Has anybody else noticed how light these cars are? Clearly we better not couple them into a train ahead of the Atlas cars. Yes I know you rarely see the two types in a train but modelers do stretch the rules. Since these are all going out as fast as they arrive, I'm curious how the end user has rated their running.
In Southern Cal I've seen AutoMaxes mixed in with regular old autoracks on the route to San Diego (BNSF) - a few times, in fact. Maybe that was as the Automax's were being introduced...
I have seen Auto-Max's in trains with regular bi & tri level cars on the BNSF transcon. I have also seen many solid trains with just Auto-Max's. I figure it all depends on where they service, the plant they are coming from or the destination they are headed. I haven't received mine yet but I ordered quite a few and can't wait to get them on the track. By the way, I now have a box (BNSF or Generic) that will hold 12 sets of either the Max or Thrall cars. With the way the Thrall's don't come apart after assembly this is a convenient way to hold them. Let me know if anyone has any questions I would be happy to answer them.
I saw a Ferromex Auto-Max in a general freight train pulling into BNSF's South yard in Houston today. First one I've ever seen. What a monster!
Athearn seems to have made the Auto-Max cars in three shades. They made the CSX white, the BNSF gray and all the others look an off-white. Does anybody know if these are the correct colors in real life? Thanks
George: I noticed the weight factor as well. So I took one out...sure enough, only 2.5 ounces. That seems light for a car that length. I don't know what the NMRA standard would be. As for running...No problems. Members at my club had them going, as you stated, in consist with the Atlas carriers. All seemed to work together just fine. They are pretty cool, and as you say...Great Sellers!
I don't think MTL shares tooling with anyone. I should validate this at home first (but then, I still can't log in from home!) but I believe that RC will do the bi-level enclosed racks first, whereas the first enclosed MTL rack will be a tri-level. So it will be a race between slightly different horses. Perhaps one or both release schedules were modified such that there wouldn't be two directly competing items out simultaneously. That doesn't mean that both manufacturers won't have both out on the market later on.
