Passenger car recommendations, please — EDIT 1/20/20 - videos added of search result

The MTH 15 inch RK is in the Goldilocks zone:  just right.  They even have detailed restrooms in them..

CoastsideKevin posted:

VistaDomeScott posted:

K-line 60' cars  they are aluminum, interiors, have close fitting diaphragms that do not bind up in curves.  

If any interest in Northern Pacific smoothsides I have a set I will sell that is in new condition.

 

Hi Scott - would be great to see some pictures as I’m not familiar with the K-Line cars. Do you have them listed on the for sale page? Thank you!

K-Line 15"/60' cars are very nice. Detailed interiors with people. Indirect (ceiling) lighting. Diaphragms. Beautifully executed trucks.

Passenger service on the PER is implemented with a couple of the 18" version in Golden State livery:

Some detail pics of the K-Line Golden State cars, in this case the Diner and the Lounge/Grill:

These cars are aluminum with steel floors and die-cast trucks so they are heavy enough you hear the wheel-clicks at the joints. Incidentally, the 18" version is supposed to have O42 minimum curves but they work fine on Fastrack O36.

Dominic Mazoch posted:

The MTH 15 inch RK is in the Goldilocks zone:  just right.  They even have detailed restrooms in them..

 Just glad they aren't working ones!

geysergazer posted:

Some detail pics of the K-Line Golden State cars, in this case the Diner and the Lounge/Grill:

K-Line made some great cars. The first big 18" Heavyweights and wonderful Aluminum Streamliners of various sizes.

BobbyD posted:

Dominic Mazoch posted:

The MTH 15 inch RK is in the Goldilocks zone:  just right.  They even have detailed restrooms in them..

 Just glad they aren't working ones.

But on the bottom of the car they did mold a small pipe coming from the toilet!

The MTH 60’ are great  real eye catchers. I didn’t glue the beep people in well enough. This years question was “Is that the drunken New Years party car?” If you can run to 70’, that would be even nicer, but at O31 you can’t go wrong here  

CoastsideKevin posted:

Hi everybody,

Thanks for weighing in on this. Your comments were all super helpful. I ended up looking at the Lionel and MTH O27 cars and really liking them. Well made, relatively affordable, and the right size for my non-scale layout with 031 switches. 

I bought a 4 pack of the MTH cars in 2 stripe Santa Fe livery, which match a number of my locomotives nicely, including my postwar 2353 F3 ABA set. I have another three cars coming this week, including the full vista dome and the diner/coach combine.  

The OP found what he was looking and thanked everyone about 14 hours ago.

But keep posting the photos of the passenger cars; they are my favorites in all sizes and road names.

Pingman posted:

CoastsideKevin posted:

Hi everybody,

Thanks for weighing in on this. Your comments were all super helpful. I ended up looking at the Lionel and MTH O27 cars and really liking them. Well made, relatively affordable, and the right size for my non-scale layout with 031 switches. 

I bought a 4 pack of the MTH cars in 2 stripe Santa Fe livery, which match a number of my locomotives nicely, including my postwar 2353 F3 ABA set. I have another three cars coming this week, including the full vista dome and the diner/coach combine.  

The OP found what he was looking and thanked everyone about 14 hours ago.

But keep posting the photos of the passenger cars; they are my favorites in all sizes and road names.

Yes, thanks to all but by all means - more pictures! I'm already scheming on my next set.

Here is the full vista dome on the tracks. I think it looks pretty good. 

The seven car consist is surprisingly heavy and tough for my PW engines to get up my grades. Even my 2353 F3 with a dummy B and dummy A unit plus the 7 cars can't keep its wheels from spinning on the steep (4%) Gargraves. So I may look for a modern F or E (or Alco) ABA set that has more pulling power. There was a Lionchief Plus set in the warbonnet scheme in a few years ago, I believe they were 6-82290 and 6-82302, but they are very scarce on the used market. Any other suggestions for diesel motive power in warbonnet that work on O31 would be appreciated. I have no command set up on my layout beyond the LionChief engines. 

