Model Railroading > "Best" HO Rolling Stock Manufacturer?

I apologize for asking what may seem like a very complicated question, but...

I have recently begun to sell off a considerable amount of old HO "toy" trains (Tyco, AHM, etc.), and would like to replenish my rolling stock with something a bit more prototypically accurate. I have purchased a couple of Accurail cars in the past, and am somewhat satisfied with them. I have a lot of old Blue-Box Athearn stuff, and have generally enjoyed their affordability. My question is this: What would be a good manufacturer (or two or three) of HO cars, that are better detailed and more crisply painted than the old Athearn and Roundhouse stuff, but won't cost me a fortune for each car? I primarily model Transition Era, so would be looking for anything correct between the 1940s and maybe the early 1960s.

I would imagine that this is somewhat of a loaded question, and everybody has their own preference. I am just trying to get some decent ideas on who to consider and who to avoid.

Thanks, all!
SierraSidewinder

unfortunately... "affordable" rollingstock no longer exists in our hobby. when i was a teenager, even an intermountain canadian cylindrical covered hopper kit was only about $25. today RTR cars from the era you wish to model, with the above prereq's mentioned, will cost you at the cheap end 35-40$ per car. id suggest looking for older atlas and intermountain/ kadee stuff . prices will be reasonable with a better jump in quality than the blue box kits. you can also get detailing kits from precision scale to spruce up those old bluebox models. far as new.. "affordable" and crisp details/ paint will never exist in the same sentence. look on ebay and large model train shows to find what you seek. your wallet will have better value in the end and have more of what you seek.

Will Hemb
Flower Mound, TX

Do yourself a BIG favor and check out M B Klein dba as Model train stuff and Walthers (sale's) jmo

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/14 06:47 by calsubd.

I don't really pay that much attention to transition era equipment, so I may miss some equipment. But generally if you want cars with separate ladders and grab irons, your looking at paying $20 and up. You can find good cars with cast on parts similar to Accurail for between $10 and $20. Generally printing is very much improved over what it was in the past, and even Athearn RTR cars often feature fine printing. Athearn RTR cars are often upgraded cars with separate details, but I can't tell you which ones have been upgraded with those details for your era. Now the one key player you should be looking at for your era is Kadee which has been making a line of high end transition era equipment for some time. Some of those cars can be found for good prices. Here is a example;

http://www.ebay.com/itm/KADEE-HO-item-5214-PS-1-40-Box-Car-ANN-ARBOR-1234-LNIB-/231287043317?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item35d9c834f5

In general I would break it down like this;

Quality Cars with Cast on Detail;
Atlas Trainman
Accurail
Athearn RTR (only some cars)
Bowser
Stewart
Walthers RTR

Quality Cars with Separate Details;
Atlas Master
Athearn Genesis
Broadway Limited
Exactrail (not much selection for your era)
Intermountain RTR
Kadee
Proto2000 (Life Like high end stuff)
Rapido
Tangent
Walthers Platinum/Proto

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

texaswestern70mac Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> unfortunately... "affordable" rollingstock no
> longer exists in our hobby. when i was a
> teenager, even an intermountain canadian
> cylindrical covered hopper kit was only about $25.
> today RTR cars from the era you wish to model,
> with the above prereq's mentioned, will cost you
> at the cheap end 35-40$ per car.

Actually, Intermountain still lists its kits for $19.95 -- it's their RTR stuff that is now getting close to twice that. Of course, with the kits, you have to assemble, paint, and decal them. For some folks, that's great -- that's REAL modeling. For others, it's five or six hours of work.

With HO rolling stock -- and locos, for that matter -- you pretty much get what you pay for in terms of quality and detail. That is, unless you shop eBay exclusively and fall for the clowns who post old Athearn Blue Box stuff as RARE COLLECTOR'S ITEMS!!! and expect to get triple for what they're worth.

