Because of phisical limitations, I've gone from HO to O.
When I started, in the mid 1950's, my rolling stock came from Varney kits and in the 1960's the consists grew with Ready To Run items.
Am curious:
For the most part are your cars from kits or are they RTR?
If RTR, do you get already detailed cars or do you enhance (change couplers, add spring trucks, decals etc.) more available stock?
Lastly, do you prefer one brand over another?
As always, many thanks.
I have plenty of both, running, and still in the box, waiting. I'm slowly building up my fleet of tank cars, and I have learned to shy away from Walthers kits. The tanks half shells need a lot of work, after assembly, no matter how hard I try.
I'm OK with the MDC/Roundhouse, I use Plano parts for detailing, Kadee couplers, and IM wheel sets.
I also have a bunch of IM cylindrical hopper kits. As I assemble them, I replace walk ways with Plano etched metal. Which reminds me, after I'm done with a few loco projects, I should get back to them.
Along with a lot of steel coil cars. Wow, now that I think about it, I have 2 tupperware storage containers of kits.
Mike.
My You Tube
If you are switching to O, I assume you are askng questions about what's available in O. I know they have come a long way since my O days back in the late '50's, but not sure of what is available now. I never built O scale kits then, but knew they existed.
I would go over to the fellows at Classic Toy Trains to chat with the folks that do more with O scale models.
Good luck,
Richard
Well, I'm not sure which scale you're asking about (or just all of them).
Personally, my primary scale is S.
About 1/2 my cars are near RTR. They are from S Helper and are set up for HiRail. Fortunately, they come with scale wheels in the box which I swap with the HiRail. I change out the AF compatible coupler with KD and I'm done. These are nicely detailed and I don't do anything more to them.
The rest are mostly kits varying from fairly simple to complex. Some are plastic, some are resin or urethane, and others are primarily wood with metal details. Mostly, I build these straight out of the box. But sometimes I change out detail parts for better ones.
At some point, I plan to scratchbuild a few cars. I did this when I was in HO and really enjoyed it.
As for brands, I really like the S Helper cars. S Helper sold their line to MTH who are slowly re-releasing the line (albeit without the scale wheels included-except for diesels). American Models is a nice brand also, but many of their cars are for a little later than the early 50's so I don't have many. They used to be simple kits but are now RTR. They come either with HiRail wheels or scale wheels. I have some other brands but haven't built them yet.
Paul
Mike: Thanks
Richard: Am already comfortable in the "O" stuff for a few years now. I was just "Kind of reminiscing" when I posed the questions. Thanks.
Paul: My current focus is working with Postwar Lionel. Thanks.
I got used to building kits as a teenager, just because they were cheaper.
Now I still buy kits, partly because they're cheaper, and partly because there are always a few new ones from Accurail at train shows. For a while a few years ago, Walthers would put extremely nice kits on clearance sale in the flyer catalog. I still have unbuilt kits from then.
Kits receive metal wheelsets and Kadee couplers while being built, in addition to weathering.
Unique rolling stock generally involves finding undecorated kits and finishing them with home-made decals.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
traindaddy1....When I started, in the mid 1950's, my rolling stock came from Varney kits and in the 1960's the consists grew with Ready To Run items.....
I started in HO at about the same time, and while I had some Varney kits (metal and plastic), I also had MDC, Athearn, and Athenticast (metal), Silverstreak (wood and metal), along with Globe Diesels (plastic), and John English and Tyco steamers, both diecast metal.
I still have many of those cars and the steam locomotives, and almost everything I have owned since then has been kits, usually modified to some degree. I have a small number of r-t-r cars, most of them altered, a few brass locomotives (all of them altered), and while I'm still adding some kit-built cars, I'll be scratchbuilding a number of models of particular prototypes for which no models are available or for ones which are available but for which I feel I can do better myself.
Wayne
About 95% of my rolling stock is kits. Aside from three MDC loco kits, the remainder of my locos are ready to run although I detail and weather them. I'd probably have more loco kits but everyone stopped making them. I just can't allow myself to spend the kind of money manufacturers want for the new RTR stuff! Even my RTR locos were purchased used or on clearance sale.
Hornblower
traindaddy1For the most part are your cars from kits or are they RTR? If RTR, do you get already detailed cars or do you enhance (change couplers, add spring trucks, decals etc.) more available stock? Lastly, do you prefer one brand over another?
I would have to guess that ~85% of my roster is from kits. It would be closer to 100% if more current offerings were available in kit-form vs RTR. Granted, detailed models from manufacturers like Tangent and ExactRail are exquisitely done. Even so, I still like and prefer putting together my rolling stock. It increase the entertainment value of my purchases.
For RTR, I only buy unique and unusual models that fit my era. The newer stock usually comes with Kadee couplers and metal wheelsets. Any kits I put together automatically receive that upgrade if they come with plastic parts.
