O31/O27 or just O31 boxcars?

If I were you, I'd be looking for O scale cars to put behind that Challenger.

But her photo does not show a "scale" Challenger.

That is a nice engine you have there! I would go for the 0 boxcars and, of course, a UP caboose! like this....;

mg,

   Although your UP Challenger is really not a full scale engine & tender it will look much better with larger rolling stock, due to it's size.  The IMO the Atlas O Steam Era Master Series Box Cars will look fantastic with your new UP Challenger, these Atlas O, Steam Era Box Cars have great detail come in both Woodside and Steel Reefer rebuilds and the size will match up real well with your UP Challenger.  They are not cheap however, but you can look around on e-bay and find them or attend a few train shows and get even better prices there.  In fact a Christmas Box Car Consist similar to mine, with a mixed Lionel, MTH, Atlas & Weaver Box Cars, would look real nice behind your UP Challenger, especially at Christmas time.

PCRR/Dave

I would also say you'll probably be happier with scale cars behind this engine. MTH Premier, Lionel Standard O, Weaver, and Atlas all make some nice rolling stock that you could get to run behind your engine. Enjoy! 

since you bought a O gauge challenger it would look best to continue with o gauge cars caboose, and box or tank cars!

I can't wait to see pictures of your layout ounce your husband builds the layout for you>

Enjoy your new engine and track and cars that you get!

Alan

Ms "M",

If this is the engine that you've been dreaming of,"The MTH Premier Challenger"? You will be wanting scale rolling stock. I prefer the MTH Premier Series.

OR:

If by chance the is the second engine (another dream),"The MTH Imperial Challenger"? You will be needing traditional rolling stock. I prefer the RailKing line.

I hope this helps?

Oh by the way, I have the MTH Rail King Imperial Challenger - 25 1/2x2 5/8x 3 7/8 (including tender).

Thanks,

My question to you is, what is your minimum curve diameter? In O Gauge, there's a lot of variation in (scale) size. As long as your layout will accommodate it, scale is the way to go. If you go smaller, the current RailKing offerings will typically be larger than the Traditional sized 027 and smaller than "Scale".

If you can find the MTH 30-7005 set, IMHO that would be a great start.

Gilly

I have a Lionmaster Big Boy which is "Semi-Scale".  While it's recommended by the manufacturer (Lionel), to run traditional size cars behind it, I trust my eye to what looks the best. 

Often these locomotives are so massive even though they are smaller than scale, most scale cars will look better behind it than traditional size cars.  I also highly recommend the Atlas Steam Era boxcars which sit lower on their trucks that MTH and Lionel, and will look fantastic behind a semi-scale locomotive.

Also, any scale flat car or hopper from the same era will also look good from any manufacturer behind it.

Ultimately, I let my eye decide what looks right.  I avoid very tall scale cars like Hi cubes which would still be dwarfed by the scale engine if you had one.

You might also want to take your locomotive and tender to LHS and place some cars behind it in the store to get an idea what looks good and buy the ones that your eye tells you just look about right.

I promise after you "train" your eye, pun intended, you will be able to spot cars that would be a good match based on type, and manufacturer.

Because the loco is semi-scale I'd buy a IMD box car and see if you like it. The IMD cars are now sold by Atlas O under Industrial Rail line. These cars are bigger than traditional....but not full O scale........I like them behind my MTH Challenger.....a GREAT loco choice BTW!!!

It is your loco and you can drag whatever you want behind it but the smaller cars will make it appear even MORE massive!

IMO, I'd stay away from all O27 products, they're just too toy-like. 

Would that include all Traditional sized O31 locos too????

The Challenger is one of those..........

Yes, the smaller the cars the longer the train in any given space.

mg,

   AMC Dave gave you a real good piece of advise, the IMD Box Cars that are now Atlas O Industrial Rail, are real nice cars.  Not quite as detailed as the Master Series but a lot less in cost, and still quite nice rolling stock.  I definitely recommend you check them out for your self.

PCRR/Dave

Thanks....I just picked up a IMD reefer for $5 off ebay......box was ratty but reefer mint. At least it will not cost much to see!!!

