Adding trucks to a LaBelle passenger car.

A question: Is the roof and or the floor glued to the car-sides? If so, the easiest way to add trucks will be to un-glue either the floor or roof. If un-glueing the floor or roof isn't an option, you may be able to get away with a small barrel nut glued to the bolsters.

I'm not a fan of the Atlas commonwealth trucks. The pair I have don't fit well at all. The coupler shank is too short which moves the trucks to close to the ends and interfere with the steps. Not to mention it looks bad. I use MTH premiere 2-rail 60 ft. woodside passenger car trucks. The 2-rail wheels work fine on my layout, but you may have to swap the wheels out for high rail wheels. If you want to light the car, 3-rail pickups are available from MTH. 

I used Atlas trucks on my LaBelle car. I modified the car into an open air Milwaukee Road car. As BRR said, it's much easier to add truck before you build the car. Maybe next time don't buy a built up one and build it yourself. They are a fun project. Don

You may want to try these under your Labelle car, as these are more prototypical for these types of cars. Here is a link:

http://www.scalecitydesigns.co...s-O-Scale_p_244.html

These are made of jewelers pewter with brass bushings and roll free and will accept both 2 and 3 rail wheelsets.

Scale City Designs posted:

You may want to try these under your Labelle car, as these are more prototypical for these types of cars. Here is a link:

http://www.scalecitydesigns.co...s-O-Scale_p_244.html

These are made of jewelers pewter with brass bushings and roll free and will accept both 2 and 3 rail wheelsets.

Would standard needle point wheel sets work?

I'm able to remove the top but how do I mount the trucks? Do I use a bolt and nut?

You sure that is La Belle?  We 2-railers just use wood screws, but if you have access through the roof, a bolt and nut would be ok.

bob2 posted:

You sure that is La Belle?  We 2-railers just use wood screws, but if you have access through the roof, a bolt and nut would be ok.

Pretty sure it isn't a LaBelle car - looks like a unfinished Walthers roof and those are Walthers mounting plates on the under body for mounting the trucks and the rest of the uinderbody is not LaBelle either.

Yes, just use simple old wood screws thought the mounting hole in the truck bolster up through the mounting plate from underneath.

I'm contemplating on building one or two of the Labelle wood side passenger cars. For those who've built them how would you rate the durability of a finished car? 

  I figured I’d try something easier like a baggage car. The hardest part of the build is figuring out the directions and sorting the parts. I added a lot of my own twists to make the car more rugged. I wanted a good runner and my work wouldn’t win any contests. I used the few pics I could find of a Rutland car. I used Atlas Commonwealth trucks and made a mount out of aluminum for the truck and Kadee.