N Scale Hi Rail - Retro Hollow Core Door Layout

[MK]

DKS:  Good find!  I never knew, or suspected, that they made a 24-position rotary switch.

Same here and probably made in the USA too!

[wm3798]

Back when I volunteered with Character Counts, I would do a lesson for the school kids called "TV is a time waster"...  Here now, for your viewing pleasure, is Episode 3, more evidence to support that theory.  (Nevermind the title that says Episode 2... that's a cognitive comprehension test... I hope you studied!)

Happy Hi Railing!

Lee

[muktown128]

Thanks for the video Lee.  I never had the Arnold Rapido FA or F units or had a chance to look under the hood.  Pretty amazing how simple the FA design was. 

[peteski]

Nice video Lee, but there is some inaccurate info in it.  You keep calling that early N scale manufacturer "rapido"*.  Well, the actual name of the manufacturer was "Arnold", and "rapido" was not a manufacturer, but a name for a product line of N scale trains manufactured by "Arnold".  In those early days both  names were clearly shown on the product's boxes and in their catalogs.  I don;t ever recall seeing any of their products where only the name "rapido" was used on the packaging.  Same is done on the models. Look at the fuel tank of your Arnold F-units and you will see "ARNOLD rapido, WESTERN GERMANY".  Not just "arnold".

Here is an excerpt from one of the early Arnold's catalog of rapido products. Note how the copy uses "Arnold" as the name.



The Arnold company was bought and sold, and currently it is owned by Hornby.  At some point the rapido name of the N Scale line was dropped and contemporary Arnold N scale products only use the brand name "Arnold".

*  Rapido was always written in stylized lower case letters

[DKS]

Nice video Lee, but there is some inaccurate info in it.  You keep calling that early N scale manufacturer "rapido"*.  Well, the actual name of the manufacturer was "Arnold", and "rapido" was not a manufacturer, but a name for a product line of N scale trains manufactured by "Arnold".  In those early days both  names were clearly shown on the product's boxes and in their catalogs.  I don;t ever recall seeing any of their products where only the name "rapido" was used on the packaging.  Same is done on the models. Look at the fuel tank of your Arnold F-units and you will see "ARNOLD rapido, WESTERN GERMANY".  Not just "arnold".
...
The Arnold company was bought and sold, and currently it is owned by Hornby.  At some point the rapido name of the N Scale line was dropped and contemporary Arnold N scale products only use the brand name "Arnold".

*  Rapido was always written in stylized lower case letters

rapido the brand (as opposed to Arnold the company http://davidksmith.com/birth-of-n/arnold.htm ) is a term used to describe high-speed interurban railroads in Europe.

Interesting that they refer to their version of the Rokal coupler as "simplex-coupling," which AFAIK is not a trademarked term, and was not used before 1970. http://davidksmith.com/birth-of-n/rokal.htm

Minor brand-name quibbles notwithstanding, nice video, @wm3798 ! I love the coffee-grinder sequence at the beginning--surprisingly close in sound.

[glakedylan]

Back when I volunteered with Character Counts, I would do a lesson for the school kids called "TV is a time waster"...  Here now, for your viewing pleasure, is Episode 3, more evidence to support that theory.
Happy Hi Railing!
Lee

hey, Lee
not only fun to watch video...quite enjoyable with the trains running and your narration style and quality
but also educational!
i am learning so much about early n scale that i never knew.
i had an N Scale train set back in 1978, and around the Xmas tree concept in figure 8 style
but i had no information about it until i switched back to N scale in 2003
even then i knew very little
thanks for sharing. it is very appreciated!


sincerely
Gary

[Point353]

Nice video Lee, but there is some inaccurate info in it.  You keep calling that early N scale manufacturer "rapido"*.  Well, the actual name of the manufacturer was "Arnold", and "rapido" was not a manufacturer, but a name for a product line of N scale trains manufactured by "Arnold".  In those early days both  names were clearly shown on the product's boxes and in their catalogs.  I don;t ever recall seeing any of their products where only the name "rapido" was used on the packaging.  Same is done on the models. Look at the fuel tank of your Arnold F-units and you will see "ARNOLD rapido, WESTERN GERMANY".  Not just "arnold".

