O GaugeWatch.com

Ready Made Trains has announced the formation of the 2010 RMT Conductors Club.  According to RMT:

This Club is named to honor America’s railroad conductors, a well known and unique railroad profession….

The RMT® CONDUCTORS CLUB will be a yearly membership and includes for 2010, depending upon enrollment date, a special CC edition railcar available only to club members. Membership is open now and the special edition car will be available by Spring 2010. 2010 MEMBERSHIP cost is only $49.95…

The 2010 railcar offered is from original 1950’s era KUSAN flatcar tooling, upgraded with additional details…diecast metal trucks/couplers including a unique BEEP® diesel body load + BEEPeople® conductor figure. The flatcar load commemorates RMT®’s first offering…the BEEP® diesel. This special edition will be offered for sale only to clubmembers and is not listed on the RMT website.

The first 100 members for 2010 will be charter members and will receive their railcar with a unique ‘1 of only 100′ BEEP® CONRAIL body load.

View all the details of the club here.

Walter Matuch of Ready Made Toys is again leading an effort to spread some Christmas cheer to soldiers stationed in the Middle East.  A few years ago Walter coordinated an effort to send an O Gauge Christmas layout complete with trains and scenery to  a US Navy Seabee named Lance and his unit in Iraq.  The layout was a big hit for Lance and his fellow Seabees.

Lance is back in the Middle East for another tour and he and his unit are stationed in Afghanistan building an airstrip.  Walter with the help of other O Gauge companies has arranged for another layout to be sent to the Seabees.  The accommodations for the Seabees are a far cry from what they had in Iraq so space is a premium.  This year’s layout will only be 30″ by 48″.

So how can you help?  You may feel compelled to donate some train items for the layout but since the layout is so small there isn’t a need for that.  Instead, Walter is asking for you to show your support by sending the Seabees a Christmas card and he will make it very easy for you to do so.   All you have to do is send your Christmas cards and notes to Walter and he will take care of getting them to the Seabees in Afghanistan.

Send your Christmas cards (no packages please) to:

US NAVY Seabee Lance
c/o Ready Made Trains, LLC
P.O. Box 173
Bloomsbury, NJ 08804

Cut off date for your card to arrive at RMT®’s Bloomsbury, NJ address is no later than November 30, 2009. Cards and notes will be packed up unopened and sent off by Priority Mail to Afghanistan to arrive by Christmas.

Please take a moment to make this holiday season a little brighter for the brave soldiers volunteering to serve and protect our country.  A big thanks to Walter for coordinating this effort.

Fans of NJ Transit will be excited to hear this:

Bloomsbury, NJ…Walter M. Matuch, president of Ready Made Trains, LLC has announced a licensing arrangement with New Jersey Transit Corporation, operator of NJ’s commuter rail system that will allow RMT to produce O/0-27 gauge 3-rail toy train locomotives and railcars with the distinctive NJ TRANSIT logo and markings.

The NJ TRANSIT system is well known throughout the country as a premier railroad transit system with trains carrying thousands of commuter rail passengers each day to destinations throughout New Jersey and into New York City says Matuch. NJ TRANSIT is a welcome addition to the Ready Made Toys line that currently features many colorful toy trains from America’s historic and current rail lines.

Previously RMT had only produced NJ TRANSIT items as special limited edtion offerings but now will have NJ TRANSIT logoed BEEP diesels, BEEF diesels, BUDDY railcars and a caboose as part of the complete RMT product line.

Enjoyed by train hobbyists around the world including members of our Armed Forces in Iraq, RMT’s toy trains features durable, detailed and inexpensive locomotives and railcars.

The NJ TRANSIT caboose will be arriving during November, 2007 with additional NJ TRANSIT items to follow. 

For additional information, please contact Ready Made Toys at 908-479-1279 or online at www.readymadetoys.com

Thank you.

Back in January ‘07, Ready Made Toys announced a new addition to their product line, a smooth sided 2 Bay Coal Hopper.  The hopper is being reproduced by RMT from tooling originally created by Kusan, a plastics company that also manufactured toys.  Kusan exited the business of making toy trains in the early 1960’s.   RMT supplied me with a pre-production sample of the new car in Con Edison livery for this review.

Continue to read Review: Ready Made Toys 2 Bay Coal Hopper

READY MADE TRAINS, LLC introduces 7 new roadnames to the COAL HOPPER series of "Ready Made Toys" 0/0-27 scale toy trains… freight cars suitable for both the steam and diesel era with railroad names to represent old favorites, ‘fallen flags’, shortlines, and today’s newest regional carriers and mega-railroads as the listing grows.

The following 7 additional  roadnames, each with 2 different roadnumbers per railroad, will now be offered with delivery starting Fall, 2007:

Click on the link below to read on

Continue to read New Announcement from Ready Made Trains