Freight Cars

My own personal experience has been with engines it is the road name as to not so much the manufacturer. And I apply the same to freight cars but I stay with scale cars.......Paul

Which ever manufacturer has the road name(s) you want will be just fine. The same applies to engines. Most of my engines and rolling stock are MTH, mainly because MTH has made far more items in my chosen road name, Lionel has offered an extremely small number of items in that name. What's funny is it's a major class 1 railroad and almost the largest one out there today.

 

There are also several other manufacturers like Atlas, Weaver, Williams by Bachmann and probably more that I forgot that offer very nice engines and rolling stock as well. I have both Legacy and DCS and I really like them both. I also like all the O gauge train manufacturers products. I don't limit myself to one single brand, a lot more selection is available that way.

If you are looking for SCALE pieces, that narrows the field. First choice Atlas, if you can find them at a decent price. Then selected pieces from Lionel and most MTH premier are very good. Weaver is also good, but their plastic trucks leave something to be desired, and most will need weight added. As far as I know Williams is not scale.

Modern Theme

 

Which is the starting year for your modern theme?

 

Andrew

Weaver is also good, but their plastic trucks leave something to be desired, and most will need weight added.

 

Weaver no longer puts plastic trucks on its models, but there is still a lot of old stock in circulation that has them. Weaver has only a few modern items: ribbed 50' boxcars, 57' mechanical reefers, unibody tank cars, and a couple of different covered hoppers are all that come to mind at the moment. Weaver does offer an impressive variety of road names and graphics. All Weaver rolling stock is scale size. Detail is middling; value for money is excellent. 

 

It would help if you define what you mean by modern. Are we talking about what the railroads are running now, or anything from the 1980's forward, or something in between?

Both are just fine!!

 

Alan

I buy what strikes my fancy as I need not impress anyone.

Most Williams freight cars, except for some brass ones from the past, are not 1:48.

They also look more toy-like, often with strange, 19th-Century-looking underpinnings.

Trucks are Postwar-style, with an odd coupler height. I haven't bought any of their

RS new in years, so things may have changed.

===

All the major brands - L, M, A, K(-line) are good. I'm speaking of 1:48 stuff, here.

Atlas and Lionel do or did have the same builder, and are very similar; both tend to be

more delicate (their plastic cars) than I prefer.

 

MTH always seemed to have an equally realistic

look, but superior robustness. Steps were metal, at least at one time.

 

Atlas "Master Series" cars are so delicate that I essentially quit buying them years ago, unless it was available nowhere else. The Trainman line is more sturdy.

 

K-line scale was also very nice, generally. Best die-cast cars around, probably.

 

Die-cast: my favorite; I do not run 60-car trains.

 

My detailing standards are basic: what detail is there needs to be accurate, but I do not

care if every tiny nuance (or rivet) is represented.

 

They are all good; the above is just a warning. I've got some of all of them (oh, boy, yeah). 

BigMike88,

I suggest you pay a visit to all the local train shops in your area. Also, if their are any train shows in your area I suggest you go and look at the variety of freight cars. If you don't have any local stores or shows this forum will be your best source for information. Hope you and your family had a nice Christmas.

Start be deciding now if you are going to run scale or semi scale. It will save you a lot of pain down the road. Also define modern ere. Transition era, 60s, 70s, Now. What kind of curves are you going to use as this is a limiting factor of what engines you will be able to run. Finally pick a road, CSX/NS/UP/BNSF for now. after 1990 BN,SCL,UP,ATSF for example. Then I would start worrying about freight cars.    

As long as they are are full O scale,I'm happy.Nick

Simply - If YOU like the way they LOOK then the are IN!

I buy based on my preferred road name and scale. Like one poster above said, I have found that MTH makes more of my preferred road name (was a major Class 1 railroad) than Lionel, but I have bought both. I've also bought Atlas. 

I like both. Just remember with Lionel mainly there are issues with certain cars. Also the smoke units in Lionel engines are horrible and have to be replaced

this question is a no brainer for me.the name to go with is mth ,preferably mth premier.last month I bought two Canada cylindrical hoppers.same paint scheme ,but one was lionel and the other was mth premier,and surprisingly mth had a longer hopper with better graphics.also check out o scale atlas for boxcars and flat cars.atlas has superb quality too

I mix MTH, Lionel, and Atlas scale premium level rolling stock and have no issues with that at all. I see no difference in their detail, size, or overall quality.  

"I'm beginning my layout with a modern theme. I have already decided on Lionel engines with Legacy. For freight cars, Lionel vs MTH?'

 

   I wouldn't worry about the brand I'd go with whatever fits the needs of the proposed layout. Era, type of cars need to carry out operations, appropriate road names for location, etc. Buying a small sampler selection of cars from all the manufacturers is a good way to see how they compare and to end up with an interesting fleet. If you buy used cars from the buy and sell section of the forum or on ebay you can re-sell them if you don't like them and only lose the price of postage..DaveB

I don't care what brand freight cars are.......if they fit my need.....in my price range....I buy them.

Scale cars by Lionel, MTH, Atlas, Peco River, Weaver and even Crown Metal Works are all very well made and all run fine (Weaver may need some weight added)

So I shop by era and roadname....care less of the brand.

