ATLANTIC CENTRAL Yes, they only did semi scale wheels, rather arrogant I always thought. Sheldon
Yes, they only did semi scale wheels, rather arrogant I always thought.
Sheldon
So he's passing up increased sales because he's arrogant.
Certainly a possibility.
Another could be he couldn't/can't afford to expand to offer 110 wheels.
Assuming he hasn't fully folded, I suppose someone could offer to bankroll the expension, for a share of the increased profits. Everybody wins!
Ed
I just called Reboxx and no one answered. The answering machine said their mailbox was full.
No website, no one answering the phone, can't leave a message. Looks like the end.
I'm wondering if the proprietors have experienced a sudden medical emergency or simply passed away. Several scenarios like that have affected small-time businesses and if the principals do not leave an exit strategy or at least have a friend or family member informed as to how to handle closing the business, well, everyone is left holding the bag.
A similar thing happens to people that have various railroad or modeling web sites and if they are suddenly or unexpectedly disabled or die , the survivors are unaware or not instructed to post a "Gee, we're sorry but the owner is dead so we can't get to the phone or keyboard right now..." message.
gmpullmanI'm wondering if the proprietors have experienced a sudden medical emergency or simply passed away.
Well, some might say it serves them right for being arrogant. I'd prefer to give the benefit of the doubt; it's how I would want to be treated.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Yes, small businesses close for all sorts of reasons, no telling what happened here.
I only know one modeler who started converting a lot of stuff with Reboxx wheelsets. Then he noticed the rougher ride thru his turnouts, and stopped converting to semi scale wheels........
The whole idea of semi-scale wheelsets was a compromise in the first place, no matter who makes them. The idea was they would look a bit better than the overly wide code 1110 wheels wjile still negotiating trackwork made for the code 110 RP25 wheels. Which they do - mostly. Probably reliable enough not to derail, but the narrower wheels can drop in the frogs of otherwise NMRA compliant turnouts because of the tolerance range that is allowed by the standards. So you get bouncing you don't get through the very same turnout with code 110 wheels. That may or may not be acceptable to you - I'm not a fan. I guess if I wanted to build a model where I could take a closeup high res photo from the end and not have it be obvious it was a model, I'd build it with finescale wheels. Probably be a shelf queen though, I really have no desire (or time) to build a large layout to strict finescale tolerances. I will admit - such a thing does look great - no matter what the scale. Even N scale looks quite nice with code 40 rail laid to fine scale standards with fine scale wheels on the cars. More power to those who do it - it looks awesome. But, it's just not my thing.
I suspect also that the other side (ooriginal side?) of Reboxx, that being making repalcement boxes for brass, is also a somewhat limited market - there are after all only so many older brass locos that exist, and once they have new boooxes - how often do you need to get ANOTHER new box for the same loco?
I do believe the proprietor of Reboxx is significantly older than I am, and as more or less a one man band, things happen. Thing I am going to carefully hold on to is my truck tuner tool - the Micro Mark one is next to useless compared to the one Reboxx sold. It's WAY too short.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
As far as I know, the 88 bounce is from the wheel dropping as it crosses the frog gap. Manufacturers make the flangeway as deep as possible, so that they don't have to hear people complaining about how their Dad's Rivarossi Dockside bounces UP. As opposed to the 88's dropping DOWN.
So, on my #10 Shinora, some of my cars bounce.
I'm doing a project that will use four #20 track switches. I am currently building the frogs. I think maybe even 110 wheels will want to drop in that size frog. My plan is to have the flangeway be about the depth of the flange, so that the wheels will roll through the frog gap on their flanges. That will either be .035", to allow for old NMRA S-4 flanges, or it might be .028", and let the S-4's bounce UP. I will not be running any flanges deeper than S-4.
The next project after that will need the building of about 10 track switches, of varying size. I do believe I will keep the #20 flangeway depth for those, too.
Because I do have and like the 88 wheels. And I don't like the bounce.