AMCDave,

   Your advise was spot on the money, and for the money it's very hard to beat the quality.  If she shops around like you did on the bay, she can come up with some real nice rolling stock for minimal money. 

Great piece of advice Dave!

PCRR/Dave

Terry, all O gauge electric trains in all scales are "TOY" trains.  If you want to see a non toy train go to the rail yard nearest you.

Steve, Lady and Tex

Since you have an MTH engine look for the Premiere line by MTH as I think these will be a bit larger in size or close to scale O. The Rail King freight cars are a bit less then full O scale from what I know or am thinking about.

Lionel has some full scale O freight cars too.

A train show would be a good place to see the freight cars out of the box. 

With online buying you don't get to compare the size that well.

Lee Fritz

Here are some photos of different box cars........

This is from front to back......

Atlas O Industrial Rail plug door box car traditional size similar to Lionel 6464

Williams scale box car. The model is of a smaller PRR X-29 type car.

Weaver scale reefer. The thing to remember here is Weaver cars on 3r truck ride about 1/4" too high due to design. This makes them look bigger.

You can see there is not a huge difference in the 3. Moving by at speed on a layout.....hard to spot. Now some Lionel box cars are smaller than these......I would avoid them at all cost.

A little space between them.....and difference is harder to spot.

But which box car is right????

In reality all 3 are 'correct' in one form or another. Just like locomotives freight cars come in many sizes. Look at this photo of real box cars.....note the different width, length and height of each box car.......

So which ones are right??? The ones you like and think look good to you........

I have an older version of the same RK engine. I like to use it with the semi scale Railking cars that make up 70% of my collection. It also looks OK with the Weaver cars I have. The 6464 style Lionel cars look a bit small. Also, I use a RK caboose, in particular the Bay window model in Union Pacific.

I only mentioned O27 products (meaning O27 only), not O31 locos. Those are not a sub-set of O27. If it can negotiate O27 curves, I don't buy it. This is my choice, not necessarily yours.

Thanks for the help. I was beginning to think my layout was a true to life full scale railroad.  After some reflection I realize that my trains are toys, I just want them to look less "toy-like" in appearance. Most all O27 products I have owned or seen are less realistic in appearance than rest of the O-gauge products. 

Here's a nice set of cars on eBay....

Union Pacific

$55 each!!! Plus they look like 1970's era 'automated' paint scheme.......a issue if one is era sensitive.......otherwise......nice!

To sum up:

First, nice loco and you look proud. Weighs a lot, doesn't it?

Second, the "use scale cars" advice above is actually a bit off the beam (as mentioned

later). Your RailKing Challenger is less than full 1:48 "O scale", for use on smaller layouts.

Third, pursue the MTH RailKing rolling stock, or Lionel "Traditional" pieces (avoid "Standard O"), or the mentioned Industrial Rail (the Atlas versions, or earlier) cars. Other Atlas cars are too big. Some K-line rolling stock was "traditional" (sub-scale) in size; RMT has nice

smaller pieces. 

If you see "full scale" or "1:48", the car will probably look out of proportion with your loco.

i'd stick with the more scale sized cars this way if you ever build a big layout with larger radius and get 3 rail scale locos you will already have the cars for that phase of your layout building. but what is most important is to do what makes you happy as this is your hobby so do what is pleasing to you.

Congratulations on that great loco. I would run MTH RailKing cars with it. They are a little bigger than Lionel post war/traditional size and look good to my eyes. I think it depends on what looks good to you.

I as I posted earlier,  I was in the same "dilemma" when I bought my semi-scale Lionmaster Big Boy.  I still say, trust you eyes to see if scale or traditional size works best due to the selective compression on your model.

I don't have your exact locomotive so I don't know for sure what will look best, but based on my experience and some experimenting at my local hobby store with their help, I determined that most scale cars looked the best to my eye with my locomotive. 

That may or may not be the case with yours, but its your train, so run what looks really good to you.  I still suspect that scale cars that are not too tall and sit low on their trucks like Atlas Steam Era will look good.  If someone has the same exact locomotive as you, then may be they can take some pictures for you to show what it will look like with different brands and/or scale vs. traditional cars.

If your locomotive was scale or traditional size, this would be easy.

