Best Passenger car for the money

Zinc rot was mainly with K-Line! Never heard of it on MTH.

Lee Fritz

There is no correct answer. They have all had their issues from time to time. MTH heavyweights made around 2005 did have a zinc rot issue with their trucks. I have drawer full of broken parts. Newer and older ones were OK.

You will have to be more specific about which K-Line cars you are talking about. I think they made 12", 15", and 21" versions of FOM cars.

Pete

phillyreading posted:

Zinc rot was mainly with K-Line! Never heard of it on MTH.

Lee Fritz

MTH also had issues. Not sure about Lionel but folks have reported MTH trucks with zinc rot. 

I normally only buy 21" cars, However I did purchase a set of MTH that came with NYC Hudson, from the last release, and have to admit they are really nice cars. I even bought the extra cars.

Clem 

I have a set of MTH ( NYC ) and a set of Rail-King (PRR) and have had these for about 8 years never seen any sign of zinc pest. I love these cars with the interior and I put people in them. These I felt where reasonable. 

Lionel, MTH and K-Line all made "shorty" passenger cars that would successfully navigate O31 curves with the exception of some of the newer models which are rated at O42.  Zinc rot is not a consistent problem with any manufacturer or time period.  If you're going to buy "used," be sure to inspect them before purchase unless you are really comfortable with the seller.  Swapping or repairing trucks on a passenger car is not the easiest fix to do.

Chuck

Thanks all, seems like the ones I am looking at on auction are  12 " 

Norton posted:

There is no correct answer. They have all had their issues from time to time. MTH heavyweights made around 2005 did have a zinc rot issue with their trucks. I have drawer full of broken parts. Newer and older ones were OK.

You will have to be more specific about which K-Line cars you are talking about. I think they made 12", 15", and 21" versions of FOM cars.

Pete

Thanks  All  i guess it all depends on budget   I would like a set around $ 200

How about Williams cars ?

Hi,

Just cover your purchase with Pay-Pal. If there is a problem contract your Credit Card Company.  I hope this was of  some help.

Good luck, John

I must have 12-15 sets of Williams HW, SL and Superliners.....never had a bad one yet. 

I think the best bang for the buck are MTH premier cars made between 1998 and 2003 aproximately.  These can be identified by having interiors but no passengers. Passengers can be added later. These can usually be had for under $200 for a 5 car set. Check the auction sites.

Pete

The K-Line passenger cars that I had were made about 12 to 15 years ago, they were the Heavyweight series, I think the first 2 numbers were 44XX, not sure of the last 2 numbers. Also the K-Line collector's club GG-1 engine had similar issues with the side truck assemblies falling apart. Another K-Line passenger car set that had truck issues was the Interurbans # 2703.

Have heard of other companies having issues with zinc rot but I can't say as I have not seen it in any other company besides K-Line.

Lee Fritz

The lionel 15 inch cars will handle 031. Youcould opt for the mpc or later cars and they would work nice with your C Liner.

I have 3 sets of Williams passenger cars from the Crown Edition era and never had a truck assembly problem. The older type of "fixed couplers"(non opening) on Williams might give you problems, but if the coupler opens on a Williams passenger car I had no problems.

Lee Fritz