Hello, I was wondering about the Scale Trains rolling stock. I am very happy with their locomotives. How do they compare to Micro Trains or Atlas rolling stock? I no longer care or worry about IM, I will never buy anything of thiers again. This is the actual Scale trains cars, not the Fox Valley or the ExactRail cars. I already have many of each. Just wondering about the Scale Trains rolling stock. Thanks!
I have their carbon black hoppers, a few of the coil cars and some of their Gunderson hoppers. All are very well executed IMO with about as much detail and applied parts as can be crammed into N scale rolling stock. Paint/lettering is crisp. I wasn't that impressed with their auto racks to the point that I prefer micro-trains for that prototype. Micro trains is upping their game but if you are detail oriented then scale trains with the exception of their auto racks is the winner. Most all of my atlas is previous BLMA which are all very nicely detailed too. Haven't had any issues running any of it on my track. The other bonus (for me) over MT and this is true of the BLMA/Atlas too is metal wheels come with the cars.
Haven’t seen their N scale rolling stock, but I’ve seen owner photographs of their HO offerings; they’re very nicely done. I’ve spoken to, and emailed some of their people, and they strike me as folks who want to do as good a job on everything, as they do on their locomotives.
David, I have a pair of the autoracks, a pair of the carbon black cars, and one Gunderson hopper car. The Gunderson hopper is nice with good detail. Picked up one in the BNSF swoosh scheme. I want to get a few more to add to the variety of versions of hoppers I can have in a unit train. The carbon black cars are super nice, lots of detail, I bought one when they first came out and a 2nd one just a couple of weeks ago. Will probably pick up a couple more. Not a great picture but this is the latest one. The version of the autorack they did is different from the M/T, ConCor, and that manufacturer we don't mention so that is good for variety. They feel a tad light so I will be adding weight to mine. The one thing I was disappointed in are the rack panels. They are plastic and not what I would have expected detail wise from Scale Trains. Etched metal would have been nice but I guess they may have done plastic to keep cost down but they are still as costly as the other brands. I like that all the Scale Trains cars come with metal wheels so I don't have to mess with that. I know you have some locos so you are familiar with the couplers they use so I'll pass that discussion up for now. The jewel cases that Scale Trains uses are slightly deeper than most other manufacturers. The tops slip on and off much like the Kato locomotive cases. The plastic inserts that hold the care do a good job so no issues there. The autoracks came in just the case but my carbon black cars had a cardboard sleave over the top of the jewel case. For now, they are still on the cases but at some point those will get removed, flattened and stored away. All of these cars run well and I have had no issues with their performance. Will probably tack on a coil car next time I place an order to check them out. They do look nice in pictures. One other Scale trains product I have that you could classify as either rolling stock or locomotive related is a pair of UP water tenders. They are super nice and look great behind my Challenger or FEF-4. From a normal viewing distance, you can tell they are different from the Kato ones but not by much. However, up close, there is a good bit of difference in the detail level. I'm sure they will go well with the Kato BigBoy at some point too. Overall, I've been very happy with everything Scale Trains that I have picked up but others mileage may vary. That's my chapter on them for now. Enjoy!
Thanks folks! I did, dopey me, forgot I got a bunch of the coil cars already, so I was thinking about the others. Thanks for the into on the Autoracks, sounds like not much of an upgrade over the MT and ConCor so I can pass on those. Will check out the other cars then! Got to follow my rule of 12 cars per new locomotive.
Here are a couple of shots of one of the ST autoracks I have so that you can get a better idea of how they look.
They look better than the ConCor ones from a long time ago, but I would have to agree that the sides would look a lot better if they were metal.
I wonder, now that FVM is part of scaletrains, if the auto rack will be produced under that partnership. This last one that came out under the Intermountain/FVM label is the best out there to date IMO but, well... Intermountain. Those plastic panels just make an otherwise nicely done model look a bit toy like.
The Scaletrains autorack side panels would probably benefit from a different paint choice. A silver color rather than grey would make them closer to etched-metal. Another point worth making about the Scaletrains autorack is the prototype choice. The Scaletrains is a Gunderson car, while the other brands (Micro-Trains, Intermountain, and Con-Cor) are all replicating basically the same Thrall car. If you need Gundersons, scaletrains is the only choice. Autorack unit trains can easily be 50% Gunderson these days, so if you're trying to maintain a realistic fleet ratio, don't overstock on Thrall.
So here we go with some tread drift but will end back at Scale Trains. Here is a close look at the M/T rack panels to compare to the ST rack. As noted by Mr. Trainiac and me, the ST are a different prototype so it's not exactly apples to apples but close. M/T even has two different styles of panels The ConCor cars were even different from those. Here is one with stock panels and moderate to heavy weathering. The weathering helps a lot The design of these cars is good and you can help them with some panel upgrades. One option is Plano panel replacements. I wasn't thrilled with them but I am sure they will look better with some light weathering. One with the Plano and one with factory panels Long out of production but if you can find them (and I wish I could find more), the JnJ panels were my favorite for the upgrade And here is a finished product with the JnJ panels So now to circle back on track, the Scale trains racks are nice cars and here is the other one I have. I do like this prototype. Maybe we'll get some aftermarket etched metal panels for these someday. Okay, I'll quit being long winded now. Enjoy
