Battle of the Auto Carriers!

Believe it or not I'm currently in the hunt for a Con-Cor autorack. Hahah, change of heart, eh? Actually I bought a FRED kit for $5 at a swap meet last week and want an autorack to install it in. The MT cars don't allow you to stick anything inside, you can't stick anything but autos in the Red Caboose cars (not to mention drilling holes and such would ruin it), so a Con-Cor autorack would fill the bill. Plus I'd also work on lowering the car, body-mounting it, putting 28" wheels in the trucks, replacing the ugly HO-sized stirrups and weathering it.

 

If it makes any difference.....

Guys
I model in both HO & N, (cross-scaler?). In order to have a Autorack in HO as nice as the Red Caboose N scale cars here's what you'd have to do. First obtain the car, Walthers has their Goldline cars which you can find on sale occasionally for about $19 however they are regularly sell for $26. Next you obtain the Plano etched side panels, Bi-Level set-$26, Tri-Level set-$27. As for the open end doors on the car, you'll have to bash those. This brings the total to roughly $52 per car. I haven't explored any brass cars but you can bet a painted car will run over $100. I don't know if that makes anybody feel better about the costs of the RC cars, but I do know there would be fist-fights at the hobby shop if a car that nice was selling for under $50 in HO. Just some FYI.

2slim

 

Yeah, Walthers is the only game in town in HO for autoracks, in N scale at least we have a choice...no, three choices.

 

The Atlas articulated cars are also empty inside. You could fit a BUNCH of FREDs in one of those

 

Ramps.

In a related question, does anyone make loading/unloading ramps for autocarriers? I'd like to put one on my layout on the end of an industrial spur with an autocarrier or two permanently parked there. If there isn't one commercially available, anybody have any ideas on what I could disassemble to make one?
Dave.

 

Firechief,
Here's a link: http://www.mocalovamodelworks.com/nscalecatalog.htm
Scroll down near the bottom of the page.

2slim

 

Don't forget Ethyl,
BTW what's a FRED have to do with Autoracks.

2slim

 

I have about a dozen of the MTL closed autoracks and find them to be very nice, besides i like the tri-level version. The wheels are not a distraction but if they are the low profile wheels are included.

Dave

 

Thanks, that's exactly what I'm looking for.

Dave.

 

Well, I'm modeling an autorack train and I'd like to designate one car as an end car, so I plan to install a FRED in one of them...