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Do identical car numbers bother you ?...

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  • Member since
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, January 29, 2007 3:07 AM
Yes because it really seems kind of cheesy running the deja vu lines. Something about it just looks like sort of a we don't give a **** display set up by employees at a toystore. What'd I'd really like to see is some enterprising company offer an un-numbered freight car. Like you have all the paint and logos but no numbers. Until then though I guess we'll just have to be content to un-number them oursevles.  
  • Member since
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  • From: San Jose, California
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Posted by nfmisso on Monday, January 29, 2007 2:50 AM
Yes; definitely, because it is impossible to operate with switch lists with duplicate car numbers - how do you delivered or picked up the correct car if there are dups?
Nigel N&W in HO scale, 1950 - 1955 (..and some a bit newer too) Now in San Jose, California
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Posted by tstage on Monday, January 29, 2007 2:28 AM
 Metro Red Line wrote:

Yes, but I can either:

- re-number them with paint and decals

- severely weather them

- cover part of the reporting marks with graffitti! 

...or, you can turn them into useful structures around your layout:

To answer your first question: Yes, it does - even though no one else will probably know.  I do empathize with Chip's predicament.

Tom

https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling

Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.

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Posted by Tracklayer on Monday, January 29, 2007 2:26 AM

 SpaceMouse wrote:
I'm living with it for the time being. Eventually, I'll get around to changing them. You take what you get when you model un-popular eras.

Un-popular eras ?... I had no idea any era of model railroading was unpopular Mr. Mouse (Chip).

Tracklayer

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: Southeast Texas
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Posted by Tracklayer on Monday, January 29, 2007 1:25 AM
 Metro Red Line wrote:

Yes, but I can either:

- re-number them with paint and decals

- severely weather them

- cover part of the reporting marks with graffitti! 

I like the first option the best...

Tracklayer

  • Member since
    October 2006
  • From: Under The Streets of Los Angeles
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Posted by Metro Red Line on Monday, January 29, 2007 12:44 AM

Yes, but I can either:

- re-number them with paint and decals

- severely weather them

- cover part of the reporting marks with graffitti! 

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Rimrock, Arizona
  • 11,251 posts
Posted by SpaceMouse on Monday, January 29, 2007 12:42 AM
I'm living with it for the time being. Eventually, I'll get around to changing them. You take what you get when you model un-popular eras.

Chip

Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.

  • Member since
    September 2003
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Posted by mlehman on Monday, January 29, 2007 12:38 AM

Gosh, I didn't know anyone even paid attention to those little, bitty numbers in N scale...

 :>)

Nah, just kidding.

N usually has a bit fewer choices available. I've noticed that Micro-Trains generally releases cars in single numbers, while in HO its cousin Kadee puts out pairs of differently numbered cars. More typical are releases from Red Caboose and Intermountain, which will put out 6 or 12 different road numbers of the same car in each run. If you want to represent certain prototypes, you have to accept some of that at times, no matter what scale you model in. Otherwise it's difficult to get a representative fleet of rolling stock assembled.

Your strategy sounds a lot like my own. For boxcars and other types generally handled as single cars, I stick to distinctive road numbers. I do have 12 Athearn hoppers that have duplicated numbers, two sets of the same six numbers. With traffic like coal being generally handled as cuts of cars, if not outright unit trains, it bothers me less to have duped numbers. And it's virtually unnoticeable to visitors.

Mike Lehman

Urbana, IL

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  • From: Christchurch New Zealand
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Posted by NZRMac on Monday, January 29, 2007 12:36 AM

I have 22 4 bay hoppers all with the same number. Doesn't bother me as they are usually in two trains (when I have a layoutAngry [:(!])

Ken.

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    August 2005
  • From: Southeast Texas
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Do identical car numbers bother you ?...
Posted by Tracklayer on Monday, January 29, 2007 12:18 AM

Hello all. I just purchased a couple of N scale Atlas steam era wood side PFE (Pacific Fruit Express) reefers off of ebay earlier tonight for $7.00 each - plus shipping and insurance of course. I figured why not seeing as how they generally go for $12.00 and up most of the time... Anyways. One of the reasons I think they went as cheap as they did is because they have identical numbers, which is something I've learned to live with. I figure I can always renumber them some day down the road when I've got nothing else to do. I also have about ten Santa Fe coal gondolas, and most of them have identical numbers as well. The way I deal with this is by placing a car or two in between the identical ones that do have different numbers to break them up a bit...

Tracklayer

 

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