Man, that remind me of the old Walther catalogs (I’m thinking 1970s) - lots of kits, especially the ‘craftsman types’, read “trucks and couplers not included” or something similar.
Heh, I have seen RTR = “Ready To Repair” on this forum before…
The issue is that once one manufacturer moves to China and offers product for cheap, all other have to follow suit to stay in business. Consumers and not just American consumers, want cheaper prices and not always can see the difference in quality right away. By the time consumer catch up and want to buy US/Japan or any other goods made with high quality labor - it’s too late because all other manufactures either followed suit and moved to China or went out of business.
And then there is Kadee 
I met a guy who also said he would not buy any more Walthers Bud cars. He said with every one of them all the beer must have leaked out before they arrived.
What’s that? Yeah, he said Bud cars. Oh… wait… never mind. (Sorry - I can’t resist a bad pun!)
George V.
Well, then they should have been advertised as Bud-light.
Everyone has their opinion, other than the coupler issue, which is an issue of pretty much everything that doesn’t come with a brass spring loaded knuckle coupler, I haven’t had any issue with them.
No derailing even at high speeds around a 22" radius curve with the origional couplers still attached.
I’ll continue buying Budd cars when I see one that I want.
Gordon
I would like to clarify a couple of points in my post.
Firstly, the couplers on these Budd cars are the new metal couplers and not the older plastic version. A number of couplers had to be changed as the jaws were jammed open and could not function. Once those couplers were changed the remaining original couplers could not keep closed and kept opening when pulling the consist up a 2% grade. I would have changed the remaining Walthers couplers at a later date to Kadees but expected to use them for a while before failures started showing with disconnected cars.
Secondly, as I mentioned some of the wheel sets were out of gauge and needed to be replaced , As the Walthers wheel sets are metal I certainly did not imagine beforehand that I would need to replace all the wheels with Intermountain wheels. That was an added bonus for buying the Walthers passenger cars.
Lastly, what I paid for each of the Walthers cars is more than what I paid for my most expensive passenger cars to date, a set of Rapido cars in the old green CN livery. I have never had any problems with the Rapido cars to date. They were good to run right out of the box, I have not changed the couplers nor replaced any of the wheel sets. At some date I expect to change the couplers but they are functioning fine for now. If Rapido had offered the Budd cars in the stainless steel finish I would have bought the cars from them based on my past experience with Rapido cars.
Having clarified my posting, This purchase of the Walthers Budd cars will be my last… And as I indicated I have already preordered my next sets of passenger cars and they will be the Con Cor Branchline passenger sets. My reason for selecting them is I carefully inspected and ran a set of Con Cor’s latest cars the mP54’s. The cars are well detailed, run great out of the box, but I do expect to change couplers over at a later date.
Good afternoon!
Thanks for alerting us to the problems you encountered with your recent purchase of Walthers Budd cars.
Current models now include our own Proto MAX™ knuckle couplers, which are a durable, all-metal design — older cars may have plastic or McHenry couplers.
We haven’t heard of any issues with Proto MAX, but rest assured we will look into the matter.
Our wheels are machine assembled to NMRA standards. The machines are checked regularly during production and wheelsets are inspected. On occasion, an out of gauge set will slip through, but can easily be regauged by hand. Gently turn the wheel on the axle inward or outward to bring it into gauge.
Your Dealer can help you with a replacement or return — if you need additional assistance with these cars, please contact our Customer Service Department at 1-800-487-2467 or by email at: http://www.walthers.com/exec/mailcustserv and they’ll be happy to help.
Your Friends at Walthers
Well, as the old saying goes, “you can’t please everybody no matter how hard you try”.
Your wallet, your choice, your loss. I don’t know what you paid for these and I really don’t care as that is not the issue, I “automatically” change the wheelsets and couplers on my passenger cars and freight cars as well, except for the Kadee cars naturally.
My reasoning being I want the best possible performance out of my equipment and just factor that expense into the equation as part of the expense of the hobby. As I stated earlier in a “perfect world” this wouldn’t be an issue but there is a long, long way to go before we reach the perfect world.
Life’s road is full of “potholes” but to stop and complain about every one of them means you aren’t getting anywhere. Maybe it’s an “age thing”, I have traveled the road of life long enough to know that the easiest thing is to avoid the potholes if possible and if you do hit one just keep going, unless you enjoy arguing with potholes.
Mark
I am glad to know that Walthers was monitoring this board and are aware of my frustrations in dealing with a set of their Budd cars.
I have dealt with Walthers a number of times, missing parts or defective parts on a couple of their Heritage steam engines. The parts I required were immediately sent.
However, in dealing with rolling stock I do not know many model railroaders who would be shipping the items back for replacement. The reason being that the items that were defective were repairable and once repaired there was no reason to send the item back. However, having paid what I consider a premium price for the items I did not expect to have to repair the item so extensively. The couplers I can live with, there is no substitute in the long run for Kadees, but the clone couplers usually last for a while before it is necessary to replace them. The wheel set
BUY AMERICAN! (wish I could)[|(] Ya! go ahead and try. In a union shop the same thing your buying for $1 will cost $2. If Americans could only reclaim their work ethics that were evident in the 40’s and 50’s and stop chasing the Buck. AND GOD BLESS AMERICA! BUT, thats another story and another blog.
