I purchased while on a visit to Londrina, state of Parana. It's somewhat surprising to me that there can be a model train store in a city of that size while the hobby itself is almost unknown in Brazil.
They seem to have an uphill battle. Here in the USA we have Atlas for track, several different makers for locomotives, various makers of freight cars, and gobs of structure manufacturers.
The heavy import tax means that for model railroading to be of interest to most people in Brazil, the products have to be made in Brazil. Thus, Frateschi has to make track:
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the common products everyone else makes (some in both nickel silver and brass) with little that would be of interest on the international market.
I don't know about the structure kits:
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lot of them seem to be generic international HO scale buildings that have been sold by a number of different companies over the years. Does Frateschi actually make any of them?
Some of their freight cars would not look out of place in the USA:
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others seem to be quite unique to the Brazilian railway industry:
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locomotives, there is actually a domestic freight car builder in Brazil which seems to produce some of its own very unique designs).
Because outside of Frateschi the hobby is very little known in Brazil, they must also produce all their own "how-to" publications. Which, of course, are 100% Portuguese and naturally don't have a huge market outside Brazil.
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prototype informaiton books they sell come from one of the railway preservation groups active in Brazil. (and yes, as seen on the above web page, the term "U-boat" is used)
So, despite all the limitations faced domestically, it is interesting to me that Frateschi and the community of Brazilian model railroaders they help support, seem to be doing as well as they are.
Good question - I'd say not very big. There are a small number of G8/G12 variants running here in Australia, but I'm not aware of anyone modelling the operations that have them. Most local modellers tend to shy away from anything exotic, unfortunately!
For me, the best thing in the Frateschi range is the GE U-5. There are a couple of these units running on industrial railways in Japan, so I was very happy to get some of the models.
Interestingly, the Frateschi 2-8-0 is also now marketed in Australia by Powerline as a stand-in for a Victoria Railways V-class 2-8-0. They are apparently selling well. At recent three-day exhibition the Powerline stand had sold all they had by mid-morning of the first day.
Yes, I have a U-5. It's close enough for a U-6, and several of those are kicking about on a few industrial railways in the USA. They are basically being used as replacments for the GE 70 tonner that is no longer sold. I also saw several of the real thing operating for a steel company in Minas Gerias.
I've been told that some of these models (possibly including the U-5 based on its size compared with some of the other models I have) were built to the OO scale. This produces a slightly oversize model, but it is what the Brazilian model railroad market wants because the vast bulk of the lines are meter gauge. To produce a locomotive that looks "right" to Brazilian eyes, it must therefore be made slightly larger than 1/87 scale.
But the U-5 still looks fine next to American boxcar models.
I've seen quite a number of surviving wood burning meter gauge 2-8-0s scattered across Brazil and being run by assorted preservation groups of some sort or another. I've been told that the prototype for the 2-8-0 is actually a 5 ft. 3 inch gauge locomotive preserved somewhere outside Sao Paulo.
You're right about the prices charged for HOn3 locos you can find on the web. My error, should've have checked. I believe you will find (slightly) more reasonable prices in the print media. Try the Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette. Not only ads for non-mass market companies, but also loads of good info on narrow gauge of all kinds.
Er, there's a reason those Roco 0-6-0s are cheap. They were originally marketed as Egger Bahn, and built on N gauge chassis. (AHM imporetd them.) Not a very reliable product - I have a couple. Cute li'l beasties, but that's the best I can say for them. More recent product may be better, I can't say. The best mass-produced HOe locos IMO are Liliput's. Liliput is now owned by Bachmann; I don't know if they've reissued much of the HOe line. Didn't see any at my favourite pusher's, er, I mean supplier's in Austria last October.
