning small layouts!  

Boy were they wrong, look at all of the scale length steamers that have sold since.

Not shown are their NYC Cigar Band units and their Union Pacific units.     The A-B-A units were designed to run Dummy A - Dummy B - Powered A and then the revenue cars.  John in Lansing, ILL

They still owe me money!!!!!

Dave

The PA's were wonderful and very well-detailed in their day - windshield wipers, handrails, wire rails over the windshields, light at the center of the windshields, lit side number boards, etc. They were brass construction and the sides were burnished to simulate stainless steel on these Delaware & Hudsons and the Santa Fe's pictured in Rattler's post above. Twin Pittman motors and heavy, they could pull stumps! Great Alco sound as well.

Further to david1's comment, I seem to recall the rumour - at the time - was that the owner (was his name Bob something?) just pulled the plug and absconded with some people's money. Sad if that's true.

Right of Way Industries' last project was an FT Diesel.  They took deposits, the engines never materialized and ROWI disappeared.  Deposits were not returned and there was no way to contact ROWI from that point forward.  There have been many rumors about why or how, but no factual account has surfaced as far as I know.  The company was run by Bill Benson from Ohio.

This topic has been sufficiently covered on the forum before, including this recent thread:

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...ay-industries?page=2

For more, just do an advanced search using the exact phrase Right of Way. This will prevent @Lou N from having to repeat himself yet again.

Right of Way Industries was owned by Bill Benson. I believe they were out of Ohio. While the company made some very attractive scale O gauge stuff they met an abrupt end as a result of some poor financial decisions. In the end they owed customers and their Korean suppliers money.  Today some of their items can occasionally be found on eBay and at the train shows.   I cannot say for sure but it looks to me like Sunset Models many have assumed the use of R.O.W. Tooling. Their products look very similar.

Thanks for the link.  I always wondered what happened to Right of Way.  Now I have a better understanding

Rolland

@Dennis LaGrua posted:

Right of Way Industries was owned by Bill Benson. I believe they were out of Ohio. While the company made some very attractive scale O gauge stuff they met an abrupt end as a result of some poor financial decisions. In the end they owed customers and their Korean suppliers money.  Today some of their items can occasionally be found on eBay and at the train shows.   I cannot say for sure but it looks to me like they many have assumed the use of R.O.W. Tooling. Their products look very similar.

Who is "they"? 

@Jim R. posted:

This topic has been sufficiently covered on the forum before, including this recent thread:

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...ay-industries?page=2

For more, just do an advanced search using the exact phrase Right of Way. This will prevent @Lou N from having to repeat himself yet again.

Thank you @Jim R. for filling in for me.  I especially appreciate it.  Today I buried my Step Dad, another WWII hero (purple heart, bronze star) who helped make this country great.

Lou N

Gosh Lou. How sad to lose him.

You have my condolences.

I have had 3 of the Right of Way 400 watt transformers powering my layout since just

before they went out of business - glad I got them when I did - had purchased one and

liked it so well I called them and asked if I could order any more - the lady who answered

said "we have two left" so I think I bought the last two they had.  They are Sherman tanks

and give my passenger trains with all the lit cars plenty of power.

Probably 25 years ago Right of Way used to set up a huge layout in what was referred to as the Gold Hall at York. This was located at the far end of the Yellow Hall (Race Track Grand Stand). Of course no one was allowed to take pictures and that's too bad. Most of his trains were considered "high end" as far as price, but they were fun to watch. I remember at one York he came with a load of nicely detailed 0-4-0T tank engines that were in my price range and I bought one. Just recently I was watching the video of my friend Don Klose's layout and spotted this bad little boy switching some freight cars. Here's a still shot from Don's video. Now I want to go hunting through my stuff to find mine.

@Bob posted:

Right of Way Industries' last project was an FT Diesel.  They took deposits, the engines never materialized and ROWI disappeared.  Deposits were not returned and there was no way to contact ROWI from that point forward.  There have been many rumors about why or how, but no factual account has surfaced as far as I know.  The company was run by Bill Benson from Ohio.

While I appreciate the difficulty of a small company developing a new product, this illustrates why I will never put down a deposit on anything.

Nothing I could have done. I was advised by my lawyer that it would have cost more then it was worth. We did send several letters to him but it did no good. I could have sued him but time and cost would be costly.

