Hi folks. Does anyone know what brand of trucks Branchline included with their Yardmaster and Blueprint kits? They are nice trucks, and I'd like to get more of them - my resin cars have Kadee trucks, but I wouldn't mind something a weeee bit cheaper (and less fiddly!) Thanks! Amanda
I only have the Pullmans from Branchline and they used their own truck design. The freight cars are probably the same way. I doubt that they used another manufacturer’s products in their own. Since Branchline isn’t around, look at Walthers. Their proto line might be good. I don’t know how their prices stand against Kadee.
Ahh ok. Well, I like to paint my trucks too, and also would like some B&O specific ones with the bottom reinforcing bar (not Archbar trucks, the other sort - i do not know what they're called) and frankly, Kadee trucks are expensive! I'll keep my search up.
Branchline are now owned and sold under the Atlas banner, they have been releasing assembled versions of the Branchline kits
The Atlas part department is pretty good. I have the Atlas Berwick boxcar that used to be the Branchline kit. It has the modern roller bearing trucks, obviously different than your trucks. I’ll have to see if they used the Branchline tooling or replaced it with one of their existing designs. They probably use the same trucks on multiple cars to simplify production, so I don’t know if the Branchline tooled trucks are still for sale Regarding your truck, I think what you are looking for is an Andrews truck. These were cast steel trucks with the bearing retainer strap that I think you are referring to. Model Railroader has a PDF online that talks about different kinds of trucks. I have read it a bunch of times and they have a pretty good photo of an Andrews truck. The photo is from the Kadee website. Their retaining bar makes the truck took more like an arch bar, but there are other Andrews trucks with a horizontal bar. You would just need to find a model of one. http://mrr.trains.com/~/media/import/files/pdf/4/c/c/mr_pi_5-06_freightcartrucks.pdf This is from the Tichy Train Group website: Here is the Walthers one:
Andrews! Those are the type. I see a fair number of photos of B&O stock with those type trucks, in addition to the more usual AAR / Bettendorf sort. Thank you so much!
Just as info Accurail also makes the Andrews truck, they sell in bulk, 12,150,100 pairs, no wheels included. They are nice trucks for the price, they sell wheels too, but they are plastic http://www.accurail.com/accurail/parts.htm regards,
