The Tim Mee Combat Patrol set is a reissue of the classic Jeep and Field Gun.

The Hummvee is big, wide, and more of a small truck than a Jeep. The larger vehicles came years after my Army days ended. In my Army, we had a vehicle that was officially the "Ford Mutt". We all called it a Jeep. Aside from being more unstable and having a front grill that ran sideways instead of up and down, it was not all that different from a real Jeep. And believe me, these little things did a lot. They were fast, ran on rough terrain, and could haul quite a load. The old company radio took up half the back of Jeeps. You could put in a mount so that the man in the back seat could stand up and fire a machine gun. And no, that Rat Patrol stuff was pure fantasy. Reality was not that cool.

A 106mm Recoilless rifle took up the whole back, and then some. It had a lot of firepower. A crew could fire and then run out of there fast in a Jeep. The little vehicles were an essential for Army life from World War II through most of the 1980s.

The Tim Mee Jeep was a staple of playtime back in the 1950s and 1960s. It had a metal axle and black tires. The little toy was quite sturdy, too. They were often packed in a bag of toy soldiers. Usually, there were a few stickers included that had markings for the little Jeep.

The little gun was popular, as well. It resembled a field gun such as a 75mm gun or a 105mm howitzer. I get the impression that it was partly inspired by Britains’ metal 25 pounder, which was the English brand’s cheapest firing toy cannon. The breech and trail look lore like light field artillery than an antitank gun.

Tim Mee used to include one of these with red spoked wheels in its Civil War sets. The gun was usually olive drab, so it resembled a French 75 or small British World War I howitzer rather than a Parrot rifle of the Civil War.

The little gun goes well with the Jeep in the Combat Patrol set. The set also includes instructions for placing the enclosed stickers. The photo on the header card shows a Jeep flying in the air with a 37, antitank gun in tow. However, the field gun in the set is definitely more traditional artillery. To me, that is even more fun.

These are really nice vehicles and guns. They stand up well to play and rough handling. The Tim Mee Combat Patrol is the antithesis of flimsy. unlike so many of the imported playthings of today. The Jeep and gun are simple and sturdy and will survive many a playtime. They look good and would be a fine addition to battle games with plastic Army men.

 

You can get this set at Victory Buy

 

Tim Mee Toys Reissued!

Back in the 50s and 60s, there were several types of toy figures sold in bags. In my neighborhood, the most common ones in the late 50s through the 60s were Tim Mee, Lido, Payton and MPC. Of course, we only knew two of the brands then: Tim Mee and MPC. The others were not known by brand. Indeed, some of the sets were sold under other brands.

 The types of figures included "modern" soldiers, Cowboys & Indians, Knights, Civil War guys, spacemen and astronauts, dinosaurs, and farm animals. Modern soldiers included troops from World War II to Vietnam. Marx playsets were a bit more expensive and some kids received them as Christmas gifts. (The only ones I received as gifts were an early Fort Apache and an early castle with knights. Others I bought when I was older.)

Tim Mee soldiers had based on which to stand. Lido’s figures only had flat feet and were easily topples. MPC at the time were mostly "ring hand" figures with separate weapons. Kids either loved them or hated them. There was no middle ground.

Some of us inherited other soldiers from older brothers and cousins. The thick, bulky soldiers and spacemen by Ajax, Archer, Beton / Bergen and Plasticraft were no longer on store shelves in my area. by 1960. By the same token, lead soldiers were also inherited by a few of us. They stood out because they looked very different from the more proportionate Tim Mee and Lido figures.

Recently, Processed plastic, maker of Tim Mee, sold its assets to J Lloyd, a toymaker. Jeff Imel has worked with them to remake many of the Tim Mee favorite figures. Jeff provide several sets for me to review, and here is the first part of it.

The first one is just plain Soldiers. 100 Pieces. A long bag with 100 of the M-16 Army Men in tan and green plastic. What can I say about these guys? They have been around for 47 years now. Dressed in uniforms of the 1965 to 1980 era, they come in a variety of poses. Mot of the classic poses are there.

