I primarily model in HO gauge, but I like to collect anything and everything related to the Arcade and Attica Railroad. As someone who has regularly monitored EBay for A&A stuff for the past 15 years, there isn't much I haven't seen. And if something is rare I know it pretty quickly. I have a couple of pieces in my collection that I believe are rare but it is difficult to say based on EBay sales. One caboose I literally just found this week because I intentionally mis-spelled a word and the caboose popped up. It took me about a second to decide I had to buy it!
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| #201 Tender |
I moderate a post on Railroad.net about
all commercially available A&A models and I try to keep it updated frequently. The most interesting items on the list are O scale tinplate models manufactured by the United States Toy Train Company (USTTC). The company had an address of Route 78 and 362, Bliss, NY, 14024. Some of the items were shown in a brief write-up in the February
Classic Toy Trains magazine. Oddly, the caboose wasn't shown in the write-up (perhaps it didn't exist yet?).
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| #501 Coach |
I had actually run across a few of the pieces in the Arcade train station, but not all of them. I assumed at the time they were custom painted models. I learned later that they were commercially released. They are pretty rare. In the past 10 years I have seen only two boxcars, two gondolas, one coach, two different cabooses, one tender, and one station offered for sale. That's it.
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| #301 Gondola |
Some history of the USTTC might be in order. As someone who isn't an expert on anything tinplate, I would refer you to
this excellent summation of the USTTC. Sadly, the company is out of business. Per a different online thread,
the owner passed away in 1989. However, there appears to be a second USTTC with that name! The second company released models of A&A stuff and was a small sheet metal shop as its normal business. They both manufactured tinplate O scale stuff, and because I am not an O scale tinplate expert it looks like they used the same trucks, couplers, and even base cars bodies. Perhaps the second company took over the first?
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| #403 Boxcar |
Regardless, I find these A&A models charming. They clearly were a labor of love, and the boxcar is especially nice. I bought the gondola for a rather hefty price several years ago, and then the rest of the models (except for the Station) nearly fell into my lap when some seller wanted to move them all on EBay and was frustrated at high reserve prices not being met. He then listed them starting at $1 (bad mistake) and I got all the rest for nearly the same price as the gondola. I should have purchased the second gondola just to have a spare!
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| #901 Caboose |
Under the "huh?" category, the company released two cabooses. Neither was featured in the magazine write up, and I assume that they were done later on. But, the A&A actually had two cabooses and the end cupola model is reasonably close to it (well, as close as the coach and gondolas are). I just saw the center cupola caboose this week and bought it, and it looks original. I suppose the owner might have switched roofs, but nothing looks amiss to suggest this. A real quirk of a car.
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| #901 Caboose |
Now, I need something to pull them. I am thinking a Lionel 44-tonner, which isn't tinplate but it looks large enough and is readily available on the market. Repainting it would be a snap, and I will replace one of the couplers with these tinplate hook things so that it can couple to the other cars. Finding a steam engine of the 2-8-0 or 4-6-0 wheel arrangement that is inexpensive probably isn't very likely.
The station I have only seen come up once and it never sold, so perhaps it will appear again. It has nothing to identify it as an A&A model, so it might get listed under a title I wouldn't normally associate with it. Sigh. I guess that is what makes collecting fun!
One of my train projects that has been on the back burner for over 10 years was the construction of a 1/8 scale caboose to go behind my live steam train. Not really knowing what type of caboose
I wanted at the time, I borrowed a book which featured cabooses and found one I liked: a DL&W caboose. It was a classic wooden design, had unusual
milk train trucks, and seemed symmetrical and “just right.” I contacted some people in the
DL&W historical society and found out some more information. I discovered that a local short line (the original Genesee & Wyoming) close to my hometown purchased one
used and later donated it to a railroad museum where it is currently
preserved. Happiliy, Model Railroader magazine had published plans for it in February 1952
It is a small museum primarily focused on trolleys, but it did have a couple of regular railroad pieces of equipment including the caboose. It should have been simple to visit one day when they were open but recently they moved it into a covered storage building to facilitate repairing the roof. Rats! I didn't want to drive all the way there just to be turned away. However, some networking put me in touch with Jim Dierks, who works there. He kindly arranged to give me a tour and access to the underside of the caboose for picture taking and measurements. So, on a warm Sunday afternoon after spending the weekend visiting with my parents I trekked over (and got lost).
I also quickly skimmed the rest of the museum and got a ride on one of their operating trolley. It was nothing like riding a train, as it was stop and go like a bus, and the noises were much different. Aside from the compressors recharging the tanks for the brakes and controls, it was very quiet. The interior of the car was decorated in period correct advertisements, and the seats flipped back and forth so that you always could face forward. I saw a deer in the woods and it didn't seem at all concerned about the trolley. The trolley line is only about a mile or so long but it does connect part way with another local railroad museum. Occasionally, they run combined events but the overhead wires don't extend all the way so transfers between the trolley and another train are required. 
One last point of interest. When I was a kid, my parents would take me downtown to Rochester's Midtown Mall. Apparently, at one time it was the biggest and best mall in the area but a kid doesn't really grasp things like that. However, I do recall that at Christmas the central atrium area would be decorated to look like the North Pole, their would be clocks that made music and had animated figures, and there was a monorail you could ride. But I grew up, the mall died, and memories faded. But, this museum has the actual monorail in its display! It sure is small (and short) now, and I don't know how I could have fit it in. But, it is a piece of my childhood and I am glad it wasn't scrapped.
