Micro Trains - February 2025 announcements

[mu26aeh]

Never thought I'd see Hannah Barron posted in a ME thread but there she is

[OldEastRR]

Maybe she'll appear again in the masthead.

[Philip H]

“The Railwire - flathead noodlers welcome.”

[dem34]

The Railwire - Send Noodlers for a Flathead Screw

[vermonter_railfan]

Well I was going to post some photos of the newest run of TTX flats but unfortunately they arrived destroyed. I have reached out to Midwest Model Railroad (where I bought them) to get their thoughts on the issue. The package was well packed but somehow both flats had wiggled themselves free inside their packaging and broke a coupler on both flats and multiple stirups and even some paint chips. Friend had a similar issue with the BNSF run, anyone else have any issues with these?

[GaryHinshaw]

Well, at least the trucks stayed in place...    The first run (OTTX) were very well packed in foam:



But that has obviously changed.  Is your set missing a clamshell half?  (Hard to tell from the photos.)

I'm starting to think these models are haunted.   I ordered the two BNSF flats from Midwest in Dec, during the Canada Post strike.  They were held for shipment until Jan 8 (when the strike was over) and I'm still waiting for the package.  Now I fear those flats will be trashed, based on your friend's experience.  I'll report back when I eventually receive them, and I guess I'll hold off on ordering these HTTXs.

added - Just to clarify: I blame Canada Post for the delays, not Midwest.  I asked Midwest to hold the shipment until the strike resolved, and tracking indicates that is has been stuck in Richmond BC for more than 2 weeks.  Oh well, I don't really have time to deal with them at the moment anyway.

[Lemosteam]

Ahh .. it's the ZEE SCALE MTL couplers that have flatheads. That was not noted in the original post I saw about them. So can we use Z screws on N coupler boxes?

@OldEastRR , to answer your question, countersink or not, the Z scale screw is not long enough to exit the thickness of the 1015/6 box, not sure it is would work with 1023/5 boxes as they are thinner.

As I have said, if you heat weld the outer corners of the 1015/6 box to prevent the cover snap from coming apart, you can countersink the screw hole with a 2mm or Imperial  drill point just enough to set the 3mm or 4mm metric phillips head Ebay screws (linked above) down to the surface allowing for much more axle clearance below the box.

[vermonter_railfan]

Well, at least the trucks stayed in place...    The first run (OTTX) were very well packed in foam:

But that has obviously changed.  Is your set missing a clamshell half?  (Hard to tell from the photos.)

I'm starting to think these models are haunted.   I ordered the two BNSF flats from Midwest in Dec, during the Canada Post strike.  They were held for shipment until Jan 8 (when the strike was over) and I'm still waiting for the package.  Now I fear those flats will be trashed, based on your friend's experience.  I'll report back when I eventually receive them, and I guess I'll hold off on ordering these HTTXs.

Both sides of the clamshell are inside the package for both cars. I did put one back inside the clamshell as it shouldve been for shipping and it doesn't really feel that secure in my opinion. I'm hoping that this is just a freak accident, and not something that's going to be continuing down the road. Honestly, I kind of prefer the foam that they had used on the first initial run. I've also been in contact with Midwest model railroad this morning and they said that they're going to remedy the issue, plus I have sent them additional photos to help them try and pinpoint if it was something on there and or if it's something to do with the case itself. There was rather heavy damage to one of them, including plastic cracking on the case itself

[samusi01]

I'm starting to think these models are haunted.

Agreed.

To date I've still only seen one of the first run of TTX available, on eBay from some Australian so I decided to pass given the S&H involved. Plus side, the most recent run of HTTX was ordered direct from the factory and arrived without incident.

[GaryHinshaw]

Just a quick follow-up on the flat car packaging issue: I finally received one of the BNSF flats from Midwest via Canada Post a few days ago and it was in good shape.   Today I also received two more flats directly from MTL and they were both in good shape too.   

However, the new clamshell design makes it possible to pack the flat horizontally rather than vertically, in such a way that you can close the jewel case with no extra force, but the car is free to rattle around:



The car in this shot is undamaged, but it would easily experience the damage that @vermonter_railfan reported during shipping.

[JoeD]

I'll let production know...thank you

Joe

[GaryHinshaw]

Thanks Joe.  Aside from the bolster pins and the clamshell design, these are awesome models: great weight, ride height, and decoration.

[sundowner]

Joe

You guys need to stretch the new 60’ flats to make 62’ bulkhead flats.