Polar Express Passenger Cars

It’s obvious, isn’t it? That traditional-sized locomotive is essentially the same as the ones used in the O gauge Polar Express sets. So any of the 15-inch passenger cars.

@Jim R. posted:

It’s obvious, isn’t it? That traditional-sized locomotive is essentially the same as the ones used in the O gauge Polar Express sets. So any of the 15-inch passenger cars.

Yes, but get the later ones with the snow on the roofs.

I know essentially nothing about the various Polar Express passenger cars that Lionel has made and sold over the years.  Our Club wanted to obtain cars of somewhat better quality than the ones we have (which I believe were part of an entry-level set that was donated).  A member looked into the recently-cataloged scale cars, but the total price is daunting.  So my question to those "in the know", are there particular car models/productions that you would recommend for reliability and ruggedness, at an in-between price point?

--Karl

Lionel doesn’t have a more rugged line of 15” cars. The cars from the sets are the same quality as the add-on cars.

The scale-length cars (18”) cost more and in some ways are more rugged, but they don’t stand up to abuse either. And the smallish LionChief PE engine can’t pull a long string of them anyway.

No one else has licensed rights to Polar Express in O gauge.

I’m not sure what problems your club is running into, but my club runs Polar Express passenger cars on the club layout (by adults and kids who own them) and on the children’s mobile layout (by kids using club equipment), so is there something excessive going on at your club?

I’ve been running the traditional-sized Lion Chief PE engine and 5 traditional PE cars for about five weeks over the holiday season for several years now. However, a couple of PITAs may happen over time.

One is having to change out the passenger car interior lights when they burn out. This entails removing the entire car body using those push-in window tabs. The other is having to re-solder the pickup roller wires when they break loose. So I use more solder to hold them in place, so they don’t break off again so easily.

Fortunately, I haven’t had to make either repair on any of the cars for the past three seasons.

I've run up to at least 8 cars behind my LionChief PE and now my ERR modified convential PE.  No issues with either.  Just run the traditional PE Baby Madison cars. You cant go wrong...
It was a bit much when I put the scale RPO in the consist. Both PE's didn't like it, it was too much weight, Had to drop a couple of other cars.

The Starter Set/LionChief PE engine/tender will just about fit inside the shell of an 18" PE car.  It's really a S Scale engine riding on a O Gauge wheelbase.  For a project, one could remove the plastic trucks from the Baby Madison PE Cars and replace with the die-cast 6-wheel trucks used on the Super Baby Madisons.

Jon