Starting with Inter Mountains release of a finely detailed 4 bay covered grain hopper back in the early 90’s, Then Proto 2000 4427 Ps2-Cd Covered hopper,and then again I.M.'s
release of the 4750 covered hoppers…Atlas and I.M.'s with the 4650’s…Athearn’s Genesis series…
These are the units today I go for… Finely detailed ladders, railings,and walkways…
I just don’t buy the old stuff with ladder steps a foot thick…
When you compare the old with the new, there is No comparison…
Your thoughts??
Good question! Personally, I prefer the ‘upscale’ lines of Bachmann (Spectrum), Athearn (Genesis), etc. because of the greater focus on details and improved underpinnings. I hate buying, say, passenger equipment with horn hook couplers…and Walthers must have read my thoughts, because they began producing items I wanted with knuckle couplers–again, greater attention to detail. BUT: if there is something I yearn for that doesn’t have the best detailing yet still pulls at the old heart strings, I’ll spring for it.
Personally, I prefer the detailed kits (Proto, Intermountain, Blueprint, Red Caboose) and pretty much focus my purchases on those lines (although I do indulge in Athearn, Accurail, Walthers, Bowser, and Branchline Yardmaster…yes, I have an addiction…) Up until my birthday a couple years ago, I only owned detailed kits, but then I received a few Athearn blue box covered hoppers as gifts. I thought to myself that these would never hold up against Proto & IM, but they were gifts and I humbly accepted them. One night I didn’t have alot of modeling time so I “threw together” one of the Athearn covered hoppers and installed KDs and metal wheelsets. Not too long after that I placed the Athearns on the layout mixed in with Proto and IM. Now, there is a distinct difference in the level of detail and the thickness of the grabs/stirrups/etc, but as the train moved around the layout, these differences kind of faded away. I got caught up in watching the whole train run instead of focusing on any one single car. The only time I really noticed the difference was when the cars were sitting still. Anyway, that hasn’t deterred me from purchasing the Proto, IM, BP, and RC, but it has given me a different persepctive. I don’t buy alot of the lesser detailed cars, but now I don’t automatically rule them out either.
I think this thread is a great thread!!
I do buy the “Old” stuff as well as some of the newer items. I prefer the “Old” stuff because the products are understood and consistent. I concur the details are not always the best. I argue that one can always add detail parts or kitbash it into something else.
I have several RTR cars and the cost of each is more than that for a grocery bill. I refuse to cut into or modify these carefully selected cars in any way. Not at these prices.
I strongly believe there is a market for “Older stuff” and evidence can be seen in trainsets for children that never really improved over the years.
Best of Luck!
Lee
I like “the OLD stuff” too. I enjoy kit-bashing and scratch-building locos and rolling stock.
I usually buy used locos and parts lots and have a blast piecing locos together, adding the detail parts and custom painting them.
Smiling here:
I define ‘old stuff’ as at least past peuberty. WIthin the context of the post: I almost entirely scratchbuild my rollingstock. Very little in my chosen era has been released in the last decade or so, either kit or RTR.
Randy
I still buy the old Athearn kits, mainly due to cost, and the fact that they still make up into very reasonable models with a little care during assembly. I have three of their ACF centreflow plastic pellet hoppers and two of their ACF centreflow grain hoppers that I’m particularly pleased with - they really look the part.
I occaisionally buy the old stuff in HO and S scales. The detail is not the same, but I enjoy the old wooden kits.
Enjoy
Paul
I’ll buy the newer, higher priced, and more detailed models if they fit a particular need I have but I seen nothing wrong with many of the older, cheaper cars. As JDCoop notes above, running in a train as viewed from 3 feet away, it is difficult to tell a superdetailed model from one by Accurail, et al.
CNJ831
I still buy the old stuff. Two reasons, first, when a train is moving past you the differences tend to become less important, second because the really fine detail on the new generation of kits has proven in many cases not to be particularly durable – meaning that over time the little handgrabs and steps and other separate parts end up scattered along the right of way.
Dave Nelson
I’ve basically given up on buying anything more than six-ten years old. I’m at a point in my modeling where I prefer finer details and prototype accuracy over having 60 of everything, so I’m much more selective in my model purchasing. The old stuff can’t compete at ALL in terms of accuracy or overall looks, especially if you compare an Athearn 40’ box with a Branchline kit!
The only exceptions are a very few select structure kits that haven’t been made in awhile (Bachmann Sears house and Diamond Scale Ogle coal dock spring to mind).
I do still buy the old stuff. I coach a Little League baseball team and they like to come over and run trains. So I use the old stuff for them. I think the new stuff is great. I try to buy mostly undecorated products because I like to add detail and paint. I enjoy building from scratch also. I bring out the finer rolling stock when the kids are gone. My 11 yr. old son has a great appretiation for the detailed equipment.
