Saturday, July 14, 2012

Hobbyline HO scale Fairbanks Morse H-10-44 in Lehigh Valley colors...



...a gift from an online modeler friend. I've wanted one of these for awhile, in any form, from any manufacturer. The look is pure brute and the car body was designed by the same guy who did the Pennsy GG1.

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Made in a time when the hobby was less refined...come on, can you imagine the caterwauling from the peanut gallery if Atlas stamped their logo on the SIDE of any of their models. And check out the screw on the top of the hood...shameless, I tell you, shameless...thinking some goob could actually enjoy the hobby with such a blatant display of non-scale hardware. That boxing glove for a coupler actually mates with most knuckle couplers today and was only used by HObbyline on their equipment. It just gets cooler with each inspection...

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This torpedo tube is actually a device to eliminate light bleed thru the shell and concentrate it towards the headlight, a rather forward thinking detail that sees little use still today.

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Then there's these giant spur gears in the cab, just waiting to puree some hapless HO scale crew that manages to fall into their clutches.

A great piece of modeling history, it appears to have been offered as part of several sets in 1955 -- in Lehigh Valley, C&O and AT&SF paint as a passenger train and in C&O and AT&SF paint in two freight sets. Pennsylvania paint eventually was offered but it wasn't long afterwards that HObbyline became Bowser and the diesel models stopped, most likely before 1960.

Many thanks buddy...it will be a cherished beastie in my fleet...

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