Favorite brand of rolling stock

My favorite is Micro-trains. They have set the standard for all other companies. There printing and detailing is excellent. They have the most body styles. I have never had a MT car that wobbles unlike most other makes. Best of all thier cars are 100% researched, designed, and manufactured in the USA.

 

Micro Trains is my #1 as well, because of the same reasons above. When it comes to qaulity, they get a 100% in every catagory.

I think Intermountain also does a very good job with detailing, printng, and all around qaulity.

Last but not least, our own Alan Curtis!
I have been very impressed with the couple of kits I have bought so far, and I'm sure others think the same way.

All companys in N scale seem to be doing a great job at the moment.

 

Micro Trains is my favorite also for the above reasons. Also I don't have to change the &%#@ couplers. If I see a car I want, I check the couplers first. If it is not MT couplers I pass it up. I have gottem into to much hot water trying to change couplers so I don't any more.

 

Yeah,MT makes some nice cars,but what I really like is that they make cars in roadnames I can USE on my layout!
I model the GTW in the DT&I merger(takover)years,so its hard to find correct rolling stock for my industial layout.
Atlas makes some nice cars also,and at least have more than ONE roadnumber!

 

I too think the Microtrains line is very good, it is getting pricey, but so is everything else.

I also like the latest Atlas releases, the Evans Boxcars and the Pressureaide Hoppers are both timely releases, and the Hopper has great detail straight out of the box (etched walkways and piping).

Intermodal modelling is also becoming very expensive, ($100+ for a roadrailer set).

I, like everyone else await a new release Autorack (the impending price for this release may frighten me off though).

I also enjoy the MDC boxcars I have, I have a collection of these, and when converted to microtrains trucks and couplers are great modern boxcars.

 

Ditto on the MDC cars,I got alot of those also.
And you dont feel "guilty" for weathering the poop out of 'em either!lol!

 

I don't see how one can have a "favorite" brand of N scale rolling stock. I do not care who makes a car, what I do care is whether or not it is prototypically correct and can it be justified on my model railroad by era, commodity carried, etc. Micro-Trains tends to put paint schemes on inappropriate models. Intermountain has been known to do this as well, but at least will admit it. But, there is so much good stuff out there today by so many manufacturers I don't see how anyone has room to complain.

 

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Gregg Mahlkov:
I don't see how one can have a "favorite" brand of N scale rolling stock. .....................But, there is so much good stuff out there today by so many manufacturers I don't see how anyone has room to complain. <hr></blockquote>

No one here complained at all, but it's easy to have a favorite manufacturer. Think of it like having a favorite auto manufacturer. I like MT for detail, printing and their own trucks that their cars ride on. You can't get much better than MT in my opinion.

 

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Gregg Mahlkov:
I don't see how one can have a "favorite" brand of N scale rolling stock. I do not care who makes a car, what I do care is whether or not it is prototypically correct and can it be justified on my model railroad by era, commodity carried, etc. Micro-Trains tends to put paint schemes on inappropriate models. Intermountain has been known to do this as well, but at least will admit it. But, there is so much good stuff out there today by so many manufacturers I don't see how anyone has room to complain. <hr></blockquote>

First I want to say thanks to Greg Mahlkov (and others) for the heads up on the Micro Trains Pennsy MOW set that was offered. I saved some money on that one. That MicroTrains would offer something that was "pure fiction" tells me that they are not interested in protoype correctness. People castigate Concor for this and now MT has shown the capacity to sink to that same level. I can understand the Smokey the Bear cars as whimsical and not prototypical but when you produce a set of cars for a prototypical railroad and you know, or should know, they are not prototypical you should at least add a disclaimer that the cars are not prototypical. Not everyone is educated in the hobby. Advising potential customers that a car is prototypical or a generic model of a somewhat similiar car is a duty manufacturers should have. I think the industry has come to this stage. We have laws regulating truth in advertising in other industries. Now I know MT is not the only manufacturer doing this but I think it is time that the industry be honest with their customers. Placing a little bit of printed history with the car Such as " this car was produced by the XYZ Comapany starting in 19XX and sold to the following railroads etc. " or "this car is a generic car that follows no one prototype but similiar cars were built by the XYZ company and purchased by the following railroads."
This information should already be in their possession if they did their research. Educating the consumer will result in positive results both for the consumer as well as the manufacturer.

 

I forgot to add I do not have a "favorite" car manufacturer. My parameters are determined by my modeling interests. Anyone making a car for my railroad in my time frame and at a price that I can afford will get my attention.

 

My favorite company would at least have some idea of how many n-scalers or out there and produce more than enough cars for us to run. They would also decorate cars, but give us a decal sheet for the road numbers that we would apply. Back to now though mine is whoever makes the car I need.

