Hi everyone,
At the moment I am not able to do much with model railroading (in the process of selling the home). When I am back up and running, I would like to get some new cars for the collection. The ones I have are Tyco’s which are good for starting out, but would like to upgrade some without breaking the bank. What brands can you get at good prices? I know brands like atherns and lifelike but I know there is others. Thanks.
I generally approach the question of buying rolling stock with what prototype I want to model, and only secondarily what brands are “best”.
However, I must admit my preferences and prejudices. I just do not want to model “any non-specific railroad.” I concentrate in Santa Fe (and anything that ran OVER the Santa Fe ) on the Texas coast in 1957. That does not necessarily mean cars PAINTED for Santa Fe roadname but cars whose construction matches particular characteristics of known prototype cars, AS they were painted in the period I model. Lots of prototype research. But that’s just me.
You may be more interested in which will run best without a bunch of tinkering. And you should probably specify what modeling scale you are interested in-- Z scale? TT? S scale? 1/29th scale?
(I meanly and deliberately avoided listed the most commonly used railroad modeling scale, just to show it shouldn’t be taken for granted…)
If there are train shows you can attend and don’t mind buying used models then you can find used cars starting at $3.50.
I would avoid the cars with truck mounted couplers.
Some used brands to look for:
Athearn
Atlas
MDC/Roundhouse
ConCor
Walthers
Some RTR cars from Athearn,Walthers and Atlas can be had for less then $20.00.
Some dealers sell Athearn kits 3 for $10.00.
Don’t forget the Accurail kits.
Accurail offers a reasonable product at a reasonable price, Bowser also has nice products at a bit higher price. Also a visit to local train shows would offer the opportunity to purchased used cars, a find with metal wheels and/or KD couplers for under $10 would be a value. As mentioned above choosing cars from specific roads that you are interested in is much better than picking one because it looks nice. Prices for freight cars can range from a couple bucks at a train show to about $50 for a highly detailed car or caboose. Have fun
The best prices are for used rolling stock at train shows. Basically, any model that looks good to your eye will be successful on your layout. Many of us enjoy tinkering and we look on used rolling stock as the starting point for fun little projects.
Poor running is always fixable. Couplers can be changed over to Kadee. Plastic wheels can be replaced with metal ones. A bit of ballast will bring underweight cars up to NMRA standards and vastly improve tracking. A washer under the trucks will bring low flying couplers up to standard height.
A coat of paint can change road name, converting a west coast car into an east coast car, or vice versa. Some wire grab irons, wire stirrups, and perhaps a see thru roof walk can do wonders. Excellent paint jobs can be done with hardware store spray cans (rattle cans) . Decals are easy to apply. A coat of DullCote will tone down the glossy toy paint jobs to a more realistic look. Home made coal loads help the looks of hopper cars.
If you are looking for a list of brand names, just thumb thru any model railroading magazine. All the makers who advertise in the model press make excellent product. Some makers charge more than others. The pricier models usually have more details. If that is valuable to you, buy 'em. Many of us find that when viewed at layout distances (two feet) the superdetailed and pricey cars look pretty much the same as the simpler and lower cost cars.
I am modeling in the ho scale. I like Santa Fe and B & O railroads, pulling in aspects of the various industries found on their lines and mixing in my own take/likes. The industries I plan or am thinking of is cattle/farming, oil (tanker cars hauling oil/insecticides/gas) and coal.
Remember that huge railroads like the Santa Fe and B&O, while they had huge freight car fleets of their own, interchanged with tons of other railroads and would have had lots of foreign cars – including each others of course. Don’t get too narrow in your choice of road names. The really big railroads including PRR, SP, UP, and New York Central had cars everywhere.
You may want to think about progressing into kits, not just because of the variety but because of the fun. If you have mastered the easy assembly of Athearn blue box kits, or the very similar Accurail, then some of the Bowser kits have just a few more extra parts to apply. An intersting challenge is the Accurail auto racks, the old fashioned open kind without sides and roofs. That might be their most challenging kit.
The more challenging – but hardly daunting – level of kit from Intermountain or Red Caboose if you can find them, or Proto 2000 kits if you can find them, can build up into a really nice model if you take your time, follow directions, and really think about sequence and order of construction (for example if weight needs to be added, when would it be too late to add weight; if sides are to be weathered, when is the best time to do that if the final details would be too delicate for your favorite weathering techniques – that kind of thing). The two skills they call for are careful cutting of the parts from the sprue (a sprue cutter is a good investment) and the careful application of glues or cements. The finished product MIGHT be more delicate than you are accustomed to, but you’ll like the looks of the cars.
These kits are not really hard – they just have a lot of steps that make them seem hard until you actually get into the process. I think it is important to keep at it rather than get frustrated too easily and say you’ll get back to it someday. Take a night off if you must but don’t take a week
Tyco are your cheap trainset quality trains ie not very good.
Best bet if cheap is you main goal is kits at train shows by Athearn, MDC, Accurail, Walthers (simple to build). Proto 2000 kits can be had for lower cost too since most modelers are shunning kits now, those have a lot more detail and are very nice when finished.
Gidday Sean, Good advise already. While you don’t mention whether or not your’e into building kits or prefer Ready to Run, heres a link to NP2626 interesting thread on kits…
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/211105.aspx
I would suggest that Accurail is a good starter.
Cheers, the Bear.
The Bear,
I am into building kits some when my eyes allow on rolling stock. But when it comes to doing building, I can do the kits all day long. I am probably going with the Athern, Walthers, Concor. brands and upgrade the couplers, wheels, trucks if needed and weight if needed.
Thanks everyone for the input so far.
Hi,
Athearn BB kits are the best bang for the buck. There are thousands - built and unbuilt - on Ebay, and of course they are always at train shows. I’ve had them since the early 1960s, and still have several from that time running on my layout.
They are outstanding right out of the box, with KD couplers being the only must do alteration. I also add Intermountain wheelsets and a coat of Dull Cote after some mild weathering (particularly the trucks).
As HO cars go, these are tough as nails and will last as long as you want. No, they are not super detailed like the pricier kits or so called RTR cars, but for the money, they are great.
Hi -and welcome aboard! [#welcome]
I’m going to suggest something free. Go to www.walthers.com and sign up for their monthly flyer. For a while, they will send their mini-catalog with monthly specials. I find a lot of nice freight cars in there, at greatly reduced prices. My LHS “participates” in the flyer sales, so I send him an e-mail and ask him to order them for me. I have to pay sales tax, but that’s cheaper than shipping. If you don’t order directly from Walthers, though, they will drop you from their list. Sign up again, or maybe your LHS will have the flyers in stock (mine does) and you can pick them up there. The sale prices in the flyers are good for a month and a half. After that, I take my flyers to the dentist’s office and use them to augment their low-grade magazine collection.
Overland, baby! [;)]