In many ways I have to buy the old stuff. Modeling traction means you pretty much HAVE to buy old models that folks stopped making decades ago in order to own anything at all.
Well, partially I buy old stuff because it is often cheap. Horn-hook couplers don’t put me off–Kadee knock-offs are cheap enough and an installation takes about five minutes. I’m still getting my skills back and I worry less about hacking up a $2 swap-meet boxcar vs. a $12 kit–although I’ve hacked up a couple $12 kits too. New trucks are cheap, but not always necessary in my opinion–lots of the old stuff is in fine condition if given a little love. I am not offended by cast-on grab irons or the occasional non-prototype detail as long as the model generally looks nice and the price is right.
If I could go out and buy a single-truck lightweight Birney Safety Car new, I would. But they haven’t been made in decades so I’ll buy the old stuff rather than not have a Birney on my layout. Perhaps, with what I’ve seen as a renewed interest in traction, there will again be new trolley models–until then I’ll buy the old stuff.
Dave,
I can spot the nasty, giant claws on Athearn and Roundhouse boxcar doors no matter how fast you run em!
But you’re right about most of the rest of the details. That’s why I don’t mind running Accurail, Bowser or Yardmaster cars in with my Red Caboose, Intermountain, or resin. From 10 feet away, most handrails disappear completely (of course, having to wear glasses helps here!)
I prefer kits to RTR…I don’t think I have any RTR rolling stock at all. I have no problem with level of detail on the Athearn, MDC and Walthers kits. If I desire to increase the level of detail I can without much problem or just leave it alone, weather, metal wheel, weight, Kadee it and go. I enjoy the Proto Kits and Intermountain kits also…
but I have to say…you can say what you want about the level of detail or thick moldings on Athearn, MDC or Walthers cars…I run alot of my stuff on a club layout so they get handled often plus transported to and from…and I’ve had to do alot more repairs on the Protos and IMs than on the the old blue box warriors…I pretty much leave them at home now.
The short of it…yeah I still pick up the older stuff…
Well since I’m one of those weird “good enough” model railroaders, I still buy the old stuff when I find something I can use on the layout. It just looks fine to me. Anyway, I consider myself more of a model railroader much more than a railroad modeler.
I recently put an Athearn Morrell reefer next to a highly detailed and expensive RTR Intermountain of the same care. The Athearn cost me five bucks, and the Intermountain cost me almost five time that amount! I had to hold the Intermountain at just the right angle to even tell the ladders and graps weren’t cast on. Both cars look pretty much the same to me, other than the colors don’t match…and I can live with that! It’s no wonder I don’t mind still buying the old stuff…
[Sorry, Marty!]
I buy both old and new. While the detail on the new models is great, the selection is limited. I look for anything that helps fill the need for more “home road” freightcars in my time frame, (SP, 1955-65)
I have asembled 14 Lifelike Proto 2000 cars, they are understandably time consuming, but worth it. But there is something therapeutic about kicking back and assembling a nice old Blue Box kit, always takes me back to the days when that was about all I had. With little added effort, all receive Kadee couplers and either Kadee or P2K wheel sets, and weight to NMRA specs.
Nobody who visits has ever noticed the differences between “old” and “new”! Dan.
P.S.For what it’s worth, some of the first cars i bought years ago, require paint and decals, are still waiting in their boxes.
The “claws” on the doors of Athearn and MDC cars are among the easiest things to eliminate during construction actually. Ironically the even older all-metal Athearn cars had the best operating doors of all – scale thickness, stamped metal, riding in small metal slots that were almost prototype size. Very durable yet realistic. Fortunately I was able to lay in a supply when Menzies briefly resurrected the Athearn metal line.
Dave Nelson
The old stuff rules! Cost is first and foremost for me. For example, I will probably need around 50 quad hoppers, so $5 each Athearn blue box is the way to go. Another source is the older trainset cars. Old Tyco, Bachmann, etc. can be picked up cheap, then either have trucks and couplers added, or use them as kitbashing fodder. I’m currently using a pair of old Bachmann hoppers for building a Virginian style 105 ton gondola. I picked them up for $1 each, much cheaper than new. And as a bonus, the cars provided brakewheels and brakegear for the project. I have recently bought old MDC kits for $4. Nothing wrong with them, just cheaper!
I’d have to say that the old stuff is just fine with me. Just for the heck of it I purchased an undecorated Kadee boxcar and an undecorated Accurail boxcar. I painted them both in the same paint scheme but gave them differerent numbers. Then I placed them side by side. The Kadee was obviously superior in detail, but once the cars were moving in a train it wasn’t that much of a difference. At least not to me.
Jim