Next is Galaxy Laser Team, their later 1970s set of space figures. Included therein are a couple of NASA-type astronauts, a couple of the type that copied either the 1970s Buck Rogers series or Star Wars’ rebels. There is also a girl at a console who looks like a member of the Star Trek’s Enterprise crew. Topping out the characters is a small, washboard-like thing that is supposed to be a small robot, a character with a clublike weapon who resembles Darth Vader, and a furry, antenna headed creature with a space rifle who looks like Chewbacca. One oddity is a turtle-like creature with lobster claws. Last of all is a craft that slightly resembles a Star Wars X-wing.

Galaxy Laser Team was obviously made to capitalize on the Star Wars movie. Unlike the official figures sold in store, this space-opera-in-a-bag was cheap. For the price of one of the official figures, one could get a bag or two of Tim Mee’s contribution to the space fantasy genre.

Next is the Combat Patrol. That is the name it is sold under now. It has a pair of Jeeps and two cannons. These jeeps and cannons were very common in the old days. Usually, Tim Mee would pack one vehicle or cannon into a bag of soldiers. You might get a jeep, cannon, armored car or tank. The jeep itself is a standard type used rom the 1940s to the early 1960s. Technically, the vehicle that superseded it was the "Ford Mutt:", but GIs continued to refer to them as jeeps.

The cannon here looks to be based on a 75mm or short 105mm gun, or maybe the Britains 25 pounder. In Civil War sets, all they did was put red spoked wheels on the same cannon. It actually looked more like a World War I French 75mm gun when they did that.

The Frontiersman set is a bunch of fellows who could be Daniel Boone or Davy Crockett types. There are some mounted poses, but the current Tim Mee does not have the old horse molds, so none are included. These figures are great as scouts and riflemen for French & Indian war, the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Alamo. They go good with larger figures like BMC’s Revolutionary War soldiers.

The Cowboys and Indians set shown here baffled me at first. I did not recognize the cowboys and only half of the Indians. Why? The old molds were discontinued and a new mold was used around 1970. By then, I was not into Cowboys and Indian, being more into hobby figures at the time. These are very tall figures, ranging up to 3 inches for a standing man. If you have Large Scale trains such as Aristocraft or Hartland Locomotive Works, especially Western railroad type equipment, these figures are the right size. Just paint them up or convert them to other poses.

Last of all are People at Play. I never saw this set in the stores. Then again, I would not have been looking for these type figures. What you get is a "family" doing things like throwing a baseball, cheerleading with pom-poms, jumping rope and other leisure activities. I guess the father is working in his home woodshop, because he has hand tools. They are closer to 54mm size.

Here is where you can get them: Victory Buy

 

Tomorrow we will start opening bags and looking at what is inside.

Weaver Models closing!

Weaver Models, the maker of scale O trains for two and three rail, is closing.  Follow link to their announcement on their homepage: http://weavermodels.com/index.html

Review: Railroads in New Jersey, the Formative Years by John T. Cunningham 1997 Afton publishing Company

A few months back, I reviewed Railroading in New Jersey by John T. Cunningham. It was a compilation of a series of articles he wrote in 1951 on the history of railroads in the Garden State. That was quite a fascinating thing to read. John Cunningham knew how to tell a story about real people and facts. He is prominent among authors on New Jersey History.

Railroads in New Jersey, the Formative Years, is John Cunningham’s book that expanded upon the brief chapters of his earlier work. He brings you an immense work on the origins and development of New Jersey railroads from the beginning to the "golden era" prior to World War I. Well-illustrated with photographs, maps, woodcuts and lien drawings, Railroads in New Jersey covers the entire state well. It was quite a heavy thing to read, being over 300 pages of text, double column, on pages better suited to a coffee table book.

Cunningham’s research is thorough and the folks who helped him were experts in their own right. The book captures those first years, when men with vision and daring and a bit of luck went out to build the railroads. Many built them to serve their other businesses. These 19^th Century entrepreneurs made no bones about it. Those who succeeded were tough, innovative, insightful and at the same time driven by profit. Cunningham talks of both their admirable and their unappealing characteristics. For instance, there is talk of how the railroad owners were very callous when it came to worker and passenger safety because they felt it cut profitability. In the book, these men are described as they were, neither lionized or totally vilified.

