Re: Salvaging an old brass tender.

P. Roehling wrote:
"Wolf K." <wolfkir@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote

A decent piece of rolling stock, and many hours of modelling pleasure -- not bad for $75!

Yeah, but I'm discovering why old coots like myself get a reputation for grumbling about "the good old days". I bought my first piece of Brass -an early United 2-truck shay- brand new in 1958 for a grand total of $52. And that included the sales tax!

Of course, the part I'm conveniently forgetting is that as a 15 year old it took me all of one summer to earn that $52 mowing lawns and doing yardwork...

Maybe the good old days weren't all that great after all.

-Pete



Well, they were and they weren't.

$52 in the late 50s would be equal to about $350-400 today (general inflation), and about $700 in terms of my current income, which is a good deal less than I maxed out at before retirement....

But I still have the third car I ever built, a tank car built following Eric Stevens "Dollar Car" article, decorated for BA Oil (who were bought out by Gulf who were bought out by Texaco.) A card roll from something or other, with tank ends and dome carved from balsa, all overlaid with paper. The dogs/bolts holding down the cover (circle of card punched out with a hole punch) are track spikes. I bent and soldered the handrails together out of copper wire that I straightened and work-hardened by stretching it, one end held in a vise, the other in a pair of pliers. The frame made of a mix of card and wood parts. Decals, ladder stock, couplers and trucks were the only bought'n'paid for bits. And a bottle of gloss black paint, of course. Not the most precise or crispest modelling, but it sure triggers the nostalgia. ;-)

--
wolf k.
.

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