Are there any HO locomotives or coaches made out of thin strong aluminum? If not how come they don’t make them. They will simulate prototype railroad equipment.
Although I don’t know whether or not they’re still available–I understand that they are–Herkimer makes–or made–a series of flute-sided Budd-style passenger cars in aluminum. I remember them as not being exactly ‘thin’, but they were sturdy and rather handsome.
A long time ago–1940’s–the Varney company made an aluminum boiler for a 2-8-8-4 Yellowstone based on a Northern Pacific prototype. It was an aluminum casting solely because the original brass casting was far too heavy for the single-motor drive transmission.
Other than that, I don’t know off-hand about any other aluminum models.
Tom
Holgate & Reynolds/Three Brothers Mfg/Golden Spike/Whatever they are now, made Aluminum Bi-level passenger cars for CBQ and MILW. They are very realistic on the outside.
The shells can still be bought from Walthers.
Phil
OK Engines makes extruded aluminum passenger cars. I have several. They also offer a custom car service for cars they don’t produce in their line.
I supplied them with plans for some GN passenger cars for the “Western Star” to go with the Empire Builder from Walthers
Mantua made 72’ ‘short’ Budd cars from extruded aluminum at one time. OK Herkimer has made 60’ ‘shorty’ and ‘full length’ PS pattern cars from aluminum extrusions. Their web site indicates that they are now also making Budd pattern passenger cars as well. I have never seen them, and I am not sure if the window patterns/ends are of Budd prototypes or just ‘generic’ like the PS pattern cars were.
BTW, the prototype Budd cars were not made of aluminum - they were shot welded stainless steel construction. IIRC, some of the PS cars that the NH got did have aluminum ‘tack on’ sheathing applied to the sides by PS.
Even buffing the OK Herkimer car side does not really improve their looks. The best cars I have seen are the BLI ‘CZ’ cars. The Walthers Budd cars can be made to look super with special paints(Antonio FP45 has a thread, IIRC). Those old Mantua/OK Herkimer cars were really heavy as well!
Jim Bernier
I’ve got a set of 5 Mantua “streamlined” passenger cars made of aluminum. They’re OK, but nothing special. I started with 2, and wanted a boat-tail observation car, which I got on eBay. Then I kind of got hooked on eBay, to a limited extent, and bought 2 more cars.
I like the cars because they’re 70-or-so-footers, with truck-mounted couplers, so they fit on my layout even with its 18-inch curves. On the other hand, they lack detail and don’t compare to today’s offerings made of plastic. Early in my return-to-model-railroading career, they were a good learning experience, since they needed interior lighting and upgrades from the horn-hooks they all came with.
While not terribly prototypical, due to their short size, they still look just fine behind either my Hudson or an A-B-A F7 consist.
Just like the prototype, in a model locomotive, weight = traction. Aluminum is the wrong material to get you there. Besides being light, aluminum doesn’t solder easily, and oxidizes easily to especially ugly when not protected (anodizing is the usual method). Except as an early way to simulate stainless steel, it has little use in models.
my thoughts
Fred W
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Consider that today, the value of aluminum and the costs for manufacturing aluminum products is much higher than just two decades ago. Just look at crime stats and see how some urban areas report the theft of aluminum sidings and screen doors on apartment buildings.
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Aluminum, especially high strength, can be difficult to work with when heated. I used to dislike having to weld it when I repaired transit buses. What a pain!
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With the precision dimensioning and detailing that’s now available for plastic scale models, the market demand for railroad models manufactured from brass or any other metal has fallen. Kalmbach has the stats. Guys like me that are 40+ remember the plastic HO Athearn and Atlas models of the 1970s. When LL P2K and, later, Athearn Genesis models were introduced we were stunned with how the detailing nearly rivaled that of the most expensive brass locomotives.
Of course metal bodied models still offers advantages, including heavier weight and according to sound experts, better resonating qualities for sound equipped units (like the BLI GG1).
There is the option of paint metalizing body shells to simulate stainless steel or aluminum sidings. As mentioned above, I posted 2 threads regarding the use of Alclad II to obtain those effects. I like the Alclad II very much and have been encouraging other passenger car modelers to use it.
http://cs.trains.com/forums/1397929/ShowPost.aspx
http://cs.trains.com/forums/1346016/ShowPost.aspx
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