Here is an excerpt from one of the early Arnold's catalog of rapido products. Note how the copy uses "Arnold" as the name.



The Arnold company was bought and sold, and currently it is owned by Hornby.  At some point the rapido name of the N Scale line was dropped and contemporary Arnold N scale products only use the brand name "Arnold".

*  Rapido was always written in stylized lower case letters

Arnold N scale was also for a period imported by Revell.
At least some of their models had different roadnames than the Arnold Rapido models. 
For example, that D&RGW FP9 loco was likely a Revell Rapido unit.
http://davidksmith.com/postage-stamp-trains/revell_catalog_5.htm

[peteski]

Interesting that they refer to their version of the Rokal coupler as "simplex-coupling," which AFAIK is not a trademarked term, and was not used before 1970. http://davidksmith.com/birth-of-n/rokal.htm

"Arnold Simplex-coupling" does not refer to the coupler itself, but to the entire mechanism (including the coupler) that automatically raises the coupler for hands-free uncoupling. Basically the entire system of hands-free automatic uncoupling.  I don't believe Arnold ever had a specific name for their couplers (based on Rokal coupler). I believe it was the American modelers who named it "rapido coupler" to distinguish it from the Kadee Micro-Trains knuckle couplers.

Rapido Couplers are still widely used in European N scale. They also use "Profi" couplers, but Europeans don't use the "rapido coupler" name to describe that popular coupler which is still used in great majority of their N scale models.

But you already know all this David. 

[peteski]

Arnold N scale was also for a period imported by Revell.
At least some of their models had different roadnames than the Arnold Rapido models. 
For example, that D&RGW FP9 loco was likely a Revell Rapido unit.
http://davidksmith.com/postage-stamp-trains/revell_catalog_5.htm

Even so, if you were to look at the lettering engraved on the bottom of the fuel tank, it likely still stated "ARNOLD rapido, WEST GERMANY".

[DKS]

But you already know all this David. 

Actually I didn't, simply because I didn't pay much attention to Arnold after 1970.

[EJN]

I always thought the banner image of the Arnold a$$ power pack was photoshopped, but I see that it
is actually in the catalog page pictured above.

[wm3798]

Thanks for the great discussion, and for the clarification on the brand name.  Makes perfect sense.  I better do some more homework!
Maybe I'll add a phone in segment where Peteski and DKS can fact check me in real time!
This has been a fun project so far.  Sorry the layout is so small... I feel like it's getting repetitive...
Lee

[peteski]

Thanks for the great discussion, and for the clarification on the brand name.  Makes perfect sense.  I better do some more homework!
Maybe I'll add a phone in segment where Peteski and DKS can fact check me in real time!
This has been a fun project so far.  Sorry the layout is so small... I feel like it's getting repetitive...
Lee

LOL!

Hmm . . . I wonder if VintageNscaleFactCheck.org domain name is already taken? 

Repetiitive? No way!  Like a kaleidoscope, your layout might be small, but every time you look what you see is never the same.

[peteski]

I always thought the banner image of the Arnold a$$ power pack was Photoshopped, but I see that it
is actually in the catalog page pictured above.

Oh no, that is not Photoshopped.



My Arnold catalog has a full page devoted to this power pack (actually slightly different variant of the A$$ power pack).  There is no explanation on what A$$ means (I suspect it is a German acronym), but it is a throttle which had dual output: one "smooth" 0-12 volts DC, and second 0-8V pulsed DC for smooth switching operation. It also uses modern "diode technology" while other throttles probably still used selenium rectifiers.

Note that Arnold had this (and few other) power packs manufactured by Siemens. That's the company which also manufacturers 1:1 electric locomotives.

[nkalanaga]

Yes, as crude as some of it looks today, the Arnold N scale of the 1960s really was top-of-the-line as far as production standards.