What Happened to the Ertl Collectibles HO line?

[David Inman]

When I first started with HO trains, I recall Ertl was making some 1:87 stuff. What happened? Simply not enough sales?
 

[Stan - Florida]

Are you from Iowa?

Stan
 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

The HO line came out in the early '90s, around the time Fred Ertl Jr. retired. The line was retired shortly before or when RC2 took over. It was a great line! Train shows, that are more second-hand friendly, should have an abundance of Ertl's "Authentic Railway Designs" inventory between vendors.

Mike
 

[David Inman]

I'm from Az. Main reason I'm recall the line is in 1999, when I was 7 and first beginning with HO, I had the Walthers HO reference book that listed it. Few years later, when my collection was growing to the point I was ready to add such stuff as the Ertl, it was gone...and I never really knew why. I guess luckily Athearn started making nice JD tractors in HO. Now I like JD a fair amount, and have all the antherns except the combine and disk, but Athearn is horrendously color blind-- nothing but JD. And face it, that is just not realistic. Anyhow, long story short, I wish the ertal line had lived longer, as based on their 1/64 line, eventually they might have made more than just the few JD's and IHC's... Maybe AC, MM, Case, Massey etc.
And with a little work, I do know it's possible to alter some of the available HO stuff into many more than just JD. Unfortunately some makes (Allis particularly) I find can only be obtained through the use of a tape measure, and scale ruler-- basically from scratch, which works fine when you've got acuess to the real tractor, but not so well when you don't. I tried to make a 45 by photos only, and the thing turned out looking more like a CA!
 

[David Inman]

I'm from Az. Main reason I'm recall the line is in 1999, when I was 7 and first beginning with HO, I had the Walthers HO reference book that listed it. Few years later, when my collection was growing to the point I was ready to add such stuff as the Ertl, it was gone...and I never really knew why. I guess luckily Athearn started making nice JD tractors in HO. Now I like JD a fair amount, and have all the antherns except the combine and disk, but Athearn is horrendously color blind-- nothing but JD. And face it, that is just not realistic. Anyhow, long story short, I wish the ertal line had lived longer, as based on their 1/64 line, eventually they might have made more than just the few JD's and IHC's... Maybe AC, MM, Case, Massey etc.
And with a little work, I do know it's possible to alter some of the available HO stuff into many more than just JD. Unfortunately some makes (Allis particularly) I find can only be obtained through the use of a tape measure, and scale ruler-- basically from scratch, which works fine when you've got acuess to the real tractor, but not so well when you don't. I tried to make a 45 by photos only, and the thing turned out looking more like a CA!
 

[Stan - Florida]

If you use eBay, there are some 1/87 John Deeres on there at the moment.

In eBay, do a search for Deere +A
Be sure to leave a space between the e and the + and no space between the + and the A.

Stan
 

[brian(MN)]

Ertl did make some good HO stuff. The cars were assmembled, hence a higher price and did not sell well. Now, just about every car is assembled and higher priced yet. They were a ahead of the times I guess. You can find them at model railroad flea markets and ebay.
 

[David Inman]

Yah, Athearn made most of the major JD's, but the prototype manufactures are under represented. If I had the time/money/space, I figure I'd be much happier to buy American Flyer S gauge 1:64 trains, and then I could find just about any brand and model of tractor made, if I just watch eBay long enough. It always strikes me as ironic--Ertl makes 1:64 and 1:16 tractors, but in the model train world 1:87 and 1:48 are arguably your top two sizes, and I'd argue 1:160 has greater sales than 1:64. And 1:16? I'm not even sure there are ready to run trains in that size.

Thanks anyhow.