I like a lot of different brands. Accurail isn't as nicely detailed as some other kits or RTR but they are still nice and can be "enhanced". (Dr. Wayne is quite good at that.) And Accurail is one of the few kit manufacturers left who hasn't converted to RTR. The detailing of their newer releases has actually improved over the past few years. I'm quite fond of their 6- & 8-panel wood boxcars.
Along with Accurail I'm a fan of Branchline, Bowser, ExactRail, Intermountain, Proto 2000, Red Caboose, and Tangent. I'm not a big fan of either Athearn or Walthers.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
The vast majority of my car fleet are kits because I'm cheap. I was gathering a 300+ car roster for my old layout, so I was after volume, not quality. Athearn Blue Boxes and Accurails are the most popular items in my fleet (with a little Bowser in there). The freight RTR's I have are Kadee, InterMountain, Atlas, Athearn RTR, Walthers, etc.
For passenger cars, my fleet is mostly RTR: Rapido, Walthers, Branchline, Bachman Spectrum, and brass. I pretty much dumped the Rivarossi and Con-Cor cars (except for those with sentimental value). Athearn baggage cars & Branchline coaches are about the only passenger car kits I have, other than a few (very few) resin kits I own.
In short, freight cars are (for the most part) something I don't want to spend a lot of money on. Generic and inaccurate freight car models are fine for me (within reason; no Franklin Mint stuff). Passenger cars I will shell out to get accurate models. I would never spend $50 for a freight car, but I'd spend $100 for an accurate passenger car.
As for enhancing RTR's, it depends on the model. Putting decals on an unnumbered car is something I do. Changing to Kadees is a must, and so are metal wheels (to run at my club). But I don't add brake hoses or much of that sort of thing.
tstage...Granted, detailed models from manufacturers like Tangent and ExactRail are exquisitely done.....
I can't comment on ExactRail, as their cars are too modern for my layout's era, but Tangent and Rapido both offer kit versions of their freight cars - not a great savings in price, but it's easier to modify a kit than a car already built.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
doctorwayneTangent and Rapido both offer kit versions of their freight cars - not a great savings in price, but it's easier to modify a kit than a car already built.
.
99.5% of my roster ws either bult from kits, or ar RTR cars that were "re-kitted" after purchase. The only car I have that I took out of the box and set on the rails is Fox Valley's B&O boxcar lettered for the Allegheny Midland. That one car met all my needs straight from the box.
Rapido offers their new releases in Undecorated kits, but there is no savings and you must buy four of them. Like Wayne, I prefer kits so I can build them to my standards as I need them. Cost is not a factor in this decision.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Wayne,
The only ExactRail cars I have are a couple of Milwaukee "ribbed" boxcars - ca. 1940/41. The vast majority of their offerings are too modern for me, as well.
OK,
My fleet of freight cars is approaching 800 cars, the number I figured I needed to cover the operational plan for my layout.
They run the whole range:
Craftsman kits of wood, metal, resin, old and newer offerings, and high detail modern plastic kits.
Old and new "basic" kits, Athearn, MDC, old Athearn and Varney metal cars, Accurail, Bowser, etc.
Higher end RTR, like Fox Valley, Spring Mills Depot, Proto2000, etc, and undecorated kit versions of many of these.
And, more basic "RTR" like Athearn "Ready to Roll", Bachmann Silver Series, etc.
Like Paul above, for me "close enough" is usually good enough for most models.
I do lots of kit bashing, and lots of "minimum effort" upgrades.
Unlike Paul, I see passenger cars in that same way, close enough is good enough, even though I love passenger trains. First, accurate passenger cars are expensive, hard to find, time consuming to build, and often hard to document.
Second, I am a freelance modeler first, so my "need" for accurate passenger cars is "subjective".
I have Athearn heavyweights and stramliners, ConCor 72' streamliners, MDC "Harriman" cars, all with added details and close coupled with working/touching American Limited diaphragms. I also have some Bachmann, Branchline, and a few others.
I don't "ban" full lenght cars, but most of my fleet is less than 75' in length. Selective compression works in my view......and not all passenger cars were 80/85 feet long.......
My passengers cars only represent four roads, B&O, C&O, Western Maryland, and my ATLANTIC CENTRAL - but there are nearly 200 of them.
The close coupling and working/touching diaphragms, and reasonable appearance on curves is to my eye more important that focusing in on any one car.
I have kit bashed a number of Athearn cars into cars not offered.
Sheldon
Paul3 I would never spend $50 for a freight car
I always felt the same way. But then Scale Trains came out with their carbon black cars......
If a car is offered in kit form and decals are available I will buy the kit, build it, modify it if needed, then paint an decal it.
Tangent, has kits of most of their cars and they are more difficult than most to build but they make a beautiful car.
Exactrail, has some kits but they are getting hard to find, although I have a stash of PS 4427 CF and Evans 4780 CF Covered Hoppers. I wish I could get some more of their PS 5344 CF Boxcars.
