First Weaver anything I have on my layout

As I am in no way a rivet counter or stickler for detail, I like that Weaver does things no one else does.  Ever seen a Hofbrauhaus reefer?  Also they give great service and most of their product is made here in USA.

They were introduced by Weaver several years ago, and were very successful. There is a whole compliment of trailers available for sale separately. Be careful of the crossover platforms though, they are a bit fragile. I bought mine from Just Trains at York shortly after they came out. The list price I believe was $62, and J T was selling them for $45. Several roads and trailer companies have been added over the years.

Don

The level of detail on those Weaver O Scale flat cars looks the same as the O scale cars from Lionel and MTH made in the 1990's.

Andrew

IMHO dollar for dollar, Weaver offers the best value in O Scale. Can you get better? Of course, but you'll spend more. Also as previously noted Weaver makes items no one else does. Case in point, the B&O Wagontop cars. About 50% of my rolling stock roster is Weaver. The rest is "everyone else".

I have a beautiful Lionel TOFC Wabash car. It was about 35% more expensive than my Weaver TOFC cars. If money is no object, buy whatever floats your boat.

Just my $0.02

Gilly

Gilly

I would be happy to try Weaver RS but the one car I got on eBay had plastic wheels. No thanks. I'm pretty picky about how well cars roll and as Lee says the Lionel Vision cars roll like dream. MTH Premieres are a close second. On their website Weaver offers steel trucks but these weren't in stock the few times I checked. Anyone else have better luck?

I only like four things about Weaver: their products, their service, their hospitality at OGR Factory Tours, and the good conversation at York. That's all. 

Lee,

   Use some Red & Tacky #2 on the Weaver flatcar wheels, run for a few minutes and see the difference.

PCRR/Dave

I have been slowly accumulating a number of the Weaver H30 Hoppers (in PRR), and they are gorgeous.   I also like the Weaver TOFC's and the Wagontop cars.  And they make more of their product in the USA than any of the others! 

Andy

I have always loved Weavers freight cars. A couple of my favorites.

Weaver has gotten away from the plastic trucks for quite some time. The trucks are die cast and are supplied through MTH. 

Don

I have a Weaver RPO car and it's right up there with the rest for detail and workmanship. Don

Weaver products are good.  I have several and I am pleased with the color and detail and price.  I have not tried one of their engines, however, the paint detail I have seen says they are fantastic.  If they had Legacy like my other engines, I would probably buy one.

David56

I have several weaver cars no problems at all except two cars had out of gauge wheels. I have four cars has the plastic trucks on them. I never had any problems with them. I got C&O coal hopper had the plastic trucks the trucks was fine but the wheels were out of gauge and i did upgrade them to diecast trucks from weaver. The other three cars has the plastic trucks still. I don't like free wheel cars to good it can be a bad or good thing if you have incline they roll off to easy then they will derail and hit the floor.  

It's rare that I see any Weaver product.  I've heard about them for years.  Long before MTH all I heard of in O scale was Lionel, Willams and Weaver.

The H30 and the wagon tops are both nicely detailed. Joe Hayter gave me an H30 as a thank you for filling in to do the product introduction at the TCA museum last April. It is proudly displayed with my other Weaver cars, which make up more then half of my rolling stock inventory.

I belong to another forum, and we do an annual club car; this being our seventh year using Weaver products. Since I live close by, i visit frequently to go over details for our annual project and pick up our sample cars for display at York. This gives some of our members who attend in April a chance to see the actual car and give feedback for the benefit of those who don't get to see the car. All who buy the club cars have nothing but good things to say about the cars.

 As was mentioned by Alentown, service, hospitality, product and tours are top notch. All the folks who work there are very friendly, and love what they do.

Don

I think the Weaver TOFC's are much better than MTH and equivalent to Lionel with my preference for the longer Weaver trailers vrs Lionel shorties.

Guess it is all in what you like.

I have some Weaver freight cars and they are well made, have accurate and good color paint schemes, detail and markings.  the cars are painted with a coating of durable Scale Coat paint, most cars are made right here in the good ole' U.S. of A., the prices are decent and as a collector member I get a discounted price on most of their rolling stock, unless the item is a special production run, such as the B&O wagon tops and the Milwaukee Road ribbed sided box cars, with the 'Lumber Door' in the 'A' end. .

The company staff and Mr Hayter are cordial and are accommodating, especially when I bug them for certain road numbers.

Ralph

Will join in the chorus of pro-Weaver comments, I have always been happy with their   products and service. 

I tend to agree with Lee's assessment.  The few Weaver cars I have are adequate.  They do build cars that others manufacturers do not.  I am a fan of the Army troop and kitchen cars.  Otherwise I am generally underwhelmed as well.

On the other hand I have and think very highly of their diesel sand tower and 50K gallon water tower.  Those are top notch.  To each their own.

I just bought the new Samuel Adams October Fest refrigerator car.It is very high quality.I also made a custom Three Stooges beer car using Weaver's undecorated refrigerator car and paints.

Dan

I have several Weaver freight cars of all varieties, a caboose,  two troop kitchen cars, and a RPO. ( I have yet to purchase the piggy back flats with trailers but do like the trailers appearance ) I really like them all and they are a great bang for the buck.  I do really enjoy their appearance, however, Im not a rivet counter.  The graphics on their covered hoppers and boxcars are not as crisp as MTH, Lionel, or Atlas, but good enough for me.  I like too that they are made mostly in the USA.

I also own mostly MTH rolling stock with some Lionel, K line, a couple of Williams gons with Patapsco and Back Rivers livery, and very little Atlas O.

