MTH Premier Schnabel rail car

Were the "W" round medallions on your car attached crooked? They were on mine and I had to carefully pry them off and re-glue them correctly.

I agree with you about the trucks. I'll have to look in my truck box and see if I have enough MTH roller trucks to change mine.

Thanks for posting the fix for better curve performance. 

I have one of the first versions......unmodified will it not run on O-72??? I have not run mine!

No problems running mine around curves. 

Mine has run OK on curves but the curves at our museum are larger than 0-72. The one problem I had was when a protruding detail part wiped out a trackside signal. That problem was solved by turning the car around - it didn't stick out as far on the other side.

The MTH model is nice.  

I actually rode on the real one - only aqbout 500 yards but it was still fun, at the (W) Muncie plant back in the late '80s or early 90s.  I have the MTH model on display as a static model in my office at work.  A lot of people ask about it and are quite interested when I explain..  And many, even people in the electric power industry, have never stopped to think how you get those big transformers to the switching stations.  

A lot of people also ask about the "Do Not Hump" written on the warning sign.

I have the early version also (#20-98232) which I purchased in 2001.  For nearly as long as I’ve owned it I have run it with the transformer load attached on Gargraves flex curves bent as tightly as 54” in diameter.  I bought it assuming I would only be able to run it on my outside loop which has a minimum diameter of 72”.  Because there was nowhere to park it along the outside loop, I carefully tried running it on the inside loop and found out that it will run on tighter curves.  So I installed a siding on the inside loop to park it and routinely run it on only the inside loop on which most of the curves are 63”.  But in one area where I have 4 tracks in parallel on a curve the inside-most track is as tight as described above.  Fortunately I have enough horizontal clearance on the inside of those curves as it overhangs by almost 1” to the inside.  

One tab on the load did get broken off but that happened in a wreck, not during normal operation!  I was able to super glue it back on.

HTH,

Bill

I have the early version from 2001 as well.  It runs very well

on my 054 & 072 curves.  My layout is 8' x 11' as a result I will

only run three cars with it.  

It looks great behind my Lionel SD 90 2000 Century diesel.  With

only four cars behind it (SD 90) looks like a fast freight not chasing

it's tail.  During this year I hope to pick up one more.  A lot of fun

seeing it on the layout.  MTH did a great job with this monster.

Many thanks,

Billy C 

Improving the running characteristics of the model.

I have this MTH 20-98870 O-scale schnabel car. I have completely disassembled the car to make modifications to improve the performance on curves. The first objective was to add weight to the bottom of the transformer load. The transformer comes apart after the 4 bottom screws are removed. Weight was added to the transformer to lower the center of gravity.

The chassis is held together with various screws. I removed the screw that holds the hydraulic control box to the "porch".  With this screw removed the top "porch" can be separated from the cast metal frame. The upper assemblies which attach to the transformer load are held in place by a Philips head screw at the "pivot" point. I removed this screw and next I removed the small screw that retains each "porch" assembly. (I did not replace this screw since it appeared that it was restricting rotation at the "pivot" point.)

Next I added a small custom made piece made from wood and installed this within the metal casting to provide better support at the "pivot" point.  Before I re-assembled the car I also used a small round file to burnish the opening in the metal casting where the upper assembly is attached. I checked to see that these assemblies would freely rotate side to side before completing the assembly. Finally I replaced the "bettendorf" style trucks on the model with roller bearing types. If you notice the prototype photos show roller bearing trucks.  I believe the roller bearing trucks look much better under this railcar model. With these modifications and changes my MTH model negotiates O-72 curves and turnouts without any problem.

Here are some photos of the modified Schnabel