Anybody run lionel aluminum 15" passenger cars?

I am trying to buy more 15"s, as I run the 15"s, and of course I have O-27's already.

My Lionel WP is scale and I run it with my 15s.

In fact, I am selling some of my larger passenger cars because my layout is too small.

Nope.

All the time. My O42 and O54 curves make longer cars look out of place.

Jim

Dave,

You know the deal, no layout so I haven't ran these yet.

I've had them connected to a few static locomotives on the bench and they look nice.   I haven't had a Challenger connected to them.  Probably pull this set with an FEF.  

All the time.  They look good with lots of scale locos, and like Jim Policastro says, not so long as to "not fit" on O-54 curves, etc.

Conicidently, one on my favorite combinations is to run them behind my Blue Comet: it looks really good - just a great combination.

Jim,

Nice video, the cars and layout look great.

Aaron,

The UP cars  look great. I also have a set of those cars and run them with my F3's. I don't have room to run 21" cars, wish I did. 

Yes, we do. I have three sets and run with two scale F3 Units and a set of scale PA's.

They are a santé Fe Super Chief, Texas Special, and California Zephyr. All very nice sets.

I run MTH Railking passenger cars exclusively, which are similar to the Lionel 15" cars - just a hair longer at around 16".  I do it for the same reasons as others - the scale cars just look incredibly awkward on smaller curves.   To me, the 70 footers look a little odd even on O-72 curves.  The RK cars look appropriate with scale and compressed locos.  

Will these 15" Lionel cars go through Lionel 0-31 Switches (#0-22)?

The cars can go around O31 curves so I assume they would go around O31 switches. 

Jim, the sound on that Blue Comet is awesome!

Is that a Lionel?

Absolutely!!!  Ran them that way for years (LIONEL 022 switches), until going to a hi-rail lay-out.

Nope - don't have any. Sold 'em off. My favorites were these Williams Santa Fe's that I had custom painted to MoPac to be a full set. The engines are 2353 Santa Fe. There was a baggage car too.

Do have a handsome K-Line 15" F.O.M. combine however...

I do.  They're a  little hard to see in the picture, but I really like my Lionel Texas Special passenger cars.

 I also have the Lionel 15 inch passenger cars from that Santa Fe anniversary set. 

- Mike

Yes - it's the Lionel Legacy engine from a few years ago.

Jim

Yep I do.  I run them behind scale alco PA's

When I had my layout, I ran the 611 with 15" cars and thought they looked great together. 

I think the answer to the question posed depends on what steam locomotives are going to be used.  A long articulated locomotive would not suit my eye, but they were rarely if ever used for passenger work based on my admittedly limited knowledge of the subject.  Typical scale Northerns and Hudsons wouldn't pose an issue for me at all.  Ditto scale diesels.

I would bet that a lot more people run 15" passenger cars than larger ones. They've been around a lot longer, and most people don't have huge layouts that can accommodate larger cars.

Yes; I actually prefer them. They are scale height and girth, but are 60 scale feet long.

There were actually 60-foot passenger cars at times and in different forms, so the actual

length is not weird, even though most of the modeled 15" cars' prototypes were longer than 60 feet.

I have a beautiful set of K-line 21" ATSF streamliners - beautiful behind my 3751 4-8-4 -

on a big layout. I wish now that I had bought the 15" (or so) versions of these back in

the day, instead. On my layout (18' on its longest side) they look odd, and the 15" have most of the presence without the awkwardness.

Of course, if the scale length matters to you a great deal, no go, but I just like to capture the feel, so 60 feet is fine.   

i run only scale engines and only 15-16" passenger cars (in reality i have one set of RK Milw Heavyweights at 16", the rest are all 15" and i have a few).

check out this video posted earlier.

Yes I do run scale with 15" alum cars: I have a Milwaukee Rd E-3 with Lionel MR alum cars. These cars came out a few years back before, everyone went 'scale crazy', there is also a station sounds car in there!! (All I had to do was get a smoking engine) Looks and runs beautiful. I have many other 15" alum cars, and that's the only type I run. I also have the new scale Pacifics that L recently introduced, with some K-Line, but these are plastic Madison type, the road names don't match, but the only ones that know the difference is you and me. I have Super O track, so I am limited as to the 15" size, but no one complains.

Very nice! I'm impressed! 

Mike are those the 15" Texas Special passenger cars?

We ran trains last night and I ran my LionMaster Big Boy, scale water tender, and the Lionel 15" cars. Everyone loved how well they looked.

Here is the video:

Yes indeed. I like the size, although the new longer ones look better now that I have seen a lot of them.

I do and am currently looking for a set for my Texas Special F3's. The set Lionel made several years ago are nice but the last set on the "bay" went for $800+ and the other is at $749 plus shipping. I prefer aluminum but would give ABS a look. Silhouettes or finished interiors?

Mike

I saw that as well Mike, you would think Lionel would make more of them.

To me that indicates a demand Lionel is not meeting...yet the bay is flooded with all those sport themed/fantasy sets and Lionel keeps pumping them out.