I have been thinking of adding some well cars to the fleet so I can run some stack trains. Are their well cars that are better than others? Some to avoid? Thanks!
The only stack cars I have Kato Maxi IV's. I just got them and I'm impressed, but they are pricey new, and I just about had an aneurism trying to get them together for the first time - they have a "strange" coupling mechanism between the linked cars. Once you get the hang of it, it's not so bad, but it's more work than it should be IMO. They are sweet rollers and they look great, so at the end of the day I'm happy with them. I've heard good things about Deluxe Innovations, but availability can be tight on those. I've heard mixed reviews on the Walthers; mostly that the wheels are junk and need to be swapped out. Once this is done, they have the correct ride hight (apparently a little high out of the box) and work great. I'm going to be getting a set soon because they are relatively inexpensive compared to the others. Do some searching here; you'll find a lot topics for this, including mine -thestumper
This topic comes around off and on. I have had good luck with a pair of DI Maxi-IIIs and Walthers Thrall wells. The detail on the Walthers is a little crude but there are ways of fixing it and improving the ride. I also have a set of the Kato units that run well but are a pain to link and seperate. You have to be really careful of order and how you assemble them. I broke the first one withiin minutes, luckily it was one Kato has in stock for parts and haven't had a problem since. I also have a pair of the Athearn/MDC single wells and while they look OK they are LIGHT and basically cannot be run without a pair of containers in them or they derail.
I've had the best luck with the older metal "Walthers - stand alones". They are heavy enough to track well & run without problems. The plastic ones are almost too light, even with a load. The "Kato" ones are nice, but way too expensive for my blood.
I also have Walthers five pack well cars and they are great cause they are all metal so they run great empty also. I have a few stand alone cars form Walthers also and they are great to of course I installed MT trucks and couplers on all of them so they run very smooth.
I've got two of the Kato MAXI IV's and one of the DI MAXI III's. Both are very nice models, and I recommend both. Kato has taken to shipping their well cars with containers, which you have to buy separately with the other manufacturers. Individually, they're not very expensive, but a full train's worth of containers will add up fast. Also, Kato's containers have magnets in them, which keep them together and in the wells without glue or anything else. All that said, my favorite would have to be the DI's. Whatever the other considerations are, I like to support the smaller manufacturers who have shown a commitment to quality N Scale products.
buying kato's with containers is the same price as buying just the cars then containers. plus katos have metal wheels and ROLL so smooth!!!
I have 6 of the Athearn well cars and as others have stated they are very lite weight. The slightest touch and they can go off the track with out weighted containers in them. I added extra weight to every container so if a car carries even only one container then it stays on the track and seems to run fine. I never run them empty though as there are always well cars with loaded containers coming into the intermodal yard or empty containers being sent out. As I wanted them to be Southern Pacific these are all I could find at the time.
