Ok, I stumbled across these in Trainworld.com. They have them for a great price. I
So, here is my deal. I am not much of a passenger car kinda guy and do not need much use for them on my layout. But, my son, who is 6, loves them. (probably cause they are big) And he likes the “big silver ones”
I was thinking about getting some so I could run them on occasion and make his day. Maybe buy a set, like 6 or 7 and have him work around the house and “earn” each one over the course of the summer. Maybe one every 2 weeks or something. And yes, I am on a budget here too… ugh, arent we all…
So with that in mind, and knowing where I am coming from, are they worth it? Do they come with knuckle type couplers? If not, are they easy to change over?
Any insight or input would be great. Or, if you know someone else or someplace else that has decent, cheap passenger cars, lemme know!
The current IHC streamliner cars aren’t particularly protypical. Their earlier series, which used Rivarossi moulds, were closer to the prototype.
However, they don’t look too bad, and the strange combine does look like an early Santa Fe Budd streamliner. They should keep your son happy for a few years.
In order to operate on sharp curves, they have coupler arms pivoted on the truck pivot, like the older IHC cars. You can fairly easily fit body mounted knuckle couplers, but the cars would need to run on larger radius curves than they can when new. If you were going to run them as a set, you could modify the couplers on one end of a baggage car to match your locomotive, and leave the arm mounted X2F couplers within the train.
I think they come with 33" plastic wheels, and they would run better with metal wheels, which are easy to change.
I only have one car (a diner) which runs with some older IHC streamline cars from the Rivarrossi era.
IHC cars are not the greatest on the planet. Out of the box, they would barely roll down the track on a 4% grade!
I have a couple that I’ve added extra weight, IHC’s own metal axles & McHenry knuckle couplers to them so that they will stll go around tight curves & I haven’t spent more than $40 Canadian on the pair including the initial purchase.
The accompanying photo shows where I placed the weight inside the car using automotive stick on weights.
After doing this, maybe 30 mins worth of work, they will now roll fairly decently with a gentle push on flat terrain.
Big John, for what you want them for, they are great. Agreed, they are weak on detail compared to other models, they are very liteweight and certainly need more added. There is lots of room in the under body to add weight if you want to . McHenry has a knucle coupler drop in replacement (these have the knucle spring, not the plastic filament and work just fine for these models). For an inexpensive model that will make a young son happy they are fine. IHC makes interior kits for them, which adds alot of weight. These are often on sale on their web site.
I’ve got some 6 axle heavy weights. For the money they are OK… You’ll need to put KD couplers on them. They make a specific assembly for them.Add about 6 onces of weight to each car and change out the plastic wheels for some metal ones.I used P2K 36’ whell sets. I’m sure your son would like them.