I like to build kit freight cars, from BB to Accurail to Proto 2000, etc., and add Kadee couplers and metal wheelsets.
When I got started, I bought a digital caliper and measured the (conical end) axle end length of the original to understand that vs. the 33" Intermountain and/or Proto (ribbed back for older cars) wheelsets I might install. I did some downhill rolling tests, and found that matching the axle lengths to the Reboxx recommended length items was not necessary. As long as the replacement axle is not excessively long or unreasonably short, it ran fine (much better than original plastic wheelsets). So I did not get into ordering Reboxx recommended wheelsets (did they not offer code 110?) for particular cars per their lists because they were the "right" length.
I never considered the code 88 items, thanks to understanding the issues via this forum.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
Well, here it is over a year later and still no word on what ever happened to REBOXX. I would hope that another company or manufaturer whould pick up the tooling and resume offering the wheelsets. I still see the need for shorter axle lengths of .950 and longer ones of 1.200.
On some Atlas trucks, I have had to drill into the journals to get Intermountain wheelsets to fit and roll freely. On some Walthers trucks, the Intermountain wheelsets fit sloppy, thus the need for longer axles.
But that's just me.
I have used both 88 and 110 Intermountains on most if not all trucks; they fit Tahoe correctly, but some trucks required tuning.
Maybe not for Walther trucks. I always disliked their six-wheel metal-sideframe trucks on earlier heavyweight passenger cars because it was hard to get them to free-roll. My solution was to buy Branchline truck kits, an easy replacement and very free-rolling.
I heard that Reboxx and Intermountain came from the same plant; not true?
Hal
hdtvnut I have used both 88 and 110 Intermountains on most if not all trucks; they fit Tahoe correctly, but some trucks required tuning. Maybe not for Walther trucks. I always disliked their six-wheel metal-sideframe trucks on earlier passenger cars, because it was hard to get them free-rolling I heard that Reboxx and Intermountain come from the same plant; not true? Hal
Maybe not for Walther trucks. I always disliked their six-wheel metal-sideframe trucks on earlier passenger cars, because it was hard to get them free-rolling
I heard that Reboxx and Intermountain come from the same plant; not true?
The first mistake REBOXX made was to only sell code 88 wheelsets. Not everybody wants code 88 wheels.
The second mistake they made was this - while their axle length research and information was great for rigid frame plastic trucks, their info for stuff like Kadee sprung metal trucks was all wrong.
As a user of all regular NMRA standard track, I will not use code 88 wheels. I'm not saying they don't work, I just don't like the tollerance issues. The other reason I don't like code 88 wheels is the gap between the wheel and the side frame, you are just swapping one incorrect appearance for another.
Wheel sets and cardboard boxes just does not seem enough to base a business on long term, apparently I am correct on that point.
I use Intermountain code 110 wheelsets in Kadee sprung metal trucks and get incredible free rolling results, a combination that REBOXX said would not work. Yet, myself, and several other modelers who use the same formula, have thousands of freight cars equipped that way, and REBOXX is out of business.......
Folks,Reboxx was only ever a sideline business for the owner. The reason why it started was the owner's incredibly large brass collection. He needed boxes for some of them, so he started Reboxx to make new ones of high quality for his own collection.
According to a friend of mine who got to see Reboxx's warehouse, it was really a large storage area for the owner's brass collection. The owner's goal was to own a brass model of every Union Pacific loco UP ever had. Not one of each type, one of each loco. He had 25 Big Boys, for example.
I don't know where the owner got his money from, but obviously not from selling replacement boxes or wheelsets.
By my calculations there are enough Big Boys somewhere for every modeler to have all 25, yet Athearn, MTH and Broadway are determined to make more.....
As for REBOXX, lots of companies in this hobby are/have been just side businesses run by people with enough money to just give it a go, for whatever personal reason.
That does not change the reasons why the products were not viable long term.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL Kadee sprung metal trucks
Russell
csxns ATLANTIC CENTRAL Kadee sprung metal trucks Do you have any without changed wheels i have a set but have not used .
