Re: C&S Brass, Any Scale, Listed on eBay

Posted by Jim Courtney on
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/C-S-Brass-Any-Scale-Listed-on-eBay-tp12787p16060.html

What I find fascinating is that all the Overland C&S offerings, in both On3 and Sn3, were imported in a narrow window of time, between 1985 and 1990. IMHO that had a lot to do with Harry Brunk's Up Clear Creek series in the NG&SL Gazette. The C&S was very popular in the 1980's and early 1990's, at least among the Sn3 crowd. No other C&S brass imports would occur after 1990, until PBL brought in the 3 Brooks B4-Fs in 2007. That's it for the C&S in Sn3. All of us C&S Sn3 folks have to fight for the same locomotives as they become available at estate sales.

Who knew that the golden age of brass locomotives was right then.


I agree, the early 1990s was an inflection point of sorts. Labor costs in South Korea began to rise almost exponentially about that time, as they had in Japan about 10-15 years earlier. While one might pay $400-600 for an unpainted Sn3 brass locomotive with marginal running characteristics, paying $800-1,000 for the same model was a bitter pill to swallow.

The brass importers that thrived thereafter (PBL in Sn3, W&R/Precision/Division Point in HO) began offering well engineered, smooth running models with factory paint jobs, and folks would pay $900-1,500 for them. PBL went further and offered factory sound and Jimmy Booth's custom weathering, with the "Foreground" locomotives bringing in $1,100-1,700 each. The Korean manufacturers that thrived in this new market were Samhongsa and Boo-Rim.

By the new millennium, most Sn3 folks had turned to modeling the D&RGW and RGS -- it was just easier (if a whole lot more expensive).