Hi!
Some of the Athearn cars are based on Santa Fe prototypes.
I built up two trains lettered for the ATSF, one heavyweight and one streamline. The heavyweights got KDs, American Limited diaghrams, and Intermountain wheelsets. I sprayed and relettered a few to be more ATSF specific, and ended up with a 13 car "train".
The streamline cars were similarly upgraded, and I ended up with a 12 car train.
Funny thing...... I have a lot of Walthers ATSF light/heavy passenger cars which are more prototypical (spell?). However, having a BLI 4-8-4 pull that string of Athearn heavyweights is one of my favorite sights. I suspect its because "I built them", but in any case, they get used a lot.
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
The sreamline mail and baggage cars are based on ATSF cars and are the correct lenth. I think I've heard the coach is correct for some eastern road, but I'm not sure. Every other stremline car is too short.
As far as the heavy weights go, the mail and baggage cars are based on a prototype that slips my mind, (probably ASTF), but the rest of them are too short to match any protoype cars AFAIK.
I have 7-8 Athearn streamlined passenger pennsy cars and I absolutely love them. They have weight (unlike IHC), they don't wobble, they look great. The only tips I have are to replace their couplers with Kadee couplers, this is an easy task and it makes all the difference. Also, on some of the eastern roads like the PRR and N&W, the car sets come with dome cars, which I have heard is not prototypical, so I don't use the dome car, instead I replace it with another regular passenger to make the train longer.
The passenger cars are a little on short side compared to the prototype, but this doesn't bother me, they run on virtually any curves, no overhang, very reliable, sturdy cars. Some of them come with light bulbs inside, some of the bulbs work, some don't out of the box. When the cars do light up, they look amazing and you can't beat athearn when it comes to prices. Very affordable and reliable.
In this ever changing hobby, sometimes vintage is indeed better. If you hook up 6 old athearn santa fe streamlined passenger cars to a super chief, you won't be disappointed.
Athearn cars fill a niche market. That being said, they are not full length. They are intended for people who have really sharp curves (usually less than 22"). They are fair in detail. I don't personally own any but know of several people that have them. They are not based on any particular prototype. They do roll smoothly and you can add an interior.
Will
I have several athearn streamliner and heavyweight passenger kits and i was just curious how accurate are they? are they based on prototype cars or the whimsy of model railroad car designers. the heavyweight round roof cars remind me of some similar looking coaches i saw in late 1960's on the C&O near bellaire or brutus michigan.