Do you have any without changed wheels i have a set but have not used .
Russell, not sure I understand your question? Yes, I have Kadee trucks that I have not converted yet, but they are not installed on a freight car yet.
The Kadee wheel sets work fine, some people like them, but they are not exceptionally free rolling. I install the Intermountain wheels to make them more free rolling.
There is a lot of science to this, but contrary to what people think, the axles do not ride on the points, the top of the axle point cone rides on the top of the truck journal cone.
Rigid plastic trucks benefit from a fairly tight fit, sprung trucks require a bit more play to allow the side frames to flex.
The point of sprung trucks on a model is not actual spring action, it is just equalization, allowing all the wheels to sit firmly on the track and carry equal weight all the time.
I have sprung trucks on most of my freight cars, I pull long trains and in my experiance they do track better.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL not converted yet, but they are not installed on a freight car yet.
csxns ATLANTIC CENTRAL not converted yet, but they are not installed on a freight car yet. Yes that is what i was saying i have a set of 100 ton Kadee trucks that i have not used just wondering how well they will work.
Yes that is what i was saying i have a set of 100 ton Kadee trucks that i have not used just wondering how well they will work.
They work fine, but they will not be the most free rolling trucks on your layout.
Again I grew up in this hobby in a time when most everything came with sprung trucks, and I prefer them.
I just reached out to Reboxx today. Telephone number is disconnected and website is gone. So I did a little research and located the Real Estate management company that runs the industrial Park where they are located. Kane Industrial Park, Hudson, MA. Spoke to a woman who answered the phone at the Park office. Inquired about Reboxx and she indicated that they were still there. She knew the principal by name, J.P.Barger. I indicated that the phone was disconnected and she advised that he principally uses the space to store things but volunteered no other information. So, end of story? Maybe, maybe not.
No website and disconnected phone sounds terminal to me.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
bigfrankt I just reached out to Reboxx today. Telephone number is disconnected and website is gone. So I did a little research and located the Real Estate management company that runs the industrial Park where they are located. Kane Industrial Park, Hudson, MA. Spoke to a woman who answered the phone at the Park office. Inquired about Reboxx and she indicated that they were still there. She knew the principal by name, J.P.Barger. I indicated that the phone was disconnected and she advised that he principally uses the space to store things but volunteered no other information. So, end of story? Maybe, maybe not.
So which of their very short list of products are you seeking that had you go to such trouble to confirm the obvious?
As reported earlier in this thread, apparently this was just a sideline business for this guy, the market for replacement brass loco boxes seem limited.
The wheelset business is full of competition also willing to make code 110 wheelsets. Much of the REBOXX axle length "science" was questionable with their listed sizes for Kadee trucks, and other sprung trucks being incorrect.
I knew the one owner of Reboxx personally. He ran it with his brother. He used to attend our "lodge" meetings in my one friend's attic, where we played trains late into the night on weekends...J. P. Barger is/was one of the nicest people I EVER met in the model train hobby. He also is/was a great collector, and had a huge train collection. The brothers, assuming still with us, would be rather senior at this point in time, as in very likely 90's. They made products they wanted to make, including the fabulous replacement boxes for brass trains, which was their main thing...Say whatever you want, my friends loved their products and bought plenty of them. They filled a marketing niche. Some dealers are still selling off their stock of Reboxx boxes, a great product that brass collectors need, as any others are only available from BrassTrains. At this point, the replacement boxes would be needed more than ever as the vintage boxes and especially foam disintegrate over time. Reboxx tried to exactly match the sizes and colors of most of the original boxes, while BrassTrains boxes are all the same and only 3 sizes.
For awhile, their wheelsets were among the best available...but time marches on.
Again, they were among the nicest people I ever met.
Best regards--
John
The axle length errors were more clerical errors than anything, with a list that huge compiled by hand, there were bound to be some mistakes. I corrected one, I think it was for the Life Like (pre-P2K) Northeast caboose, which with added details and a new paint job loook quite decent, but they have really odd axle length plastic wheelsets. The ones originally listed by Reboxx were the wrong size, got the correct ones, and told him about it the next train show (or maybe I got the correct size at that show). The list on the web site got updated.
