Rolling Stock...whats the best

[bikemike]

 Hello,

 Would anyone be able to tell me which manufacturers are the best for items such as rolling stock for details, lettering etc? I though Atlas and Atheran were good. Bachmann like their engines seem "cheap". Recently I discovered Branchline trains which seems to be the best yet.  Am I missing any others?  

I think price is a small factor. True line seems good, but I dont think I wants to spend $50.00 on a caboose...or is it worth it...you tell me.

 

Thanks.

[wholeman]

You've come to the right place.  I model BNSF and I have Athearn, Walthers, Atlas, and ExactRail.  They all roll really smooth and the detail is pretty good.

Don't forget about Intermountain and Accurail.  Accurail makes kits which aren't too bad to assemble.  I have a friend who needed help assembling them because he needed them for a show and didn't have time to assemble them all.  Each car takes about 5 minutes.

[da_kraut]

 Hello,

wholeman is right on with his post.  Just like to warn you about Con-Cor passenger cars, bought the 85 foot VIA cars.  Replaced all of my VIA cars with Walthers cars, they cost a little (about 2 dollars a piece) more but come with with better detail, an interior, body mount couplers, steel wheels, do not derail and do not uncouple.

Frank

PS:Welcome to the forum

[RedGrey62]

There are still a few others such as Kadee, Red Caboose (now distributed under Intermountain I believe), Rapido, Broadway Limited, MTH and a host of smaller resin/plastic car makers like Sunshine Models, Wright Trak, and Rail Yard Models.  Virtually all offer highly detailed cars.  What it comes down to mostly is what cars and/or how accurate do you want for your layout and that will determine the manufacturer.  If you want bi or tri level open autoracks, Accurail is the only one offering them.  However, if you want early Pulman Standard 3 bay covered hoppers, Walthers, Athearn and Con-Cor all offer them and they come in slightly different versions that were accurate for some railroads but not for others.  A lot depends on what you level you want.

You're pretty safe with all that have been listed so far and while you may find one every once in awhile that needs some tweaking out of the box, usually it's not too bad.

Ricky

[tstage]

Mike,

First off: to the forum!  Good to have you aboard!

You didn't mention what scale you are.  Are you looking for N or HO?  Also, are you looking for ready-to-run (RTR) or kits?  Lastly, what era are you modeling?  All these factors will make a difference in what is recommended to you.

Keep in mind that even within a manufacturer there are grades of quality.  With Athearn there is "regular" (good) and "Genesis" (better).  With Atlas there is "Trainman" (good) and "Masterline" (better).  Branchline has "Yardmaster" Series (very good) and "Blueprint" Series (excellent).

One not mentioned yet is Proto 2000.  These come in three flavors: full kits, "time-saver" kits, and RTR.  The "time-savers" are partially assembled to "save time" for the modeler.  (Course, you'll pay a little more for those.)  Proto 2000 kits and RTRs are also beautifully detailed; on par with the Branchline Yardmaster series.

Accurail comes in both kit and RTR form.  Although the underside is a bit spartan, the bodies are nicely detailed.  I think their 6-panel wood boxcars are exquisite and a great value for the money.  Assembly time is generally 15-20 minutes for an Accurail kit; quick compared to assembling a Proto 2000 or Branchline kit because their parts are many and often delicate.  (Read: Can break easily)

I've spent anywhere from 3 to 8 hours assembling a Proto 2000 or Branchline kit.  But, I also take my time cutting parts off sprues and cleaning up any leftover "stubs" off those parts.  If you calculate the "entertainment" factor for assembling either of their kits in "time is money", you might as well not rush it.

Other beautifully detailed rolling stock would be Intermountain, Red Caboose, Broadway Limited, and Kadee.  The latter two only come RTR. 

Lastly, Westerfield and F&C (Funaro & Camerlengo) are resin kits that have beautiful detailing.  However, they are different than styrene kits in that you have to paint and detail (letter) them yourself.  They also come without trucks or coupler/coupler boxes.  They do yield some beautiful looking (and often unique) rolling stock when completed.

Hope that helps...

Tom

[pastorbob]

And don't forget Tangent, which makes cars as good as if not better than ExactRail.  You can buy them decorated assembled, undec assembled or kits.  Their grain covered hoppers are top drawer.

Bob

[BRAKIE]

bikemike

 Hello,

 Would anyone be able to tell me which manufacturers are the best for items such as rolling stock for details, lettering etc? I though Atlas and Atheran were good. Bachmann like their engines seem "cheap". Recently I discovered Branchline trains which seems to be the best yet.  Am I missing any others?  

I think price is a small factor. True line seems good, but I dont think I wants to spend $50.00 on a caboose...or is it worth it...you tell me.

 

Thanks.

 

I found I needed cars from several manufacturers so I could have a rounded freight car fleet that matches what I see on the prototype.

I found under normal operatering viewing the  newer RTR cars from Athearn,Atlas and Walthers works quite well and price within reason.

[Driline]

bikemike

 Would anyone be able to tell me which manufacturers are the best for items such as rolling stock for details, lettering etc? I though Atlas and Atheran were good.

 

I've been buying a lot of INTERMOUNTAIN and ATLAS lately. The new Athearn RTR are also a good choice.

Prices range from $16 or $17 dollars up to about $25 each for me anyway. Those prices are my LHS discount, about 20%.

