Maybe This Will Keep My Friend Bob Satisfied For A Little While

[Jay Criswell]

Bob, and all you early model train buffs,

Maybe you'll enjoy this interview with Nate Polk. I enjoy the early history of our hobby as much as the next person. I gave a copy of this to Lou Cross years ago and he enjoyed it too.

http://www.binnsroad.co.uk/railways/polks/

Jay

[Carey Williams]

Hello Jay ...wow thank you very much for posting the link to the outstanding interview with Nat Polk ..... he knew everyone and was not afraid to tell the real story ...some very valuable insights to the toy/ model ... train world .
The words covering the personalities of the model / toy ... train kingdom are priceless ....

One of my favorite quotes

"We said to Rossi, it doesn't cost any more to make a mold that's fully scale than it is to make one that isn't."

Thank you
Cheers Carey

[Jay Criswell]

Carey,

I haven't actually read this for a couple of years now but what stuck me was the comment, and I'm totally paraphrasing this, "We all realized, what was good for one, was good for all and, in the end, the hobby". These early guys helped each other out knowing it was good for the hobby and helped it grow.

I would sure like to see more of this behavior today. I know I try. Didn't say I was particularly good at it.

Jay

[stephen neill]

The Binns article is a copy of a 3 part article in the TCA Quarterly, starting with the April, 1995 issue. The 3 part article also has some pictures, for those with access to it.

The Binns site has articles on a LOT of the O scale manufacturers; some are longer than others, and I have noted a few inaccuracies, but it is a great site to learn something about a large number of manufacturers.

Steve

[Jay Criswell]

Steve,

When I first saw this it was a series of six articles. I printed it for Lou. I can no longer find the link to the original six.

Jay

[stephen neill]

Jay - You're right, I'm wrong (again); the TCA article was in 6 parts, not 3, with the last part in the July 1996 TCA Quarterly. Steve

[texas&pacific]

Great historical narrative-interview of the genealogy of the USA hobby industry. Fascinating reading.

As fairly recent as the article is (2013), I do not agree with the ending, "Well, the collecting is going to become greater and greater. It will become greater because people understand value."

Collecting and operating in O (from 3-rail tinplate to post war to 2 rail brass) is going to become a thinner staffed, more specialized, fewer-collector arena. Specialty pieces notwithstanding (rather than "rare"), much of it will lose value from the all time highs in the 90's (think Lionel and USH/Max Gray, and Sunset prices now from 10 years ago).

There is in the new "hobby" generation(s), less interest in hoarding collectibles (either new or genuine), joining clubs, and general "stay at home" modeling. with increasingly rare exceptions, Leisure time should be filled with experiences, not stuff. I see more and more canes, bifocals and gray hair at shows, auctions, and clinics. The great collections from the last 30 years will be dispersed into smaller ones, and eBay will carry a backlog of out of production models from the crammed closets and basements of yesteryear's modelers.

Modeling, as well as modelers (plane, train and automobile) will never disappear, but will not see the volumes from the earlier 1/2 century.

[rrjjf]

Texas, You are 100% correct about the future of this and other hobbies.

Joe

[Jay Criswell]

The interview wasn't done in 2013. How do I know this? He died in 1996.

Jay

[texas&pacific]

Jay,
I stand corrected, thank you. Perhaps that is why the future of collector-modelling was so rosy. No end in sight.
The late 90's were characterized by the tainted "limited-edition collectible" exuberance of purchasing cases of baseball cards, slabbed pre-graded comics, and sealed Lionel sets. Comics that became things and trains that never ran. They never saw a ray of sunlight.

For the non-train young'uns there were Pogs, Cabbage Patch Kids and Beanie Babies, and for Grandma there were Precious Moments, Thomas Kinkade prints and Hummels. I seemed to enjoy the NFL and Christmas HO sets advertised in the Sunday reader section of the newspaper. All fed into the furnace of insatiable consumerism.
Thank Goodness I never bought any of that crap!

[texas&pacific]

Joe,
BTW, we met at the Strasburg Show on Aug 12. I bought the MTH 2 rail USRA WM Pacific from you.

[rrjjf]

Texas,

Thanks for the purchase. It should be a nice running model.

Joe