SierraSidewinder Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What would be a good
> manufacturer (or two or three) of HO cars, that
> are better detailed and more crisply painted than
> the old Athearn and Roundhouse stuff, but won't
> cost me a fortune for each car? I primarily model
> Transition Era, so would be looking for anything
> correct between the 1940s and maybe the early
> 1960s.
>
> Thanks, all!
> SierraSidewinder

Teds list is a good summary of the basics of your better quality HO rolling stock. Of course you have to find rolling stock within those to fit your era and price range. As far as cost goes, everything RTR costs a good deal more than what you are replacing. If you go to MB Klein, you can get a lot of Intermountain rolling stock in the mid-twenty dollar each price range, which these days for fairly detailed RTR models with nice paint jobs, that's not too bad.

If you can go to a large train show in your area, you can often find bargains where detailed rolling stock is being sold for anywhere from 8 to 15 dollars - I found nice RTR Intermountain box cars in that range at Timonium for example. Exactrail makes a few transition era and you can find them on Ebay and some stores but since they went 100% web sales though their website, anything built since the last couple years that your only way to buy them and they are a bit pricier than the earlier offerings.

Cheers, Jim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/14 19:39 by SPDRGWfan.

Also, if you're not adverse to spending a bit of time assembling kits, Tichy makes several very nice cars for the transition era, and quite affordable as well (particularly in the six packs)

Darren Boes
Lethbridge, AB
Southern Alberta Railfan

texaswestern70mac Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> unfortunately... "affordable" rollingstock no
> longer exists in our hobby. when i was a
> teenager, even an intermountain canadian
> cylindrical covered hopper kit was only about $25.
> today RTR cars from the era you wish to model,
> with the above prereq's mentioned, will cost you
> at the cheap end 35-40$ per car. id suggest
> looking for older atlas and intermountain/ kadee
> stuff . prices will be reasonable with a better
> jump in quality than the blue box kits. you can
> also get detailing kits from precision scale to
> spruce up those old bluebox models. far as new..
> "affordable" and crisp details/ paint will never
> exist in the same sentence. look on ebay and
> large model train shows to find what you seek.
> your wallet will have better value in the end and
> have more of what you seek.


In general, I have no problem with $20 - $30. I have sold off a LOT of old stuff, so I have some bucks to spare. Doing it this way had always sort of been my plan from the beginning. I would usually try my kitbashing/detailing/weathering skills on the fairly cheap rolling stock, to be able to improve myself. But at this point in my life, I have a little more time for operating, but a lot less for modeling. (A shame, really. I enjoy both, immensely.)

sarailfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Also, if you're not adverse to spending a bit of
> time assembling kits, Tichy makes several very
> nice cars for the transition era, and quite
> affordable as well (particularly in the six packs)


I have purchased some of their cars in the past, and like them a lot. The details are pretty good, and lettering/painting are good quality. I had some problems in the past with their details being a little wimpy. Perhaps I was a bit heavy-handed in my earlier years? I don't know. But the Tichy cars I still have are pretty good runners... Thanks for the suggestion, nonetheless.

funnelfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't really pay that much attention to
> transition era equipment, so I may miss some
> equipment. But generally if you want cars with
> separate ladders and grab irons, your looking at
> paying $20 and up. ...

This is pretty much EXACTLY what I am looking for. Not to put down anybody with cast-on details, but really like the look and feel of separately-added ladders and such. Very classy, in my opinion.

SierraSidewinder Wrote:
>
> This is pretty much EXACTLY what I am looking for.
> Not to put down anybody with cast-on details, but
> really like the look and feel of separately-added
> ladders and such. Very classy, in my opinion.


Speaking only for myself - I prefer the appearance of free standing ladders and scale sized grab irons and bodies that tend to be more accurate. However, I have come to accept and even embrace "older" cars because their lower purchase price is what allows me to participate in the hobby at the meager level that I do. Fortunately, there were many articles written in the 80s and before on how to improve the appearance of these cars - fun projects that are a good way to build modeling skill.