In many cases, it's easier to just get new trucks, but some models, like this caboose, have a really strange truck mounting which makes it major surgery to remove the old ones, plug the hole up, and redrill for a standard screw on truck. So it was easier to find metal wheels with the cirrect axle length to fit. Among rolling stock I have that did not come with metal wheels, this caboose is really the only one that does not fit the standard P2K wheelsets. Those have worked fine in every Athearn and Accurail car, and Stewart/Bowser kits as well.
Randy,
I can't speak to the fit of REBOXX wheelsets in most plastic rigid trucks. But some 11 years ago there were multiple, some times heated, conversations about the fit of REBOXX wheelsets in Kadee and other sprung trucks. And that my use of Intermountain wheelsets could not work.
By design the points of the axle should not ride in the point of the journal, there should be some play and the cone of the axle rides in the top of the cone of the journal.
Limiting the amount of play is good.
But with sprung trucks there are more variables and getting too close is not good.
Sam at Kadee has answered this privately for me and others, he affirms that my combination of Kadee trucks and Intermountain wheelsets is good engineering. REBOXX recommended much longer axles which did not work well.
Seems unlikely they made a clerical error primarily on Kadee trucks? REBOXX also listed different sizes for different Kadee trucks, yet Kadee only makes one axle length size.
Again, all the research and testing I did more than a decade ago suggests that some of the engineering from REBOXX was flawed.
And at that time, several other modelers on here spoke up and said they too were using Intermountain wheelsets in Kadee trucks with great success.
A few other thoughts,
I'm sure the people at REBOXX are/were dedicated hobbiests who believed in their products.
I'm sure they had lots of happy customers who needed or wanted what they had to offer.
I never needed any of their offerings. As for wheelsets I have never been a code 88 fan.
Having not only been in this hobby for a while, but also having worked in this business, I can tell you there are and have been some unique axle lengths in some products over the years.
Here are two examples: Athearn still uses an extra long axle in some of their freight trucks and in their passenger trucks when they make run of thoses once blue box passenger cars. And interestingly, the old Model Die Casting line of rigid frame plastic passenger trucks also use those longer axles (remember my stories about collaboration between Athearn and MDC).
But, mostly, I think the REBOXX axle length offerings were a solution looking for a problem, and as modelers fiqured out that in many cases it made little difference, and as other products entered the market, REBOXX likely lost market share quickly.
Athearn still sells "long" and "short" axle wheelsets in 33" and 36" sizes.
Intermountain and others seem to fit most trucks on the market pretty well, and the Athearn long wheelsets seem to fit the rest.
Maybe this info will be of use to those looking for REBOXX products.
Sheldon:
Replacement boxes for HO Brass models. Brass Trains appears to offer them, but with their logo plastered all over them. They can keep those.
bigfrankt Sheldon: Replacement boxes for HO Brass models. Brass Trains appears to offer them, but with their logo plastered all over them. They can keep those.
And your point? All my comments were in regard to their wheelsets?
OK, now I get the point, I asked you a question weeks ago, you are just now answering.............
Replacement boxes for brass models are of no interest to me. I only have two brass models, they now have plastic tenders and freelanced paint schemes, and spend their time on the layout actually running, so their boxes are not all that important. Neither is their future resale value..........
I used to make storage boxes for my loose trains out of shoe boxes and old mattress pad foam, but that's when I was still young. Now that I'm all grown up and manly and what-not, if I need a box, I'll grab a shoe box or something and some old mattress pad foam (or whatever other foam I can find).
I used some Reboxx wheelsets on Rivarossi passenger cars a few years ago. The quality and design was very similar to Intermountain wheelsets, but it was nice having the different axle length options. The only problem I had was that some of the wheels didn't have their center holes drilled perfectly, so a couple of the cars wobble a little as they roll along.
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