Totally NOT true. There are very little similarities between the cars currently marketed under the IHC name and the old AHM/Rivarossi.
Before you thrash 'em think of why you bought them. Was priority price? If so, follow above cited advice and add weight. I’ve put on Kadee conversion kits(505’s and 508’s) because I like making up trains and to do that you have to have Kadees. Need something that consistently uncouple,delay and couple-haven’t had that with McHenry’s.
I haven’t added any weight other than what Kadee conversions might add. I don’t have derailment problems and believe me my trackwork is not the best. I also don’t have any with the deep toy flanged wheels. Do have the plastic trucks and wheels which as cited by others are not an engineering marvel. [tdn] I run 5 car passenger sets-don’t have an empire so that’s about what I can get away with without looking ridiculous. Run 'em up and down grades, across crossovers and switches and min 22" curves w/o problem.
Yes Spectrum, Walthers, Branchline and probably others are better looking, more accurate and better running(I guess) but all these qualities are reflected in the price. Now if I can just get that NYC domeliner through NYC clearences! [:D]
Jon
I adjusted a string of IHC steamlined passenger cars by replacing the body bolsters with ones made fron styrene strips and tapped brass tubes for the bolster pins. With the bolsters the correct height and the bolster pins in the correct position, Roundhouse trucks, with journals correctly reamed and LifeLike Proto 2,000 wheelsets, fit right on. Styrene strips were added to the ends of the center sills to get the correct height for Kadee #5 couplers. Quick and easy.
I didn’t weight them, wanting to use them as a test train on new trackwork. But to my surprise they tracked perfectly, even in reverse. So they still operate regularly without weight. Back when we used fiber tie strip, lead truck sideframes, rusty steel axle bearings and had no idea how to adjust the interior shape of a truck journal, we needed heavy equipment just to stay on the track. Perhaps with modern wheels, accurately reamed truck journals, and current track components, we don’t need as much weight.
I improved a string of IHC passenger cars by cutting the old body bolster down to center sill height and making a new center bolster out of styrene strips with a threaded brass tube for a kingpin. Roundhouse trucks with journal bearings corrected with a reamer and Life Like Proto 2,000 wheel sets were added. One of the truck bolster protrusions was rounded on top so it could rock freely while the other was left flat. Coupler mounting pads were built up with strip styrene and Kadee #5s were applied. Quick and easy!
No weight was added as I intended to use the train to locate flaws as I was laying track. To my surprise the cars performed perfectly without weight, even being pushed. Perhaps with modern materials, trackwork, and correctly shaped journal bearings, we din’t need af much weight as in the days of fiber tiestrip and lead side frrames?
Ya the problem with wobbling has to do with the bolsters and the connection with the trucks, not a weight problem.
BTW at least for IHC heavyweights, YES the roofs are removable. The side glazing and roof is one piece. There are several snaps that hold the roof in place that can be hard to pry loose, once I get the roof off the car I remove the end tabs that cause the roof to lock in place. The roofs then are easy to remove, but still stay on pretty snugly.
Thanks, I am glad someone had already tried that. I was thinking it would be bolster work that would fix them up.
Here’s a few pics of an IHC car with the roof off.
I’ve added stick-on automotive wheel weights directly above the trucks.
The roof comes off via 4 tabs in the floor from underneathby the outside axle of each truck, kinda like an Athearn BB GEEP body comes off.
Gordon
I’m hoping a cheap and easy fix on these is all it will take on my layout. I have no major problems running mostly 2 to 4 oz, plastic wheel and starter set quality cars on my newbie DCC E-Z Track layout. I’m trying a couple of IHC Heavyweights from ebay for $5 each. I’m hoping the 36’’ metal wheels reccommended here earlier will do the trick for me.
I’ve noticed that IHC sells only 31’’ metal wheel set replacements (RP-25) for their IHC & Rivarossi Passenger cars. Are the current plastic wheels only 31’‘? Are 31’’ to scale for these IHC passenger cars? Will 31’’ metal wheels help?
Any thoughts on running these on a mostly 18’’ curve layout? (I didn’t see a minimum curve reccommendation on the cars themselves but the IHC diaphrams say they won’t affect their passenger cars 18’’ turning radius.)
