And so I've bought 7 freight cars from leading American manufacturers. All were purchased at ModelTrainStuff which seems to be one of very few shops there that accept European credit cards without any hesitation. I've also bought a diesel engine but that is a topic for another blog post :)
My purchase criteria were as follows:
- one car piece per manufacturer
- no cars over $20
- metal wheels whenever possible
- replace them with European Rapido couplers
- create conversion cars with one coupler of each type
- buy enough cars to create fully American trains
Alright, let's take a look at those cars!
Micro-Trains 03500180: A Stock Car
Priced at $14.39.
Micro-Trains seems to be a very well-known American manufacturer, and one with a very good reputation, too. So it came as a big surprise that I was not able to find a single car from this company that would feature metal wheels. They're always plastic, no exceptions.
This car is a stock car so it has a simple build imitating a box made of evenly spaced wooden planks. It looks good and has some nice details like the brake wheel or the little break platform. The sliding doors are movable although the "mechanism" is as simple as it gets.
The car's weight is a little on the light side but there's definitely some ballast there as it does not feel THAT light.
An interesting element are the metal-looking rods in the couplers. This is the only car I got to feature such copper/brass pieces and I'm not sure, yet, what it's for. Perhaps it has something to do with the magnetic coupling system advertised at the back of the box the car came in. I'll have to investigate that a little more...
 |  |
 |  |
Bluford Shops 73691: An Open Hopper Car
Priced at $17.29.
Bluford Shops is a company I've never heard about before. And the range of their products is not really wide at all. They seem to focus on two or three car types.
What we have here is an open hopper car that features metal wheels and a coal load. The load is removable. Actually it's rather loose and falls out as soon as you turn the car to its side. It's also made of cheaper plastic than the car itself.
The car seems to have an appropriate weight. It's neither light nor very heavy. Feels exactly the way it should be.
It features some interesting details, too. In addition to a nice painting and some rods and ladders, it also has extra brake hoses. Those are the very thin black plastic parts that can be found right next to the couplers. I have to say this level of detail looks amazing but it comes at a price. Those hoses are explicitly mentioned on the box as being a "free extra" that is very fragile and that may break even during shipping. So you should not be expecting to get them, but if you do - you were lucky... I'm not sure I like that approach but they definitely make a lasting impression.
 |  |
 |  |
Bachmann 17154: A Tank Car
Priced at $12.99.
Bachmann is a very popular company not only in the US but also in Europe. And it is known for its very good price/quality ratio. The tank car I bought features metal wheels which seem to be a standard equipment on all Bachmann products. This is also the only car in the set I bought that includes replaceable Rapido couplers. So the company seems to care about its European market, too.
The car has proper weight and features some nice details. We get elements such as the brake wheel, ladders, handrails, etc. There's quite a lot of that for such a small car...
I also have to say I really like the vivid red-black paint job. It might not appeal to "weathered stuff" fans but it does bring some life to a train in my opinion. And it makes the car look "just nice", too.
Looking pretty good at a reasonable price.
 |  |
 |  |
Atlas 50002144: A Boxcar
Priced at $14.99.
Atlas is another company that is very popular in the US. It has a very wide range of products split into several lines and that is all very confusing for somebody making his first purchase. Atlas also seems to be a huge supporter of plastic wheels so I had to make some extra effort to find a model with metal ones.
That is a boxcar so it looks... like a rectangular box. The doors do not open and it all seems like a very simple piece until you look closely. Here's one of the two very small platforms featured at the ends of the car:
An etched platform that is just a few millimetres long. Very impressive in my opinion.
The car feels pretty heavy but it's probably appropriate as this is the largest car in the set I bought. It also features some very nice paint job. I have to say I love the silver paint that was used to cover the roof. It really looks like it's made of metal.
Last point worth mentioning is that there are two extra parts coming with this car. Unfortunately no explanation of their role is given so I have no idea what they're for. Will have to google that I'm afraid.
 |  |
 |  |
Trainworx 23065-04: A Covered Hopper Car
Priced at $14.69.
Trainworx is another US company I've never heard about. And I've decided to give one of their covered hopper cars a try.
The car has metal wheels which is very nice. It also feels pretty heavy but that fact seems to be in line with the size of the model as it is quite long, too. The painting seems simple (it's just a light grey car) but the letters are sharp and colours are rich.
One thing I really like about this car are the details. So we do get a lot of standard elements such as ladders and a brake wheel, of course. But we also get some nice-looking extra stuff under the car in the form of drain pipes. And last but not least: I have to say the roof-walks are a masterpiece. They're all etched and they look amazing up close. Kudos to the company-I-ve-never-heard-about for making those.
 |  |
 |  |
Fox Valley Models 91018: A Caboose Car
Priced at $19.99.
Every American train needs a caboose and I decided to get one made by FVM. Cabooses are made by several different model companies but buying one with metal wheels under $20 is not that easy. So I had to settle down for a model that did not appeal to me very much.
But let's focus on the product. First a word of warning: after opening the box, the car just fell out. I'm used to packaging where the models actually stays inside the package unless I mean to take it out. This is not the case here. The caboose has a lot of freedom inside the plastic form and is ready to come out any moment.
Once it's out it feels pretty light. A little too light for my preference even considering the small size of the car. Of course it's difficult to say whether it will affect its performance at all.
The car has A LOT of details. Handrails are everywhere. Two chimneys, ladder and an etched roof-walk. It's impressive how much FVM managed to put in there. Unfortunately it's not all roses - the very nice roof-walk is not perfectly attached to the car I got and it can be very well seen in the photos below... Bad luck, I guess.
A caboose is a passenger car, right? So it would be nice to have some interior lighting there. The car however does not seem be ready for light installation. There's even no instruction on how to open it to get inside. So this might be very tricky if possible at all. Tough job definitely considering all those nice details around.
 |  |
 |  |
Athearn 24171: A Covered Hopper Car
Priced at $18.99.
Athearn is a company I knew before. I do own their DCC locomotive with sound and I'm very happy with it so far. So I was not worried about buying a rail-road car made by Athearn.
The car has metal wheels and it seems all cars from this manufacturer feature those. It also feels pretty heavy for its small size but it's a "good feeling". The car has a lot of details: ladders, etched roof-walk, rails, brake wheel, etc. And the package even includes a leaflet naming every single installed element one by one:
It's all very impressive I have to say. The only downside is that I was able to compare my car with the checklist and it seems I'm missing a "triple valve" piece. The leaflet encourages me to contact Athearn in such a case but I think I'll pass.
I obviously love the rich colour of the car and I'm not going to be weathering it. More life on the layout is good in my opinion :)
Athearn decided to put some attention to the underside of the model, too, which resulted in nice details being present there. I like it a lot.
One thing I do not like is that the car fits into its box in one direction only. There's no warning about it and you could be damaging your car when re-inserting it. This gets even more dangerous after you unfold and fold the leaflet back. Then you have to squeeze the box a little to close it. And if put the car the wrong way, you'll probably damage it in such a case.
 |  |
 |  |
No comments:
Post a Comment