Branchline/Atlas: You can still find Branchline kits around and the undecorated kits are great as they have extra roofs and ends that can be used in kitbashing endevors, Atlas still brings in the undec kits with each run, but the dealers never list them when preordering them for some reason.
Intermountain, has undecorated kits for all their cars but again hard to find and order due to dealers.
Accurail also does undecorated and decorated kits, but I find them unsatisfactory in the most part as I prefer the better grabs and ladders in the more detailed kits.
Rick Jesionowski
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
maxmanPaul3: I would never spend fifty dollars ona a freight car... I always felt the same way. But then Scale Trains came out with their carbon black cars......
I felt this way about plastic cars right up until Rapido announced the Northern Pacific Single Sheathed wooden car. I guess four for $200.00 sounded better than one for $50.00 to me.
It even has correct AB brake details and updates for my era.
dti406...Accurail also does undecorated and decorated kits, but I find them unsatisfactory in the most part as I prefer the better grabs and ladders in the more detailed kits.
While I've seen very well-done Accurail cars, built "stock" but weathered so skillfully that the grabs and ladders appear to be separately-applied items, I too prefer such details to be free-standing - perhaps a little OCD after detailing so many Athearn and MDC cars.However, Accurail is one of the few companies currently offering rolling stock kits which fit my late '30s modelling era, and at affordable prices.
That's why I have so many of them, like this reefer, re-worked to match a photo of the prototype...
...or all of my dozen-or-so Accurail doublesheathed USRA boxcars...
...although the cast-on end ladders on all of those remain.
I expend similar time and effort on such "Who could be bothered...." type of cars such as Train Miniature...
LifeLike...
Tyco...
...amd old Model Die Casting, too...
Part of this is because I enjoy the work and the results, and part of it is because I can....and therefore I must.
traindaddy1 Because of phisical limitations, I've gone from HO to O.
It sounds like the OP is switching from HO to O scale. Yet everyone is answering about HO stuff? Or am I missing something?
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
riogrande5761...It sounds like the OP is switching from HO to O scale. Yet everyone is answering about HO stuff? Or am I missing something?
Perhaps this....
traindaddy1...Richard: Am already comfortable in the "O" stuff for a few years now. I was just "Kind of reminiscing" when I posed the questions. Thanks.....
riogrande5761 traindaddy1 Because of phisical limitations, I've gone from HO to O. It sounds like the OP is switching from HO to O scale. Yet everyone is answering about HO stuff? Or am I missing something?
I thought it was about how much/many freight cars you have in RTR, kit or scratch built. Or favorite manufacturer.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
These are RTR cars. I don't do anything else with them.
All of my freight cars are from Atlas. Close to at least 70% I believe. With a mix of Micro-Trains, Bluford Shops and Trainworx with Kato Amtrak passenger cars.
I have one CR LO from Athearns, going to have 4 boxcars and maybe coalporters from Intermountain (I forgot I have some Auto Racks 3) and a BLI NYC XM.
First of all, thanks to everyone who has posted replies.
Just to clarify. I was in the HO world for more than fifty years until "this old body" couldn't work with the small stuff. While in HO, enjoyed both the building side as well as the cab control operational side.
My questions were not intended to specify any scale in particular. I was just thinking back to "the days of yore" when I was an avid modeler and was wondering what the present day modelers are doing.
Again, thanks for your replies. To be sure, I'll keep reading.
traindaddy1 My questions were not intended to specify any scale in particular.
My questions were not intended to specify any scale in particular.
That was what I gleened from your first post, but people tend to latch onto certain things in this forum and run with them when they may not be what the OP was trying to get at. Too much model train trivia tucked away in those brains wanting desperately to get out! It's pretty typical here.
maxman Paul3 I would never spend $50 for a freight car I always felt the same way. But then Scale Trains came out with their carbon black cars......
Beautiful cars indeed but,I go cheap and buy the operator cars.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
traindaddy1My questions were not intended to specify any scale in particular. I was just thinking back to "the days of yore" when I was an avid modeler and was wondering what the present day modelers are doing.
I kinda miss those "days of yore" seems things was simpler back then.
I dunno..Maybe ignorance was a bless back then when compared to the instant knowledge we have at our finger tips today..
Twenty five years ago almost all my rolling stock was Athearn kits. Then I started adding Accurail kits and Bowser kits to my collection. I still do an occasional kit but with the arthritis in my hands I'm doing fewer and fewer. I really don't need anymore rolling stock ( or engines ) so I haven't bought anything for a while. What I have bought is RTR.
BRAKIE carbon black cars...... Beautiful cars indeed but,I go cheap and buy the operator cars.
Russell
Russell,I dunno since I have no need for carbon black cars on my ISL.
I picked up several 5188cf 3 bay covered hoppers in the operators series.