AHM’s Rocket Freight

Included in AHM’s 1968 catalog supplement publication, you’ll find two Thunder Line train sets. AHM’s Rocket Freight train set carried a $21.98 suggested retail price for the version containing an RS-2 diesel locomotive model, five freight cars, caboose, and circle of 18-inch radius brass track sections. AHM offered this set with a power pack for $29.98.

The Alco RS-2 diesel switcher was a new model when this 1968 Thunder Line set arrived in AHM’s catalog. The four-axle Alco switcher came from Mehano in Yugoslavia. The set’s freight cars and caboose appear to be Roco-made models from Austria. The freight cars included a 40-foot sliding door boxcar, 40-foot plug door boxcar, single-dome chemical tank car, 40-foot gondola, four-bay offset-side hopper, and standard steel caboose. It is not know how consistent the road names were in this release. AHM listed six road names for its Rocket Freight train set: Erie Lackawanna (#59353), Monon (#59352), New York Central (#59354), Pennsylvania Railroad (#59350), Santa Fe (#59351), and Union Pacific (#59355). The illustration AHM used shows a yellow Union Pacific RS-2 leading the train with an Illinois Central caboose.