After a two year break (new house, new job, new city… the usual) I’m getting back to n-scaling… at least the planning part. Yet as I took an inventory of my 500+ pieces of rolling stock, I realized just how much I learned about different brands and I’d like to share that. I’ve found MRR product reviews continue to be completely useless… every review says the same thing. “paint and printing are excellent”… or “the wheels were in gauge per NMRA standards”… guess what MRR, technology is good enough today that nearly EVERYTHING you can buy has great paint and printing. Just because the wheels on the copy you got doesn’t mean mine will be in gauge… useless! Since they won’t actually talk about what is good and bad about these models, I will. I’m reviewing from the point of operations, especially if you want magnetic uncoupling… If you’re content just watching your trains piddling around in a circle, then ignore this post. That being said, please feel free to agree, disagree, or add your own opinions. Also, please point out where I’m blatantly wrong as I’m sure it’s in here somewhere…
A quick note before I begin: Paint and printing is pretty much razor sharp on most newer rolling stock I’ve bought in the last five years or so and can be assumed as such with a few exceptions that I’ll mention. Also, obviously good trackwork and magnet placement are vital for good operations. As far as trucks and couplers, Micro-Trains have the ONLY good couplers for operation. Their operating mechanism (and coupler centering device) is a little spring whereas other brands like McHenry and Accumate rely on a poorly designed plastic tension “coil”. These don’t work very well. The last few cars on your train will inevitably uncouple over the magnet, whereas MTs (properly adjusted) will not. By properly adjusted, I mean trip pins at the correct height and correct angle. For magn
[swg] But, what really is your opinion based upon personal experience? [(-D]
Actually, a nice start! Why not expand this long-term into an “N Scale Rolling Stock Review” web presence? Here’s Spookshow’s N Scale Encyclopedias. Your approach is different than Spookshow’s approach and worthy of note.
My A list includes all cars currently offered except the following brands:.Concor,Life Like and Bachmann.
One may be shocked to learn N Scale isn’t very high in the manufacturers new tooling pecking order-no guessing I e-mail several manufacturers over the past two years and got my ears tickle with "Thank you for your interest in our N Scale products…We have several “exciting” new N Scale projects planned.Watch for announcements.Yeah,you mean your newly tooled HO announcements right? One even boasted they are “retooling” their N Scale! Yup,more newly tooled HO releases has sprung forth since that 2011 reply.
I have no problem, other then money, finding way more N-scale cars or engines then I need or want for my railroad or era…
I empathize with you a little, but if you pick a railroad that the manufactures do not do a lot of, why do you complain? Oh, because you can! They make what sells, not what just a few that post on forums want.
This topic just seams to go on and on. Either change the railroad or era you model or repaint and kit bash, but to complain that the manufacturers don’t care is just weird.
Your response doesn’t make any sense to me. My post has nothing to do with the fact that I model NS. Besides, I have just about any modern piece of rolling stock, whether it is BNSF, KCS, SP, CSX… just like real interchange. I’m simply expressing what I feel manufacturers have done right or wrong based on comparison of each other. Changing the era I model isn’t going to magically make everything perfect and I do have to modify to get it the way I want. Nowhere in my post did I ever say a particular manufacturer “doesn’t care”… If they didn’t care, they certainly wouldn’t make model railroad products as there’s little money in it. We are the consumers of these products… not just “some guy posting on a forum”. They should care what we think. You say they “make what sells”, yet if they don’t listen to what consumers want they’ll eventually stop being able to “sell what they make”…
I think he is addressing BRAKIE’s comment not your original post.
Atlas’s Trainman line is basically the same cars they sold starting in the late 1960’s. Even many of the paint scemes are the same. The only upgrades I have noted is they now have better trucks and are equipped with knuckle couplers (although not MicroTrains) and sharper lettering.
Back, when I started in N Scale (1968) I considered Bachmann and Atlas be equal in quality and the best then available. ConCor N was second in quality (mainly due to very poor lettering). The only other brand I remember from that time is Aurora. They were generaly more toylike.
When I found Micro Trains, I was really impressed. They set a new standard for quality, greatly exceeding the other brands. Their early cars had slightly fuzzy lettering (when magnified, although I could and still can read the smallest print on them without magnification) compared to latter issues. Their quality was better than Atlas. Today I would still rate MicroTrains(even the old ones) well above Atlas Trainman.
The quality of the newer MTL is better than the originals, but I do agree that some other newer brands do currently exceeded them in quality.
Don’t write off Roundhouse. I bought many of their cars over the years and considered them equal to Atlas.
Ken,I’m just tired of the ear tickling they hand N Scalers.Again I been hearing it via e-mail for the last two years.
Wheres the N Scale coil car by Atlas that’s been long on promise? The HO coil car has come and gone with a second run announced.Still no N Scale coil car.
Where’s Atlas N Scale trash flat car that been long on promise?
Did you know the last new N Scale locomotive by Atlas is the Trainman GP15-1?
An interesting observation on rolling stock pricing.
In the old days the cost of a freight car by Atlas, Bachman, ConCor etc plus the cost of the Kadee (MicroTrains) truck/coupler conversion was very near the cost of a similar MicroTrains car. The MicroTrains had closer to scale details (ie.on standard box cars - thinner roof walks, finer more accurate brake wheels, finer stirup streps and working doors)
Today the list price of an Atlas (Trainman) boxcar plus MicroTrains conversion appears to be within 10% of the list price of a similar MicroTrains boxcar.
Today the list prices of similar FoxValley, Intemountain, and Red Caboose and MicroTrains box cars all appear to be within 6% of each other.
I know, I know… you’re right about that. They have no obligation to replace something I broke… and I didn’t really expect them too… Aside from that part of the post, it was truly meant to be objective. I just wish I had learned from someone else’s experiences before I bought some cars… for example, I had to shell out $23 to actually buy an 86’ Bluford Shops autoparts box to find out there is no simple MTs truck conversion, which is important to me. Had I known, I would have just stuck to Trainworx.
Very interesting post. I was wondering what you think of the North American Rail Car (NARC) products? |I have purchased over 50 of them and find the detail to be of a very high level, excellent paint and detail.