Athearn TankTrain

[transitionalman]

Saw this set of 12 cars from the early 1990s on Conrail in Porter, IN with a mix of old/new schemes.  Anyone know what industry in NW Indiana used these?  I might have to rethink and get some sets.

[toddsyr]

Hi folks, just joined this forum because of this thread.

First I would like to thank Chris333 for posting the TankTrain cars being led by the EL unit in reply #7. I model the EL in N scale in a fictitious Southern Tier locale.

 All the research I managed to dig up said these cars traveled 60 at a time in 15 car sections on the old DL&W branch to Niagara Mohawk in Oswego. This was in the early CR days though, EL never saw the business.

I bought 45 of the Athearn N scale TankTrain cars to represent this train. It's probably the only CR train I will ever own. It doesn't fit my era, but I remember seeing it growing up in Lakeland NY near the State Fairgrounds.

The other day I finally got around to putting the entire train on the layout. It looks great but it likes to uncouple a lot. These are my only freight cars without Micro-Trains couplers. I don't have any experience with the McHenry couplers these cars come with. I haven't run it much yet but if anyone has any input it would be appreciated. Could it be the hoses connecting the cars causing the uncoupling or is it the McHenry couplers acting up?  Tomorrow is model railroad day for me so yes, I'll try and run the train with the hoses removed where it uncouples. I'm just looking for others experiences here for now. Thanks.

Todd K Stearns

[tom mann]

Welcome @toddsyr !

[toddsyr]

Thank you Tom. It's a pleasure to be here.

Todd K Stearns

[jagged ben]

I have heard that the hoses are a bit long on the Athearn cars, and a bit stiff, and that cutting a wee bit off them reduces the forcings that make them derail.  I say I have heard, because I still haven't gotten mine onto the track yet.   

McHenry's can be replaced with Accumates, if you can get enough of them.  I'm sure there's a way to drill little slots for the nubs on MT couplers, too, but that would be a lot of tedious work for 45 cars.

[Wardie]

I have had trouble with the McHenry couplers on all the Athearn releases I have gotten in the last 3 months, Tank Train cars, berwick box cars, F89 flats, etc. Not sure what is going on with them but they do not want to stay coupled.

[toddsyr]

Good news Ben & Wardie. My 45 car train now runs flawlessly. Saturday is model railroad day at my house and I have a guy come and help me out with things that might be tricky etc. After a quick look he discovered most of the coupler boxes were not screwed in tight and that some sagged just enough for the cars to uncouple at times. No more uncouplings every minute or so.  None, with over an hour of running.

As for these cars derailing, well, that happened to me too. At first I couldn't get one lap (a little over a scale mile or so ) without a derailment. Then it happened every two or three laps. I kept at it and now I have zero derailments. I don't know if the connecting hoses had to be flexed a bit to nimble them up or maybe the trucks or wheels had to wear in bit or what. If your TankTrains derail, just try to keep running them and see if they improve.

If anyone wants to see the train running:

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Todd K Stearns

[jagged ben]

Nice Todd.  That makes sense about the hoses loosening up.

[toddsyr]

It's possible Ben. Something wore in or loosened up without much effort. I hope this is some help to others who may have these cars in N scale. Well, HO scale too, but those cars are probably a totally different animal.  4 hours of testing these now and still no problems.

Todd K Stearns