Best Detailed Cars From Lionel and MTH

Thanks for the info John, but these cars are out of my era. As you suggested I must ask what other Aussie O scalers are doing re postage. It's a killer for us. We can pay more postage than the cost of a car.

Daryl

This is a Lionel PS-2 2-bay hopper that I recently 2-railed with Atlas 100-ton trucks and Kadee 745 couplers. Lionel has been making PS-2 hoppers since 2004 and they are some of the best detailed freight cars in O scale.

catnap posted:

This is a Lionel PS-2 2-bay hopper that I recently 2-railed with Atlas 100-ton trucks and Kadee 745 couplers. Lionel has been making PS-2 hoppers since 2004 and they are some of the best detailed freight cars in O scale.

I couldn’t agree more with Catnap!  Lionel’s PS-2 hoppers don’t seem to get enough recognition for how truly good they are!  Excellent level of fine details.  I haven’t added Kadees to any yet, but plan to do so at some point.

For me, the most impressive models I've purchased over the last few years are the Lionel Autoracks. The detail is fantastic,  as well as the size, nearly 24" in actual length. They're monsters!! A lot of scale operators have converted them to 2 rail operation.  Of course, you'll need to make sure you have wider radius curves to accommodate them.  Is there a certain type of freight you are looking to model? (i.e. coal, intermodal, etc.)

Talked to the former Lionel PS car designer a few months back. It's a shame what Lionel MGT. did to that group of talented guys. Got better than expected from them, then let em all go. 

A Lionel 8 door Hy-Cube.

SIRT posted:

Talked to the former Lionel PS car designer a few months back. It's a shame what Lionel MGT. did to that group of talented guys. Got better than expected from them, then let em all go. 

 

The story of how Lionel's 27xxx scale cars and PS cars came into existence is on this forum in one of the threads. 

Atlas O master series cars are very well detailed also.    And they come with either 2 or 3 rail trucks.    You do have to do some coupler conversion if you like Kadees.   

They have done a bunch of "modern" cars and also steam era cars in the Master Line.

With Lionel and MTH, you have to consider each car individually pretty much.    With the Atlas Master line, all are the same high level of detail.

I've been looking at the latest Lionel catalog online and I see modern covered hoppers in particular, but I can't tell how detailed they are from the pictures.

How long is the hy-cube boxcar thanks?

Thanks for all the replies.

I agree with prrjim. Day in and out, Atlas' Masterline is about as good as it gets in ready-to-run. They may have trouble with delivery times but it is quality models both rolling stock and locomotives. There are very good MTH and Lionel pieces but I like Atlas. They offer a less expensive line called Trainman, just not as well detailed and priced accordingly. Sunset/3rd Rail offers very well done locomotives.

Dick

Atlas definitely knows how to properly detail things. I'd say they should be your first choice, and then Sunset/GGD after that. Don't get me wrong, Lionel and MTH make great products, but MTH doesn't always get the details right, and Lionel has been having quality control issues.

The Hy-Cubes are about 22 1/2" coupler face to coupler face. That's the original couplers, I haven't installed scale ones yet. 

emdalco01 posted:

Hi,

I'm about to get heavily into O scale and I'd like some advice on cars available either from retailers or maybe eBay.

As I live in Australia I can't see any of these cars before buying so I rely to the reporting of modellers or magazines in the US of how good they are.

Thanks Daryl

 

Daryl, I'd say post a request for an image here. Someone will have the model if not in the scheme you desire, at least you can see the details clearly. IIRC Atlas pretty much sells you what is seen on their website for paint schemes.

The hy-cube must be the 86' car at that length. Way too big for my layout but thanks for posting.

Thats a good idea Bobby. Thanks

emdalco01 posted:

The hy-cube must be the 86' car at that length. Way too big for my layout but thanks for posting.

Thats a good idea Bobby. Thanks

In case I'm blind and missed it, what era and railroad or railroads are you trying to model?

MTH has a nice (shorter) 50' premier high cube car.

https://mthtrains.com/premier/spotlight/11_2016/h

https://mthtrains.com/premier/spotlight/09_2015/g

I really enjoy all the cars from Atlas Master series (modern) that I have.

The Lionel auto cars, ethanol tank cars, and a few others are really great too.

I'm modelling roughly between 1985 and 1995.

emdalco01 posted:

I'm modelling roughly between 1985 and 1995.

Unless they have changed, the Lionel cars with the 17xxx/27xxx part numbers are the scale cars.   

The  4 bay center flow car is a good car for your era as is the 3 pocket open hopper (PRR/CR/NS) H43. 

These are beautiful models.

Thanks for the info re Lionel Scale car part numbers.

You can't touch Lionel with anything from any other MFG/ importer on the 50' scale TankTrain cars. They are modern and right on the money!

For 100 t Canadian Grain hoppers, you can't beat MTH premier line 100t hoppers!

Nobody mentioned the PRR Gla?

rex desilets posted:

Nobody mentioned the PRR Gla?

That's right because the O.P. stated he modeled between 1985-1995

A few other good choices:

• Lionel PS-4 Flat Car with Trailer(s). They started production on these a few years ago and have done SP, ATSF, CNW, and others. Takes a bit of work to 2-rail them (I haven't done mine yet), but Lionel did a great job. They occasionally show up on eBay.
• Lionel PS-4427 Covered Hopper. This one was initially viewed as a knock-off of the Atlas PS-4427. The big difference is that it features a single long hatch on the roof that doesn't open where the Atlas has smaller hatches that do open.
• Lionel 89-foot Auto Racks. These came out a couple of years ago. They're "Layout Shrinkers" as they're full-scale.
• Lionel 86-foot Excess-Height box cars (mentioned above). Also "Layout Shrinkers".
• Recent Lionel full-scale passenger cars. There have been some QC issues with them, but overall they're nicely done.
• MTH Premier PS-2 2-bay covered hoppers
• MTH Premier ACF 3-bay and 2-bay covered hoppers
• MTH Premier 50-foot excess-height box cars
• MTH Premier steel-sided stock cars (on the edge of the era you're looking at).
• MTH Premier Gunderson Bulkhead double-stack container cars. These were sold in 2-car sets with a 3-car add-on to make the five-unit string. These are hard to find as they've only been released a couple of times. I'd like to get more sets.

MTH sells replacement 2-rail trucks for their rolling stock. Newer MTH rolling stock is already set up with mounting holes for Kadee couplers and the coupler sits at the right height when used with the MTH trucks. However, the cars sit about 1/8 inch too high, but I can live with it. Some of the Lionel cars can be a bit tricky to convert, but nothing overly complicated. Also, you might want to consider picking up Weaver cars. A lot of them can be picked up inexpensively and the 3-rail cars can be easily converted by removing the three-rail coupler boom and installing Kadee couplers. Intermountain wheels are readily available. I've converted several of them. I'm not a big fan of the Weaver plastic wheels and replace them on the 2-rail cars I've found. If you find the 57-foot mechanical reefers, they take 36" wheels (available from Northwest Short Line) and long, shock-control coupler boxes (available from Kadee).

Hi Matt,

Thanks for you in depth response.

Daryl

My advise is to save your money. High detail is nice for one's ego, but a layout is viewed in the context of the whole thing. Consider your layout like a stage or theatrical presentation.  No one visiting a layout is there to counts rivets, looking for door knobs on the structures or even sees very fine high detail.