Traditional sized passanger car proportions

On the real railroads the boxcars do vary in size so it's not a problem mixing Railking and Lionel traditional 6464 boxcars. The smaller 027 cars may be shadowed by the larger cars. Check out the rail videos in Youtube for ideas.

Thanks John.

I am thinking  more it terms of matching heights and widths.

I learned this the hard way. Bought a set of MTH O27 Madison cars to go with my Lionel Jr. Berk in the same livery figuring the MTH cars would be similar in size to the Lionel and WBB O27/"baby" streamliners and madisons. Way off. The MTH passenger cars dwarf the Jr. Berk in height but look fine with a Lionel traditional pacific and WBB traditional berk.

There ARE two lengths of K-Line heavyweights?  Never noticed that.  I did saw a coach and a baggage exactly in two, to get two combines, back when unlettered heavyeights were being dumped.

Gene,

I agree on the boxcars.

Also, from my reading I understand that there was a time when a train would pull other RR's car's.  I am just looking for how it looks to the eye.

I am looking too learn sizes of various Manufacturers in general and have a two projects in particular.

1-I have  Lionel 6-35277, out of the Medal of Honor set. Lionel doesn't seem to make many Overton cars.  MTH has Railking 30-6439 as an example. Are the MTH cars taller/wider then the Lionel car?

Second I have 4 North Pole Central cars 6-25196 & 6-300039 expan. set. Got these at a good price (less than $42 each). Now these cars and the other three seem to be collectors items on Ebay (^$100.00 each). I would like to added one or two cars to the consit under the tree next year either full length vista dome, baggage car, coach, etc. Lionel seems to have more options in traditional for these Streamliner type cars, but just looking at options.

Mark. 

raising4daughters posted:

I learned this the hard way. Bought a set of MTH O27 Madison cars to go with my Lionel Jr. Berk in the same livery figuring the MTH cars would be similar in size to the Lionel and WBB O27/"baby" streamliners and madisons. Way off. The MTH passenger cars dwarf the Jr. Berk in height but look fine with a Lionel traditional pacific and WBB traditional berk.

That's what I am trying to avoid. Although, I'm not as concerned with the engine size. Just trying to keep pass. cars similar to the eye.

Mark

rattler21 posted:

It might help if you could give the actual dimensions for which you are looking.  For example, a heavyweight passenger car which is 2 1/2 inches wide.  I doubt if every one on this Forum knows the width of a Rail King passenger car.  Respectfully, John

I'm not asking about putting a Heavyweight with a Madison. But like in my  last post. Lionel overton car with  Overton cars from another manufacturer.  

Maybe some Railking PRR  heavyweights with  Lionel traditional PRR heavyweights (or K-line, or Atlas, or someone else).

Or maybe Baby Madisons vs Baby Madisons.

Is there a standard or does it vary from car style to car style and mfg. date to mfg. date. I am looking a modern items.

If we're talking the traditional type 027 streamliner car (like the ones in the recent long cataloged Lionel Pullman Expansion pack), the Williams 027 streamliner cars are the same size, only constructed more like the postwar Lionel versions. The Williams ones come with diecast trucks, whereas the majority of the recent Lionel ones come with plastic trucks (just in case that's an issue for you). Lionel did a UP set sometime in the 1990's and those came with diecast trucks.

There's also the K-Line streamliner passenger cars, which are the same proportion as the above cars, only a little bit longer. They have diecast trucks also, and K-Line's unique "streamliner" overhead lighting. The Golden State versions of those cars are the easiest of these cars to find. Though in the coming years, getting parts for that overhead lighting K-Line board may become more difficult.

The Lionel baby Madison cars are a little bigger than the streamlined 027 cars. Then there's also the more recently tooled Lionel semi-scale passenger cars, like the ones that come in the Lionel Santa Fe set with the FT diesel. Those are nice looking passenger cars, but for me, I really prefer the older 027 type for size and proportion. I would imagine these cars are more in the size range of the Railking semi-scale passenger cars, but I can't say for certain.

So am I correct that there is scale, semi scale, and O27 scale (from largest to smallest). Is scale = 1:48 across mfrs. 

Lionel semi scale Are a smaller then MTH railking. 

O27 is about the same across Lionel, William, K-Line.

Mth Rugged Rails= Lionel

for this discussion, plastic vs die cast trucks doesn’t matter unless one effects how high the car sits on the tracks.

Thanks for all the great information. Please correct any of my statements above.

Mark

MWasko posted:

So am I correct that there is scale, semi scale, and O27 scale (from largest to smallest). Is scale = 1:48 across mfrs. 

Lionel semi scale Are a smaller then MTH railking. 

O27 is about the same across Lionel, William, K-Line.

Mth Rugged Rails= Lionel

for this discussion, plastic vs die cast trucks doesn’t matter unless one effects how high the car sits on the tracks.

Thanks for all the great information. Please correct any of my statements above.

Mark

Here are my guidelines for the semi-scale crap shoot:

Engines - Most semi-scale engines are similar. Some seem a bit too big like GPs, F-series, and more modern diesels. Watch out, though, for Lionel's Junior series (junior Berkshires and Hudsons). They are very compressed and matching rolling stock becomes a bit more limiting. Engine for engine, MTH Rail Kings appear to be a bit larger and more detailed than Lionel, Williams/WBB, or K-Line in the semi-scale arena but generally interchangeable.

Freight - Lionel traditional, K-line (not scale), MTH Rugged Rails, and Industrial Rail are all comparable and indistinguishable size-wise. I run many trains with a mix of all 4 brands. Williams/WBB's box cars are slightly bigger but work well. Some differences are realistic. MTH Rail King can work but many are scale or near-scale size. For that reason, I've avoided Rail King freight except for two 6-packs that run together. They are high-quality. The cabooses are ridiculously large, as big as other brands' semi-scale box cars.

Passenger - Lionel and Williams/WBB have a line of O27 streamliners that are the smallest and interchangeable. I think K-Line's are comparable though I've never seen one in person.  Lionel also produced a line of slightly larger O27 streamliners (I have in ATSF and NYC) that are interchangeable with MTH Rail Kings. MTH's Rail King O27 Madison passenger cars are bigger than Lionel's but are really nice. I have two sets. They just can't be run with a Lionel Junior Berk or Junior Hudson but work with most other semi-scale steamers and also my semi-scale GG1.

Summary - most semi-scale items go fine together, you just have to be careful with MTH Rail King.

RAISING4DAUGHTER.

Thanks that helps!!!

This is confusing for someone getting back into trains after 40ish years.

I would love something on the lines of

https://ogrforum.com/...e-guesswork-puhlease ,  but I doubt it would happen.

I'm guessing this is another reason people switch to "Scale", I assume less guess work. Also, there seems to be more options for passenger cars in Scale.

Thank you to everyone how posted. Looks like there is no easy answer here.

Mark W.