Athearn RTR Streamlined Passenger Cars

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hey, I am modeling the late 60’s and 70’s and I was wondering if the Athearn Streamlined cars are of good quality, They may not be the best, but for the price, I think I should get them. Has anybody owned or see these cars? Are they good on detail? Thanks, Travis

2

I have some of the streamlined athearn cars. For the money, they are OK. I’m not a rivet counter, but they look good to me.

I haven’t figured how to put lights in them though.

3

I have a set of N&W Powhatan Arrow Heavy weights not sure if they qualify as stream liners but I have no complaints what so ever. Nice looking cars pretty well detailed and smooth runners. I’m sure some others may be better but for what I paid for them at a train show I am very happy with them.

4

Travis,

The Athearn streamliners are decent cars as far as performance. Their weight comes within NMRA recommendations and the rolling qualities are good.

Basically “generic” in appearance with minimal details, they are loosely based on Budd Santa Fe cars, afaik. They are often referred to as “shorties” since the coaches, diners, domes, and observation cars are a scale 72’ long, instead of the prototype Santa Fe’s 85 foot length.

Athearn manufactured the shorties with modelers that had 18" and 22" radius curves in mind way back in the day when the typical HO layout was a 4’x8’ or 5’x9’ (you can’t even buy 5x9 boards anymore!) .

I had a fleet of New Haven and Amtrak shorties that I sold/traded off because I wanted more prototypically accurate cars.

I don’t know if these Athearn cars come with interiors (mine didn’t) . If they don’t, you can opt to purchase interior kits from Palace Car Company, or get the IHC interior kits (which would have to be cut down to fit inside the shorties).

5

Yeah im not really a rivit counter just if it looks good to me and it has minimal derailment problems then I will probably look into them, and i would like interior but it doesnt really matter that much.

6

Are you primarily looking at them due to their length? Is there a particular railroad name that you are interested in?

7

Athearn are releasing at the end of the month some streamliners in the genisis range that include

8

The Athern “Blue Box” streamlined cars are most closely modeled on the Santa Fe Chief but there are a few other liveries including SP Daylight and Pennsy. The dome cars included in these sets are incorrect but close to Santa Fe specs. It’s true that they track well and are the most trouble free to operate, especially on modular club layouts and other rough track environments. They can be upgraded with diaphrams and antennas and a really dedicated modeler could install grab irons where relevant. Although I’m a KD man myself, I’ve found that if you just want to pull them around horn hooks work pretty well and provide close coupling to boot. I fit a KD box and coupler on the front and back which is not hard. You just file a notch into the skirt on the rear of the opservation car and screw the coupler box to the underside of the car’s deck. A full set of these cars ( used ) should run less than $100.00 at a big train show. The same goes for Athern heavyweight cars as well!

9

Little more history for you. The cars are patterned of of the SF coaches built in 1937, and are the first of the Budd Patewnt stainless steel (or is it the welding method? ARGH I should know this I volunteer at the museum who owns the first 8) cars to be rolled out of. When I paced the cars out, they came to less than 80feet, and the Athearsn are 1 window shorter than the prototypes in question. I know of at least one thread where we debated if these were 80ft, 85, 72, 77, or 79. (Basically, the Athearns are shorter, but th eprototype is shorter than the cars the Walthers are modeleld on) These cars started as 52seaters. NJT upped them to 84seats in commuter service. When ITM got their 15 (one burned) they were backed down to between 52 and 60 seats. There is at least one more in another museum of the ATSF set. The 14 I’m familiar with also kicked around New Jersey Transit, one was in Penn Central, but there are hundreds of these cars fro various roads.

BTW: While I cannot speak for the 30 or so that ATSF owned, the 14 that ITM owns that came from ATSF rode The Scout, the Texas Chief, and the El Capitan but not the Chief.

