Suggestions for improving Athearn 86' Autoboxes

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hello all,
Okay, I now have 14 HO Athearn Chessie System B&O 86’ autoboxes to go with my roughly 30 others that I have in storage. I am in the process of repainting and renumbering them, but want to find out any suggestions people may have to improve their performance. First off, any thoughts on changing the couplers to make them body mounted like the prototype? Is this necessary or have some of you out there found this to be a waste of time and effort? Secondly, these cars seem to bow somewhat because of their length. Is the best solution gluing the underbody and frame to the car once the proper weight is installed, or does someone have a better idea? Finally, I know that these cars call for 28 wheels. Any ideas on a good producer of these? My club layout’s minimum radius is 32", and my home layout mainline minimum will be 28", so at least I don’t have to worry that. Thanks in advance for any help you can give…

  • John

Chessie’s Michigan Division - The Cat’s OTHER merchandise moneymaker…

2

Get rid of those nasty sticks that the couplers are on. They were made that way to negotiate a tight radius, but they cause the couplers to droop. You can keep the original coupler box, just glue it to the frame. As for wheels, the proto 2000 are the best value. The intermountains roll a little better but they also cost more.

3

Walthers sells coupler body mounting kits specifically for these cars. One kit is enough for two cars. That’s $3 per car.[:D]

http://walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-997

4

That looks like a good mount since it swivels, if you can wait till the end of Jan to get it.

5

Joe,
You hit the nail on the head. Darth, those will definitely fit the bill, and since after tomorrow we don’t operate on the club layout, I can wait until the end of January. I’ll back order some from Walthers and just get the renumbering and painting out of the way ahead of time. Again, thanks for some great feedback!

  • john

Chessie’s Michigan Division - The Cat’s OTHER Merchandise Moneymaker