O36 Auto Carrier?

the lionel cars from the 1970 's would work-the ones w/the open sides,but even they will look bad on a 036 curve.-Jim

Lionel made traditional-sized (non-scale) autoracks in the 90's that will run on O36.  They're obviously shortened quite a bit but no scale 89' car is going to run on O36 curves.

Lionel made the shortest car carriers. Open and closed. The open ones were three tiers high although they did make some two tier ones and really looked awkward running down the track and top heavy too. With 0-36 length becomes an issue with overhang.  I would say you could possible run up to 18" cars on 0-36 but I think they would still look out of place on the curves with the overhang..........Paul

I got my son one of those open 3 high auto racks to put HotWheels on.  The coupler is under the unit, so unless it's coupled to a car on either side with long couplers, it hits them, so it almost never gets run.  As for looks, it doesn't bother me.  It's just that I see lots of these and twin stacks on the local rail, and wanted some to run on mine.  MTH has RailKing twin stacks that run fine on O36, but I haven't found any of the enclosed auto carriers that say they will.  I might just have to buy one and see how it does.

Here's what the MPC/LTI "027" auto carriers look like assembled into a unit train. All three types are represented:

It's a fairly dated video so excuse the resolution

The MPC-era open racks have trucks that attach to the car via a tab extending back from the bolster. If yours is attached in the center of the truck, someone changed it. These shouldn't hit any other cars while coupled, even on 027.

---PCJ

I grabbed one of the big MTH ones and shortened it via Dremel tool!  It came out great.  The small Lionel ones made for 0-27 look way too toyish for me.  I wanted something on the MTH Imperial level at an 0-36 navigation ability.

LIONEL MADE LOTS OF THEM IN THE PAST YEARS UP / BN / CR/ SF / MR / GT ... etc ...... more realistic than the MPC ones.

IF YOU NEED ANY - CONTACT ME.

I took some MTH cars and made them run on 036 atlas curves. I removed the couplers from the truck and relocated the 2 7/8" from each end of the car. I also used different couplers that I bought on e-bay. The only loco I have now is a rail king sd70ace from a RTR set. The car hook to it quite well and to each other and it all runs the 036 turn with no problems. I can't hook any cars to them that have the couplers made on the trucks (most every thing) because the auto rack couplers don't swing enough. I can move them out closer to the end of the car so they will swing more.

tackindy posted:

I grabbed one of the big MTH ones and shortened it via Dremel tool!  It came out great.  The small Lionel ones made for 0-27 look way too toyish for me.  I wanted something on the MTH Imperial level at an 0-36 navigation ability.

That is a very good looking job. Must've taken a while to do.

Well, I looked at the one I've got, and yes, the trucks are bolted in the middle.  And there is no way for me to put it back, as they used completely different trucks, and soldered the heck out of the nut on the bottom to keep it on.

Thanks for the video, I'm glad to see there were some smaller ones made, but yes, they do look very toy like.  Perhaps you could post a photo of the non-MPC ones FT Jim?  And MarkLX, your photos do not show up.  John P. could you go into more detail of the work you did to shrink it, with more photos if possible?  Thanks all.