[wjstix]

Are you looking at freight cars or passenger?? Steam era, transition, or modern day??

BTW one thing that can be confusing is many manufacturers have several 'levels' of quality now, so your comment about Bachmann steam being bad is correct about their cheap toy-trainset grade stuff, but is very wrong if referring to their Spectrum engines, which are overall excellent engines and a great value. Similarly Athearn "blue box" engines and cars are good, but no where near the quality of their Genesis line.

[BRAKIE]

wjstix

Are you looking at freight cars or passenger?? Steam era, transition, or modern day??

BTW one thing that can be confusing is many manufacturers have several 'levels' of quality now, so your comment about Bachmann steam being bad is correct about their cheap toy-trainset grade stuff, but is very wrong if referring to their Spectrum engines, which are overall excellent engines and a great value. Similarly Athearn "blue box" engines and cars are good, but no where near the quality of their Genesis line.

Stix,I would have agreed with you in the begining of Athearn's  RTR offerings but,not now since its been upgraded,newly tooled,former MDC,retooled,upgraded RPP shells,some former Genesis cars are now in the RTR line,most newer upgraded locomotives come with road specific details,etc.WHEW!  I am sure I missed something.

Athearn is confusing enough without using the term Blue Box for their current offerings..

Yea,I long for the more simpler times..

Naw not really!

[UncBob]

 I like Accurail since I run my own RR rolling stock

I bought the coal cars, box cars and gondolas unlettered data only in red oxide and decaled them for my line

My Ore cars are Walthers Unlettered data only 

[nbrodar]

You left out one of my favorites....Bowser.    Most of my coal hoppers are Bowser cars.  

I also have a large number of Accurail, Atlas Trainman and Athearn/MDC boxcars and covered hoppers.

Nick

[bikemike]

Thanks everyone for the replys! You've provided me with a lot of manufactures to select and choose from.

 I forgot to mention though that I am going to be modeling HO scale, but not too sure on the era. I would like to maybe model CP or CN and some passanger and freight cars. It dosent really matter too much to me if I have to build the kit or it comes RTR.

[bikemike]

In all my research on the net and other fourms and talking to some hobby store guys, I havent heard a good thing about bachmann at all. True this may have been from past products, but I might have to try one of their engines to see for myself.

[Hamltnblue]

Lately there have been a lot of Cananian lines available on rolling stock. 

[cv_acr]

BRAKIE

Stix,I would have agreed with you in the begining of Athearn's  RTR offerings but,not now since its been upgraded,newly tooled,former MDC,retooled,upgraded RPP shells,some former Genesis cars are now in the RTR line,most newer upgraded locomotives come with road specific details,etc.WHEW!  I am sure I missed something.

Athearn's stuff definately is a but of a hodge-podge. Their RTR line is a mix of old former blue-box stuff just assembled as RTR, upgraded and re-done MDC stuff (in most cases upgraded quite nicely actually), plus all their newer recent releases which are mostly quite stellar with very nice details and accuracy. Unfortunately you kind of have to know which is which for particular offerings.

Then, with all manufacturers, there's the job of checking whether it's accurate for that particular scheme or number series, or just accepting that it may be a stand-in. Personal preference as to how close is "close enough" for you.

bikemike:

You mentioned True Line Trains and that you were interested in modelling CN or CP, although you didn't really mention any era (eg. 1950s, 1970s, 1990s, today, etc.)

True Line and Rapido Trains both do specifically Canadian models. TLT has CN and CP wood cabooses, and CN and CP 40' boxcars and covered hoppers. Rapido's passenger cars are based on CN/VIA cars, and their caboose is a modern (1970s) Canadian Pacific design.

Walthers also has some good Canadian style cars if you're modelling the 1970s or later. Take a look at the 50' NSC newsprint boxcars (Proto1000 cars that used to be marketed by Life-Like) and the Canadian style bulkhead flatcars. Also their 50' hi-cube paper service boxcar is based on a Gunderson design that is pretty common on the rails today.

Intermountain, Atlas and Branchline trains all have some pretty good models.

Accurail and Bowser/Stewart are a little less detailed than most other modern offerings, but are better than some of the old Athearn blue-boxes so they're a good economy option. They have cast-on details but are accurate for what they represent. Bowser especially has a lot of unique Pennsylvania RR designs in their line.

[bikemike]

I was probably going to model something from the 70-80s. All I want is something that looks good. I dont think I can be or will be the guy that has to model his layout exactly as the proto type. I am building the Miland Central and basically want to operat a swithch engine and watch a couple of long freight or passanger trains follow each other around.  A few buildings some scenery. I'm not too fussy if car numbers arent exact..i might even make up some of my own. Any advice you have is certainly appreciated.

[IVRW]

Any car is good as long as you replace plastic wheels with metal ones and give them all kadee couplers.

[Driline]

IVRW

Any car is good as long as you replace plastic wheels with metal ones and give them all kadee couplers.

 

Good running maybe. But not good looking. 

[AztecEagle]

Okay.On my oval of track that'll some day become a MP/MKT themed layout,I run mostly Athearn;Accurail;Atlas;Intermountain and Kadee plus a Walthers Trainline RTR collection of ffreight cars.

For the most part,the only one I've had trouble with is(Surprise!!)the Kadee Box Car!!

For some reason,whenever I run it,it derails!!However,my little Walthers Trainline Tank Car doesn't give me any trouble!!!