Opinions on K-line crane car please

I like it.  Similar to but different than Lionel, both cranks are on the same side as opposed to one on the side and one on the rear.

These are based on the Marx crane cars and are well built. If you get it, look for the matching crane tender K-19902. Both were Toy Train Operating Society (TTOS) cars.

Thank you gentlemen.  I ordered it and look forward to a derailment.

Bill, we you looking at the one listed on ebay? I see it sold yesterday.

It's an earlier production K-Line item. It does have die-cast sprung trucks: A bonus. In general, the earlier made K-Line items suffer a little more from cost-cutting than do the later production traditionally sized K-Line trains. By that I mean, sometimes molded plastic color versus being painted. Or with some of the early K-Line classic box cars, the insides of the cars were not painted, other than overspray from the outside being painted. They were often molded out of white styrene plastic.

K-Line though, continually upped their game and products from the late 1990's on were improved quite a bit over the earlier ones. Their cars with plastic trucks are hit and miss. I have some that couple perfectly, and others where the knuckle doesn't pop open very well. I find myself having to do a little filing, sanding or grinding (with a Dremel) on those.

Don't get me wrong. Look at my screen name: K-Line helped me get back into the hobby some 31 years ago. Although my first train set at that time was a Lionel 4-4-2 steam engine set, my next several sets were all K-Line. On of those Alco train sets, the engine got painted into a "what-if" PC paint scheme, which I'm still running to this day.

On the K-Line sets, you tended to get more in them than a Lionel set: More rolling stock or some added building kits. And they were always better priced than Lionel products.  That would be true of early MTH too. They were both competing against Lionel, otherwise they would have probably been equal on price.

Plus for me, I really like the smaller MARX origin rolling stock. I tinker and make alterations to everything as you may have noticed. People have always complained about the jack-rabbit starts of the basic starter-set types of K-Line diesels. Running them with a Lionel 1033 on the B-U voltage setting makes a difference. And I make some other alterations to them that allow them to run slowly and very steady, even on curves.

The crane car referenced here looks like it might be painted - at least the cab. The base could be a molded grey color. I personally like the placement of the raise/lower knobs on the Lionel version over the K-Line one, but that's just me.

If you ever see a K-Line like new condition rotating searchlight car, pick one of those up. They operate on a gear, so if you're running a loco that uses less power, the searchlight will still rotate. They can be a little finicky, but not hard to fix. The Lionel and MTH ones that have the vibrato coil have to have more power to the track in order to function (like running a postwar / MPC engine with an AC open frame motor).

Yeah, I think you'll like the car. And if you don't like the appearance, I've seen that you're like me: You'll repaint it into something more pleasing to you.

The crane car arrived today.  One truck was not attached.  The internal frame holding the boom is bent.  And it was restrung incorrectly.  Burned on the Bay.  Time for a nap. 

Odenville Bill posted:

The crane car arrived today.  One truck was not attached.  The internal frame holding the boom is bent.  And it was restrung incorrectly.  Burned on the Bay.  Time for a nap. 

Too bad. Wanna buy my original Marx version? It's all good.

Just kidding!

K-Line made good stuff; some of the best scale 3RO items around. Their lower-end was hit-and-miss at first, but that wasn't just them. Got better. Maybe you can find another at a good price.

I have had almost 100% good luck on eBay; some hiccups, but only 2 actual rip-offs - neither tragic - and I've been using it since the late 90's. Still a great - too great - resource. Just eyeball those photos, check his feedback and rating, check what he typically sells and if any of his comments and rules are flaky, and no politics or sermons. A sellers only agenda should be commerce.

Anything can be fixed, pretty much.

D500,

You are right.  I took a nap. When I woke up I had a better attitude.  The seller agreed to refund my money.  If he does not want it back, I'm sure I can fix it.  Since it is apart, I will make it better than before.  With the knowledge base available on this forum, all will be good again. 

Bill