Wheels of Time 60 foot Arch Roof Baggage Cars

[Nato]

                  Wheels of Time 60 Foot Arch Roof Baggage cars are now available. These are very nice cars with four or six wheel trucks as per prototypes' also roof vents where applied match cars that had them. Now for my only gripe/complaint. The colors on the Union Pacific Cars. The Chinese factory that produced the models for Wheels O Time got the yellow color way wrong, it a pale almost canary yellow and the gray is very close to black. Previous runs of W O T cars had a yellow that looked much better with more orange cast to it also the gray while still a bit too dark was less blackish looking. All the other roads are wonderfully done, Southern Pacific two tone gray looks spot on to me, The brown and orange IC car is very nice, so are the Quackawana (Lackawanna) dark green car and the CN car in the 1954 scheme. The cars come with moveable baggage doors which like on previous runs refuse to stay closed when the cars are running (think old Kadee/MT box car sliding doors) and 36" metal wheels. The back of the large jewel case gives a specific history for each roads car. Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.   

[Mark5]

I have to agree on the UP cars  - I saw the cars in the store recently and the yellow is Dayglo. I can't believe this got past QC.

Mark

[brokemoto]

I bought one of the Delay, Linger and Wait cars and one of the SP cars for my mail trains.  They are nice cars.  I did not buy an Uncle Pete.  When the Atlas shorty cars show up, I can butt two vestibule ends of the observation and make a CNJ coach.  The decals are out there for N scale CNJ coaches (too bad no head end cars, though).  If only I could find something that remotely resembles Reading Company passenger equipment, I could run an Interstate Express.

[Cajonpassfan]

So other than the new paint schemes, these cars are the same as the previous release, or am I missing something?
Shame about the yellows, manufacturers seem to have a hell of a time matching UP's Armour Yellow. The are as many yellows out there as there are manufacturers, or more.
Fortunately, I model pre-'52 era when heavyweight cars were painted properly, in green and TTG
Otto K.

[thomasjmdavis]

Shame about the yellows, manufacturers seem to have a hell of a time matching UP's Armour Yellow. The are as many yellows out there as there are manufacturers, or more.

Otto K.

Actually, at this point in N scale, there are MORE UP yellows than there are manufacturers. Most manufacturers have used at least 2 different yellows (Kato may be on 3 by now).  This is at least 2 for WoT. What annoys me about WoT is that, at least for railroads I follow, they can knock out an artist rendering of a paint scheme for their pre-order ads that is right on, so I know they know what color it is supposed to be.

Among my first ever pre-orders was an ACL baggage in purple scheme which I pre-ordered after comparing the ad to photos- so I know they know they delivered it in the wrong color.  I have been hesitant about preorders ever since.

[Ike the BN Freak]

Has anyone lowered and/or body mounted couplers to these? I got one and it just looks like it rides way too high

[SandyEggoJake]

Speaking of riding high....

Color of UP is one thing.  This is quite another...

"NOTE - For customers who have ordered the Harriman series cars (Southern Pacific and Union Pacific), we are aware of a problem with the flange scapping one of the underframe ribs. We are working on a solution to remedy the problem for all of our customers. Thank you!"

Having said that, great to see these re-released, though do wish they had offered a cheaper unpainted / undec version. 

Anyone disappointed and willing to sell me theirs for a bash on the cheap?

 

[Cajonpassfan]

Has anyone lowered and/or body mounted couplers to these? I got one and it just looks like it rides way too high

In my opinion, they only look like they ride high because the prototype rode high.
The top of the Harriman roof is at 14-6", just about where it ought to be.
Otto K.

[Nato]

                       :|When Con Cor released their smooth side diner (GN with reversed sides) and their smooth side sleeper (also GN) in Union Pacific colors they used what I can only call canary yellow on these cars and changed their almost orange color on the others. They fairly quickly realized their mistake, and made a big announcement that they were switching to Scale Coat paint for everything. A great choice as their UP yellow and the gray were much closer to spot on than anything I have seen lately, although I thought the Walther's cars looked pretty good. Nate Goodman (Nato). 

[Ike the BN Freak]

In my opinion, they only look like they ride high because the prototype rode high.
The top of the Harriman roof is at 14-6", just about where it ought to be.
Otto K.

Is that for all the protos? or just the ones on 6 wheel trucks versus 4 wheel?

Mine is a 4 wheel truck version and it looks high

[thomasjmdavis]

The roofline of the 6 wheel truck version arched roof (which is not necessarily modeling a Harriman, per se) does ride a bit higher than a MT baggage car.  My 6 wheel, arched roof 60' car is from first run, and painted in ACL (green, also have the purple 70' car), #504. According to the ACL diagram book (and the book has a diagram for #504), the car height is shown as 14' 4 3/4".  The MT car is based on an Erie prototype that according to Erie drawings is 14'2 1/16" (Erie was apparently picky about these things).  So the WoT car SHOULD BE slightly taller overall than the MT car.  When I couple them and put a straight edge on top of the WoT car, it clears the top of the MT car by some fraction of a mm- and not far off the prototype 3 inch difference..

I was going to measure the heights of the two models, but (as one would expect) my caliper battery has chosen this moment to die.  With luck, I will be able to find one while shopping later today and won't need to order from China.

The only major difference I can see is that the ACL diagram indicates the door is paneled below the windows (spec'd in writing as a "Met-L-Wood" door), and the model is flat- apparently modeled on a sheet steel door.

[Cajonpassfan]

Well, seems I spoke too soon and commented from apparently hazy memory...bad choice
This morning I looked up a bunch of UP Harriman head end car erection diagrams, and every one of them shows 14'0" to the top of the roof. So Ike's initial comment about the WOT cars riding too high would appear accurate, at least for the UP. My bad.
Otto K.