You would be wrong if:
You thought I haven't built LaBelle, Ambroid, Silver Streak, Ulrich, Model Die Casting, Model Engineering Works.........
And I still have them.
For nostalgia.
I would never (well, hardly ever) run them with current rolling stock.
The only one that comes to mind that I am expecting to introduce to current operation on the logging branch is my Model Engineering Works side dump car. It still holds up well, though I think it needs work on the grabs and steps. And no one has made a replacement.
Oh, yeah. Throw in some Kadee disconnect log trucks too. They're still quite nice. But with Sergent couplers. They REALLY benefit from them.
Ed
twhite Well, since I'm usually about 3 to 6 feet away from my HO scale trains, it doesn't bother me one iota to run trains full of Silver Streak, Ambroid or Athearn or Varney metal freight cars along with my newer super-detailed plastic ones. I don't know about the rest of you, but my viewing point for my model railroad is usually that of a 'helicopter'. I'm not photorgraphing or filming my model railroad most of the time, I'm RUNNING it, and that calls for a rather larger scope of sight than a camera lens. Tom
Well, since I'm usually about 3 to 6 feet away from my HO scale trains, it doesn't bother me one iota to run trains full of Silver Streak, Ambroid or Athearn or Varney metal freight cars along with my newer super-detailed plastic ones. I don't know about the rest of you, but my viewing point for my model railroad is usually that of a 'helicopter'. I'm not photorgraphing or filming my model railroad most of the time, I'm RUNNING it, and that calls for a rather larger scope of sight than a camera lens.
Tom
Some models ONLY look good from three feet away. But others look good BOTH at 6 inches and three feet. I prefer to see the latter as "dual usage".
Geared Steam Wood looks like real wood, what better for a wooden boxcar?
Wood looks like real wood, what better for a wooden boxcar?
Almost anything else, including plastic and metal. That's because what you see when you look at a real wooden boxcar is paint. And possibly weathered paint. By the time a wooden boxcar shows a lot of wood, it should have been scrapped. And even then, real wood's grain is way too coarse to model most model wood. Flat car and gondola decks come to mind as an exception.
If you're building one of the excellent LaBelle passenger car kits, it'll look pretty awful unless you spend a lot of time applying sanding sealer. So that it's as smooth as, yes, plastic.
I have a couple I picked up from a show (already built) they just needed some love in the form of trucks, metal wheels and Kadees. No problemo!
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
duplicate post
I guess it's about what's important to you. Personally, I am much more proud of the kits I've built (including some wood car kits) than I could ever be of a RTR superdetailed car that the only thing I did to become the owner of was lay out way to much hard earned cash and I detail to my own standards, not the standards of those who think it is their job to judge what others do in their spare time!
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
For me, there isn't much from the olden days that is good enough to run with current rolling stock. That includes wood and/or metal kits. The only thing that comes to mind that might would be the old Athearn metal boxcars. With the latest in grabs, ladders and roofwalks, they'd probably look great. I've got some of their round-roof cars tucked away, and I have great hopes for them.
Not only am I running today's highly detailed plastic with wood kits from Silver Streak and others, but I am also running old Athearn and similar quality plastic with old old Athearn, Varney and Model Die Casting metal cars. To make matters worse I am even still running a few old old old paper sided reefers, which came with Baker couplers. Some of those may predate WWII or are post War but pre 1950.
Dave Nelson
This is a pure scratch build from basswood. I built it a long time ago.
And this another pure scratch build, also very old. The "steel" sides are actually glossy photographic paper over sheet basswood.
And this is a Ambroid "one-in-five-thousand" kit, all basswood with a few pot metal castings. It's also pretty old.
I have ballasted the track since I took these pix. The track is ordinary code 100 flex track with the rails brush painted with Floquil rust.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
I run Labelle, brass and Blackstone cars together. If you're sorta OCD, you might have an issue, but they look fine to me.
At 3 feet, things start blending together pretty well unless you have Superman vision.
This is a LaBelle RPO-Express with a Blackstone Coach. I think having the cars in different classes (all my LaBelle cars are head-end cars, not coaches) also helps fool the eye here.
Up close, yeah, the difference is obvious, but under most layout conditions a well built and finished wood car holds up pretty well versus the slick new stuff.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
I believe that he is talking about old wood kits, not less detailed cars ala Bachmann/Tyco nor foot too wide Athearn.
Here's a twist.. Since I have a large collection of Athearn and Roundhouse IPD boxcars and boxcars in general I see no reason to sell them because they're a foot to wide and have cast on grabs.I now have 49 cars in my "super fleet" car roster.
What to do because the old wide bodies looks out of place with the scale width bodies?
Ahh,says I,I've got!
I'll run my wide body cars together and my scale width cars together..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
well, I don't have any of the wood/craftsman kits I think you're asking about ... but I have no qualms with running "less than super ultra mega detailed with 1/1000 inch accuracy" (a.k.a. [Tyco|Bachmann|etc] trainset stuff, with KD couplers) stuff alongside my "highly detailed" (Red Caboose, Branchline, etc.) stuff.
TBH, I'm a little more fond of the cars that are "bad" in the looks department, since they have less trouble with "now where'd that stirrup step go!?".
Eventually, yeah, I'd like to get some of those "ultra-mega detailed" cars, but it'd probably be like ... 3 or 4 ... just enough to go along with a locomotive on a 100% true-to-scale (proto:87, I think it was called?) diorama. But that'll be forever and a day from now :)
-Dan
Builder of Bowser steam! Railimages Site
Title says it all. I am purging some of my collection and most of the less than super detailed stuff is gone. Just seeing who is doing what and why.