[ 17 August 2001: Message edited by: Kraydune ]</p>

 

Almost all of my freight cars are made by Micro Trains. For my intermodel stuff, I have a ton of MDC well cars. I like Deluxe Innovations products, but it would be nice if they had more then 2 sets of road numbers per release.

 

Well normally I buy whatever catches my eye no matter who makes it. I like MT but seems there is not a large selection of cars I like. It's getting better though and I love the Pepsi Tank I'm a pepsi-aholic and would love one of these parked in my back yard!!!
I'd have to say my favorite would be Roundhouse. their boxcar series is great. Lots of roadnames and different styles of door arrangements and such. Again, with MT couplers, They're Great!!! I also like their tank cars.
For hoppers, I'd have to say Precision Master/Red Caboose.

 

Here's some specifics on Micro-Trains. The first I was directly involved in. As you know, M-T made an Apalachicola Northern boxcar in both the yellow and the blue (or "Gator") color scheme. I furnished them the lettering diagrams for the cars along with photos as I was Director, Marketing and Sales of the AN at the time, but I cautioned them that the blue scheme was NOT applied to any cars they modeled, having dreadnaught ends and Superior doors rather than non-terminating ends and Youngstown doors. The cars are plate "B". The yellow cars are plate "C" - 6 inches taller, yet they applied both schemes to the same car. They have issued both the 20000 series PS-1 boxcar and the 120000 series USRA boxcar in the same LNE scheme with the same car number series. There is a TWO FOOT difference in interior height! (The USRA car is closer.) According to M-T's announcement of Allied full cushion trucks in the new "N-Scale" magazine, they were outlawed from interchange in 1955, yet I distinctly recall an MP car equipped with them in the Calvert Station Yard of the PRR in 1966, because it was a "standing derailment" victim of the first spring thaw. So, don't take what they say in their ads about the prototype as gospel either.
But, all things considered, they make good stuff and a great variety of it.

[ 17 August 2001: Message edited by: Gregg Mahlkov ]</p>

 

What points me in the direction of a certain car may not necessarily be manufacturer, detail or prototypicality (if thats a word). I mostly look at a car for it's POTENTIAL of being a good detailed car with a little (sometimes more) work. I can cite a good example in the Con-Cor 40' and 46' funnel flow tank cars. As is, these cars ride to high, have thick handrails, junk wheels and trucks and the upper and lower body halves don't fit well either. By altering the end frames to accept Micro-Trains trucks, filing and sanding the body halves, and adding prototypical handrails and walkways, I have a good looking car that no other company makes. I have 5 of the cheezy Life-Like 50' modern box cars that sell for $3.98 that I have heavily weathered and detailed to the point where most seasoned N scalers don't recognize them for what they are. I know that not everyone wants to put that kind of work into their rolling stock but I enjoy it. I also have no problem weathering a Micro-Trains car if I think it will improve it's looks where others would shudder at the thought of it. But to inject my humble opinion I would have to say that Micro-Trains, Deluxe Innovations, Atlas ,Red Caboose and E&C Shops(or whoever they are now)are my picks, in that order. I don't mention Kato as they don't have much of a freight car selection although I think their passenger cars are the best.

 

Interesting question.

1. deLuxe Innovations, an example would be the 40' AAR box cars. I like the way they include proto info on the particular roads use of the car and years it operated plus their use of brass details (brake wheels, stirrups, roof walks etc) really make their cars stand out.

2. Atlas, their more recent cars are MUCH better than the older ones. Overspray, freestanding piping, etched roof walks, Accumates (despite early problems the ones I have gotten recently have been fine) and excellent printing really have moved the bar up.

3. Micro-Trains in my eyes have dropped to number three because of details. The number of body styles and constant new cars is great but their details were great 25 years ago but getting weak now. They do still get a good bit of my money mainly because of the number of oddball roads they produce.

4. Intermountain, I really appreciate the detail on these cars mainly the freestanding grabs, but the quality of their assembled cars is only so-so. I don't mind assembling them BUT I have SOOOO many other projects the last thing I need is 20-30 car kits constantly waiting on me to get to them.

5. Roundhouse, they always seem to have something that winds up on my layout.

6. Red Caboose, they do have some unusual but useful prototype cars.

7. Kato I will also throw them in, their covered hoppers are fairly nice (brake gear) and I forgot if this is just a freight car thread or if it includes passenger cars; their Budds et al are excellent!

8. Walthers, I will toss them in at last on my list of cars I'll have on my layout without serious help first mainly because even though the detail is marginal they do produce some different cars that service their structure line which is the backbone of the kit scene in N scale.


Probably 80% of my 200+ cars are made by my top three. I am overall very happy that their are so many quality rolling stock makers in N scale when only a few short years ago MT was the only show in town!

Vandy