I found a place where someone is selling a bunch of Bachmann freight cars such as the ones in the picture for $5....depending on how many I buy, he said will give me a discount (not sure how much though) Looking at the boxes, they all look new and seem to all have metal wheels Is this a good deal, just decent or nothing to be excited about?
These are the older B-mann cars. If the seller is applying the "When in doubt, charge five dollars" rule, I suppose that the price is acceptable. Most of these have paints schemes that are out of my era, so most of them would not interest me. Some of them have clunky details but some of them are not bad. I would not pay more than three dollars apiece for any of them. You will have to convert them to knuckle couplers.
Check the wheel sets (you've mentioned that they look like metal, but get confirmation), and the couplers... Rapido or Micro-trains.
Couplers are rapido....which is ok for me since I already have several other cars (passengers and freight) and locomotives with rapido couplers (I started in n-scale many years ago with Arnold) I do have some of those Bachmann freight cars actually, so I thought I could get few more to extend my collection.... I will check about the wheels
This is a Bachmann car. I only have these "silver series" tank cars. I removed the Bachmann underframes and mounted the tanks onto Intermountain frames. I do like the handrail on these cars and the tank is well detailed.
This is the one I have so far, and was planning to get a few more Is it difficult to change Rapido couplers for knuckle couplers? How is a set of couplers?
The price seems fair for those older Bachmann cars. It's really a matter of you liking them and how they look. It is easy enough to swap out the trucks with M/T ones if you want to get rid of the ole horn hook couplers.
A good deal. If you are happy and think you got you money's worth: GOOD. I have a new airbrush, compressor, paint and assorted parts. These kind of cars are what I'm looking for to learn the airbrush use. Taking my time, learning slowly and waiting to start repainting the good [read EXPENSIVE] rolling stock. If it can go wrong, IT WILL. Rather learn on other cars---FIRST. For changing out to MTL couplers. It's easy to just change out the TRUCKS & COUPLERS. Just go to the MTL website to find out what you need. For BODY MOUNTED couplers, it is a bit more involved, but the MTL website is the place to go again.
Assuming I want to change the couplers, I've read it was easier to change the whole truck I went on the MTL website, but it's a little bit confusing...What trucks should I look for for this type of rolling stock?
Went to Micro-Trains web site under coupler conversions. Replacement trucks were 00310021 [1000-10]. The 10 pack would be cheapest way to convert. On the older Bachmann cars I had to ream the holes on trucks a small amount.
If you decide not to purchase, please let me know via DM the seller info, I might snap up a few of them myself -- My goal is to get rolling stock on the layout first, then worry about making it fancy later -- Im even building a few standin cars myself till I can afford the good ones TIM
I'm planning to add some weight in those cars, and will probably start with this one: NMRA says it should be - for N scale - 0.5oz + length x 0.15 So 0.5 + 4 x 0.15 = 1.1 oz which is 31 grams (yes, I'm French......I use metric) This car weights ~21 gr, so I will need to add 10 gr (so probably 5gr on top of each truck) Is my math correct?
Those older generation Bmann cars used to sell for around $2.50 $3 at train shows. Back then when MT sets of 10 trucks where cheaper I converted a bunch to MTs. I remember that the MT truch holes had to be reamed out a bit so that the Bmann truck screw would fit. Some of the Bmann cars had a too heavy paint job so I stripped it and revealed some nice detail then repainted with a thinner coat and redecaled them. Was an inexpensive way to get several train consists together. If you want to keep the metal wheels I would just order the MT couplers that will replace the rapidos.
Well, I got them for $4 each....so maybe not a great deal, but not a rip off anyway since they are apparently "new in box" I will add weight since they are a little bit "shaky" on the tracks, and see how it goes...Not sure how I will add weight in the 3 tank cars though (I guess I could return them for an exchange and get box cars) I may end up keeping the Rapido couplers on most of them and just modify 1 or 2 to make them "conversion" cars.... If I want to just replace the couplers and keep the trucks+wheels, what reference should I look for? Thanks
I did a quick conversion from oz/inches to gr/mm Then I used some 1/4 -20 nuts and some "rubbery" double sided tape I found at Home Depot..... Happy with the results so far, need to run with an engine to see the difference.....but I'm confident it will be a nice improvement
https://www.micro-trains.com/publicfiles/conversions/sheet003.pdf The 1128 is the shortest with the 1130 being the longest coupler shaft and 1129 is in the middle. Pay attention to the draft gear box description to get the right coupler.
Tanks are cast in two pieces. Some are glued, others are screwed. Weights added in the tank ride high, and does nothing to prevent lean on curves. But they do keep tanks on the track.
