Many years ago, we purchased from an advertisement in a model magazine, an easy-to-put-together model of an arch bar truck, in shiny brass finish, mounted on two short lengths of track which I carefully hand-spiked to the ties that were included. I don't recall any mention of a gage, but I just miked it and track gage comes out to 2.125 inches (the old Lionel Standard Gage). When assembled, it was fully sprung and, at my tender age, it was enough to keep me gleefully hand-testing the springing over and over again.
I don't recall who the manufacturer was, but the product was, in the terminology of that long-ago time, nifty .
As I was idly sitting in my train room recently, it struck me what a perfect test market the sales of that truck-and-track assembly made. At a minimum investment, and frankly I wouldn't know what that was in 1960 dollars, the manufacturer was able to judge how much interest there might be in expanding the market line to include, for example, an old wooden gondola and couplers.
From there, the sky was the limit.
AHA, I yelped quietly . What an interesting, eye-catching statement a pair of freight trucks --- Bettendorf or arch bar --- similarly mounted on rail to match either of the gages that I proposed --- P Scale (1:6, with track gage at 9 1/2 inches) OR Gordon Hatch Scale (1:4, with track gage at 14 inches, more or less) .
If armchair sailors can decorate their business offices with model ships, and they do, why can't we MegaScale T⁴ modelers --- for those of you who haven't been reading these blogs regularly, that stands for Traction, Transit, Trolleys, and Trams --- do likewise and decorate our homes and offices with, at least, a pair of giant traction trucks to keep those memories alive during our business day and tempt visitors to ask questions.
I'll state the advantages, mostly obvious :
1. You have something to gaze at while you're daydreaming of a traction empire.
2. It looks nice and does not take up as much room as, say, a trolley barn in those gages.
3. You can fasten the trucks to the ties (as in my sample) or you can allow it to roll freely to support your giant traction empire.
4. People, including you, yourself, can begin to judge what an impressive model the Full Monte, including a street scene backdrop, a turnout or two, and the overhead wire would make.
5. The model can serve as a recruiting tool for other potential Mega-scalers in your group.
6. You can order a second pair from the same maker and begin to build a model streetcar.
7. As alluded to above, it serves the manufacturer as a trial balloon --- a measure of market interest ; as a test product to determine final cost ; as the basis for a full streetcar model, if he opts to do it; and as something to put before the public, both in advertising images in traction publications and in its full glory at traction conferences, with minimal risk
Please let us know what you think by using the Comments feature in Blogger.Blogspot.
P.S. I use GAGE rather than GAUGE, to prevent myself from misreading --- in my head --- GUAGE, the all-too-common misspelling, which makes me want to say "Goo-age" . Thank you for bearing with my quirks.
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