Aurora Red Ball Express

[DKS]

Cut and past from the ebay ad;
Shipping:
$320.95 USPS First Class Mail Intl / First Class Package Intl Service

Maybe just a special deal for us foreigners?

Ted (Teditor) Freeman
From the land down under.

Must be. This is what I see...

[GimpLizard]

I had one of those, it was hand me down from my cousin once he started building his own layout a year after he got this for Christmas.

It was ok for what it was at the time.  I'd get one for nostalgia.  But not for $200.  Maybe $20.   

I had one also. My older sister gave it to me for Christmas. That was like in '79 or '80. Thereabouts. I'd say $20 is about right.

I could never get it to run worth a dang. The "rail" (which was nothing more than the metal strip used in Aurora's HO slot car track) kept popping up out of the vacuum-formed plastic base. So I went out and bought some Atlas code 80 flex and a couple of turnouts. I tried to glue it down to the plastic roadbed, but that didn't work. So I cut the roadbed away, replaced it with cork, and mounted the whole thing on a sheet of 3/8" plywood. Ah-ha. Now we're getting somewhere. U-oh. New problem. The rolling stock's non-adjustable wheels were too wide for the Atlas track. Crap!!!

Back to the hobby shop for a Bachmann F9, in Amtrak paint, and a few Atlas 70 ton ore cars. (Hey, I was a newbie. I didn't know any better.) Did you all know that that F9 would run on a 6 volt battery? It did. But just barely.

Anyway, long story short (or is it already too late for that?), that's what got me into N scale. By the end of that layout I had re-sceniced the thing, with white-glue soaked paper towels, painted and covered with ground foam. Made a tunnel. Planted some tress, buildings, etc., etc., etc. Didn't turn out all that bad, really. 'cept for tha gaudy F9.

[mcjaco]

^ That was always my question, even as a kid.  Was it N scale???  I could never get the rolling stock to work on my neighbor's N scale pike. 

The stuff I still do have, and is stashed away for my kids, is the Hotwheels Railroad sets. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1983-HOT-WHEELS-RAILROAD-FREIGHT-YARD-STO-GO-PLAYSET-Excellent-Cond-/301170435309?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item461f2824ed#ht_702wt_870

[DKS]

This is what got me into N scale... me and how many hundreds of others?



Now I'm a collector of vintage Postage Stamp.

[u18b]

This is what I started N scale with.

It is astounding I stayed in N scale after this.  In fact, I might have quit if it were not for the Atlas RS-3.



I still have the loco.  Dead from zamac cracking.

[LV LOU]

Wow... what a memory jog... I had something like that back in the day.  I think it was Matchbox.  I'd totally forgotten about that.

I think we were the only ones that had it..I've been looking for years just for a pic..I never even used it,I went right to plywood,and an actual railroad.Kept it for maybe ten years,gave it away..

[Blazeman]

This is what got me into N scale... me and how many hundreds of others?

Still have mine. Came with ATSF F's, black trucks, not the silvered.

[jpec]

These are starting to come out of the woodwork at shows...I wonder if someone scored a ridiculous price for one and that started it...

Jeff

[Bob Bufkin]

Still have a couple of those Aurora boxes (minus cars) laying around.  They are also the ones that got me started in N many years ago.  Came with those PRR F units with the really crummy reddish brown color.  One thing about those F units they could run forever if you kept the contacts clean. 

[Sokramiketes]

^ That was always my question, even as a kid.  Was it N scale???  I could never get the rolling stock to work on my neighbor's N scale pike. 

The stuff I still do have, and is stashed away for my kids, is the Hotwheels Railroad sets. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1983-HOT-WHEELS-RAILROAD-FREIGHT-YARD-STO-GO-PLAYSET-Excellent-Cond-/301170435309?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item461f2824ed#ht_702wt_870

My three year old loves the Hotwheels set, that one plus the fold out two-level set with the Amtrak station that hooks up.  I wonder if there were other sets I didn't have? 

[trainforfun]

Cut and past from the ebay ad;
Shipping:
$320.95 USPS First Class Mail Intl / First Class Package Intl Service

Maybe just a special deal for us foreigners?

Ted (Teditor) Freeman
From the land down under.

Samething for me in Canada , at $ 315 I would have bite ...

[mcjaco]

My three year old loves the Hotwheels set, that one plus the fold out two-level set with the Amtrak station that hooks up.  I wonder if there were other sets I didn't have?

Sad to say, Mike but I've researched the heck out of those sets.  I have all three that they made.  The one in the ebay photo, the Amtrak station you mention, and there was a smaller simple oval industrial set as well. 

I picked up a set of still unopened track last year after digging through my stuff, as I knew the boys would probably love the sets as well.  I'm still on the look out for the BN electric engine at a reasonable price, and the very rare steam engine. 

[Van Horne]

This is what got me into N scale... me and how many hundreds of others?



Now I'm a collector of vintage Postage Stamp.

Mine was Canadian Pacific, and if I ever saw one in good condition at a reasonable price, I'd buy it for nostalgia.  That Trix engine was a strong puller.  BTW, I bought mine in 1970.

Dave

[LV LOU]

This is what got me into N scale... me and how many hundreds of others?



Now I'm a collector of vintage Postage Stamp.

Me too,got it for Christmas from Sears,'67,'68?.Think mine was PRR,still have the locomotive,part of an ABBA custom set of PRR's.Cars? Maybe,still have a lot of old stuff,box is gone,but I do have a nice passenger set in the box stashed,ATSF..

[Rich_S]

My first N scale train set was a Christmas present from my maternal grandmother, it was an AHM / Lima Mini Train set like this one.



The only difference from the set pictured above and my set is, mine had a New Haven F7 and a MKT stock car, otherwise everything else is exactly the same. I still have the cars and locomotive, although the F7 does not run. The power pack, track and box have been lost to time. After seeing this thread, I might have to start watching ebay, if I can pickup this set for a reasonable price, I might just for remembrance sake. Of course when I received this set, I was already heavy into "HO", it was until the late 80's when Kato released their GP38-2 that got me into "N" scale.

Did anyone else have one of these AHM / Lima Minitrain sets?