Here’s a photo of the Athearn protoytpe in service mid 2000s.
http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=865274

One from her ATSF days:
http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?00002283+OP-2283

EDIT: And the Walthers model, you can tell by winders that the Walthers 52seater is not the 1937built 52 seater.
http://images.cloud.worthpoint.com/wpimages/images/ima

10

If the Athearn RTR cars are the same as their Blue Box streamlined cars, then you’ll probably like them. The BB cars have been called the best-tracking passenger car models on the market. Very reliable, smooth riding. I’ve been able to back a 6-car string of them at speed, with the Talgo couplers with which they came equipped, through crossovers and yard switches, without derailments. And with the addition of some American Limited diaphragms, they’ll look great.

11

They are excellent. Get some. I love mine.

12

Yeah, the reason I wont some is cuz they r cheap, I run 22" curves and I love UP. And most of the feedback i have gotte nis positive, so i mite go ahead and get them. Thanks, Travis.

13

Not to take this in a new direction but 5’ x 9’ plywood is available and is used to make ping pong tables.

14

I have Athearn streamlined pennsy cars, the blue box ones, they are perfect. I don’t think you can go wrong with these cars, they have weight, run great on 22" radius, I’ve installed Kadee’s on mine and they stay hitched together nicely.

For semi scale passenger cars, these are the best on the market. Affordable and very detailed.

15

The Athearn cars are ‘close’ to some ATSF prototypes, but are shorter for the most part. They do NOT have Budd roofs or ends and really are best described as ‘generic’. The 60’ RPO is the the closest. They do have fluting, but the trademark pair of large ribs for a Budd car are not present. I added Evergreen ‘ribs’ to make a quasi CB&Q car back around 1970. I later picked up some of the Mantua metal cars(also 72’) that had the correct roof(or at least close) profile. Later the IHC & Walthers cars became available.

As others have mentioned, they do ‘track’ quite well. I built a Rock Island ‘Plainsman’ for a friend using 4 of their cars. It ran for years, until he passed away and the cars were sold.

Jim

16

Just don’t run them behind E8’s and they won’t look nearly as short, use the Athearn F units and they’ll all fit together nicely.

Agreed, not 100% correct but for operational smoothness and low cost they’re like a broken drum, hard to beat !!!

Mark

17

Are the Athearn RTR passenger cars the same as what used to be the blue box line? The reason I am asking is if they can easily be taken apart, stripped and repainted as I had been doing with blue box undecorateds? For instance is the window glass glued in or can it just be popped out like on blue boxs?

18

I have to second running F units in front of the shorties. I don’t have any Athearn’s but I do have some Con Cor shorties and they don’t look good with E’s or Erie Built.

I won’t give the praise to the Con Cor cars has the Athearn’s have received in this post. But, with a little weight, Kadee couplers, Metal wheel sets and tinkering my Con Cor track great now. Plus they are cheap, I have $169.10 invested in 10 cars, 1 pair of new trucks, couplers and little people.

Cuda Ken

19

Almost the entire fleet of passenger cars on the ATLANTIC CENTRAL is Athearn, streamliners and heavyweights, and ConCor shorty streamliners.

I love the selectively compressed length and add lots of details to all of them. As well as close coupling and American Limited working diaphragms - that touch and STAY touching all the time. The effect is great, better than $50 “scale” cars going down the track with 1/8" to 1/4" gaps between the diaphragms.

Most of my passenger power is PA1’s, and EMD F or FP units, but I do have a few E units and I think they look just fine.

Remember, OK, very few streamlined cars where shorter than 80’, but MANY heavyweights ranged from 60’ to 80’ and everywhere in between.

And, I have kitbashed lot of cars never offered by Athearn, combines, full RPO’s, solarium observations, dome observations, etc.

But what do I know, according to all the experts, I’m doing this train thing all wrong.

Sheldon

20

They are the Blue Box cars, but I would not be surprised if the windows are glued. I know they glue the roofs down on the Roundhouse cars. You should hoever be able to ge the athearn’s apart.