"Thomas Baker" wrote:
> 6. Inside the front cover is an advertisement from Enhorning, at
that time in Chicago. The ad lists the variety of F7 diesels
available in about 28 road names. Did this outfit sell very many?
Hi Tom....."S"peaking as one of the gray heads, I can relate an
interesting tale regarding the Enhorning Bros. and their F-unit
endeavors. This might not be the total story, but I think it
represents a goodly chunk of the history. It all started when EMD
was looking for some promotional gifts for their F-unit customers.
They had sort of decided on a static display model that could be
placed on a desk or maybe a shelf. HO was too small to be
impressive. O scale was considered too large for the typical space
available. So S, with it's perfect size, became the choice.
Somehow, EMD and Enhorning got connected and started talking.
Enhorning realized that if EMD financed the body/floor/trucks
molds/tooling, the major cost elements would already be paid for.
This EMD display model was unpowered. Thus, the Enhornings would
only have to add a motor, gears, etc. none of which required much, if
any, tooling. Enhorning got the EMD contract and the project got
started. How many of the static display models were actually
produced and sold to EMD is unknown -- at least to me.
I think there were two generations of operating S scale diesels from
Enhorning. The first had brass -- or was it aluminum -- wheels which
suffered from arcing, pitting, poor electrical contact, and probably
a few other things as well. I seem to remember nobody was impressed
much with the running qualities after a period of time. Also, due to
the mold design, the cooling of the molten plastic caused warpage in
the roof of the F-unit just behind the cab. Thus the
phrase "Enhorning Hump" came into popular use to describe the upward
bulge that resulted. I suppose EMD didn't care about the bulge, but
the rivet counting modelers sure noticed it.
The second generation of F-units was announced at about the time I
entered S scale. I was thrilled with the NYC lightning stripe paint
scheme in their advertisements. Reminded me of the Hobbytown ads in
HO. Loved those lightning stripes!! Anyway, if I remember
correctly, the new generation was to have a better motor, better
wheels, better this and better that. And so I sent in a deposit and
waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Waiting was part of
the S scale game way back in the '60s just like it is today. Month
after month, the ads implied it was only going to be a short while
more.
Eventually, I tired of waiting and took matters into my own hands. I
telephoned them. Now this was back in the days when long distance
phone calls cost serious money. No such thing as the "300-minute
plan" back then. So I called Enhorning in Michigan all the way from
the Los Angeles area where I lived at the time. One of the Enhorning
brothers actually answered the phone and we embarked on a discussion
of what was happening with the F-unit project.
He summarized it neatly for me by saying (paraphrased): "It is all
done except for the magnet." I asked, "What magnet?" He then went
into a long dissertation about how they were going to make their own
motors and were experimenting with iron particles (dust) and were
thinking of compressing them in a mold to form a magnet for the
motor. The experiments were taking longer than expected, but
everything else was completed. I asked why they didn't just buy a
motor instead of making their own. He replied that commercial motors
were "not good enough" or something similar. And so the waiting game
was to continue for an indefinite time until the magnetic dust
experiments were concluded.
After some cogitation, I wrote to Enhorning and asked that they send
me all the plastic parts they had (which they did) and then I started
looking around for something to power them with. Jon Beveridge -- or
was it Locomotive Workshop -- came upon the scene back then with
power units and that solved the problem. Total elapsed time to get
an F-unit back then was well over three or four years -- forgot the
exact time frame, but there was no such thing as instant
gratification. None at all!!
I also remember writing a letter to Frank Titman suggesting that
running ads that unrealistically promised an F-unit were not doing S
scale any favors since, in reality, it was going to be years away if
at all. I felt being honest about the situation was better and,
apparently, Frank agreed because the Enhorning ads were discontinued
at about that time. To the best of my knowledge, the so-called
second generation of powered Enhorning diesels never made it to
market. I would still be waiting for an F-unit today except for Tom
Marsh, Jim Kindraka, Don Thompson and Ron Bashista all of whom have
brought us F-units in one form or another over the years.
Cheers...Ed L.
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