All Points Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lots of smaller companies retooled to provide
> products. Anything to make a buck.

WW II was a little before my time, but my impression is that the companies' motivation for retooling for the war effort was mainly the War Production Board's decisions, and also the fact that raw materials were allocated to further the war effort.

Also, retaining skilled workers in the face the military draft program would have been much easier for a company making strategic goods. A machinist making Lionel trains would have had no chance of being declared essential to the war effort.

"Making a buck" was probably a very minor factor, and would have been viewed as less than patriotic.

On a somewhat related note, it is interesting to note that three of the cars at WRM (SN 1005 and the two Shipyard Railway cars) were rescued from scrap lines and pressed into service during WW II.