Thanks guys,

So sound like I have to find the dimensions of the box cars before I buy them and O27 is too small. I tried to look for/find IMD box cars on ebay and the internet, but can't find anything about them.

I can't afford $55 per box car. I'm already way over my budget. 

We don't have many train stores here, so I mostly have to buy them online so I can't really put them next to my train before buying them.

IDM cars are sold ubder a few names. Look for Industrial Rail box cars. Also look under Atlas O Industrial rail. The Atlas website will have  info too. 

Good luck!

Hey MG, yes the O27 cars are far too small for your Imperial Challenger which is an articulated semi scale engine and tender.  You're gonna have a difficult time finding just the right fit for a consist behind that engine if you can't get into a show or shop to see them first hand. Luckily you don't need to hurry because you and your husband are still in the layout building stage.

Unfortunately our friend Mario is anticipating your needs and just published his new promotion page for the next week thru 3/7/2015. I don't know how they do it but they seem to run their sales on items at the precise time I'm looking for them. Anyway 10% off RailKing rolling stock. The website is timing out right now so I couldn't checkout the products to see if any of the semi scale or scale rolling stock is included. When I think of RailKing, I generally think O27 but they may be including other products. Here's the link to this weeks promotion

One of my favorite things about the hobby is finding the things that look good together. 

For example, the early RailKing F3s {now RuggedRails) go great with K-line and Lionel 6464 size box cars.  IMO same amount of compression and detail.  The detail on this Challenger will make less detailed cars look, well, less detailed. 

The Atlas cars are loaded with detail but a bit fragile.  Price is really not that bad for the quality of the cars.  Might want to have less cars but better quality.

The old Crown Model Products are scale models of smaller prototypes.  Weaver is building them now.  They include: a wood sided reefer, an out sided braced boxcar, and a steel boxcar.  They are the same size as RailKing at 10 inches.  As Dave said they ride a little high but almost everything in three rail does.  The bonus with these cars is they have separate walkways and ladders.  These are molded on the RailKing cars.  Also adding some weight will make them track better.  They also have mounting holes for scale couplers.  IMO one of the best compromises between cost and detail.

One other thing to consider is the size of your lay out and curves.  40 foot (10 inch) cars look ok on 036, 50 foot cars will need more room.  All trains look better on wider curves.

Good luck finding what looks good to you.

I remember the SVC board.

Let the price choose what you buy, leave road names, and car type to luck

Unless you run a bunch of really long cars, use fixed long, or body mount couplers, or if receive lots of rail cars for gifts....

I'll bet you your wrong. Your shortest box car, for my longest box car.

  Psst! Don't do it! 

That guy don't bet!  

Not unless he knows he's won! 

Lionel Box cars measure- 8" for 0-27, 10" for O.

10" run all day on 0-27. They even take the turnouts without bumping the coil housing.

Its not full O, but 12"semi-scale passenger cars, again no issue, no bump.

(I don't have any 12" or larger in full O)

I'd say a 12"-O, or 13"-0-27 semi-scale, might clip the housing.

I'd guess as much as 14"SS & 15"O before it would start having actual run issues on plain curves.

mgwooten

First, welcome to the madness, Have Fun !!!

OK I'm going to jump in here as I also have this engine.

I'm running mostly MTH Railking cars and they look fine.

They are bigger than Lionel non scale cars and IR cars.

A few of the smaller cars mixed in is OK and I'll refer to the posted picture above as to why.

Not all cars were made the same size. 

I note everyone is tending to think in Boxcar sizes, I also run a lot of Gondolas, Flatcars and Tank cars.

I worry a lot more about them looking correct time wise than actual size.

I use Iced Reefers VS Mechanical, Avoid Hi-cube cars and my tank cars are all 2 or 3 dome.

I use cars in the 40 to 50 foot length VS the much longer ones that came later.

I do have one Lionel Scale Tropicana Reefer and it looks too big to my eyes. I will be trading it for something smaller.

Note I also run all this equipment behind my Imperial Railking and Premier Big Boys as well, and those are even bigger than the challenger.

I use the Railking Big Boy most often as the Premier unit requires massive curves to look right. Even O-72 looks tight under a Scale Big Boy.