norfolk southern ordered from k-line

[Anonymous]

I know that some of us like to "weather " our models. Make them look like there used & abused..I quess,other than engines,it's rare that we see a spanky brand new freight car on the rails. The last 2 out of 3 days,I saw a norfolk southern unit coal train goung through town. It had about 60 fully loaded hopper cars filled with coal,and every one of those cars were a shiny silver paint sceem. even the trucks were spotlessly clean. fresh paint on the journal boxes.NS must have just taken them out of the box & placed them on the tracks for a runby.. I'm telling you,it looked like a k-line starter set.I wish I could have taken a picture,so I could show some purist that trains could really look like that. Anyone else see any electric trains on the tracks lately?? Thanks Easter

[lionelsoni]

We see lots of empty northbound UP coal trains through Austin. They have two SD70s on the point and one pushing, with about 130 cars between. These may be the same kind of cars you saw. They are shiny unpainted aluminum "bathtub gondolas". These look superficially like hopper cars; but they have no hopper doors underneath. Instead, they are emptied by a rotary dumper. One end of the car is painted with a bright color to indicate the end with the rotary coupler. All the cars are run in the same direction, so that a rotary coupler is always paired with a normal coupler. The cars are rated at 36 tons per axle instead of the more common 33 tons.

[brianel027]

Just one tiny problem easter: K-Line has never made a cataloged Norfolk Southern train set (huge mistake too!!). Nor have they done Conrail, CSX, CP Rail, Canadian Pacific, BNSF or Soo Line in starter sets.

K-Line did do a Nofolk Soutern Coal Hauler set sometime around 1988-89 that I believe was done for Boscov's. And they've done a few Conrail sets but for employees of CR only. Lack of current roads on train sets I think is the single biggest mistake any of the train companies have made. Funny too, because they have no problem making more expensive scale sized trains in contemporary roads.

[Anonymous]

Hey Bob. NO,these were hopper cars with sets of doors on the bottom.The reason I mentioned the K-line name was that I purchased a Burlington Northern freight set that had a bright silver hopper car in the consist. Sorry about the confusion O-27. Thanks,Easter

[cheese3]

So if i dont weather any thing it is like it is just painted... cool!