Why is there so much Horn Hook rolling stock floating around the used market?

[ChinaHaun19]

I model in both HO and N, among other sizes.

When I shop for used HO and N rolling stock, there are inexpensive options the plenty, used stuff. But theres a weirdness. Almost all of this inexpensive but nice-looking rolling stock is fitted with Horn Hook. I can understand stuff being sold without refitting the couplers because it costs money to do that which you won't easily recoup. But still, it is weird to me that this Horn Hook stuff dominates the used market, in both my local hobby store as well as online, because Horn Hook is not all that popular.

I would expect to see lots of Kadee or Kadee clone stuff out there as well, but it seems tough to find.

That is weird to me. Is it just that the Horn Hook is what languishes?

 

[bnsf971]

Horn hook was the standard for many decades, and is on nearly everything sold before 1999 or so. Back then, rolling stock was relatively cheap, and people bought it by the case. 60 years' worth of stuff is now being sold, as the people that bought it are no longer among us. Newer stuff with knuckle couplers has only had about 20 years or so to accumulate, younger people are still around holding on to it, and production numbers are less to begin with. Stuff that has knuckle couplers will also be what sellers/collectors will hang on to the longest, since they don't need to upgrade it to use it. There's more to it than that, but that's the tip of the iceberg.

 

[Selector]

The aging demographic of modelers is such that you're seeing a divestiture of holdings. It might be estates, it might be wiser guys knowing when to get rid of reasonably useful and valuable model trains and rolling stock before they can't do it any longer. It's simply the age of those letting stuff go and flooding the market with what they got used to using and what they appreciated....for the very same reason I and you do; it works.

 

[ChinaHaun19]

Horn hook was the standard for many decades, and is on nearly everything sold before 1999 or so. Back then, rolling stock was relatively cheap, and people bought it by the case. 60 years' worth of stuff is now being sold, as the people that bought it are no longer among us. Newer stuff with knuckle couplers has only had about 20 years or so to accumulate, younger people are still around holding on to it, and production numbers are less to begin with. Stuff that has knuckle couplers will also be what sellers/collectors will hang on to the longest, since they don't need to upgrade it to use it. There's more to it than that, but that's the tip of the iceberg.

I think just about everything in the world you could consume was cheaper before about 2001. 2001-2002 was a low point where 1990s wages remained in place but inflation had advanced, and although things have not really gotten any better, at least in recent years wages have kept pace with inflation. But before 2001, and unfortunately before I was old enough to care for that matter, People could simply live more for less. While I yearn for such a prosperity I am also aware that consumption is bad for earth though.

Enough of all that.

Thanks for your response, as well as the other guy's response, answers what I asked.

With that I will say something else that is weird....

Everyone knows about O gauge Realtrax. But...did you know that MTH Realtrax comes in Standard Gauge as well as HO?

 

[D&J RailRoad]

get rid of this useless stuff before it becomes trash bin filler.
Some tried the hobby and moved on. This stuff has been sitting in musty basements and hot attics for decades or the kiddies have used em for smash and crash under the Christmas tree.

 

[Bigboy57]

I still use horn hooks on my ore cars except the first coupler and the last one in the group, which are kadee’s. Advantage is they never separate in the wrong place on a siding where they pass over a magnetic uncoupler.

 

[beiland]

Interesting idea there Bigboy57

 

[cv_acr]

I model in both HO and N, among other sizes.

When I shop for used HO and N rolling stock, there are inexpensive options the plenty, used stuff. But theres a weirdness. Almost all of this inexpensive but nice-looking rolling stock is fitted with Horn Hook. I can understand stuff being sold without refitting the couplers because it costs money to do that which you won't easily recoup. But still, it is weird to me that this Horn Hook stuff dominates the used market, in both my local hobby store as well as online, because Horn Hook is not all that popular.

It was mass-produced on all cheap plastic trains for 5 decades.

Kadees have been around for a while, but plastic clones of the Kadee design being included in kits only started around 2000, and RTR a few years later than that.

 

[Selector]

I still use horn hooks on my ore cars except the first coupler and the last one in the group, which are kadee’s. Advantage is they never separate in the wrong place on a siding where they pass over a magnetic uncoupler.

I did the same thing on my first layout....coupled the first to my locomotive with a Kadee, and I left the rest horn-hook. Last car also had a rear Kadee for the caboose.

 

[Rico]

To answer the question why so many in the used market, it’s simply most of us like to keep our KD's so we switch em out before selling.
On the lower end cars I’m guilty.

 

[Bigboy57]

It was mass-produced on all cheap plastic trains for 5 decades.

Kadees have been around for a while, but plastic clones of the Kadee design being included in kits only started around 2000, and RTR a few years later than that.