          Weaver        ..............................................  MTH

An overstatement. Lionel has had a lot of problems with smoke units but the current generation is much improved. When they work, they are almost as good as the MTH. The problem is quality control; Lionel has an unacceptably high failure rate on smoke fan motors. They are very good about fixing them under warranty, but it's still a pain to have to send a new engine to Lionel to replace a five-dollar part. I had to send in my Mikado for a fan motor issue. If it was a diesel I would probably just buy the part and fix it myself (diesels are easier to work on), but I don't buy new diesels so for me that's kind of a moot point. 

Crown and Weaver are identical. Weaver bought the molds used to make Crown cars. In fact, if you look at the underframe on a Weaver car from one of their older molds, you'll see the initials CMP, for Crown Metal Products (or maybe Crown Model Products, not sure which). Crown molds include the woodside boxcars and reefers, the PS-1 boxcars, the AAR boxcars, and some others. 

Thanks for this good input. My layout will be modern as in today. I live in Ohio so ill have CSX and NS and bring in my childhood favorite Conrail.  I live in an area where grain mills, breweries, and steel mills are prevalent. Also where I live nearby is an awesome hobby shop with a great selection of MTH and not much Lionel which is why I asked the question.

Here's the skinny on MTH & Lionel modern freight cars. Depending on the type car(s), each company (as well as others), manufacture some rather fantastic looking freight cars. However, there are differences. Take for example, the MTH Auto Rack and the Lionel Auto Racks. Most people that are not into this hobby would never recognize the differences, but there are many. The Lionel version(s), which I have 8 of them, are more prototypical in look. The truck placement is nearly on the mark. The length, as far as scale, is also nearly on the mark. As are the various placards and graphics. Also the doors work just like the real cars. They really are incredible looking and behind a modern diesel, they look awesome. The MTH versions are okay, but are shorter and not in scale. The truck placement is way off. and the overall look of the cars is no where near as prototypical or nice as the Lionel versions.

 

My store retailed them at $79.00 per single car. Which is pretty decent when you look at list. Anyway, the Lionel versions are superior to that of the MTH versions in my opinion. Now, the Inter Modal cars by MTH, are fabulous looking and actually they look pretty decent. Lionel also makes these cars, but they are not as nice as the MTH in my opinion once again.

 

Tankers! Well, Lionel makes the best bar none in my opinion as well. They are robust and look in scale with the locomotives that pull them. MTH also makes modern tankers as well and quite frankly they are also pretty decent.

 

Intermodal

Auto Racks

Tankers

 

These are the freight cars being largely handled by most modern railroads today. In scale the price ranges can be as little as $50 dollars for say a modern tanker, to as much as $150 for a two set Auto Rack. So, collecting these various cars can be rather expensive.

 

I only have 8 auto racks and one modern tanker thus far. I have 5 modern locomotives by MTH and Lionel. All are awesome in their own little ways. Depending on what you are trying to achieve, I would just start collecting these type cars until you have enough for a decent looking consist.

 

The great thing about the Lionel auto racks is that they are very long. Thus they give off the impression of a long consist. Even when pulling just 8 cars.

 

Well, anyway, that's my two cents and hope it helps.

 

 

Pete

I think of that as "contemporary." I draw a distinction because I think of my primary modeling era, the early 90s, as "modern," but many of the railroads from that era, have been merged out of existence. (I model the 90s mostly, but occasionally update everything to today for a few weeks so that I can run some of the nice recent models of things like ES44s).

 

To reasonably model the modern era, make sure to buy era-appropriate versions of cars. You don't want 40-foot or even 50-foot boxcars with roofwalks. Those were banned about 1978. Most of your cars will be at least 50 feet long and up. If you want a realistic look, avoid all the colorful paint jobs that are so popular in O gauge and look for browns and greys (or CSX blue, in your case).

 

Intermodal is huge business for railroads today and bulk commodities like grain and coal also remain big business. Those are things to consider modeling. Focus on the cars you need for your modeling interest, and don't worry so much about manufacturer. Nonetheless, MTH and Atlas O (both Masterline and Trainman) make a broad variety of modern cars. For many years I didn't buy many Lionel cars, but some of the more recent offerings, like the full-scale size auto racks and metal grain hoppers, are quite nice, and so I've added those. Weaver also makes a few nice modern era cars. These tend to be more 60s and 70s era designs, but they are designs that still can be found on the rails.

 

Just for fun, my take on a contemporary freight train, BNSF's M-KCKBAR, rolling through New Mexico:

 

 

And so I don't feel like I'm "cheating," here's a Santa Fe manifest:

 

Mike

 

The freight cars on the rails today have been built since the 1970s.  For contemporary hoppers, boxcars, flat cars and tank cars most of your choices will come from Atlas and MTH with some worthy candidates from Lionel and Weaver.  If you would like to get a better ideal of what freight cars are available in O scale take a look at the O Scale Freight Car Guide series.

 

https://ogrforum.com/t...le-freight-car-guide

 

Some cars of note include 50 and 60 foot boxcars from MTH

 

and Atlas,

 

 

as well as tank cars from MTH,

 

 

Atlas

 

 

and Lionel.

 

The Atlas, MTH and K-Line coil cars are all worth considering when modeling steel traffic.

 

 

Take a look at what you see at your local industries.  Chances are good that there are similar models available in O scale.  If you have a prototype or model question don't be afraid to ask on the real trains, 2RS or 3RS forums.  

Find some. Pick them up, hold them and make the call. You probably can't go wrong. I'm not a huge fan of anything with plastic couplers, but I've also had metal couplers come apart... for the most part, I'd say you can mix and match whatever meets your need.