i have a good chance of being able to buy a vintage walthers heavyweight coach of the 1970’s, but it is missing its trucks. Does anyone know if any model railroad manufacturer out there that makes passenger car trucks which would be excellent substitute for walthers long discontinued passenger car kits?
Don’t know for sure, but the first thing I’d look into would be Walthers’ own trucks. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were somehow backwards compatible. They mount with a wide-head screw in a lot of the cars I have, so there’s nothing complex about that. Isn’t that what the old kits used to do this?
When You click on this site below…do some searching on it to see if they have what You need, they have many:
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/wrr/wrr1086.htm
Frank
I am getting out of touch – in doing a bit of research to respond to this question I was rather shocked to learn just how few choices there are for “standard” passenger trucks that are actually available. Back when the Walthers kits (with the stamped steel sides; I assume that is what we are talking about) were actively sold most fussy modelers retrofitted them with Central Valley trucks which had a rather distinctive mounting bolster system as I recall.
I had thought Bachmann had standard passenger cars with nice looking trucks but they are not shown on their online catalog and also no parts for them are listed.
Dave Nelson
I checked their website and the walthers 6 wheel heavbyweight passenger car trucks are out of stock, availibility unknown. Bethelhem Car Works has 3 or 4 versions of PRR type 3C heavyweight passenger car trucks for $19.95 a pair. Not sure if they would work well with the very early 1970’s walthers heavyweight PRR coach i am interested in getting from a friend.
I’d expect just about any truck would mount. The floors of the early Walthers cars were wood and the trucks mounted with a wood screw. You could pick up an Athearn heavyweight passenger car at a train show and take the trucks for a lot less than $19.95. About any 6 wheel passenger truck without disc brakes, roller bearings or sideframe mounted brake cyinders would be good. It would take a deep dyed rivet counter to say “this car only had that kind of trucks under it”
I just checked a few other sites and all of them are sold out not in stock of almost all six wheel passenger car trucks. What gives with the six wheel? All kinds of four wheel.
It would be good to know, what type of trucks they actually had on the ones you are looking for. I had Athearn BB HW Passenger car kits, they were coupler mounted to truck, 60’s era.
Good Luck, in your search!
Frank
I utterly forgot about IHC; while their plastic passenger trucks may not be the best choice for Walthers cars, their special all metal versions were very nice looking models, but equipped if memory serves with seriously undersized wheels.
http://www.ihc-hobby.com/category/33157122?page_570515168=1
Dave Nelson
Ebay is loaded with HO scale passenger trucks both four and six wheel versions.
If you have one of the old metal-side cars, they didn’t come with trucks or couplers (very common in the '50s-early '70s craftsman car kits) A good 6-wheel passenger truck like an old Central Valley will work very well.