Polk's/Aristo-Craft Announces The End

[Earle Baldwin]

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Bob

[umtrr-author]

Sad to see it go. I not only went to Polk's in Manhattan but also their relatively short-lived branch in Woodbridge Center in New Jersey. (They were one of the original tenants.) I purchased many a Postage Stamp N Scale Freight Car there.

Based on the comments in the above cited thread, it looks like Kader/Sanda Kan/Bachmann just absorbed another competitor.

[scottychaos]

Based on the comments in the above cited thread, it looks like Kader/Sanda Kan/Bachmann just absorbed another competitor.

Yep, probably..
although if that is true, it's not necessarily bad news for Large Scale modelers! we might see Aristocraft products under a new name..
China owns it all..
And Bachmann already announced their first ever 1/29 scale, standard gauge model about 6 months ago..a first for Bachmann.
That, plus today's Aristo news, are probably not coincidental.

Scot

[CNJ999]

How truly sad. The Polk firm was a cornerstone in the hobby's history. Their 5-story hobby shop in Manhattan had no equal anywhere - ever.

I still vividly recall the Polks' Astro-Craft Distinctive Miniatures line of early die cast HO vintage locomotives from the late 1950's, imported from Japan and sold under the New One Model brand name. Some of these were among the most unique models offered to hobbyist in the annals of HO. I wrote an article appearing in RMC perhaps a score of years ago addressing these one-of-a-kind HO models and their collectability. Most examples originally sold in the $9.95 to $15.95 range, very cheap by the era's standards and a lot less than the federal inflation tables equivalent tries to make this sound today. The Polks were among the earliest importers of brass models from Japan and were responsible for introducing the Rivarossi line of trains to America. We'll never see their like again in the hobby.

Little by little the hobby is eroding away, especially given the poor economy that seems to go on endessly for most of us. What can possibly be left in another 20 years?

CNJ999