Dave

What ever became of Bill Benson? You can't bilk $$ from a lot of people and remain 'at large' in this hobby. I'm fortunate that I considered ordering several of the FT's but my wife developed some serious health problems with the birth of our 2nd son so I had to close my shop and help at home thus saving me whatever deposit Benson was requiring on multiple units!  Sorry you got stung Dave...

Too bad...we have lost all the innovative companies willing to do new and different, except for Third Rail.....Williams, Weaver, K-Line, Right-of-Way....

@c.sam posted:

What ever became of Bill Benson?

Bill is still with us, but he has suffered some severe health problems in the last few years. I'm not sure of his condition now. I haven't talked with Bill for a couple of years. Our paths just never seem to cross any more.

Rich, were you involved with the restoration of that T1 with Richard Kughn? Wasn't Benson a part of that too if I remember correctly?

I had my ROW 765 Berkshire upgraded to ERR by Alex Malliae years ago. Originally purchased from ROW in the early 90’s. I also had purchased 2 ROW Transformers which I sold when DCS came on the scene. It was the worst decision I have ever made & regret to this day.

@c.sam posted:

Rich, were you involved with the restoration of that T1 with Richard Kughn? Wasn't Benson a part of that too if I remember correctly?

Pardon me for jumping in Rich; Bill Benson ran the restoration program.

Rich was one of our guest engineers when we moved the T1 from Rook Yard in Pittsburgh to Brewster Ohio.  Oh what a ride!

Lou N

Thanks to all for your condolences and "likes" on the passing of my step dad.

Lou N

I always hear good things about the RoW transformer.  It wasn't so much the circuit as it was the top quality components.

Lou N

@Lou N posted:

Thank you @Jim R. for filling in for me.  I especially appreciate it.  Today I buried my Step Dad, another WWII hero (purple heart, bronze star) who helped make this country great.

Lou N

Sincerest condolences

Bill Benson added a lot to the hobby advancing the modeling art in O-gauge. That said, if you weren't a doctor or lawyer or otherwise well-heeled HIS was not your market. You wanted high quality, museum-like details then he expected you not to ask the price and just pay for it.

And a lot of us did just that!

Well-heeled definition is - having plenty of money : well-fixed.

There will always be a market for the Top Of the Line items, whether it be the best watches, the best automobiles, the best toy trains.  Right-of-Way was top of the line.  In regards to the transformer - how many posts have been about failures in performance of ZWs, KWs, Z4000s and how many concerned problems with RoW transformers and bricks?  John

They made my beautiful B&O Dockside switcher...

Tom 

I have the opportunity to purchase ROW

Still new in the box. Anyone have a guess what they went for new?

@Chris Mag posted:

I have the opportunity to purchase ROW

SOUTHERN PACIFIC DAYLIGHT ALCO PA-ABA

Still new in the box. Anyone have a guess what they went for new?

$1400

Lou N

I'm looking at a B&O #97 saddle tank switcher by Right of Way. Is that engine brass?

Yep.

@Chris Mag posted:

I have the opportunity to purchase ROW

SOUTHERN PACIFIC DAYLIGHT ALCO PA-ABA

Still new in the box. Anyone have a guess what they went for new?

I also have the SP Daylight ABA set.  Still in the box, but I have taken them out to admire them.  Never been run.  I have given thought to doing an ERR upgrade on them.

@VinceL posted:

I also have the SP Daylight ABA set.  Still in the box, but I have taken them out to admire them.  Never been run.  I have given thought to doing an ERR upgrade on them.

Just finished one. Repaint, fixed pilot w/scale coupler, with a Wms plastic FA1 dummy "tender" for more AC pickup and antenna tether. The wiring is different than the typical 3RO diesel - they used some "bus bars" - which I retained. It turned out to be a real PITA. I do not know if you could insulate the body for the TMCC antenna - these things have no plastic in them at all. Also, FWIW, the shells are etched brass, which is pretty cool, but really lacks the detail - and detail depth - of a plastic or die-cast model. I don't mind, personally. Well-geared; a bit noisy, but I kind of like that "brass locomotive growl" aspect. Not too loud. I have not yet put sound in. May not.

(Note that I had forgotten to mount the scale coupler on the fixed pilot here.)

Testing the ERR functionality of the PA (rear) and the FA. All it had to do was run an inch each way and work the lights for proof. It did. The "bus bar" is on the cloth between the 2 locos. Nice touch at first, but a bit fussy later. I kept it.