Today's Prices, pictures, and comments on Aluminum K-Line passenger cars....

Depending on which NYC cars you're talking about, you should sell them. To me 

I think you'll find 21" NYC cars in high demand. Are these Empire State Express cars?

 

Pete

Just measured those K-Line 18" cars, they overhang 1-1/8", that's a 5/16" difference between the 18" and the 21" cars on 072 curves.

Bob...I believe you meant a 5/16" inch difference....or a little more than one quarter inch.  To me not enough difference to not consider the 21" cars....

 

Thanks,

Alan

I was just reading the box. K-Line recommends (54" Diameter curves). I wonder what the overhang would be on a O54 curve?

Buy the ones you want, then eBay the ones you have surplus.  You could come out ahead.  I assume that converting these things renders them valueless - that way if I ever sell, I can consider it all pure profit.  same with my 763 and new Lionel FEF - worthless to the collectors, but I don't care.

Everybody knows what a Wasatch truck looks like - these are the kinds of trucks I have on the non-Wasatch cars.  Note how well a scale length truck fills the K-Line truck cutout.

 

Phil

It probably meant the tightest curve these cars  could handle.

Don't think it was a recommendation.

When I first got back into O, I was fascinated by the big scale cars, now that I have a couple of layouts, I have settled back into what looks good on them, which is mainly smaller stuff such as the Atlas steam era cars shorter trains and such.  But to each his or her own.

I just measured one of my K-Line 18" on a 054 curve and it's 1-1/4" overhang.

 

That tells me that if someone thinks a 21" car on 072 track looks silly, then an 18" car on 054 looks just as silly.  Or...if one is acceptable so should the other.

Just got my ESE cars home and on the track. Observations:

 

1. First and foremost, the moment of truth was flicking the power on. I've been told these cars had a problem with the pickup rollers not giving adequate juice to the lights. I cranked my modern ZW to the full 21 volts and even with filthy track they all lit up bright so that was a relief.

 

2. They are gorgeous, obviously.

 

3. The hot glue from the factory to hold the passengers in their seats, not surprisingly, doesn't last forever. I had a couple of figures loose in the cars after they were shipped to me.

 

4. The ribbing on these particular cars really catches and holds any dust or residue. All of mine will need a careful wipe down.

 

5. BE CAREFUL WITH THE PLASTIC ROOF ANTENNAS!

 

6. Finally, getting them running they traveled silky smooth around my simple loop. They do admittedly look a little funky around the O-72 curves, but not nearly enough to deter me from running and loving them.

 

Conclusion: These are absolutely gorgeous passenger cars if you have the real estate and can commit to their maintenance needs.

 

Nick,

 

I would agree they look a bit funky going around your O-72 curves, but they look grand coming down the straight-away!

 

Regarding the lighting, you are right that it is a matter of voltage.  Cranked up the cars are nice and bright.  I use to have two 15" sets (B&O and PRR) that I would run on my conventional layout at around 14 or 15 volts so that my engines would run at a nice slow speed.  Man, this gave dim lighting.  Had I kept the cars I would have replaced the lighting with leds so that my peeps could at least read the newspaper!

 

Jim

Nick GREAT LOOKING SET!

Yeah Nick, they don't look that good on the curves. You'd better ship those guys up to Indiana. 

Great looking train!!  BUT.....they don't belong in Indiana....Arkansas needs more trains so send them this direction!!  (Had to give you a hard time MrMuff!)

 

Alan

Nick Alan and Steve are BOTH known here on the OGR as K-Line Passenger HAWKS

They both have so many and I don't have any of the ESE cars. I would be willing to store them on my latout for you FREE and would eben be willing to pay for the UPS/ FedEx shipping cost.

I have about 8-9 of the 18" & 21" ATSF K-Line aluminum cars, including the transition and bi-level cars. I had a chance to pickup the full length dome car at cost just before K-Line went under, and figured I'd get it later. Oh well... They are still some of the best looking cars I have, or have seen, competing nicely with my GGD Chief set. I have pictures of them running and if I can find them I will post. They look just magnificent rolling behind that warbonnet scheme. If you got the room for them, I say run 'em!

AH..Bill......Arkansas is closer to Florida than Michigan is..!!!

 

Alan

Hi Greg

I agree with you. Mine are also all ATSF also.

Nick,

 

Those sure look nice on your layout.

 

Thanks for sharing.