I like the fact that these are made in the USA.  The trailers on the cars I like a lot - really nice trailers.  I really am okay with the cars - the detail on the cars is acceptable - the crossover platforms look a little clunky but okay . . .  but they don't roll nearly as well as then Lionel: I tried red and tacky on one but that made things no better if not a tiny bit worse: it now rolls worse than the other by a tiny bit.

Just a few Weaver pieces.
Baldwin Pennsy BP 20

Canadian Pacific  Hudson.

Pennsy E8's

Pennsy U25b

GP38-2

Grand Canyon #29

I have more Weaver than anything else.

Great way to start the day.

 Mike CT

All of my 2 rail is weaver, 2 steam engine's, 1 diesel, and 70 freight cars. Why should I spend $80-100 on a single atlas, lionel, or mth freight car when I can get 2-4 weaver cars for the same price. I am supporting an A M E R I C A N    C O M P A N Y, not china.

I have several Weaver RS and GP38-2 locomotives and also several pieces of rolling stock (all U.S. Army).  Reliable performers, and I'm perfectly happy with them in all respects…including cost.

I have been running both a Weaver loco and several cars since the mid 1980's and think they are great and an exceptional value; service from the staff at Weaver is outstanding.

For Lee, T4TT, et. al. i would suggest the analog rivet counting tool featured on page 74 in the April issue of "Model Railroader" magazine.

jackson

The Truc Train is hauling, starting at the front, 2 -home built, 3 - Lionel, and then the rest are Weaver TOFC's.

When the Weaver E-8 in Pennsy was first offered, a friend of mine who collected Pennsy and I set out to find that, and the Pennsy K-Line Heavyweights to go with it,

and, with some effort, and a lot of shows attended, we eventually acquired them. 

The Weaver loco I wish I had grabbed when available was their 2-8-0, which would

go perfectly with the WBB 4-6-0 for branchline power.   

Maybe I paid too much for mine, but I did not notice any price differential between these two Weaver and other flatcars with trailer loads: I paid around $67 for them versus about $70 for MTH similar (but with a 40' trailer instead).  I Weaver considered a lower cost supplier.  I actually know little about them except they are small and in America.

Weaver History from their website.

You're welcome   

Mike

I did a trip along the Susquehanna River from I80 south to Harrisburg, Pa via US Rt. 11 and 322, I think.  One of the stops was in Northumberland, PA, where Weaver is located.  Wonderful day, great people.  

Lee,

   Each year I try to add a Weaver purchase to my layout, as most know I have a Weaver Masonic Train, one of my prize train possessions.  Made right here in Pa I try to support them each Christmas, my Pa/USA companies matter to me very much.  Made in the USA I still wish it all was, I realize this does not mean as much to some people, to me however it means a great deal.  This year Weaver is re-issuing the Weaver Military rolling stock, I plan to add them to my military train in the near future.  Hope you like your Weaver purchase and return to support them in the future,

American made the best stuff on earth.  Jim's International Harvester freight car is one of my favorites and I have never been able to find one in near perfect condition to add to my layout.  In fact I would like to have about 10 of them.

PCRR/Dave

As much as I like Red n Tacky for gears, I absolutely wouldn't use it on needle point axles. I'd strongly suggest cleaning off the Red n Tacky and using some light weight Labelle oil.

Sorry you're having rolling issues with Weaver. First I've ever heard of that issue. If it continues, please give Weaver a call. I'm confident you'll be well taken care of.

FWIW, I was lucky enough to get a Weaver N&W 4-6-2 E2a. Wish I had gotten the N&W 2-8-0. I've seen one on eBay since 2007 and it was damaged. The fact that these seldom (if ever) show up on eBay is testiment to the product. The people who were lucky enough to get one is holding onto it.

Gilly

Gilly,

   Now I have to hear this, what problem do you have with R&T2 on your axles, all my Tin Pate rolling stock runs smooth as glass with it, and no squeeks what so ever, for years. 

Please explain.

PCRR/Dave

Weaver in the last few years has really stepped up their game.

I was upset at the plastic trucks that seem  to separate when you least expect them, and their light weight characteristics.

But the later releases ie. the wagon tops, troop transports, and latest steam engines with TMCC... Wow...

J Daddy,

   I agree I never purchase anything with plastic trucks, metal only for me thank you very much.

PCRR/Dave

It's not really a problem: my locos will pull these cars without struggle.  But it was a surprise, these two cars had noticeably less free-rolling than any other recent cars.  I was surprised.  

To put this in perspective, I've posted three short videos a Lionel car, and an MTH and the Weaver car that I have not used Red and Tacky on.  This is a section of my main loop with a constant .78% downward slope.  All three cars are 15" flats, all of roughly the same price (around $65 - $75) and roughly same detail, although I think the Lionel is just slightly the better of the three.  The Lionel came with two REA short trailers, the MTH with a Sherman tank, but I've used the same load for all three here - the Weaver trailer - to keep things as evenly comparable as possible.  

First the Lionel.  Notice I just release it - don't even push, and it accelerates all the way to the other end and continues accelerating around the bend.  By the way, this is pretty standard for Lionel - most recent cars will start themselves and roll down this incline.

Here is the MTH.  I don't have to push this either.  I just release and it accelerates but a bit more slowly, and it seems to reach a terminal velocity about halfway down the straight and stops accelerating, but keeps going.  

Here is the Weaver.  I have to push it and it only goes a few inches each time.  It doesn't want to roll.