brief review - 2016 lionel 89' autorack car

There are some things that can make these roll worse. Try just pushing the car down lightly on each side while rolling to make sure the sideframes are aligned. I would oil the axle bushings. Mine rolls pretty well that I remember. I'm not sure why yours are rougher. Maybe something simple?

 I've read some posts about people unhappy with them. I think they are well detailed and a good value. I would buy more but I still have some in their boxes waiting to be two railed!

I picked up the first run of these.  Are you saying they now come in a box with a window?  Could you post  a photo of the box?  I'm curious.

I have five of these.  I really struggled to get the trucks off as the screws were frozen in the mounts, when I converted to two-rail. 

Engineer-Joe posted:

There are some things that can make these roll worse. Try just pushing the car down lightly on each side while rolling to make sure the sideframes are aligned. I would oil the axle bushings. Mine rolls pretty well that I remember. I'm not sure why yours are rougher. Maybe something simple?

 I've read some posts about people unhappy with them. I think they are well detailed and a good value. I would buy more but I still have some in their boxes waiting to be two railed!

I noticed this problem with some of the newer cylindrical hoppers. They're the only examples of the roller bearing trucks I have out on the layout right now. I haven't attempted to lube them yet, but I agree, they pull like sleds right out of the box. Without some relief, this may force me to run shorter trains. While the rolling caps are cool, the extra drag is not.

Thanks for the review Jim. Mine should be along in the next couple weeks. I'll open them up right away.

I basically bought the majority of them the first time around and a few more with the new offerings. I'm running fourteen right now and they seem to run very well behind the engine. The packaging works for me. I don't mind the plastic clamshell. The box seems sturdy enough to me. Boxes seems to be getting thinner with each passing year. All in all I am quite happy with these auto racks....................Paul

Martin H posted:

I picked up the first run of these.  Are you saying they now come in a box with a window?  Could you post  a photo of the box?  I'm curious.

I have five of these.  I really struggled to get the trucks off as the screws were frozen in the mounts, when I converted to two-rail. 

They ,I think are using the same box w/ window as the86' boxcars came in..I attempted to lube the axles on the new cars, it helped a little bit.I wanted to buy some more with different road names, but iam having 2nd thoughts now...jim