Sheldon, you are priceless!! That last comment got me to laughing so hard I almost “wet” myself!!!
Ah yes…“experts”, someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know everything there is to know about nothing!!
If he hadn’t died I would send you that moron who upon gazing at my Dad’s layout, the result of almost 20 years of work, commented that a “real” model railroader could tell him everything that was “wrong” with it.
Where would we be without the “experts” to keep the rest of us on track eh?
Keep doing what you’re doing now because I suspect you’re actually doing it right!!!
The older Athearn blue box passenger cars were solid. They had the great benefit of going around 18 inch curves without a hitch. The streamline cars look a bit short to my eye, but if you don’t consist them with the real long cars they look OK and they stay on the track. I like the heavyweight Athearns, they look very good and just like what we rode in back in the day.
Personally, I can’t stand shorty cars. [|(] To each their own, and all that, but they aren’t for me.
I bought these as a kid. I got the whole set: F7A-B-B-A, Bagg., RPO, Coach, Diner, Vista Dome, Obs., all in NH paint. I will always associate them with my days of ignorance, when I thought manufacturers wouldn’t make fake models (“Authentically Scaled From Railroad Blueprints”) and that they’d surely paint them correctly. Ugh. I remember feeling like a fool when I found out the truth. And seeing these shorty cars always brings back that feeling.
To my dying day, I will look at these as true toys…toys for children. No matter what angle you look at them, they are always wrong. It’s like seeing a 4-axle Blomberg-trucked EF-4 (E-33), or the exploding boxcar, or the missle launching car, etc. They are remnents of our toy train past, and for me they are best left in a museum.
The only tolerable cars are the heavyweight baggage and RPO (and maybe the HW coaches, depending on the prototype), because at least they are the right length. Add new trucks and body mount the couplers, and now we’re talking about something reasonable. But the rest of the Athearn shorty fleet? Not for me. Oh, I still have my old shorty cars. I keep them as a reminder of how far we’ve come, this hobby and I.
For what it’s worth, the Athearn blue box streamlined cars are solid and good runners. They are not highly detailed for rivet counters but look good enough for the average model railroader, me. If you’re into airbrushing a used car off eBay will look great with a little TLC.
The older Athearn Talgo style trucks can give some uncoupling problems but Kadee Shelf Couplers take care of that. If you’re into metal wheels use the Athearn metal wheel set, the axles are the correct length for the passenger truck frames.
I have a 9 car Southern Pacific Daylight passenger that to me looks great behind an E7A & B. I also tow them with Athearn PAs as well as Bachmann F7s (when they’ll run). The shorty cars look very good behind any locomotive as far as I’m concerned. I have one Bachmann 85’ full dome kitbashed to a SP ¾ dome lounge car in the mix that doesn’t look out of place running with the 72’ Athearns. I did my own interiors and lighting and the lighting in subdued light looks great.
Basically what you are describing isn’t an “expert” but a guest with no manners and as such should be shown to the door with all due hast.
What is an expert? Someone who has accurate knowledge or someone who disagree’s with your way of doing things and doesn’t have the manners to be graceful about how to use that knowledge? Some people just don’t have social graces or manners is what it boils down to honestly.
[quote user=“Paul3”]
Personally, I can’t stand shorty cars. To each their own, and all that, but they aren’t for me.
I bought these as a kid. I got the whole set: F7A-B-B-A, Bagg., RPO, Coach, Diner, Vista Dome, Obs., all in NH paint. I will always associate them with my days of ignorance, when I thought manufacturers wouldn’t make fake models (“Authentically Scaled From Railroad Blueprints”) and that they’d surely paint them correctly. Ugh. I remember feeling like a fool when I found out the truth. And seeing these shorty cars always brings back that feeling.
To my dying day, I will look at these as true toys…toys for children. No matter what angle you look at them, they are always wrong. It’s like seeing a 4-axle Blomberg-trucked EF-4 (E-33), or the exploding boxcar, or the missle launching car, etc. They are remnents of our toy train past, and for me they are best left in a museum.
