What Happened to the Ertl Collectibles HO line?

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

Are you from Iowa?

Stan

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

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!

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!

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

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.

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.