Frisco Models

Modelers seeking out of production Frisco HO and N scale items might check out these dealers:

As of July 2012

www.preownedtrains.com Bill has one Athearn HO scale Frisco hopper car and four N scale cars, one boxcar and three hopper cars. He has lots of nice price HO and N scale freight cars that are just right for repaints or operation on layouts where your children or grandkids can get hands on training without any danger of messing up your prized Frisco equipment.

www.jaystrains.com has sveral HO scale Frisco diesel offerings by Atlas, Athearn, Stewart and even an old metal MDC/Roundhouse boxcar. It has seen better days but for a collector or modeler who needs a battered boxcar for the RIP track might be just right? The price is a bit steep in my opinion but am sure Jay might take any reasonable offer or trade!

www.chucksbrasstrains.com sells brass, non-brass, books and decals. No Frisco offerings at the moment, he is constantly buying collections. I missed an HO scale PFM Frisco 2-10-0 last year that he had priced at $99.00 While not planning to model in HO now, it would still have made a great "paper weight!" He currently has an HO scale brass Eagle Import KCS/L&A porthole caboose made by Ajin. Will work on any Frisco layout that interchanges with either road. He takes trades too.

I checked out www.caboosehobbies.com and note that they have two full pages of Frisco items in books and all scales. Not bad for the Frisco!

Joe Toth

 

Bill at www.preownedtrains.com has newly listed HO scale brass items: A sanding tower, oil column and an oil bunker to conver a coal tender to oil. He still has lots of out of production plastic freight cars in both HO and N scale, many for $4.00 or less. Bill's site is like an online flea market and just fun to window shop and is updated frequently enough to worth checking back on a regular basis. Anyone collecting vintage Frisco models, even if not prototypically correct, there are two HO Tyco Frisco 50' auto carriers. These models are perfect for the younger set just getting interested in HO scale who can add a couple of inexpensive Frisco freight cars to the roster and not suffer a big loss if involved in a derailment.

Joe Toth

 

If i remember correctly most if not all locomotives will track on Code 83 rail without "Riding the Ties". Foreign made locomotives produced back then such as those from Rivorissi were the ones that didn't like Code 70 track. Others my want to weigh in here.

 

Jim,

You will be able to run any Mantua on rail as low as code 55. Their flanges are not the oversized, like the AHM/Rivarossi. The 10 wheeler you bought actually scales out to "S" scale and is a bit oversized. Enjoy none the less.

Manny

 

Let me know if you want to add a valve gear set up. I converted every possible Mantua to have it. Valve gear, steam chests, etc.

 

Manny mentioned to Jim James: "The 10 wheeler you bought actually scales out to "S" scale and is a bit oversized."

Well, if drivers 2 and 3 are more separated than drivers 1 and 2, it could end up as a 1400 series. They were the biggest 4-6-0's the Frisco had.

See http://www.frisco.org/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=3591&d=1148389642
or http://www.frisco.org/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=1995&d=1131712980 if a Vanderbilt-style tender fits your fancy.

As always, it will be fun to watch progress if you care to share it with us.

 

Glad you found a blast from the past Jim. Bill moves a lot of HO and N scale trains at attractive prices. Many can be repainted and decaled or as I mentioned, great to get the younger set into model railroading without risking damage to the higher priced super detailed models. If a 2 dollar gondola goes over the edge of the table it can always be put on the RIP track with no large investment lost. LOL

The Mantua 4-6-0 is a good start for modeling in Sn3 but as mentioned there were large 4-6-0s so it is still a good HO model as well.

I have ordered from Bill and picked up a mint copy of Katy Power last year.

Joe Toth