IMO, if you’re not expecting Walthers or MTH levels of detail, they’re fantastic - cheap, easy to work on, great runners. When I can get my hands on a 3d printer, they’ll be easy to add interiors to, too
riogrande5761,
Yeah, I know. I “dissed” St. Irv’s primitive out-of-scale models. The horror! [swg]
While I certainly understand the role of “stand in” models (I use them myself), there are multiple levels of reality between the stand in and the prototype. For example, using a generic sleeper instead of prototypical sleeper isn’t so bad. Using a coach instead? Not so good. Using a 72’ coach? That’s even worse. My point is that not all stand ins are equal. For me, some things are just unacceptable. I personally draw the line at shorty cars. That’s Lionel thinking, and I just won’t do it.
I know there are people that don’t care about certain aspects of our hobby. Heck, I don’t much care about freight car accuracy. I couldn’t tell you the difference between the various kinds of dreadnaught ends, roof patterns, or even between an AAR 40’ box and a PS-1 40’ box. I really don’t care. However, I do appreciate that other people care. And if someone offered me two models, one being accurate and one being inaccurate, I’ll take the accurate model any day. Why? Because this hobby is about modeling the prototype in miniature. Compromises must be made depending on operation, availability and price, of course. Just don’t tell me that the compromise is better than the prototype (Hi, Sheldon!).
Sheldon,
I have a feeling that’s not the way those cars in your picture came from the factory. [:-,] I just put together two bone-stock (so stock, they still have X2F’s on them) Athearn heavyweight cars, and the cars are 5.5 scale feet apart at the car corners (without diaphragms). My Walthers heavyweights are more like 2.5 feet apart at the car corners (with diaphragms). At rest, the Walthers diaphragms do touch, but when under tension, th
I just thought that your comments about the Athearn BB cars, the fact that they are shorties, and the thought that they are “true toys…toys for children”, were both a bit unfair. I own both Athearn BB shorties and Walthers and Rapido full size cars and both have a place on our fellow modelers layouts. They are certainly not children’s toys, especially when modified with metal wheels, Kadee couplers and even working diaphragms.
Sheldon, I have a feeling that’s not the way those cars in your picture came from the factory.I just put together two bone-stock (so stock, they still have X2F’s on them) Athearn heavyweight cars, and the cars are 5.5 scale feet apart at the car corners (without diaphragms). My Walthers heavyweights are more like 2.5 feet apart at the car corners (with diaphragms). At rest, the Walthers diaphragms do touch, but when under tension, the diaphragms are apart by about 1/16". But I could just as easily put on short shank Kadees and they’d touch all th****e time.
Yes, you are correct, they did not come that way from Athearn or ConCor - they were KITS and I modified them to be that way.
If I had room for 60" curves, and unlimted time and money, maybe all the passenger cars on my layout would be full scale length for their “prototypes”.
But I started building my fleet of nearly 200 passenger cars LONG before all this new fancy, high end, expensive RTR stuf
I am probably gonna make some of you cringe, sad or impressed. i apologize in advance for the two. i got several heavyweights and strimlined in blue box. i liked them. when i was younger i never even knew thata they were too short. i am 25 now and have learned a lot. when i got several strealined and a heavyweight RTR i thought cool maybe they fixed the issue with them not being the right length. i own several branchline kits and other smooth side coaches that were the correct length. i own several con-cor that are very nice. but it bugged me that when i put the cars in trains it showed how short they were. so i cut them all and made them the correct length. even the oness that had the braces along the sides. i think they look great. but if you are extremely careful you can do it. or… just leave them the way they are.
Oh right… I guess there needs to be evidence for that to happen. here is a small bit of what i did. i have done 6 heavyweights, 6 streamlined. one vearly early one with the brace on the back. i have enough pieces to make one more with the brace on the back. but… i may wait. this took alot of breaks cause it did kinda get frustrating. but i think it turned out good.
