Howard Winther OO models on display at TCA museum

Regular readers of American OO Today know there are a number of articles here relating to the early (and award winning) American OO models by Howard Winther. A pioneer in the scale, his first article on his early OO gauge modelwork is found in the February, 1933 issue of The Modelmaker, back in the days before there was a dedicated model railroad magazine!

Winther really had some skills, and in particular won several awards with his OO models at the early NYSME shows, which led to them being featured a number of times in the hobby press.

It turned out that his beautiful models had been carefully packed and stored over all the years. With the generous help of both of his TCA member sons (who stumbled onto my OO history series when it was being written) I was able to produce an article for the TCA Quarterly (April, 2014), which is described here.  These models were and are a window into some of the best model railroading had to offer from the early days of the hobby; it was great to feature them and their story, focusing on photos of them in the hobby press of the 1930s and photos of the models today.

But the story has not ended there! These photos are of the models now on display at the National Toy Train Museum in Strasburg, PA. They have their own special display case!

This second photo is of the display itself and do click on it for a better view. You can see the article displayed prominently, along with one of his awards, several structures, and of course the trains that will be familiar from the articles here. For a view of many of them, pre-TCA, follow this link (the "label" Winther in this site) and scroll down past the most recent articles.

Our final photo (all photos by Anker Winther) is of the inscription with the display itself. Of course I am biased, I think these are really significant early models, but may they long be featured by the TCA! It really is a happy ending for me, and knowing that I helped get the ball rolling for this end result is a treat as well. Hopefully I will be able to visit the display at some point, and for sure any readers in driving distance I hope you have the opportunity to see them in person.