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 Posted - June 10 2007 : 2:29:48 PM
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Hey Fellas:
Can we get a discussion going here about the best BFTB rolling stock. Criteria I'd suggest is; fairly prototypical (no rivet counting category) and rolls real well (Read GIC's posting on the 62 foot cars he tried to pull. I think it was 27. no way. That was with 3 locomotives.) AND of course would not break the bank.
Cheers,
Gareth
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Posted - June 10 2007 : 5:20:48 PM
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One word: Athearn.
There's a reason they're so famous!
The blue-box kits are cheap and plentiful. The "classic" kits (pre-1980 tooling) might drive rivet-counters crazy at times but they get the look down pat, run well, and are a dime-a-dozen. 1990's see an improvement in paint for the same price. Today's versions have STUNNING paint and are still a good bargain - and often still made in the USA.
The new Ready-to-Roll kits with new tooling are INCREDIBLE. The detailing is stunning, the paint is flawless, and when you get them wholesale from places like modeltrainstuff.com, the pricing is still a great deal (Intermountain quality for half the price). They have metal wheelsets that are so greased-piggy you'd think they'd squeal. The classic/bluebox kits, when upgraded to RTR-boxes, have these wheels as well.
Honestly - I have never gone wrong with Athearn. My only complaint is all the new stuff comes from China but they're not the only guilty one. At least the kits are still US made but then apparently nobody buys them anymore.
The new Atlas Trainman cars are neat but it's interesting to see the corners they cut in the face of today's perfectionists. Still a good value overall.
Older Roundhouse and Walthers kits can be a good value but often have aggravating features that can prove troublesome, but not insurmountable.
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Posted - June 18 2007 : 2:53:50 PM
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You can't go wrong with Atearn BB's.
I've got a couple Accurail autorack kits that were a good value.
I saw some Stewart kits at a show that had really good detail for the money. (don't own any of those yet)
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Posted - June 19 2007 : 11:32:30 AM
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I'd give my vote to Athearn's Ready-To-Roll line of freight cars. Though the tooling on some goes back to the Stone Age, the paint jobs are great. The metal wheels and proper weighting makes them out of the box good performers for me. The knuckle couplers are plastic-spring McHenry in many cases, but they aren't really bad.
The improvements certain cars receive from the old Athearn and Roundhouse lines makes even nicer.
As has also been stated, the newer Atlas Trainman line has some promising pieces. I can't say much for the gondola, but the Railbox is okay and the caboose is very sharp, as is the ribbed hopper.
Tony Cook
HO-Scale Trains Resource
http://ho-scaletrains.net
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Posted - June 20 2007 : 02:06:07 AM
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just wondering about your quote, GIC: "The new Ready-to-Roll kits with new..."
Ready to roll kits? Okay, maybe thaut's a sort of english rivot counting. Pardon my attention there.
To the subject at hand...
I shall never turn down buying a used Athearn locomotive with metal trucks. I had a GN GP-5 (yes, GP-5) numbered 707. And I added a wee bit of weight to the shell and an extra headlight in the frontal long hood.
I took this locomotive to it's top speed... and then shut off the power supply. Would you like to guess what happened next?
It traveled with the light blaring another 18 to 24 inches, perhaps more before coming to a stop. Those caste zinc flywheels and plastic worm gear were a splendid weight and roll extender... No other locomotives I have owned since then has ever come close to recreating the ability this early Athearn GP did.
Price for that GN locomotive? $5.
Sorta reminds me with actions of a real locomotive from a video found elsewhere on this site... Unless you jam your train... er model train into reverse direction from forward, your trains ability to stop is almost as hair raising as in the prototype world when shutting off power to that unit.
K'POW! ... couplers fly and the bodies fight... the trailing cars jamming accordian style in a matter of two or three seconds...
...
...
oh... sorry... got off track, again...
ZZzz
I don't have a one track mind. It depends on the turn-out.
"I love your catenary!"
Is that a power-trip or just another pick-up line?
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Posted - June 21 2007 : 12:26:04 AM
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quote:just wondering about your quote, GIC: "The new Ready-to-Roll kits with new..."
Ready to roll kits? Okay, maybe thaut's a sort of english rivot counting. Pardon my attention there.
Originally posted by zebrails - June 20 2007 : 02:06:07 AM
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Eh, sorry. It's probably because the last several Athearn RTR cars I bought were Undecs... which are true KITS in every sense of the word. The 2970 must have about 80+ pieces, easily!
Also I was trying to distinguish that the "new RTR kits" - in other words tooling made for and introduced for that line - are vastly superior to the older BlueBox cars be they in kits form or in a new RTR version.
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Posted - June 21 2007 : 01:11:52 AM
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"Eh, sorry. It's probably because the last several Athearn RTR cars I bought were Undecs... which are true KITS in every sense of the word...
Originally posted by GoingInCirclez - June 21 2007"Â
uh oh... [B)]
I see in my previous quote I misspelled... "...maybe thaut's a sort..."
Okay, my perfectionism isn't watt it used to be...
And, I have known about the RTR models. However, I have never seen an undecorated RTR model. Never knew they existed.
New one for me.
Nice topic! And I do agree with the workmanship of these new RTR models. One thing not so cool on... the "slap-on" couplers. They are well fastened. But I have found them "short-lived" plastic [XX(] [8] [8] [8] [xx(] a hassle to replace with KADEE'S. I mean, geeze! Like, with some kits, do not already fasten those things on with the clips. A bugger to remove and reassemble. Plus, the draft gear box brass spring does not allow for much extra...
sorry... derailed at the switch.
[V]
z
John ZZzz
I don't have a one track mind. It depends on the turn-out.
"I love your catenary!"
Is that a power-trip or just another pick-up line?
Edited by - zebrails on June 21 2007 01:21:54 AM
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