Tom Bee

Tom Bee refers to the person, and Tom Bee Trucks refers to the company he founded to build trucks, couplers and cars for 1-1/2 inch scale.

Tom Bee

About Tom Bee ... in his own words.

I was born and raised in Detroit, came from a family of ten, most of whom made careers of engineering of some kind. For me it was Auto Mechanics, Machinist, Fixture Builder, Special Machine Builder, and finally Quality Control Inspector for Chrysler.

I've been in the 1.5 inch scale railroad hobby for nearly 30 years. I began building a freelance 2-6-2 propane fired locomotive. Then I built cars for myself -- and then for my friends. And that evolved into Tom Bee Trucks. I have made or designed my own patterns, always improving them as I go. I am fussy about safety, functionality, and appearance... In that order.

I truly love what I am doing, and hope someday to get to meet all who enjoy my products.

Tom

Business Suspended

The following message is displayed on the website https://tombeeonline.com as of 19 January 2025:

Sometimes life causes situations which create unforeseen events. Such is, and has been the case for us at TomBeeOnline, and the LiveSteamAlliance. For this reason, we are temporarily pausing our business activities. We are not shutting down, but going on hiatus. Since the website has been down for maintenance, we’ve encountered further new unfortunate scenarios. These random and varying tariffs are a perfect example. They have critically affected pricing for manufacturing, especially for small production runs of hobby related products. We hope this period of hiatus will be brief. In the meantime, we thank you for your support and understanding.

Expansion 2016

Tom sent out the following message on 25 March 2016:

An announcement from TOM BEE TRUCKS

Most of you know me as a supplier to this great hobby of ours. I have been supplying fine trucks and couplers to the hobby of large scale railroading for 25 years. I put my heart and soul into it. I plan on continuing to serve the hobby for many years to come. I am not downsizing or retiring in any way, shape or form. In fact, I am expanding. There is a wonderful young man and good friend of mine for twenty years who has been in the hobby for even more years. His name is Marcel Urich. Marcel is from Ohio, not Florida. I chose him to help me out to expand TOM BEE TRUCKS. He will supply all the fine trucks and couplers as I do. He was introduced to my friends and customers in Florida last February as my new partner. I am NOT retiring by any means. You will see Marcel in the future at many of the clubs around the country. Marcel will produce trucks and couplers from patterns and molds directly from me. This will ensure top quality of railroad products just as TOM BEE TRUCKS has done for 25 years. He will keep the tradition of fine trucks and couplers as I did along with top notch customer service. He has been a devoted railroader throughout his life. He has excellent machining skills along with very good design capability. Please welcome Marcel as you did me.

Bibliography

• Tom Bee Car Frame
• Tom Bee Track Warp Gauge
• "A Visit With Tom Bee", Ryan DeVries, Live Steam & Outdoor Railroading, January/February 2021
• "Derailments: Staying on Track", DiscoverLiveSteam.com
• "Tom Bee Standard Wheel Profile"

External Links

• Official website
• "The Bee Hopper", DiscoverLiveSteam.com
• Building a Steam Locomotive (Mikado)
• "Tom Bee brake hangers on the Allen Mogul trucks", Chaski.org