Railroads in New Jersey gives the feel of the competition between railroads. It discusses how they battled in the marketplace and their shenanigans in the state house. Cunningham describes some of the weasel tricks and the rampant corruption. He also tells of the successes and the improvements that railroads brought. There is much said of the triumphs over the obstacles placed by nature, from the soft and boggy flats at the Shore to the impenetrable mountains to the North.

This is the New Jersey that we know: gritty and bright at the same time. Railroads in New Jersey The Formative Years brings a slice of New Jersey history that is fascinating and informative. Well worth reading! I recommend it highly

(I checked the publisher. Afton Publishing had a few copies left, mainly missing dust covers or remainders. They are priced at a discount. Order here: http://www.aftonpublishing.com/order.php)

REVIEW: Model Railroading with MTH Electric Trains by Ron Adelman

Model Railroading with MTH Electric Trains by Ron Adelman 2002 text Ron Adleman, 2002 design Krause publications

Though over 12 years old, Model Railroading with MTH Electric Trains by Ron Edelman still applies to newcomers today. Make no bones about it: the title says it all. The focus is on using MTH products for model railroads. There are no materials on other track systems or tools. The book is about MTH trains, RealTrax, MTH power supplies and DCS. The Forward, Chapter 1 Introduction and Chapter 2 History of MTH Electric Trains all promote the brand and put it in its most favorable light.

Subsequent chapters handle the stages of putting together a model railroad with MTH equipment. There is plenty of good information on track work and track planning, building the platform for a layout, and then setting up tracks, wiring and scenery. Adelman uses a 4' by 8' layout based on Santa Fe’s Raton Pass as an example of how it is done. He describes the trackplan and scenery as well as the lineside industries. Included is a chapter on how to use MTH’s Railware track planning software. A form of RR-Track, it is an easy system to learn and gives great results.

There is plenty of good advice, from building your railroad with a purpose to the benefits of researching real railroads. A person could learn to make a very good layout based on the information contained in Model Railroading with MTH Electric Trains.

Illustrations were not numbered, but their placement on pages mitigated that. All the illustrations were in the right place with accompanying text. Navigating my way through the book was easy.

The section on the MTH DCS command system was well-done. A person could read it over and be able to set up the basic configuration. Some books talk about command systems. This one showed how to use it.

Another chapter had a "Dispatcher game" for simulating real railroading. The book ended with an interview of Tony Lash, who was something of a hero among MTH fans for having a massive layout. Like I said at the start, this book was an MTH project intended to carry MTH’s message through and through.

For someone who wants to use MTH equipment throughout, Model Railroading with MTH Electric Trains by Ron Edelman is worth consulting. The materials is presented well and the accompanying illustrations are excellent. By the same token, it is dated. I do not know the state of MTH’s Railware nor what improvements have been made to DCS in the past dozen years. Since it does not appear that other books introducing newcomers to MTH model railroading are out there at this time, Model Railroading with MTH Electric Trains might be the only game in town

The focus is on Realtrax, and the appendices include ten different track plans that can be copied or adapted using Railware. Keep in mind that this information is 12 years old, and newer equipment might be available. As a primer on MTH, Model Railroading with MTH Electric Trains by Ron Edelman can’t be beat. Even a dozen years later....

*****

In the matter of MTH versus Lionel and RealTrax versus FasTrack, I am not involved. I have loads of tubular rails and switches which I use. For those unfamiliar with the doings around O Gauge, MTH and Lionel have been engaged in a fierce rivalry for a long time. Among their customers, each has a small stable of diehard fans who love their favorite and hate the other. These hardcore fans’ intensity reaches that of religious fanatics at times. And with my background in religion and esoteric spirituality, let me tell you that such fervor is rare outside the fields of religion and politics.

The plain fact is that MTH and modern Lionel can make a nice train. I have bought from both on several occasions. I would not have bought more than once if I thought they made junk. Most of what I have from MTH and Modern Lionel are rolling stock. There are a few locomotives such as the Chessie F3 and Docksider by MTH, and the train set 4-4-2 and PA by modern Lionel.

With MTH and Lionel and anything else, be your own judge. Don’t let these partisan fanatics drive you away from one or toward the other. Buy what you like. With competition, you have choices.

