CWRailman
Adventures in Model Railroading
  • Home
  • Photographing Models
  • Roundhouse
  • Projects
  • Hobby Shop
  • Blog

You’ve Come a Long Way Baby

2/9/2015

0 Comments

 
(Click on any image for an enlarged version.)
Picture
Back in the 1970’s I was a member of the Lake Shore Model Railroad club in Chicago.  I drew the attention of veteran member Paul Matushek who appreciated the work I was doing in assembling and operating Ambroid, LaBelle, Central Valley, Silver Streak and other wood craftsman kits of the time.  That interest prompted Paul to gift me three 1930’s era kits manufactured by Earl Francis complete with trucks that required assembly.   Paul had been in the hobby since the late 1930’s and every year for the clubs annual open house he would operate a train featuring a consist of one or two cars from each decade starting in the 1930’s.  That train would usually be pulled by one of his 1950 era vintage locomotives.

Picture
I have never seen any information published about Earl Francis or his company but please note the date on the bottom of the instruction sheet.  These kits were manufactured prior to WWll.  Obviously the writer of these instructions was a man of few words.  The absence of comprehensive written kit instructions was to continue well into the late 1950’s. 


Picture
Some modelers take issue with a bit of fuzz on the wood included in current kits.  Note the amount of fuzz on these components.  Obviously not up to the standards of raw materials produced by Northeastern, Kappler or Camino.  A lot of sanding and sealing was required to make these pieces usable.

Picture
The body of the car is a solid block of wood.  Unless they are missing from the kit, I do not see any sheathing for the car ends.  I have seen one of these kits for sale and also noted the absence of end sheathing in that kit.  

Picture
The Reefer roof hatches were built up from these card stock prints. And some folks complain about the lack of detail in the castings provided in kits manufactured in the 1950-1960 era.  

There is no actual or implied scribing on the preprinted car sides.  Such preprinted car sides continued well into the 1970’s.  Check out our build of a
Gorre and Daphetid box car using preprinted car sides from the NMRA Bulletin.

Picture
Before the availability of kits, any railroad enthusiast wanting to build a model was responsible for  accumulating, cutting and shaping their own wood and metal materials.  In many cases this meant buying large quantities of raw materials.  The concept of a “kit” provided the hobbyist with just enough raw materials and some very basic instructions to build a model that represented the prototype in not much more than shape and color.  The kit concept provided a means for those who lived in confined quarters such as small apartments or military service to participate in the hobby.  The kits were basic however they provided just enough visual information that implied a particular prototype.  You could differentiate a reefer from a box car etc. but not much more detail was available at the time.  In addition to apartment dwellers, kits became popular with those who did not have access to a basement or garage full of precision machinery to fabricate parts of their own.  Such kits were status quo for the time period and rivet counters were not yet born.

To say the least the hobby of scale model railroading has come a long way but seeing one of these vintage kits is a great way to look back and be reminded from which we came.  Maybe seeing what was available to modelers in the past provides us with a better appreciation of where we are currently in the hobby.  Such relics give us a view into the lengths early scale model railroaders went to enjoy this great hobby with the limited funds and resources available to them at that time.  

If you are looking for information, plans, instructions or maybe catalog shots of HO scale vintage model railroad kits and some RTR models you have to check out HOSeeker’s WEB site.   It is a virtual library encompassing the history of HO scale models.

With great memories of Paul Matushek it’s time we get back to the shops,

CWRailman

For additional information on the Earl Francis company see this Yahoo forum message from Mr Ray Wetzel.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    My Purpose

    I hope to make this a weekly feature presenting projects currently in progress in the California Western Locomotive and Car Rebuild shops or subjects I believe may help my fellow modelers.  Your comments and contributions will be appreciated.

    Archives

    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    June 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    July 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012

    Categories

    All
    Campbell
    Freight Cars
    Kits
    Locomotive
    Operation Systems
    Passenger Cars
    Photography
    Reference Material
    Remotoring
    Roster
    Structures
    Tools

    RSS Feed

Web Hosting by iPage
✕