1950s Archives - The Silicon Underground

Skyline tin buildings

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 08 May 2020 12:00:06 +0000

In the 1940s and 1950s, Skyline of Philadelphia manufactured and marketed a line of toy train-oriented building kits. Actually, there were two lines: One was a line of building kits made of cardstock and wood, and one was a smaller

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Central Hardware, St. Louis history

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 11:00:54 +0000

St. Louis-based Central Hardware was one of the first big-box home improvement chains. It peaked in 1993 at 39 stores in six states in the midwest, employing 3,700 people. It was once the 19th largest hardware retailer in the United

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Most valuable rookie card

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 11:00:54 +0000

When it comes to baseball cards, rookie cards are usually more valuable than non-rookie cards. But when we think of the Pantheon of valuable baseball cards, they tend not to be rookies. Instead, they tend to be scarce cards from

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Scale vs gauge: Not quite interchangeable

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 11:00:35 +0000

Wondering about scale vs gauge? You’re not alone. It’s a common question, and I’ll try to provide a simple answer. The two terms may appear interchangeable, but they aren’t quite. Gauge is the distance between the two rails, or the

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Why do Lionel trains have three rails?

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 11:00:35 +0000

Why do Lionel trains have three rails? After all, real trains usually have two. This unrealistic feature is a legitimate drawback for Lionel and other makes of O gauge trains, but the decision made sense at the time. Lionel didn’t

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Most valuable baseball cards of the 1970s

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 11:00:13 +0000

Although the 1970s may not have been quite the golden era for baseball that, say, the 1950s were, the decade produced a good number of stars. An important thing to consider, too, is that many players Generation X grew up

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1981 Fleer baseball cards

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 11:00:17 +0000

It’s just my opinion, but I think 1981 Fleer baseball cards get less respect than they deserve. It ended Topps’ 25-year monopoly on baseball cards and, frankly, I think it’s a nicer set than the Topps or Donruss sets from

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1948 Bowman baseball

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 19 May 2017 11:00:29 +0000

I recently decided to collect the 1948 Bowman baseball set. It has a number of things going for it. With 48 cards in the set, it’s attainable. Of those 48 cards, 18.75% of them are Hall of Famers. It’s also one

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Marx William Crooks locomotive

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 04 Apr 2017 11:00:59 +0000

In 1959, Marx attempted to cash in on the popularity of TV westerns by creating an 1860s style locomotive. Today, the Marx William Crooks locomotive is one of the rarer and more desirable Marx locomotives. You don’t often hear the

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Tootsietoys and lead paint

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 15 Mar 2017 11:00:47 +0000

When it comes to old toys, a lot of people forget about lead paint. It’s not a bad idea to be concerned about Tootsietoys and lead paint. That said, we also have to be realistic and reasonable. There’s no reason

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