HOJ-POJ Mfg. Co. ala Bart Crosby
This image was snipped from a larger photo in the Boomer Trail section of the May 1969 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. All it says is that Bart Crosby built it "from plans in the April 1968 RMC". April '68? Hmmm. It sure looks a lot like the HOJ POJ Mfg.Co. that E. L. Moore published in that issue. And since Mr. Crosby and Mr. Moore were good friends, well...And look at that over on the left, he even built that rascally water tower! Crosby's Yarns: Unbelievably Preposterous! 'Nuff Said.
Good catch. No doubt it was made by ELM and sent off to Crosby. The one you fixed was a duplicate, also from the hands of ELM.
ReplyDeleteAlthough we'll never know for sure if Mr. Crosby's is a multiple, if I look closely at the model, it seems more in Mr. Crosby's style than ELM's. In the late '40s and into the '50s, there were many photos of Mr. Crosby's work in the model railroad press, and what's visible in this photo looks consistent with how he built models. (On a side note, I had the good fortune to speak with Mr. Crosby's daughter 2 years ago and she informed that none of her fathers work still exists, it had all either been given away or disposed of, not even papers, letters or articles remain, she had no record of what he published - well, maybe some of that given away material is still out there, but where is anybody's question).
DeleteRegarding the HOJ-POJ model I restored. I'm confident it is the original. If one compares the model's surfaces to the published photos, all the details - placement of the paper metal, window and door details paint streaks and so on - line up with those in the photos. Given everything he did was by hand, no multiple could be an exact replica of the original at that level of detail. Also, according to its original owner, the model was part of a collection that ELM gave his father when he and his father visited ELM sometime in '68 or '69. It sounded like ELM wanted to free up some space in his apartment, and the buildings were going to appear on a hobby store layout.
I do not know where to air this, but understand comments are moderated so perhaps you will move it to a more appropriate spot.
ReplyDeletemany yeas ago - late '50s? - there was an author for Model Trains (I believe) named Eric Lanal or something similar which was the nom de plume for Dr Allen Lake Rice. also Eugene Le Doux was another author if memory serves.
these fellows seemed as much characters as the railroads they built, yielding reinforcement that modeling is truly an artistic expression.
Yes, I've come across many works by those people and have much enjoyed them. Eugene Le Doux is a particular favourite because I tried a number of his projects back when I was getting into the hobby in the '70s when his articles were reprinted in some Kalmbach book. You're right, there are many fascinating - and largely untold - stories behind those articles and the people who wrote them. Right now I'm reading though a lot of Gil Melle stuff and greatly enjoying it.
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