Accurail is #1 when it comes to great value freight cars! Great bang for the buck. The quality is excellent (Made in the USA)! Wonderful costumer service too. I highly recommend the ACF covered hoppers. I have heard positive things about their other products. Their plastic wheelsets are fine though I would add Kadees.
You can also get Athearn RTR boxcars, gondolas, etc for $15 bucks if you look around. The detail is excellent, and it comes with decent couplers, and metal wheelsets.
The Altas trainman can be a good deal too.
BRAKIE....On the other side of the coin many of us doesn't have the patience,the needed skills or time to do such modeling and we welcome those highly detailed RTR cars or more like we proudly just use those older Athearn and Roundhouse cars as they are.
You're certainly right, Larry, and that's one reason why this is such a great hobby - lots of options to suit pretty-well every interest.
Wayne
doctorwayneTotal cost for the extra parts was perhaps three or four dollars.
In any of these cost comparisons I think that the "true cost" of additional materials should be used. Certainly the cost could be three or four dollars if you happen to have the items already at hand. But the individual who is starting "from scratch" will have to buy a bottle of paint and the decals. That's at least $10 right there not counting the time to go hunt for the stuff. Same with grabs and other peripherals.
maxman doctorwayne Total cost for the extra parts was perhaps three or four dollars. In any of these cost comparisons I think that the "true cost" of additional materials should be used. Certainly the cost could be three or four dollars if you happen to have the items already at hand. But the individual who is starting "from scratch" will have to buy a bottle of paint and the decals. That's at least $10 right there not counting the time to go hunt for the stuff. Same with grabs and other peripherals.
doctorwayne Total cost for the extra parts was perhaps three or four dollars.
I think that once you get into this type of work, though, that you do tend to minimise the additional costs - after all, I have packages of brake gear, car ends, doors, and other details on-hand, and probably several hundred dollars worth of strip styrene, various sizes and types of wire, a supply of trucks and couplers, not to mention over a hundred bottles of paint and various thinners and strippers. Add in the cost of tools and the need for a workshop to perform the upgrades, and nothing on the layout is anywhere near as cheap as the initial outlay for that item. That said, I enjoy immensely doing this kind of work, so it still seems like a good deal.
I recommend posting a "want-to-buy" (WTB) on one of the swap sites at Yahoo Groups such as HOrailroading.
I went this route a few years back and acquired about 30 MRC Old Timer freight cars through 2-3 sellers for $5 each. I wasn't particicular about the type (reefer/box/cattle) as long as they had the old cast metal chassis, which I needed for future scratchbuilding projects. This is an inexpensive way to build a fleet as long as you are flexible about what you get.
Jim