Back in the ‘60s and early ‘70s horn hook was the desired standard (at least in our neck of the woods). We replaced other couplers to install the horn hooks but I grew to hate them. They require too much speed to engage and look unsightly & oversized. The kadee’s have really changed the market for the better imo. I really like being able to operate a switch yard hands free.

 

[Twinboystrains]

I second the post by Rico. If I'm parting ways with some of my locos and rolling stock, the MT couplers and Intermountain metal wheels stay. Plenty of plastic wheels and other brands couplers in the parts box. I'm sure others have noticed the prices going up and availability low.

 

[Iron Horseman]

Everyone knows about O gauge Realtrax. But...did you know that MTH Realtrax comes in Standard Gauge as well as HO?

I had never heard of Realtrax in any gauge.

 

[ChinaHaun19]

I had never heard of Realtrax in any gauge.

I think you are making fun of me...

But in case you are not, Realtrax is track made by MTH. It comes in Standard Gauge 3 rail, and O gauge 3 rail. In both cases, this track is tubular that is embedded in a nice plastic roadbed. Both gauges of Realtrax resemble Lionel Fastrack, but the Standard Gauge Realtrax especially looks like Fastrack.


O gauge Fastrack

 

[Twinboystrains]

I think you are making fun of me...

But in case you are not, Realtrax is track made by MTH. It comes in Standard Gauge 3 rail, and O gauge 3 rail. In both cases, this track is tubular that is embedded in a nice plastic roadbed. Both gauges of Realtrax resemble Lionel Fastrack, but the Standard Gauge Realtrax especially looks like Fastrack.


O gauge Fastrack
View attachment 146331

Which one would be Unitrack quality?

 

[ChinaHaun19]

Which one would be Unitrack quality?

Since the two variants of Realtrax are in fact designed quite differently, this is a valid question. So with Standard Gauge Realtrax, the road bed is light grey and the connection is very simple: Pins connect into the hollow rail. This track is almost identical in function and appearance to Lionel Fastrack O gauge.

The O gauge Realtrax has connectors that are much more similar to Unitrack. Short plastic protrusions that snap into place just like Unitrack. The soft copper tabs which meet when assembled are notorious for bending out of shape with repeated use but I have never had serious issues with them because I am gentle.

 

[Iron Horseman]

I think you are making fun of me...

But in case you are not, Realtrax is track made by MTH. It comes in Standard Gauge 3 rail, and O gauge 3 rail. In both cases, this track is tubular that is embedded in a nice plastic roadbed. Both gauges of Realtrax resemble Lionel Fastrack, but the Standard Gauge Realtrax especially looks like Fastrack.

No, I'm not. BUT that explains it. I totally ignored MTH. I considered them company "non grata", and not worth even mentioning their name. This was becasue of all their frivial law suites of the early 2000's that put so many companies at an inconvenience and crippled the whole hobby for those years. I was so glad when I heard they were going out of business.

 

[ChinaHaun19]

No, I'm not. BUT that explains it. I totally ignored MTH. I considered them company "non grata", and not worth even mentioning their name. This was becasue of all their frivial law suites of the early 2000's that put so many companies at an inconvenience and crippled the whole hobby for those years. I was so glad when I heard they were going out of business.

This is bad. It is also before my time however as well. I mean I was a teenager in the early 2000's but I did not run model trains at that point. I was entering a period where I was not treating my ADHD and as a result became a really grubby person full of lame choices and ran a GPA of about 1.5.

In any case, I did not know that there was drama with MTH at any point. But I did know that an era came to an end for them a couple years ago and now their "tooling" as they say got picked up elsewhere. Up until late, their Realtrax O gauge track was NOT part of the tooling that got picked up by anyone else, and as such, merchants have slowly sold out of their Realtrax.

I have heard rumors that some people expect that Realtrax will ultimately be picked up, while others say no, and that the only Realtrax you will be finding soon is used Realtrax. I was able to buy a lot of new Realtrax at a local hobby store throughout 2021, and now most of that is gone. I kept enough of the stuff to keep a 11 x 8 foot loop, and sold the rest as I began shifting my attention to G and HO.

I speak out from time to time about O gauge Realtrax because I like it. It has its share of problems and the switches have complaints, but overall for me it is a very pleasant looking track and sounds more pleasant than Fastrack when running the trains. Fastrack will rust, but Realtrax O gauge will not because it is nickel silver. I don't know anything at all about Standard Gauge Realtrax or what that is made of.

 

[otiscnj]

Interesting idea there Bigboy57

I've used the same idea on a unit coal train I've had for years. 2, 3, and 4 car strings. Saves some money. If the train is pretty much going to be staying together, or you're not going to be switching single cars, you can save a pair of couplers on a 2 car set.