1949 Model Railroader Magazines "Model Railroading Is Fun"

Hello Group,

I recently received a treasure - complete issues of Model Railroader magazine for years 1949, 1950 and 1951. I am _so_ pleased.

I am 56, getting ready to retire from 37 years of fed gov't service, and looking forward to finally building a fine HO layout in the basement of the nice old 1935 house I moved into several years ago.

But wanted to pass on a few of my first delighted impressions of reading these magazines...

Wow! there is so much information about things I am very, very interested in and want to know about. I am reading these wonderful magazines from cover to cover.

Paint, decals, electrical and electronics, prototypes, plans, tips and tricks.

Some background... I grew up with the wonderful Lionel 027 trains my Dad bought for me. I still have them all! And they are in good shape.

Late 50's, early 60's (?) I found HO trains at one of several local hobby stores, and bought a couple of used locos and several yellow box Athearn B&O passenger car kits, as well as track.

Moved on to other things, but then got back into the hobby briefly for several years during the 80's.

Well now I have those trains from the 60's and 80's. A fine workbench with track and power supplies. And a "temporary" small layout. Have been restoring those old locos and cars, one by one, and enjoying them very much, as they run smooth around the pike.

But you know what? These guys like my Dad, were really having fun, building amazing trains and railroads, and were exploring and using advanced power and control systems for their trains. And the scratch building... Oh My!

I will write and post more later. If I don't stop, I could go on forwever about what is in the first several magazines

Hope you enjoy my report,

Best Regards,

Robert

Arlington VA

rhsbDOThomeATverizonDOTnet

Reply to
robert
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I agree that some of those old magazines are priceless. I have quite a few from the 1950s and 60s myself, most predate my own arrival.

Although some of the information is just plain useless in this day and age, it's still interesting to see how they did it back then. Electronic circuits that use components that are no longer available are not much good but the scale drawings of structures, locomotives and cars are great.

It's also interesting to read the ads for companies, many of which are long gone.

Glen Port Morien, NS

Reply to
Glen Smith

Love those old MRs. Mine start from 1952 with a few random issues from the late 40s. The issues through the 60's were my fathers. I've read and re read them so often many of the covers have come off and lots of pages have come loose. Bruce

Reply to
Bruce Favinger

Keep those reports comin'. I love reading about other people's interests and often find helpful thoughts or suggestions in what others report.

Cheers, Bill S. CEO - Captree Central RR

Reply to
Bill Sohl

Hey Bill and other newsgroup friends,

I see that there is a lot of effect of the end of WWII. Seeing companies getting started or restarted. And references to material shortages as wartime rationing is winding down.

I see enthusiastic ads for the new railroad models from Irving Athearn, and now feel a little bit ashamed over complaining about their recent acquisition by that hobby company that made their models disappear from hobby stores and other sources for sale. They have been around a lot longer than I realized.

And I see ads for Globe Models and their proud products. I believe (?) that their 72' streamlined passenger car models later became Athearn's line? For those of us with less than very huge layouts, the reduced scale of 72' and 60' "shorty" cars are perfect in the reduced scale of the "4' X 8'" plywood layout. Pulled by F's, GP-9's, and medium size steam engines.

There are ads from Penn Line, a company which seems to be new and starting. More later... Their Pennsy GG-1's and "shorty" cars are a favorite of mine.

And there are the articles about model electrical and electronic subjects. I have learned and am so interested in these wonderful publication "classes." There is a lot of stuff here that is really relevant to today's issues, but no longer discussed. Now days, there is too much talking about "hex" addresses, etc, for DCC without more basic issues. Like how to get a model loco to track and pick up power smoothly.

More later...

Thanks,

Robert

Reply to
robert

It's a precious gift to have the opportunity to share this wonderful hobby with a parent.

Reply to
Mark Mathu

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