Lionel scale sized die cast coal cars

I had 2 of the Atlas diecast cars, that came in 2 rail.   these were fishbelly 2 bay hoppers like the Western Maryland had.    I found them way too heavy.    I eventually parted ways with them     The MTH Fishbelly is as good or better a model and weighs less than a lb.    the Atlas diecast weighed 2 lbs as  you mention.   

I find diecast too be too heavy, and the detail is often too thick when compared with injection molded plastic or etched brass.   

But if you like them go for it.    These cars did come before Lionel was even hinting at the scale guys, so I am guessing they do not Kadee couplers mounts.    But you could add a pad, and drill and tap it.    Or the bottom of the car may be in the right place and you can just drill and tap the diecast.    If it is good material it will hold the threads well, just don't horse it too much, do everything manually, not with a power driver.      A 2-56 screw works just right with the Kadee couplers.     I think a #50 drill is the tap drill for 2-56.

I have  4 of them.  They weigh about 1 pound 14 Oz, an ounce or two less than the Atlas Offset.  Looks like I used Intermountain wheel sets in the lionel trucks.  I think I had to dril and tap holes flr the couplers since they are 2-56 and I think they would be metric if Lionel had drilled them.  The Kadees are directly against the center sill of the car and are the right height.    It has been a while since I added these, but they are some of the nicest I have.  I have a mixture of diecats and intermountain plastic cars,  The intermountains are weighted on the underside with shot.  They track pretty wheel fwd and rev thru #6 turnouts.  This is all 2 rail.  The real doorstop is the Kline Diecast off set at 2 lb 6 ozs

I 2-railed a C&O version.  I really like these cars, they stand out in a train of hoppers.  I used Weaver plastic roller bearing trucks with NWSL 36 inch wheels.  I needed a spacer to mount the trucks since Lionel doesn't use bolsters.  Kadee couplers are mounted straight to the center beam which I needed to drill and tap.  I removed the BLT by Lionel lettering, and added ACI labels.

The weight is a little bothersome, but they roll well enough to counter that.  I would love to see Lionel have a change of heart about die cast models!

Are they still making die cast cars?  I thought about a few ore cars, but looked around and realized I have way, way too many freight cars.  I don't do plastic, for extremely irrational reasons.

jgtrh62 posted:

I have converted several of the ATSF 3 bay hoppers. They are very heavy for sure but one of Lionel’s best looking models and pretty easy to convert to 2 rail, IMHO. Here's a photo of a couple of them.

Harry Roberts brass 100T hoppers are also pretty decent if one doesn't mind putting a little work into them. I've been picking them up off of da Bay and the March meet over the years and plan to eventually paint all of them into ATSF livery.

I really like Lionel's aluminum ACF 3 and 4 Bay hopper's as well.

I have this D & R G W acf covered hopper. I used Atlas O 100 ton RB trucks and Kadee O scale couplers. I weathered my wheels using a combination of paint and powder. I love these cars and wish I had several more. They are easy to convert to 2 rail but I had to make styrene shims to put the couplers at the right height using the Kadee coupler height gauge. 

One question I have is, what brand of trucks are these? They look like Protocraft trucks. 

I have one each of the Conrail, and the Norfolk Southern cars.  Very nice, but yes...HEAVY!.   I used Atlas 100 ton trucks on mine with the Kadee 740 couplers.  A little weathering and voila....they look quite good.

I run 2 trains of these in BN and AT&SF.

Solid runners on Atlas O 100 tons.

Agree with the group, solid cars in weight, looks and operation with Atlas 100-Ton trucks.   As mentioned a little weathering and they look right at home hauling coal!