My Broadway Limited Cal Zephyr cars came w/ Kadees, I’m not sure if the rest of their line uses them though. My remedy for all other brands is to replace their couplers with Kadees.
Most of Intermountain’s latest releases have Kadee couplers installed.
I’ve been more then happy with all of my Intermountain cars and I’m planning to get more. It is so nice to actually take a ready to run car out of the box to find it really is ready to run.
My lone Walthers Budd car is an Amtrak baggage. I changed the couplers to Kadee 118’s (modified to look like type H couplers) almost immediately. I hate the couplers that come with Walthers cars as well as the couplers that come on Athearn products.
Hello Mr. Walther’s rep.
Are you also aware of the issues with your new Bi-Level Autoracks? I just recently purchased 14 of them. And I had to replace ALL of the wheelsets because they simply wouldn’t even roll smoothly.
This is not acceptable for cars the cost $40/each retail.
One last note: PLEASE BRING MANUFACTURING BACK TO THE USA!!!
[quote user=“Motley”]
MILW Trains:
Good afternoon!
Thanks for alerting us to the problems you encountered with your recent purchase of Walthers Budd cars.
Current models now include our own Proto MAX™ knuckle couplers, which are a durable, all-metal design — older cars may have plastic or McHenry couplers.
We haven’t heard of any issues with Proto MAX, but rest assured we will look into the matter.
Our wheels are machine assembled to NMRA standards. The machines are checked regularly during production and wheelsets are inspected. On occasion, an out of gauge set will slip through, but can easily be regauged by hand. Gently turn the wheel on the axle inward or outward to bring it into gauge.
Your Dealer can help you with a replacement or return — if you need additional assistance with these cars, please contact our Customer Service Department at 1-800-487-2467 or by email at: http://www.walthers.com/exec/mailcustserv and they’ll be happy to help.
Your Friends at Walthers
Hello Mr. Walther’s rep.
Are you also aware of the issues with your new Bi-Level Autoracks? I just recently purchased 14 of them. And I had to replace ALL of the wheelsets because they simply wouldn’t even roll smoothly.
This is not acceptable for cars the cost $40/each retail.
One last note: PLEASE BRING MANUFACTURING BACK TO THE USA!!!
Walthers is already involved. The OP is/was disappointed in the quality of the product for the price. Other examples of poor quality control in Chinese RTR have been cited by posters. Another thread laments the continual price increases in Chinese RTR.
To say something positive - why not take quality into your own hands? I can’t say you will come out a lot cheaper in the long run, but your cost per hobby hour will be less than 1/10 of buying the Chinese RTR. Here are some example passenger cars from my pending projects:
The first is a “quickie” plastic kit with a cast metal underframe. The second is a cast metal kit with a wood deck/underframe. The 3rd is a laser-cut wood kit that does not contain trucks. The quality of the finished product and detail is up to me. If I get near half the quality of Wolfgang’s work, I’ll be a happy man. Considering that I’ll be starting with raw wire for the end platforms, when I finish, I doubt installing grab irons on RTR cars will be much of a bother. Interiors and imitation gas lights are quite practical to install during the build. Regardless, I will be proud of my results. And I don’t have to wait for the cars to be issued in a particular road name.
This years HOn3 Annual has an article on building an accurate D&RGW San Juan narrow gauge passenger train from Labelle and MRGS kits (the latter are resin kits). Of course, Blackstone will be releasing these same cars in about a year or so for $75+ in plastic RTR.
For those who want more modern passenger cars, my LHS has the Herkimer streamline kits (recent run). Eastern Car Works and Train Station Products
Is that all they serve? No Oly? No Coors? No Foster’s? I don;t think I’ll buy anymore either.
Well, I guess I’m still the oddball. Although my current work/home schedule has cut down my modeling time considerably, I’m seriously considering modeling the 1970s version of “The Southern Crescent” after I finish the Seaboard Coast Line Champion. I’ll be buying another batch of Walthers Budds with no hesitation (just wish I could find undecorated versions so I could skip the alcohol paint strip step!) and will be looking forward to metalizing them with Alclad 2.
Other than the original couplers (since replaced) and diaphrams, I have no complaints about the Walthers streamliners I currently own.
As for the truck journals, I’ve found that 1 to 2 drops of Moly Magic (Molybdenum) in each journal, as recommended by modeler CMarchand, works well and keeps the axles “squeak free” for a long time after extensive running. Since its a creamy paste, it doesn’t leak out of the journals like some oils do. Additionally the graphite in the Moly Magic helps with electrical conductivity for the lighting kits.
Don7: If I understand the “jammed” position, I;ve seen it too, and once on a Kadee even. Don’t askwhere that box fell from to cause it to happen, but they can jam open, even with the springs. And yes, unlatching it from that position will likely result in the absense of one Spring. (and 3 more before one takes its place. :P)