AUBURN UPDATE: For those who have been following our Fire Engine and Emergency Vehicle Friday's, you know we've spent the past several weeks looking at many of the Auburn Rubber Company's line of vehicles and figures. The series was put on a small hold until I could acquire a few more pieces. Well, those pieces have arrived and hopefully by next week we can resume the series after photos are taken. A couple of the vehicles Auburn made may be left out of the series because quite frankly, they've gotten to be just too pricey and it may be awhile before I'll be able to acquire them - we'll see, you never know, maybe I'll catch a break.
So, in the meantime we'll look at a different line of fire engines (or apparatus' - a more appropriate term), the Reader's Digest line of 1:64 scale die-cast vehicles, made in the late 1990s/early 2000's as premiums for subscriber's. Today's entry is the Horse Drawn Pumper and measures 1 3/8" (3.5cm) H x 2 3/8" (6cm)L. The apparatus is shown with the pumper engine engine hood raised, ostensibly to reveal the engine. But here's the problem - the engine has minimal detail and is painted black, making it hard to see. It could have been a nice little touch but unfortunately the detail is lost. Each of the vehicles in the line has 'High Speed China' molded underneath the frame. These are terrific vehicles in their own right and are perfectly sized for the person running American Flyer Post-War S-gauge trains. They'll look OK with Marx trains as well but will look awfully dinky around Lionel or MTH unless as background detail. Enjoy!
