ed steamers and diesels our companies were not about to touch.
HO scale modelers could be said to
have been divided into two groups: those who came up from the ranks of tinplate, and those who believed in more discrim- inating, accurate scale modeling without “cute” toy-like gimmicks such as smoke and choo-choo. Today, coordinated smoke and a host of complex electronic sounds for steam and diesel alike have turned that dis- dain around. The former were quite hap- py to have automatic tinplate-like grade crossings with operating gates and flashing lights, and gatemen emerging
Thomas Industries (above left) displayed their rolled metal tank shells that were pre- painted and lettered. The draft gear was die- cast into the underframe. Accessory kits (top) such as the dump ramp kit were the specialty of Ulrich. Aurora (above) made molded plastic kits and Suydam (left) made lithographed, wood braced structure kits.
molded multi-color kits was Revell, over which the hobby press rhap- sodized for their dimensional reality when they first appeared.
They were soon followed by others in a wide range, some operating, from Tyco, Tru-Scale, Aurora and Ideal. Be- fore they entered the market, Bach- mann Plasticville kits had been on sale for little more than a decade. Small, basic, simply detailed, they lacked the authenticity and color of those men- tioned and are deemed highly col- lectible today.
There are too many others to men- RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
tion here, makers of detail parts, power packs and the like, but what stands out was this was still an age, at least in this catalog, of a wide variety of made- in-America hobby products. This is be- fore inflation and other market pres- sures forced them to sell to larger firms, such as English Manufacturing and Walthers, or close, or go overseas. What is evident, these were models, train sets, accessories, electronics for the average consumer-hobbyist,
not
more costly Rivarossi or Japanese brass imports which produced a greater diversity of larger, sophisticat-
from their shanties as gates lowered at the approach of a train, coal loading ele- vators, and unloading ramps up which an operating hopper could empty its contents into a bin below, and remote control twin dump cars, not to mention silly action accessories that Lionel and Gilbert sold for their sets. What we see were everyman, popu- lar models and kits. These were good sellers on which retailers knew they could make a profit. We were on our way to where we are now, more sophis- ticated and secure in our hi-tech elec- tronics and models which make those in this catalog pale by comparison. It was a simpler time.
What Roth said looking through his address book was to remember those he once knew. So it is with this 1961 Na- tional Model Distributors catalog and the ghosts of what we once knew and shared our hobby time with. Without them, where would we be today?
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