I am a Brit working for a few months in the land of the free. I have a nine year old son with a model railway, and want to show him the best of American model trains. So the (HO) loco:
Has to be Union Pacific with the flag on the side
Has to look like serious muscle
Has to be very reliable (no after sales service at home)
Questions:
What should I get?
Where (mail order) should I get it?
What make ($75 - 125 is about right)?
Supplementaries:
Will any wagon from any manufacturer hitch to any other?
Who makes the ‘best’ wagons (highest quality for less than $25 per copy)
As far as the locomotive goes, the Athearn Genesis SD70m, Athearn Ready-To-Roll AC4400 and Kato AC4400 all are available in the Union Pacific US flag paint scheme. All of those run well and are reliable, but the Kato is probably the best runner, followed by the SD70m and Athearn AC4400. Those three will fall within your price range (just barely for the Kato and Genesis models.) I’ve had good luck mail ordering from M.B. Klein (www.modeltrainstuff.com), but there are others as well. Check in the modelling magazines or threads in this forum.
Any American HO scale “wagon” (freight car to us) will couple to any other for the most part as most these days come with nicely operating knuckle couplers. If you do get one with older “horn-hook” couplers, invest in some Kadee knuckle couplers to make the upgrade. High-quality cars abound in the price range you specify. Brands to look for are Athearn (regular and Genesis), Roundhouse, Intermountain, Accurail, Atlas and Walthers, to name the major brands.
Your best bet is to visit a hobby shop, if you can locate one, and look around. Model Railroader magazine and Railroad Model Craftsman magazine have directories in the back of each issue, which are good starting points. Good luck and keep us posted!
PS: Where can I get a Bachmann Class 66 at a reasonable price?
Where will you be staying this side of the pond, Chris? You might want to find a local club, introduce yourself and drop in on them. Sorry, but the beer will probably be cold.
You may also find that American beer is, to quote Monty Python in Live at the Hollywood Bowl …
“like making love in a canoe — f—ing close to water.” [swg]
(This comes from a Canadian who doesn’t drink beer of any kind.)
Regarding freight wagons, for under $25 I would suggest MDC kits and Athearn Blue Box kits. I stated MDC first as their coupler boxes are held in by screws while the Athearns are held in by clips. If the wagons are coupled too hard, the clips can pop off.
For passenger wagons Athearn Blue Box and Model Power. Model Power makes the better looking cars but they are more expensive as they come with interiors.
Now, as far as couplers go…Kadees are knuckle couplers that simulate the prototypes. However there is some maintenance involved. If your son is not worried about prototype realism, then I would suggest keeping the horn hook couplers. Those things seem to last forever. As your son gets older, if he becomes interested in more realism, he can switch the locos and wagons over to Kadees.
Generally, though, horn-hook couplers are disappearing from all but the cheapest kits. I have had plenty of horn-hook couplers break on me, too. While non-Kadee knuckle couplers tend to break, they at least all hook to each other. Kadees, however, don’t break.
Ordering a bulk package of Kadee #5 couplers and a coupler height gauge will fill your coupler needs for a long, long time.
In terms of ordering, you might consider looking up a local hobby shop near where you are working (assume you are in an urban area of some sort) rather than mail-order to save on shipping charges as well as to be able to get a first-hand look at the stuff before you buy. Even if you end up ordering online anyhow, it helps to see the stuff before plunking down your cash.
One note about the “serious muscle”: A modern UP road engine will almost certainly be large, but that means you’ll need fairly broad curves in order to operate it reliably.
yes cold with just thint of ice chips forming…ahhhhhhhhhhh…but i do like the ‘headier’ brews…refreshing to hear from someone LIKING something about the U.S…good luck in your quest
Don’t worry about obtaining parts when you get home - if you pick up a copy of “Continental Modeller” magazine (published by the same people as Railway Modeller) you’ll find plenty of adverts from shops selling US HO scale, so getting hold of even small parts like couplers isn’t too difficult. Worth bearing in mind is that US locos seem much less tolerant of sharp curves than European ones - anything with 4 axles should be ok but 6 axle locos can be tricky.
Not bad for a first post - thanks guys. I have to say the comments on American beer are very close to the mark, but the Gin and Tonics (at least in Houston) are definitely bigger and better.
I went to the Houston Roundhouse, but was blown away by the choice, and really had no idea if the prices were reasonable or not.
When you say ‘it won’t go round tight radius curves’ how tight is tight?
Best place to get a Bachman Class 66 is Hattons in Liverpool - consistently low cost and reliable, sell over the Internet. I know from experience they are good when it all goes wrong. What they are like internationally I don’t know.
Hi Chris from another Brit on this side of the pond! First, the beer in the USA has improved significantly during the almost 20 years I have lived here. There are many micro brews around that make some decent and interesting beers, though I have never been able to get used to the “berry” flavored beers.
As for freight cars, look for Accurail, good value, relatively simple kits, but with decent detail. I also like some of the Branchline Blueprint kits and the P2K kits for something a bit more challenging.
Enjoy your time in the US. You won’t find a more friendly place to spend some time.
Jetrock makes a good point on kadees, but you must check and make sure that the trip pins are not hanging to low. Adjust them with pliers if you go the Kadee route.
Forgot to mention Bowser. Their hopper cars are, IMHO, very nice looking and go for $12 to $15 dollars.
Tight radius curves generally means 15-18 inches (around 450 cm) in radius. From what I understand modern equipment and six-wheel engines do fine around 22" radius curves, but the broader the better.
You shouldn’t have any problem finding Union Pacific models in Texas–UP took over the SP there a few years ago, and model shops tend to carry railroads that roll in their area…
Since UP is one of the larger american railways, you have a wide choice to choose from. If you have the space, a large steamer like a Big Boy, a challenger, or a Northern will be ggod for mainline operation. You could get an assortment of 40ft boxcars with Western roadnames.
In the first generation, you could get an E unit with a nice passenger consist. For the modern era, there is large assortment of 6 axle power. You will need large curves. You coulkd get a GP38-2 for switcher duty. It would also fit on smaller radius curves with 40 ft boxcars.
Any “wagon” with the same coupler will hitch to each other. Even cheap Bachmann cars come with KD style couplers. You can have fun in the hobby shop buying Athearn, MDC, LifeLike, Walthers, Accurail & others cars. Get a copy of Model Railroader or Model Rail Craftsman to get an idea of prices. Some of the cheap cars will do fine with a little work.
My good friend Martin is a Brit too. He modeled american when he was over there and British Rail on this side. I offered to build a few of his kits for him and I have to say they are nearly impossible to deal with. These have some of the worst instructions Ive ever seen and I’ve built kits from Palmer Plastics and Ideal in the 60’s. Of course the fit is as good as your file and nail board is. I mean resin kits are easier than those wagons.
Any way, Tichy, Hi Tech, branchline, Red Caboose, Walthers, Accurail all have good kits with well fitting parts nd logical instructions. Change out the wheelsets with Intermountain or Reboxx and they’ll roll forever. Subsitute the plastic grabs with Westerfield or Tichy parts and A Line stirrups for durability and realism.
Chris, one thing to note(this I learned on a recent trip to the UK) is that unless you use KD’s on your layout back in Britain, you won’t be able to run the two different countries cars together, as nothing like the UK couplers are used over here. Now you could do heavy modification to the cars and change the couplers, but I’d just plan on having one train once you get home that runs with itself and nothing else. Sort of “A display of American Rolling stock” if you will.