Haha, when those 7 cars came up on the FS forum Alan actually did beat me to them. Luckily for me, he already had the cars, and I jumped in right behind him. The Lionel CC2 Hudson actually followed a day or two after, and that was another one that this time two people had already beat me to but somehow I still got it. It was a great and lucky week for train buying.

 

The built up dusts and residues on the cars from the previous owner's layout came right off with Windex misted on a 3M microfiber electronics cleaning cloth. They all came out with a like brand new shine, but the Grover Cleveland car revealed a green and red tint on the roof at a certain angle and light. I'm waiting to get an opinion on it from my chrome guy. It's not too bad, the only way you see it is to look at exactly the angle I took the photo.

 

 

One other question I had. Did some of these cars come from the factory with no doors on one end? I think three of the coaches are like this - On one end of the car it's just open to the inside.

Nick...I have several of the cars in various road names that exhibit that "rainbow" effect.  It has something to so with the lack of a clear coat...??  One thing I can say...I have actually seen the prototype stainless cars reflect light that sometimes had colors similar to your photo so I don't think I would be concerned.  Anyway, you are correct...I had forgotten I had jumped in there when they came up on the for sale board.  Glad you are enjoying!!  By the way, all of my cars have the door to which you refer....so I am not sure if I understand what you are asking???

 

Alan

Nick, those cars look good. The over hang isn't terrible IMHO.

Here's what I'm talking about. Three of the seven cars are like this on one end. It just opens up to the inside, no door.

 

The 21" aluminum passenger cars are simply majestic. Keep in mind that as select  layouts become larger, and the supply of size appropriate motive power seems to be endless,  the supply of size & quality appropriate passenger consists has not kept up. (I asked Mike at York whether he had plans to meet this demand and he simply shrugged his shoulders).

 

I have a complete set of the 21" silver Empire State Express and the Milwaukee Roads. Even back then one would have to wait at least 18+ months for order fulfillment! There was never a large oversupply of any of these 21" sets. I searched for awhile for the blue B&O set at York but it never happened.

Nick....I went under the layout to find my Empire State Express cars (don't have them out running right now).  I had first checked the Zephyr cars, UP cars, and SP cars which I have on the layout and they all had the interior bulkheads.  BUT...when I looked at my ESE cars, they are just like your picture!!  Never noticed that....now I am going to have to get rid of them....how dare they make such a major mistake....OK,OK...just kidding!!  Never noticed this in all the years since I have owned them...

 

Alan

That's really good to know, and saves me an email to the seller. Smith, Seward, and Dewey are the examples in my train. It's an odd omission, but not a problem since you can never really see these doors through the vestibules anyway. 

Forgot to mention I also have the K-Line Texas Special cars, done in 18", also beautiful set. Haven't seen the Lionel 21" version, but it should be good as it is K-Line molds. And unlike MTH it doesn't have fantasy dome cars...

Sam...I have seen the K-Line Texas Special 21" cars.  Roger Wasson has a set of them with the Lionel E units.  It is a magnificent train!!

 

Alan

Some of my favorite K-line 21" cars....the Amtrak Superliner in the station....right click on the picture and the click on "open in link in new window" for a full page view.

 

Alan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Well...I tried to copy Charlies video over here but as you can see from my post above I failed!!  Charlie...can you help???

 

Thanks,

Alan

Alan I have trouble some times when I do it to fast. Thanks Charlie for the very nice Video.




PRR

 

 

 

 

 

21" K-Line ATSF

Thanks Bill!!!  I don't know what I did wrong.  Hey....can you e-mail me and tell me what you did???

 

Also....great looking train!!  Are the ABBA units K-Line also??

 

Thanks,

Alan

Alan no problem.

 

A very short train of K-line Amtrak cars (I just have the domes)...

I just received these yesterday.  Snagged them off of eBay finally after a several year search.  They are 18-inch aluminum.  May be one of the rarest, they are the NCDOT Piedmont set.  Paid 95-cents under MSRP and glad that is all.

 

 

They are from the 2004 First Edition catalog.  As you can see they are "as new" condition.  These are one of the last pieces that I have been looking for.

 

Nick, Nice Photos!

 

I have several of the K-Line 21" ESE cars and they all have doors on both ends.  Although most of my K-Line ESE cars now have FEC lettering, SP Sunset Limited lettering, Southern lettering, and ACL lettering  ...  Maybe they broke off and fell out?  I had that happen to one of my K-Line 21" Northern Pacific cars, but I was able to put the loose door back in place.