I would like to get a recent version of MTH’s Railware for a future review.

REVIEW: The Big Book of Lionel by Robert Schleicher, 2nd Edition, 2011 (1st edition, 2004)

The Big Book of Lionel by Robert Schleicher, 2^nd Edition, 2011 (1^st edition, 2004)

When Barnes and Noble offered copies of The Big Book of Lionel by Robert Schleicher for $8.98, I jumped on it. The book supposedly covered Fastrack and the Lionel Legacy system. I was curious to get a few good facts about both. Having read an earlier work by this author, The Lionel Train Book from 1986, I felt assured I would get the information I wanted.

Indeed, The Big Book of Lionel starts out boldly. It goes right into trackwork, floor layouts, impromptu layouts and permanent ones. Trackplans with wiring are illustrated. Many were taken from earlier Lionel works, such as the instruction manuals and the Model Builder. (Track plans from 1940's Handbook for Model Builders have shown up in subsequent Lionel works as well as those by K-Line and others.) All of these are shown with the standard O gauge tubular track system that had been a staple for Lionel for about 100 years. Fastrack was mentioned in passing throughout most of The Big Book of Lionel. All illustrated track plans were for Lionel O tubular rail.

The work takes the reader through layout building, conventional wiring for blocks, signals, switches and even a few illustrated pieces showing how to wire TMCC. There is advice to use the widest curves possible so as to run Lionel’s longest full-scale O locomotives and passenger cars. Schleicher reads like an advocate for Lionel’s biggest, feature-laden (and most expensive) trains.

By the time you get to the section about locomotives, you might come to the conclusion that the author bleeds orange and drools blue. The Big Book of Lionel is 100% pro-Lionel and does not have a contrary thing to say about the company or any of its products. Mention is made of outside scenery makers Scenic Express and Woodland Scenics, but there is not a single word about Lionel’s competitors or their products. If The Big Book of Lionel were your only introduction to O Gauge, you might get the impression that Lionel was the only game in town.

Schleicher includes tips on everything from troubleshooting locomotives, switches and track to repainting old freight cars. He covers operating cars and action accessories. This is where lineside industries get mentioned. Amid all this, the author includes his "waybill" game for directing model freight operations. Advice on scenery ends with a discussion of structures, including basic weathering techniques. So far so good.

My major beef with the book to this point was that illustrations were not numbered. Any reference to a track plan or other items was given by chapter number. You had to read the track plan description to figure out which plan he meant. That was not easy when the reader was sent to Chapter 4 for a plan that was actually in Chapter 3. Equally frustrating was trying to figure out which plan he meant when the descriptions were similar. Even an experienced track-planner like me found this confusing. Using an illustration or page number would have been so much easier. The author or the editors dropped the ball. In my opinion, a major flaw, especially for a book aimed at newcomers.

A second criticism was the focus on layouts using the widest curve to the exclusion of layouts for tight spaces. Schleicher left no room for Lionel’s smaller cars and locomotives, nor for packing action into a smaller space. What with many apartment and condominium dwellers out there, such layouts would have given them greater access to O gauge.

The cover of The Big Book of Lionel by Robert Schleicher makes a conspicuous announcement: Includes FasTrack! Indeed, there was a whole chapter about Fastrack added to the text. Following it was a chapter on Lionel’s Legacy system. Fastrack started getting popular around 2004, when Lionel placed it in all of its train sets. It competed against MTH’s RealTrax, which had been issued in MTH train sets starting in 1998 or 1999. Both types of modular rail had become very popular.

I mentioned that in previous chapters, Fastrack was spoken of mainly in passing. There were a few statements covering some of its attributes. I fully expected the FasTrack chapter to give more complete coverage. Granted that the track was discussed, explained and illustrated. However, in the whole book, there was not a single track plan drawn for FasTrack. The author’s only suggestion was to buy another book which he had written about Fastrack Layouts. He even advised people not use FasTrack plans on the Internet because of possible flaws. "Buy my other book" just does not cut it.

The last chapter described the Legacy system and how it was an improvement over TMCC. Some specific details were given.