The standard upgrade for these cars seems to be:
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36" Intermountain wheel sets
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Kadee # 5’s or 148 whiskers (I used the 148’s)
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Jay-bee 110 or 111 coupler pads, depending on the cars you have
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Add weight to the interior. I added bb’s to the interior cavities
They run OK on 22", not good at all on 18" (I have both on my practice layout). Can’t wait to get them running on broader curves. There are many threads on the forum regarding these cars.
Okay–
Pry roof off of car. Insert sheet lead weights on car floor to bring car up to about 6 oz. (maybe closer to 7). Put roof back on car.
NOW: Snap NMRA couplers off of truck ends, replace with McHenry knuckles (they make a coupler that fits right in), snap wheels out of truck, replace with either Intermountain or NWSL 36" wheels AFTER you have reamed out truck with THE TOOL (a bargain at 9.95). CAREFULLY pry truck brakeshoes out enough to clear new wheels. Snap new wheels in. Car will roll like a dream, feel like you just bought a new Walthers, and maybe even track better, too.
VIOLA! Cheapie IHC aren’t so cheap anymore, but they’ll do, and run very well. Reason I say this, is that I just bought a set of UP streamlined cars to go behind my new BLI “City of San Francisco” A-B-B E-7’s, and the cars don’t look anything like ANYTHING I’ve ever seen behind any diesel, ever. Have no idea what the prototype (if any) is for these cars. I had a choice. Either get the IHC or spend $1000 to get the real thing in brass from Coach Yard. Soon as I find decals for the cars, I’ll have my 1945 City of San Franciso, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof. Besides, the cars I used to watch on the City of San Franciso back then didn’t look like any other train’s cars, either, so what the Heck–
Who, me, prototype? At my age, who cares? Memory’s more fun.
Tom
Dare I ask what the bargin $9.95 “Tool” is (personally I’d charge much more for the use my tools ? And what is this process of reaming out the truck and what does it accomplish? (Newbie here, taking on my first passengers)
It is a truck tuner. It cleans all the “garbage” out of the “journals” or “bearings” and gives the proper angle for wheels. It is definately a bargain if you have problems with some trucks. I use a lot of Train Station Products trucks with Kadee wheels. After using a truck tuner, I couldn’t ask for a better rolling truck.
Edit: here is a link to the product…
http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=82838
I didn’t find the IHCs too long at all for my 4x8 layout, 18" radius w/ grades. In fact they worked far better with their truck mounted couplers than my 11.5’’ Rapido or Walthers (the latter two which had far more de-railing issues). Upgrading the couplers are definately a good idea and metal wheels is all some of my cars required. I increased the weight on some cars to 6.75 oz (NMRA reccommended for 11.5" cars, any higher isn’t neccessarily better) which may or may not be necessary on your layout, but doesn’t hurt. I’ve invested $5-$7 per car on both IHC & Con-Cor passengers with very good results.
There’s an easier way to fix the wobble if you don’t want to do all those modifacations. I came across some fiber washers similar to the KD’s but a little bit larger in diameter. I just slipped them over the truck mounting pin (between the truck and the frame) and popped the trucks back on. You have to play with it a bit to make sure the trucks pivot OK. They sit nice and level and don’t wobble anymore.EZ to undo if you don’t like the performance. The washers I used came from a computer motherboard mounting kit.
I have gotten nervous about the expenses I have incurred over the past few months, so I will have to wait for some Walthers, or Branchline, or Rapido pax cars for a while. In the meantime, I ordered a smooth side NYC dome car from IHC direct, and had it arrive in three weeks. Right away, I pried off the body from the underframe, and glued two flatweights that came off the frame of one of those small red ore cars, one over each bolster. Replaced the body, and inverted the item to replace the wheelsets with Kadee 36" metals. Had to pry the brakes away from the axles about 20 thou. They turn okay, not “freely” as one would expect in a much better product. I’ll use tranny fluid on them soon, after they have turned a couple thousand times. Lastly, since I am not ready to tackle a body mount, I merely performed some surgery on the horn-hook. I removed the horn with sprue cutters, and also nipped off about 20% of the extremity of the hook so that it would couple more easily with my Walthers heavyweights. So, far, I am pleased with the performance…it followed my tracks up and down grades, aroudn curves, and into my yard across my double slip switch, so things are good.
The S1b Niagara is indifferent, and the car looks not half bad for a $9.98 vista dome. The NYC paint scheme is “close”, probably no worse than the Walthers being “close”.