I got mine Saturday and finally had a chance to run them. They negotiated my fastrack fine - R20 & R27 with turnouts. They definitely ride lower.
Brendan
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The ride height looks much better with these new trucks. Now the hoppers don't look like they're ready to fall over or go off-roading.
Glad Lionel listened to those of us that sacrificed many electrons about the old truck.
Now, if Lionel could only find some other new car types to put these trucks under...
Got the pair of UP's coming, my LHS hasn't called yet. The irony is I'll probably have to replace the trucks anyway in order to to scalify them. Ryan seemed to indicate the scale wheels from the first run won't work with these new trucks.
Rusty
Rusty Traque posted:The irony is I'll probably have to replace the trucks anyway in order to to scalify them. Ryan seemed to indicate the scale wheels from the first run won't work with these new trucks.
Good news...the scale wheels from the first run fit fine in these new trucks. I tried it last night. Now I want to find out if Lionel is selling these new trucks separately so I can retrofit my four cars from the first run.
Chuck K posted:Rusty Traque posted:The irony is I'll probably have to replace the trucks anyway in order to to scalify them. Ryan seemed to indicate the scale wheels from the first run won't work with these new trucks.
Good news...the scale wheels from the first run fit fine in these new trucks. I tried it last night. Now I want to find out if Lionel is selling these new trucks separately so I can retrofit my four cars from the first run.
That's good to hear. I've got two sets of trucks sitting in the parts box from the first run that I brought into gauge.
Rusty
I found the new trucks listed for purchase on lionelsupport.com but only with highrail wheels. I cannot find the scale wheels sold separately which are necessary for these trucks as the axles are customized.
Chuck K posted:I found the new trucks listed for purchase on lionelsupport.com but only with highrail wheels. I cannot find the scale wheels sold separately which are necessary for these trucks as the axles are customized.
Lionel might have some of the first-run scale-wheeled trucks in stock. They would still have to be re-gauged.
The catalog makes no mention of scale wheel conversion, so it would appear the only thing to do is locate some first run trucks. I seriously don't think Lionel is going to offer replacement scale wheels. I'm pretty sure they are going to let the few scalers that buy these cars to their own devices regarding wheel conversion.
Another possibility is now that Northwest Short Line is coming back online, is to see if they could make replacement wheels and for how much.
Rusty
I purchased a couple of the original cyl. hoppers before I realized they came with scale wheels. I'm Hi-rail so... If I understand this thread correctly, I'd be happy to swap my scale wheel sets for Hi-rail wheel sets if that helps anyone out. Contact me off list via my profile info. I'm out of town for the week so can't verify what or how may I have. That's why I said I had "a couple" hopper cars.
Bill from Kelso, WA
Bill Gill posted:Contact me off list via my profile info. I'm out of town for the week so can't verify what or how may I have. That's why I said I had "a couple" hopper cars.
Bill from Kelso, WA
Will do.
Probably a minor problem for people keeping the AF couplers. The coupler return springs did not work on 3 of the 4 trucks on the two hoppers I just received. I have attached two photos to show the problem. The legs of the return spring are straight and not held captive. As a result, one or both of the spring ends can ride over the small tabs of metal that are meant to keep them in place. When that happens the return spring no longer brings the coupler back into position. In the initial runs of the hoppers those ends were inserted into a small slot that kept them captive. I removed the couplers and bent the springs down as shown in the second picture. So far it appears that may solve the problem.
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Is that rust under the new trucks? They should be powder coated or blackened for one...and no where near dampness in the shipping process.
It looks like rust in the photos, but it is actually traces of red paint. The trucks are from the EL car.
Mike W. posted:Is that rust under the new trucks? They should be powder coated or blackened for one...and no where near dampness in the shipping process.
Well, they did go on a "sea cruise" to get here...
But as stated above, it's only paint splatter.
Rusty
Glad its just paint. I have the Erie and PC as well and the trucks are excellent. The rust just gave me flashbacks to the O Legacy Turbines sitting in water in their boxes. A fiasco a few years ago. Still awaiting a good redo of the turbines. Would be nice for S as well.
Wondering how you guys got them already? I have some on order with Mr. Muffins and they are still showing pre-ordered.
jonnyspeed posted:Wondering how you guys got them already? I have some on order with Mr. Muffins and they are still showing pre-ordered.
Mine came from Charles Ro.
jonnyspeed posted:Wondering how you guys got them already? I have some on order with Mr. Muffins and they are still showing pre-ordered.
Sometimes I think Lionel uses a dart board to see who gets what and when. My LHS reported last week he was getting a bunch of Flyer in this week. He has to go through a distributor. Hopefully mine will be in that order. I'll know tonight.
Rusty
I'm a little late to the dance, but my UP hoppers finally came in last night, so here's what they look like:
Nice cars, paint and lettering is flawless. The corker is I can't find any prototype photos for the UP version. I know Atlas O did them in UP and they weren't known for doing fantasy paint schemes back then, so who knows... Doesn't really bother me though.
The new, lower trucks are great. Here's how they compare to a first-run car I scalified with AM trucks:
Just about spot on, height-wise. It'll be a while before I get around to scalifying the UP's, I've got two pair of the original scale-wheeled trucks (regauged) lying around somewhere, so I plan to swap out the wheelsets. If not, I'll put on MTH or AM trucks.
It comes to my mind that these cars would be good candidates for a Fest, Spree or NASG car.(Hint, hint... Say something in CB&Q, MKT or any number of private industries...)
Rusty
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JFC454 posted:
THANK YOU!!!
Rusty
I know you've all been eagerly waiting for me to scalify my UP cylindrical hoppers, so you can wait no more...
I finally located the high-water trucks from the two first run hoppers I have, the wheels were regauged to NASG standards some time ago. Coupler height is right on the money according to the Kadee coupler height gauge. The wheels were painted using my last surviving bottle of Floquil Grimy Black.
Replacing the high-rail wheels was pretty straight forward, but something with the axle tolerances changed between now and five years ago. When I placed the scale wheels into the new trucks, they did not roll freely. Transferring the Delrin bearings from the old trucks into the new ones solved the rollablilty problem. Reaming out the Delrin bearing would be another solution, but I didn't have a drill bit the right size.
As Lionel doesn't sell the old scale wheels separately, this is pretty much a one-off conversion. Any future cars will have to use MTH or AM trucks.
Rusty
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So a month later and I still don't have mine. Should have just got them from Ro I guess.
