Best N scale freight car maker????

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

In your opinion what is the best N scale freight car maker Atlas, Micro-Trains, Athearn, Kato. most of my cars are Atlas but i do have 4 Athearns and 1 Micro-trains the Micro trains has broken trucks/couplers but that is my fault because i dropped it. i plan ot run a mixture of them both. what do you like most?? thanks Tim

2

Nobody. I think the best cars are made in On30. LOL

3

diffrent strokes for diffrent folks!!! Tim

4

microtrains i believe to be the best followed by atlas. athearn now makes good n cars and i have many mdc roundhouse cars. the problem is couplers. the micro trains couplers work very well, but the accumates that come on the atlas and athearn cars and locos are not that good together. most of the time i have trouble coupling accumates to microtrains and also to other accumates. i use a rixpic to uncouple and always derail cars that have accumates on them. i’m planning to change them all to mc’s as i go.

5
  1. Intermountain
  2. Atlas
  3. MTL
  4. Deluxe Innovations
6

In N Scale my choices are:
1.Atlas
2.Athearn
3.Red Caboose
4 The former MDC/Roundhouse cars.

7

Price + selection + quailty = Atlas by far

8

yes most of my cars are going to be Atlas but will be running a good amount of Micro-Trains and Athearn plus Kato if they run good

9

1 Atlas: Best selection, price, wide variety. Accumate coupler & pin bolster
2 MicroTrains: 100 body styles, sets the pace for couplers & trucks. High price
3 Intermountain
4 Red Caboose
5 Athearn & MDC: Upgrade old tooling w new screw mount bolster
6 Deluxe Innovations
7 LifeLike Industrial Cheap cars easy to paint & convert
8 Bachmann Needs better conversion to MTL
9 Imports from Roco, Peco, etc in US prototype
10 ConCor how far they have fallen. Vaporware
11 Model Power be careful of cheap toys
12 Kato too few US cars to rate higher
13 Walthers Mostly a Horribly Oversize maker. Neglect the Normal scale market.

10

I personally like Atlas and MDC Roundhouse. I own a few Microtrain cars, and they’re okay, but I feel that they’re way overpriced…

Tracklayer

11

I like rolling stock made by MicroTrains, Atlas, deluxe Innovations & Red Caboose.
Cheers,

http://cliffordconceicao3310.fotopic.net/c328807.html

12

TL- I think the reason they are overpriced is that they are made in the USA.

13

MICRO-TRAINS hands down THE BEST, incredible detail all around and awesome runners aswell, everything else is junk compared to them, also the decals, everyone is flawless even the very small ones {whip out the magnifying glass} all right there perfectly ledgible!
Nate

14

Micro-Trains were definately the best for over 20 years. If they are not still the best they are pretty close.

I don’t worry about the best. I buy cars that fits my needs.

15

I once met a man who said that he didn’t have enough money to buy anything that wasn’t first quality. The car body is the “looks good” part of the equation. The “runs good” part is MicroTrains wheelsets without any doubt. For a young person like yourself with limited resources Atlas or MDC Roundhouse with MT wheelsets are a good option. Deluxe Inovations, Bowser/Delaware Valley, Red Caboose and even some ConCor are great if they sit on MT wheelsets.

You should be able to buy used (actually taken out of the box and run on rails)MT cars for about the same price of new Atlas and MDC. The big advantage to MT cars is that they look like the real deal, not some single style of car painted to represent every railroad. They have movable doors on many models, thin roofwalks, and metal stirrups. Also, right out of the box, they are the correct weight, another operating plus.

Pick an era, pick a mixed fleet of cars that serve your communities, add MT wheelsets, add the proper weight, and have fun.

16

Yep. That’s it. And people wonder why all of our industry is moving overseas…

Tracklayer

17

I believe Micro-Trains are the best in terms of detail. I would be willing to pay the price for them if it weren’t for something that really bothers me; and that is the fact that they tend to ride too high on their trucks. This is especially true in their boxcars. I think this is due to their truck and coupler design, they need to clear the truck mounted coupler.
you can re-work the height and mount the coupler to the body, but that is too much work to have to do on such an expensive car.
If the ride height doesn’t bother you then Micro-Trains is certainly the best in my opinion.

Alex

18

IMHO - Micro trains are the best hands down.

I have a ton of Atlas and Roundhouse cars- I love them too.

I have cars from most makers- alot of them older Atlas, Minitrix and even some Bachmann cars- These will be the first to get weathered. I want to practice on the cheaper cars before I try it on an expensive model.

Eventually, all my cars will have Microtrains brand couplers on them. There is nothing better than them.

Craig

19

Frankly, it depends on what type of car you’re looking for. If you want modern intermodals, then Deluxe Innovations (DI) and Alan Curtis (AC) win hand down.

For tank cars, Atlas is definitely #1, and their recent wood reefers are superb.

The Intermountain(IM) cylindrical hoppers are “da bomb”.

Athearn makes some sweet flatcars, as does MicroTrains. (MT)

For centerbeams and coil cars, Red Caboose. (RC)

Autoracks - the RC and MT singles are very nice (pricey though), while both the Atlas and Athearn articulateds are reputed to be quite good.

Boxcars, Microtrains and Atlas are pretty much at the head, while IM, RC, DI and Athearn/MDC all make some good ones as well.

Trainworx has some very nice open hoppers, Kato, DI and Athearn’s Bethgons are sweet, MT, LBF and Athearn make the nicest gondolas.

Kato has a very modest selection of freight cars, but what they have are quite nice. I eagerly look forward to their new Maxi-IV.

Finally, you’ll notice the absence of Bachmann, LifeLike, ModelPower, ConCor and Industrial.