| Ed Alexander
August 14, 1905 - August 13, 1981 |
| Model Railroader |
|
Model Builder
- custom
work
- agent
for: Fred Icken, Barker, P. Egolf, Ashley and others in the 1920's.
- promoted
O gauge at the 1933-1934 World's Fair in Chicago with a project for the prototype railroads. He designed the operating
O gauge multi-tracked layout for the C&O.
- The
locomotives on the layout had Icken mechanisms and superstructures that Ed had built for him locally in Philadelphia
(builder unknown).
- He
also produced a set of cast-aluminum cars for the PRR himself (later marketed under the E.P. Alexander label).
- One
of the original cast-aluminum streamlined passenger cars by Ed Alexander which had notes that it had run in the
Eastern
Presidents Show at the 1939 New York World's Fair had a home in Dan B. Henon's Collection until his death
in 1994. Then it was sold at auction.
- Produced
a number of PRR heavyweight passenger cars for the Pennsy. These were built in two separate lots, the first in
1930-1934 for the Chicago World's Fair, and the second group in 1939-1940. Ed commissioned Sam Skean of Trenton,
New Jersey, to photograph these cars before delivering them to the railroad.
- In
1972, he was able to buy several of these for his own collection at the Penn Central Auction.
- At
the same auction, six more of the heavyweights were bought by Ed Tracy.
- at
age 75, Ed was a dynamic person and far from retired. His last weeks were spent working on:
- book
on the General
where
he found there were more than one engine in the chase than recorded by previous historians.
- A
model of the Tiger
- A
new revision of the Budd cars with two types of observation cars as well as a dome car
- A
new run of six GG-1's with new drives.
- An
HO version of the Rocket with two coaches completed and ready for the public.
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Manufacturer
- First
mail order model railroad catalog (gauge 0) name varied on publications carried a complete line of locomotives, cars, structures, parts, and custom made models.
Only variance found was the name… Railroad vs. Railway.
- American
Model Railroad Co. (1927 ad,
1937 catalog)
- the
1937 catalog showed the 4-4-0 suggested retail prices:
- $125
for a finished locomotive.
- $66
for a kit with machined parts.
- $37
for raw castings.
- American
Model Railway Co. (1928-1930
ads)
- Alexander Scale Models
and later just E.P. Alexander
- NYC #999 4-4-0 kit
- PRR Early Class Q 4-4-0
- PRR K4s XX
- C&O Mike
- DeWitt Clinton
- Tunnel Portals, single
& double
- Scale O oil pump kit with
31 highly detailed castings
- Scale O oil well pump kit
with 25 highly detailed castings
- 1933, a casting set for
a C&O Mike
- a few PRR class P
- NH electric
- PRR
heavyweight cars
- NYC streamlined Budd Cars
in O: all metal, aluminum extrusions.
- in scale and "shorty"
lengths
- 18 types of window arrangements
- lost-wax brass trucks
- PRR
GG-1 kits
- composite
passenger cars
- combined
wood-milled shapes with cast aluminum sides and ends to make cars that would not warp.
- 1800's
figures
- Civil
War guns and limbers
- Additional information
is available upon request from the Walthers Collection library of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA). E-mail them for more details.
- Following his death, Alexander's
business and many collections took years to sell. Most tales regarding these were merely rumors.
- An art dealer in Princeton,
New Jersey (unnamed) may have gotten all of the papers and photographs with subjects ranging from the Civil War
to fairly modern railroad structures.
- Bob Stevenson of St. Charles,
Illinois opened the Stevenson Preservation Lines in 2000. The
company has acquired the rights to the parts and kits in a number of master modelers and began advertising Alexander
parts and kits in 2001.
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Author
- "Building a Model Box Car", (ar)
Railroad Stories. August 1932
- Model Railroads; Planning,
Construction, Operation,
by Edwin P. Alexander. New York, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1940. 283 p. incl. front., illus., diagrs. fold.
plates. LOC# 41001443
- Iron horses; American
Locomotives, 1829-1900,
by E.P. Alexander. New York, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1941. 239 p. incl. illus., 96 pl. LOC# 41025857
- The Pennsylvania Railroad,
a Pictorial History,
by Edwin P. Alexander. 1st ed. New York, W.W. Norton, 1947. 248 p. ill., maps, facsims. LOC# 47012537
- American Locomotives;
a Pictorial Record of Steam Power, 1900-1950, by Edwin P. Alexander. New York, Bonanza Books. 1950. 254 p. illus.. LOC# 50011928
- The Collector's Book
of the Locomotive,
by Edwin P. Alexander. 1st ed. New York, C.N. Potter. 1966.
197 p. illus. (part col.) LOC# 66022409
- Down at the Depot; American
Railroad Stations from 1831 to 1920, by Edwin P. Alexander. 1st ed. New York, C.N. Potter; distributed by Crown Publishers.
1970. 320 p. illus., plans LOC# 77086510
- On the Main Line; the
Pennsylvania Railroad in the 19th century, by Edwin P. Alexander. 1st ed. New York, C.N. Potter; distributed by Crown Publishers.
1971. 310 p. illus., maps LOC# 70118297
- Civil War railroads
& models,
by Edwin P. Alexander. 1st ed. New York, C.N. Potter; distributed by Crown Publishers. 1977. 255 p. illus. LOC#
77004680 [2nd edition distributed by Crown Publishers 1989. LOC# 88039068]
- The Pennsylvania Railroad:
a Pictorial History,
by Edwin P. Alexander. New York: Bonanza Books, 1984, c1967. 240 p. LOC# 84020438
- also articles in Model Railroader, Model Craftsman
& the later Railroad Model Craftsman, TCA Quarterly, and more.
- In the TCA Quarterly, he
gave an account of how his model railroading "The Wheel Turns Full Circle" describing how his interest
in the hobby originally centered in tinplate train collecting, then changed over to O Scale model building and
operation (including outdoor live steam operation) moved on to industrial railroad model building and returned
to tinplate toy train collecting.
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Founder of the TCA, Train Collectors Association, December 10, 1954
- The first meeting of what would become the TCA
was held in Ed's barn in Yardley, Pennsylvania on December 10, 1954. From its modest beginning, the TCA has grown
into a worldwide organization of over 31,000 members whose mission is to preserve model train collecting by promoting
the significance and enjoyment of model railroading. Ed Alexander, Bill Krames and five others went on to incorporate the association as a Non-Profit
Corporation of the State of Pennsylvania on March 15, 1957.
- TCA
Honorary Charter Member #4
- see
name on plaque at the national headquarters
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Held Pennsylvania Railroad Photo Pass #1
|
| NMRA Member, Awarded the NMRA Distinguished Service
Award |
| Model Railroad Industry Association (MRIA) Hall
of Fame, 1985 |
