Has anybody had experience with the Rivarossi / Hornby 50’ box cars? I came across some, decorated for the Illinois Central, and was wondering what they were like. If someone can let me know if they are like Athearn BB / Roundhouse, like AHM or better. I haven’t seen them in person. My biggest concerns are the ability to add KD couplers, remove body shells to add weight, if needed, and just generally be easy to work on. I have several cars from several mfgs that have glued on body shells, out of NMRA recommended specs and I can’t work on them. Any help would be appreciated from this respected group. Thank you.
I saw them come up for sale and was surprised since I can’t remember Riverossi box cars in memory. I have avoided them thus far as some have reported they are mostly lower-end fantasy models and I’ve been trying to focus on models that I could verify as being good matches to real freight cars, as well as decent detail etc.
I would be interested in knowing the things you mentioned as well just in case.
I bought 3 of the sliding door ones. The coupler mount causes a standard 148 whisker coupler to stick out too far. I substituted the short shank version for appearance reasons. They are a good value if you are modeling the late 60’s/early 70’s era.
I did a quick review using FallenFlags and RailCarPhoto’s:
It looks like many of the Rivarossi box cars are essentially fantasy models - by way of example, the side sill is typically a mismatch between the model and the closests photo I could find for the number series. For example, this SOO box car has a typical 1960’s Pullman Standard side sill and a ladder on the left side:
The model has a side sill with a slight step down and back up in comparison and grab irons instead of a ladder.
A similar difference exists for the C&O box car regarding the side sill for the closest number car I could find a photo of:
This is the closest UP car I could find quickly - close:
UP:
The ATSF car looks like a close stand-in although the paint scheme here isn’t the same:
The CB&Q is maybe a stand-in for this car (closest I could find):
Basically the side sill on the Rivarossi box car does not match the L&N, GN, C&O and SOO box cars. I couldn’t find any IC box car matching the model.
These are lower detail cars which some are fantasy, some stand-in’s depending on how much you can tolerate the differences. The ATSF car look visually the closest, the UP car kind of sort off.
