Hi ... I have not found anything on replacing the trucks/couplers on N High Speed Metal cars. The old mounts must be drilled out and that's where I'm stuck. Any help here? I will be using the Atlas ATL 22050 trucks. Thanks, Zene
I've never had one of those models. I found this link someone had luck replacing those trucks but don't say what. http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/175520/1926600.aspx Whenever I have buy ebay items and have to swap trucks with new bolster pins I just made sure to have the 2 bolster sizes on hand and bought small drill bits to work with the diameter. So far I have had 100% luck swapping rapidos using knuckle style trucks. Have you just shopped for bolster pins? I found a guy on ebay sold me almost a hundred bolster pins and washers for about 4 bucks. Seems you should be able to have new bolsters and just drill to new bolster size but I am might be missing something.
The dreaded High Speed line rears its head again... is it possible to make them runnable? Sure. The list of reasons not to bother is pretty extensive, though.
Since you asked I can think of one way to do this. If my memory serves me the trucks on these are sorta attached by a rivet head aren't they? Mictrotrains trucks come with a bushing that can be pushed into a properly sized hole in the frame. You'd have to drill a hole into the frame enough for these bushings to rest in, then use the truck and bolster pin that comes in the package too. If your really wanting to use Atlas trucks, you might be able find someone who has a few of these lying around and some extra bolster pins. You might have to make the hole in the Atlas truck larger depending on the bolster pin you wind up with. Microtrains trucks come with 2 different size pins. One for Atlas trucks and one for Microtrains. The difference seems to be the hole in the truck for the pin to go through. Most people do not need to use the bushings when buying Microtrains trucks as a majority of N scaler's swap out the Atlas trucks for Microtrains ones and someone (as I do) must save them because one can. I use them from time to time on special projects myself and have a supply. Not having a high speed car to look out I can't tell you how involved this would be. I've used this method on some older Con-Cor freight cars that one of our club members had. Except there was no need to drill out the hole for the bolster Con-Cor thoughtfully provided it (through sheer luck) as they used a bigger style bolster pin back then and the hole for it to push through was the right size for the bushing to push into with a bit-o-force. A bit of a process and it's up to you whether you think it's worth the effort. I'll leave that up to you. These cars were part of a promotional give-a-way, or something like that, by Reader's Digest a good while back and are not the best things to try and make work.
AWWW JEEZ! Another HIGH SPEED CAR QUESTION. Why bother doing anything with these pieces of JUNK? ZENE: save your $ With all the work you would have to do, to change out the trucks & couplers, you will have more invested in the T&C than the car(s) are worth. I sold a dozen of these pieces of CRAP several years ago on FEEBAY. Starting bid was $.99 for the dozen and I only got TWO bids. I sold them for $2.00 and NO I did not offer FREE SHIPPING!
Ah.. . My two favorite pieces that remind me to pay better attention. Lol I will use mine in the bottom of palpitation gulch. Been sitting in a box for years now waiting to be wrecked. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
Personally, I wouldn't devote precious time to it. On the other hand I can understand that sometimes modelers like a challenge. I can respect that.
The High Speed models were never designed to be operational cars. The amount of time, effort and materials required to convert them far their value. There was no disrespect of the OP, but of these cars.
Trust me, we respect the members, but these models are about as high quality as a tootsie toy. These are really best used for weathering practice.
I've been "N-scalin' " since 1974. How is it I don't what High Speed Metal cars are ??? Obviously, I missed (or didn't miss) something !!! Are these the trains that were unpowered and had grey plastic track ??? I remember something like that in the late '60s, when I was in 2nd grade. Just a couple years ago, ya' know ???
No- they were offered by Readers' Digest some years ago (90s I think?) and have been popping up ever since. They have no ability to run on any kind of track at all; the trucks were cheap plastic imitations with wheels more akin to those on hot wheels cars than actual model trains (IIRC they're free-floating on pin axles). The carbodies were copied from various Atlas, Lima, and Bmann cars, with cruder details and often somewhat out of proportion. The locomotives (there was a very loose impression of a GP35 and also a 4-4-0) were unpowered, with plastic wheels like the cars. The hate for High Speed comes from the fact that people will try to pass the things off on unsuspecting hobbyists as actual N-scale equipment. They show up at yard sales, ebay auctions (usually without any disclaimer mentioning the fact that they're unpowered toys, not models), and occasionally train shows. If you were just getting into the hobby, and you saw a cheap set of N-scale trains, then bought it only to find that you'd been scammed and they were cheap imitations of the real thing... what impression would that leave?
Got it !!! Thank you, silentargus !!! Glad I'm not familiar with High Speed from your description. To answer your question, the impression that would leave on me would lead me to using a string of words that the the TB moderators wouldn't approve of. They would bannish me to...ummmm....a place that ain't so nice !!!
The way I see it, what better stuff to try modeling ideas on. A good way to practice and/or learn some modeling skills. Just don't go and buy em off ebay. Usually had for a buck or 2 at train shows. Although we just had one this past weekend and I don't recall seeing one. I guess there's a first for everything. And very few $5 freight cars at that. If ya mess one up, easily turned into land fill fodder.
Do us all (especially SP modellers) and just destroy them so they will eventually stop coming back to haunt us. Searching for SP on 'that auction site' comes up with an almost endless supply of this junk...
Reader's Digest offers "FREE GIFTS!" if you're a subscriber and you choose to accept the Condensed Books. One year, it was a set of cheapie Hot Wheels sized antique cars - you got one per month ("as our Free Gift to you!") as long as you accepted at least one book every three months. Probably worked the same way with the train. It appears that the train sets were offered in the mid 90's into the early 2000's (at least 2001). The High Speed cars are mostly (bad) copies of old 1970s models (mostly Atlas) - Atlas 50' TOFC Atlas 40' steel gondola Lima 50' steel gondola Atlas PS-2 hopper Atlas 40' stock car Roco (or maybe Mehano) 40' tank car Atlas cupola caboose The detailing on the bodies of cars and locomotives is quite good. But the undercarriage is not designed to run on an N scale layout. They have several major problems. One is that the trucks do not swing freely from side to side for curves. They move only a tiny bit from side to side, and even in that tiny distance they do not move freely. Another problem is that the couplers look like Rapido couplers, but they do not move up and down like Rapido couplers. On the locomotive and one of the cars, these couplers are mounted directly on the body, rather than on the trucks. Also, the couplers are shaped somewhat differently from Rapido couplers, so they do not couple well. Another problem is that the wheel flanges are not shaped correctly for running on N scale. You will not be able to couple these cars to your regular N scale cars and run them on your layout. The cars usually come in white cardboard boxes. Most sellers give the brand name as High Speed because that is clearly printed on the bottom of the cars and locomotives. The 'engine' is a GP-35 and is usually called a dummy or non-powered (usually but not always). There is no way that this engine can be powered easily (and even if it could, the shell still looks terrible). The biggest crime is that pictured on the box is an Atlas/Kato SP GP35 - what you actually get is of "decidedly lesser" quality.