RailKing O-27 F3's. I have several. Great little locos and look great with those cars because they were made for them. You can get the SF Warbonnets on eBay regularly for fairly good prices.

Mike D posted:

RailKing O-27 F3's. I have several. Great little locos and look great with those cars because they were made for them. You can get the SF Warbonnets on eBay regularly for fairly good prices.

Good idea. Can those be used conventionally? I'm thinking I may install DCS or Legacy at some point but have done ok with LionChief Plus so far. 

Yes, they can be operated in conventional mode. You need to look at the listing and photos of the boxes carefully. Some of the older locos came with DCRU and horn/bell sounds, or Locosounds or one of the ProtoSounds boards. I have units equipped with all three types. I only run conventional and they all run fine. I am not 100% certain, but I think the DCRU and Locosounds units are conventional only. Hopefully someone with more info will chime in here with definitive answers about that. The PS units will run in both modes.

CoastsideKevin posted:

Hi everybody,

Thanks for weighing in on this. Your comments were all super helpful. I ended up looking at the Lionel and MTH O27 cars and really liking them. Well made, relatively affordable, and the right size for my non-scale layout with 031 switches. 

I bought a 4 pack of the MTH cars in 2 stripe Santa Fe livery, which match a number of my locomotives nicely, including my postwar 2353 F3 ABA set. I have another three cars coming this week, including the full vista dome and the diner/coach combine.  

Given these cars are 13.5” long, wider and taller than my postwar O27 24xx cars, they look much better in my opinion so am very pleased with them.  

Here is what they looked like cruising by a yard office I built yesterday:

Thanks again everyone- as always this is such a great resource. Happy railroading!

Good choice. I run these MTH mixed with some Lionel with the red stripes (not prototypical) behind Lionel Santa Fe FTs. Great looking train. I added the MTH full and partial vista domes.

Thought I’d post a couple more videos showing the final result of my search. Thanks again to all who weighed in!

Kevin, you did very well for yourself; nice videos.

Suggestion:  edit the thread's title to note you've added videos and date--alerts folks that something new has been posted.

Pingman posted:

Kevin, you did very well for yourself; nice videos.

Suggestion:  edit the thread's title to note you've added videos and date--alerts folks that something new has been posted.

Thank you Carl. 

Good idea - I will try that. Thanks!

CoastsideKevin posted:

Here is the full vista dome on the tracks. I think it looks pretty good. 

The seven car consist is surprisingly heavy and tough for my PW engines to get up my grades. Even my 2353 F3 with a dummy B and dummy A unit plus the 7 cars can't keep its wheels from spinning on the steep (4%) Gargraves. 

Looks nice, now you need to add some paying customers. I like the multicolored string of lights in the background! 

BobbyD posted:

CoastsideKevin posted:

Here is the full vista dome on the tracks. I think it looks pretty good. 

The seven car consist is surprisingly heavy and tough for my PW engines to get up my grades. Even my 2353 F3 with a dummy B and dummy A unit plus the 7 cars can't keep its wheels from spinning on the steep (4%) Gargraves. 

Looks nice, now you need to add some paying customers. I like the multicolored string of lights in the background! 

Thanks! Yes, figures would be cool. Since these cars are so small, I wonder if S gauge figures would fit better? Doesn't seem like 1:48 would fit in the seats. 

CoastsideKevin posted:

BobbyD posted:

CoastsideKevin posted:

Here is the full vista dome on the tracks. I think it looks pretty good. 

The seven car consist is surprisingly heavy and tough for my PW engines to get up my grades. Even my 2353 F3 with a dummy B and dummy A unit plus the 7 cars can't keep its wheels from spinning on the steep (4%) Gargraves. 

Looks nice, now you need to add some paying customers. I like the multicolored string of lights in the background! 

Thanks! Yes, figures would be cool. Since these cars are so small, I wonder if S gauge figures would fit better? Doesn't seem like 1:48 would fit in the seats. 

When populating any brand of cars I've had to do some leg "clipping" even with the smaller 1/50 figures. The "S" torso may be too small appearance wise. Looking forward to seeing what you do.