I have about 20 Kline S Gauge freight cars and would like to run them but they look oversized and larger than the engine pulling them. I know these were made from the Marx O gauge molds. Any suggestions what engine to use.
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That's a tough one. I don't have any of these because of the look.
Most Flyer locomotives are scale sized and as you've noticed the ex-Marx cars look oversized. Plus, the Flyer box cars is based on a prototype car that was lower in height than other cars.
My personal opinion it's the steeper pitch of the roof on the Marx/K-Line boxcars really does them in and the overall detail of all the cars is a little cruder than traditional Flyer.
However, that doesn't answer your question.
There's always the Franklin and Casey Jones 4-4-0's. Both locomotives are a little larger than life and might be a better match for the K-Line cars. There's also the brick of a Flyer F-unit from Gilbert's last days the 60's.
The Lionel/Flyer Big Boy is a probably fair match because it too is oversized. The cars might also stand a chance visually against the SD70's and ES44's, but there is a vast difference in detail fidelity.
Rusty
If you run these in a mixed consist, put in among Flyer cars with one or two ahead of the Marx they will blend. One of our club members answered this question for us, he is retired from Milw Rd and said in the real world not all cars were the same size. If you are high rail and like the cars run em! I've had some of these run on my Styrofoam Central and they blended fine
Ray
If you have some American Models or PRS boxcars you will find that the K line Cars look "close enough" if you place them side by side.
I don't run all my K line cars together intentionally, but mixed in a train with my AF, SHS, PRS and AM cars, the cars pass the "3 foot test" (i.e. from 3 feet away they have an acceptable appearance) with any motive power.
I agree with Rayin"S" that boxcars in the real world weren't all the same size in the steam-transition era See the link below for a a prototype photo
http://steamerafreightcars.com...shotofmodec02sm.html
Little Tommy
Little Tommy, that is an excellent shot to illustrate the rationale of mixing these cars.
Rusty, that roof pitch bugs me, too, on the original Marx plastic ones I have. As an aside, Marx' better attempt at scale, the 3/16 tinplate series, now that's more like it. And your engine suggestions are excellent for answering the OP's question.
K-Line tried catering to the S gauge crowd by taking what was basically their Marx based O27 set cars and giving them S gauge trucks and couplers. As you have seen they tend to be over sized and not much of a match for the American Flyer type of equipment. Close but not close enough at least to my eye.
Jim McC
I don't think most manufacturers understand S gaugers. O gauge cars come in all sorts of sizes and "scales" for lack of a better word. Lionel especially made/makes rolling stock in so many sizes and shapes that it is hard to keep track of.
S gaugers, on the other hand, have almost always had rolling stock that is properly proportioned and in scale.
Lionel put S gauge trucks under some O-27 cars several years ago and the S gauge crowd howled in protest.
K-line thought they could do some S gauge cars by using the dies they already had and applying American Models trucks. The trucks are great, but the cars fall short of the target, IMO.
I believe the early Flyer steam engines that were in the prewar 3/16ths O gauge line took some liberties size-wise from being exact S scale sized - they're a bit chubby in spots like the steamchest area (off the top of my head, this would include the Hudson, K-5, Challenger, and NKP 0-8-0). Later plastic boilered S engines like the North Western and New Haven Pacifics and Atlantic were more slender.
The tin litho Marx 3/16ths cars are a much better match with S gauge Flyer - I run into Marx tin cars on Flyer trucks at shows (the NYC Pacemaker boxcar seems to be a favorite).
Old time Flyer guys would re-truck Marx 3/16 scale cars to get some different rolling stock that matches the AF cars pretty well. I have gone the other way on re-doing an AF car switching out Flyer trucks for Marx scale trucks just to get some variety. It should be noted these cars were pretty rough and were repainted to different road names.
Jim McC
