Archbar trucks

The last Weaver ones l bought,  #7xx had very bad cases of epidemic zinkpest, and disintegrated in their packages, and then, Weaver was gone.  

All my arch bar trucks are old Athearn ones.  They can be replaced with three rail wheels and are not expensive used.  While you have to do some work as the MTH truck has the bolster built in, while the Athearn ones need a separate bolster, they are great looking trucks.  Much more scale looking than anything MTH produced.

Horizon Distributors is the owner of Athearn's product line.

Although Athearn hasn't made anything of significance in O scale (e.g., rolling stock kits) for a very l-o-n-g time, they have continued to provide O scale trucks...Bettendorf and Archbar, plastic frames, not diecast.  As Jonathan sez, they come with O2R wheels, which can be easily swapped out for O3R sets.

HOWEVER...these are not always in stock at Horizon.  Horizon Dist. dealers should be able to yet order them, though, and if you're not in a hurry, they'll show up some day.  That's my own experience when I worked at our LHS.

Having MTH's remaining entities counted on for these replacements is always possible...but not guaranteed, IMHO.  If I were in your situation, I'd try a parallel path...find a dealer who will take the time to order Athearn's Archbar trucks.  P&D Hobby in Michigan would be a good choice...and, in fact, might have some in stock!!

As for the bolster, someone who has made this conversion/modification to the 19th century cars might come forth on this thread and offer advice.  Of course, there are several mfrs of O bolsters, but even they might require some modification.  With a few details/dimensions documented perhaps one of the growing group of 3D printer guys might be able to help!?

FWIW...

Good luck...and have a Merry Christmas, prosperous/healthy New Year!

KD

@dkdkrd posted:

As for the bolster, someone who has made this conversion/modification to the 19th century cars might come forth on this thread and offer advice.  Of course, there are several mfrs of O bolsters, but even they might require some modification.  With a few details/dimensions documented perhaps one of the growing group of 3D printer guys might be able to help!?

Better than 90% of my cars have Athearn Archbar trucks under them.  2-3 shops sell them RTR on eBay.....

Car Bolsters are available from PSC, etc.

I make my own - cast resin.  Have to drill & tap for the mounting screw, but I might have a 1/2 lb of 2-3 styles in my shop. If you make it to the Strasburg O scale meet, I generally have 10-20 of each style available.  Bottom 2 and an unpictured style are what I have right now.

I prefer to keep things I own original

if I can

I put a thread thru the springs perpendicular to the direction they sit in and hold both ends tight in my hand while I push the spring in place on one pin in the truck and then the other with a finger nail.    After that I pull the thread thru and free.    Using this method keeps the springs from going flying to the etehr if they slip when installing

I collect the Railking 19th century pieces and I also have several with broken trucks.  I had contacted Midge at MTH about it and she said she would contact me when they came in.  Unfortunately, they never did.  I could never find a part number for these.  Odd, as they were still producing the rolling stock at the time.  I have also looked for alternatives with no success.  I've also gone down the route of trying to find inexpensive cars that I could take the trucks from, but they really don't exist.

@1drummer posted:

I prefer to keep things I own original

if I can

I'm sure that you'll be able to keep the original broken trucks then....

@prrjim posted:

I put a thread thru the springs perpendicular to the direction they sit in and hold both ends tight in my hand while I push the spring in place on one pin in the truck and then the other with a finger nail.    After that I pull the thread thru and free.    Using this method keeps the springs from going flying to the etehr if they slip when installing

Can you make a video?

That would be a big help for me

thanks

Frank,  FYI - Looks like MTH is still out of stock of the 19th Century Archbar trucks.  I submitted a request on their new parts website to be notifed with more are available.

P/N DA6200001 - Description:  TRUCK / FREIGHT / ARCHBAR / W/MAGNETIC COUPLER / W/PICK UP / RAILKING 19th CENTURY CARS

P/N DA6200003 - Description:   TRUCK / FREIGHT / ARCHBAR / W/MAGNETIC COUPLER / BLACK / PREMIER 19th CENTURY 

@mwb posted:

Better than 90% of my cars have Athearn Archbar trucks under them.  2-3 shops sell them RTR on eBay.....

Most of my freight cars (except a certain pickle car ) have Athearn or Weaver trucks under them with mostly Intermountain wheelsets. I prefer the older metal Athearn trucks when I can get them. They came in four styles:

Andrews (my favorite style)

Arch bar

Bettendorf

Roller bearing (Symington 70T; note: the Weaver is a Barber S-2 100T)

@PRRMP54 posted:

Most of my freight cars (except a certain pickle car ) have Athearn or Weaver trucks under them with mostly Intermountain wheelsets. I prefer the older metal Athearn trucks when I can get them. They came in four styles:

Andrews (my favorite style)

Arch bar

Bettendorf

Roller bearing (Symington 70T; note: the Weaver is a Barber S-2 100T)

Yup; put the Intermountain wheelsets in those Delrin sideframes and watch the cars roll smoothly......

I find fewer and fewer of the older metal Athearn trucks; not looking forward to the day when I have to buy PSC, Yoder, or other archbars....