Well, since you have your heart set on HOn30, go for it. You may find Dave Frary and Bob Hayden's series on the Carabasset and Dead River a good source of info and inspiration. based on the New England 2ft gauge lines. Frary and Hayden wrote a few articles on adapting N gauge to HOn30. I have some of these on hand, and would be willing to snail mail you photocopies. If interested, e-mail me at wolfkir, domain sympatico, suffix ca
Mark, These 2-8-0's and also a 2-6-0 made by Frateschi are sold here in the USA under the Model Power line. Decent looking models that are junk. Even if one considers getting rid of the cheap motor and meat grinder gears in the tender the driving rods are plastic and they would otherwise be very difficult to modify with new gears and motor in a conventional fashion. I've talked to several people who like them but all I can say is that most folks who buy these must have either very low expectations as to what a good running locomotive is or will be disappointed when the see the little beasts growl, surge, wobble and erratically respond to the throttle. Bruce
Wolf, I'm not 100% certain, but I don't think the Roco 0-6-0 is the same model as the Eggerbahn loco. I seem to recall a time when they were both on the market simultaneously.
Yes, I reckon they are. The most recent version of the Roco engine has a much improved mechanism derived from their N scale model of a BR89
0-6-0. A friend has two, he says they are quite good little runners.
I'd say that depends on whether you regard Bemo as mass-produced :-) But I would agree that the Liliput HOe range is very good.
Some models have been re-issued, plus the new model of the Uh 0-6-2Ts was released late last year.
Bruce, thanks for the gen. I was tempted by the 2-8-0, but in light of your comments, I'll give it a miss. It's a pity, because their diesels aren't at all bad. Have you gotten yourself a Bachmann 4-4-0 yet?
Funny you should mention the 70-tonner. The JNR had one, running as their class DD90, and it wound up running in the area I model! I'm about halfway through bashing one from the Bachmann model.
Glenn, I think you're right. But for me it's no big deal, as my Japanese models are HOj, 1/80th scale.
Really? That would be an interesting twist, the VR locos that the 2-8-0 represents were 5'3" as well.
It sounds as though you've spent a fair bit of time in Brazil - I'm a little envious!
The later production runs of the Us have good mechanisms and perform well. The best thing about them is the vast number of different versions you could model, and the surprising number of railways in Central/Eastern Europe that had them, or copies.
Unreliable pick-up, and they waddle. Also suffer from the jack-rabbit syndrome.
Very nice little engines. Not much tractive effort, but then the originals rarely hauled more than four or five cars. The Steyrtalbahn running from Steyr (where else) to Gruenfeld (in Upper Austria) runs trains with six and sometimes seven cars, and the engine slows down noticeably on the steeper hills with this load. They take a run at those hills, too.
The review that Model Railroader had of the 2-8-0 when they first started importing them was reasonably positive. However, that was quite some years ago and so manufacturing process and parts supply may have changed quite a bit.
I have some friends there that work in a Bible seminary in one of the cities in a southern state. I've had some interesting opportunities to see and ride some interesting railway operations there.
One of the ones that intrigues me is a narrow gauge, apparently 750 mm gauge or so railway that I saw in Maringa about 1998. When I was able to return in 1999 all the track was gone. In 2000 that entire section of the city had been redeveloped and no evidence existed at all of the tiny railway. I was later told by a so-called "expert" in Brazilian railways from the USA that such a railway never existed in Maringa.
I've ridden the remaining 760mm gauge line from São João del Rei to Tiradentes behind a wood burning 4-6-0 (made me regret that I hadn't visited in the very early 1980s when they had over 100 miles of track and many steam locomotives in operation), and visited a little known 800mm gauge electric line that operates between Bertioga and a community at the base of a hydroelectric dam.
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So, I've seen a few very interesting narrow gauge lines there.
The very eccentric nature of some of these operations got my attention.
About 4 years or so I posted some. Unfortunately, my news client has developed a temper tantrum problem at posting binary files.
BUT, that didn't prevent me from dumping them onto an unsuspecting web site (at least a few of them anyway):
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Most of the links on that page are links to pages that I have at VirtualTourist. Because of the amount of advertising on that site, to see my photos sometimes you have to do a lot of scrolling. BUT the photos are there.
The link to the page that describes the Foz do Iguaçu railway on the Argentine side of the falls is a page on my own web site.
Yes, and looking at the falls from the Brazilian side, you can hardly tell that the railway is there. Putting a very narrow gauge line through the forest definitely helped preserve the natural appeal of the area. Standing on the Argentine side looking towards Brazil, on the other hand, the huge gash made by the road (two lanes plus considerable clearance on each side) is quite evident. The railway definitely has less trouble in terms of impacting the surrounding national park.
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