MTH steel reefers: Kadee pads?

You may want to contact MTH Sales Dept. and ask THEM.

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Water:
You may want to contact MTH Sales Dept. and ask THEM.

That, of course, is the obvious answer.

I figured someone might know off the top of their head and thought I'd throw it out there...

Hey -- off topic -- do you have some photos in the "Lackawanna In Color Vol 2" from Morning Sun?

Brian

quote:

Hey -- off topic -- do you have some photos in the "Lackawanna In Color Vol 2" from Morning Sun?

Brian,

I'm pretty sure I do, as Mike DelVecchio has had use of my negatives for some time, and he helped "put together" pretty much anything on the DL&W.

Ok, there were some shots of FTs on a freight at the Lk Hopatcong station credited to J.J. Wheelihan -- I thought that might be you...nice shots.

Brian

Correct. Should also be a shot or two at the Harrison Street engine terminal, in Hoboken (I remember one color shot of the all gray unit). The good old days!

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Water:
Correct. Should also be a shot or two at the Harrison Street engine terminal, in Hoboken (I remember one color shot of the all gray unit). The good old days!

I tried selling Atlas in doing a limited run grey ghost F3, but Jim Weaver (RIP) didn't know if a lot of folks would want what was essentially an "undec" unit with minimal lettering...

Completely off-off-topic: I'm deciding on a track system and was looking at the Central Connecting article in OGR and really liked your track. It says you used Atlas -- does this include switches? Do they hold up well mechanically? I know there's been issues there. Also: do you run any 2 rail brass cars on there? I'm curious how 2 rail wheel profiles will work on the Atlas track.

I promise I'll stop with the random self-hijack and incessant questions...

Brian

The MTH PFE Reefers do indeed have Kadee Coupler pads

BUT, if you care about such things the underframe is wrong: The cross members don't line up with the gussets in the body.

Lionel, Atlas, Intermountain, and Red Caboose all made great PFE Reefers, and put together they make a nice reefer block. I like the way all the orange paints have different hues:

Brian

I believe all the MTH steel reefers from their introduction in 2004 onward have Kadee mounting pads. The same goes for the AAR box cars, USRA box cars and other new tooling premier freight cars introduced over about the last 8 years.

I have at least one Atlas, Lionel and MTH steel reefer and I like them all. Each is well detailed and decorated. The MTH car has a nice balance of detail and durability and I like the weight. In stock three rail configuration the Lionel car weights about 15 ounces, Atlas is about 19 ounces and the MTH car is 17 ounces. MTH is very consistent with the 17 ounce weight for 40 foot freight cars and it is about ideal in my experience. It is a little over the NMRA recommended 15 ounces and that helps in long trains, especially where a reefer block is on the head end. But 17 ounces isn't too heavy if you have to deal with grades.

I have a friend with several Intermountain and Red Caboose cars. They are very light weight, the decoration is not up to current standards and the trucks are just horrible. Seeing the first cars produced on that tooling gave me new respect for Atlas.

John, beautiful modelling!  I've admired your work in OST.

 

Ted, thanks for the info!  I'm going to weed out some of my reefers (mostly some Atlas cars) and keep one Lionel scale PFE steel  car for Hi-Rail service and an MTH steel car for 3RS.  

 

Brian