The Big Book of Lionel by Robert Schleicher is a good book. It has a lot of very good information presented in a way that should delight newcomers. It is not a great book. The problems of navigating pages by use of cumbersome descriptions is poor editing. Likewise, what with FasTrack being popular since 2004, the lack of track plans specific to the track system is an omission too big to bear. I wonder if it was done intentionally to divert customers to his other book. Nowadays when tubular is rarely used by newcomers, all the space devoted to tubular plans seems almost anachronistic in a work aimed ar beginners.

I have a feeling Barnes & Noble offered the sale price to make room for a new edition, or clear out excess stock. At the $8.98 price offered by the bookseller, it was well worth the price. Frankly, I do not think The Big Book of Lionel by Robert Schleicher would be worth the suggested list price of $29+.

****

I have always used tubular rail and will continue to do so. By the same token, I see the popularity of FasTrack and realize that it is a product that must be addressed. As for TMCC, Legacy and MTH’s competing DCS, nobody talks of the price factor. That stuff is expensive. It adds $100 to the cost of locomotives equipped with it. The various elements of the systems are themselves expensive and can add hundreds to the cost of a layout. I had tried TMCC on a club layout years ago and thought it was ponderous and overpriced. Any supposed benefits were not worth the cost., My opinion has not changed.

O gauge could become a rich man’s hobby/ The push for longer, scale trains, complex electronics and massive layouts ignores the average fellow with limited space and a limited budget. Folks ran their trains conventionally for 100 years and many continue to do so today. I am one of them

Review: The Lionel Train Book by Robert Schleicher,

The Lionel Train Book by Robert Schleicher, edited by John W. Brady ©1986 Lionel Trains, inc

(This is one of the first books Robert Schleicher wrote for folks getting started with Lionel trains. I am reviewing it as a prelude to reviewing his later word, The Big Book of Lionel, revised and updated in 2011.)


First, let it be known that the Lionel "How to Operate Lionel Trains and Accessories" manuals were excellent. They were included in train sets from the 1940s to the 1970s. They all followed the same basic format, from starting and basic track work to building a model railroad. Lionel supported them with other small publications that focused on everything from track layouts to essentials of railroading.

How I ended up with a copy of The Lionel Train Book, I cannot remember. In this I am like many rail hobbyists. The way a few books came into the home library is forgotten. They may have been a gift or part of a larger order some time ago.

The Lionel Train Book includes most of that good Lionel "old school" information. This book was written in what hobbyists know as the MPC era. At that time, tubular track was the norm for O and O27 gauge trains. There was no command control or digital railroad sounds. Train control was a matter of wiring track in blocks. Wiring was conventional. Trains and accessories used the same electrical mechanisms as they had for over 40 years (at the time). Only a few very new accessories had been added since the original Lionel folded in 1969*.

So why bother?

The Lionel Train Book does not read like a manual. Its manner is more conversational. It begins with a feel for Lionel trains and the company that made them. Then, the book delves into aspects of Lionel train operation such as trackwork, wiring, blocks, transformers and all the essentials. The bonus is that it goes further into layout building, toy train operation and scenery. Many things that were barely touched by the old manuals are covered well in the Lionel Train Book.

The book uses design and building of a 4 by 6 foot layout to illustrate some of its techniques. The layout is a tubular pike, using mostly O27 track and a few pieces of regular 31-inch O. It would handle the smaller types of O27 trains best. Supplementing these are layouts and plans clipped from older Lionel materials.

For its time, the Lionel Train Book was an excellent text for those getting into the hobby. Copies are hard to find and may be sold at collector prices. Then again, there have been other books written since then that are more up-to-date insofar as O gauge and technology. (Keep in mind that I am doing this review as a prelude to his 2004 / 2011 work "The Big Book of Lionel")



*Lionel has been through several incarnations. The original company ran from 1900 to 1960, when it was acquired by Roy Cohn. Yes, that Roy Cohn. He owned it from 1960 to 1969, when it went bankrupt. Corporately, it was the same entity under Cohn’s control. In 1970, tooling and trademarks were leased by General Mills, who put Lionel Trains under its MPC model kit subsidiary. This would be Lionel’s second incarnation. Lionel was bought by collector Richard Kughn in 1986. He sold it to an investment group called Wellpsrings in 1994. It has had a few revisions since them.