Micro-trains pet peeves poll

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Is there really an N-scale product out there that is perfect in all details, or are we each just deciding on what level of imperfection we notice / know about / are prepared to put up with?

That is EXACTLY what we're all doing! I guess my issues with MTL is that they push MY buttons for stuff like that. But in this example, it's the loads that bug me. That's a LOT of steel to put on a car like that. It just looks goofy. Really goofy, worse than the boxcar full of pipe!

[cv_acr]

Is there really an N-scale product out there that is perfect in all details, or are we each just deciding on what level of imperfection we notice / know about / are prepared to put up with?

That is EXACTLY what we're all doing! I guess my issues with MTL is that they push MY buttons for stuff like that. But in this example, it's the loads that bug me. That's a LOT of steel to put on a car like that. It just looks goofy. Really goofy, worse than the boxcar full of pipe!

Yeah, those boxcar loads are pretty bad too. How the heck is that supposed to have gotten through the 6' wide door?

[Dave V]

I knew something looked "wrong" about the Santa Fe flatcars offered this month. They come equipped with archbar trucks, OK until about 1940, but also have a side mounted Ajax brake wheel. Properly, the cars would have a fold down vertical shaft, horizontal wheel handbrake. I suppose this is another "close enough".

Wonder how many people caught that; would catch that; would be bothered by that? I know Ed (& others) might disagree, but sometimes close enough IS good enough, imho ... it often is for Gov't work - why can't it be for a 'reduced reality' / MTL world?

Is there really an N-scale product out there that is perfect in all details, or are we each just deciding on what level of imperfection we notice / know about / are prepared to put up with?

Well, I think the thing that bugs me is that if they're going to do the research into an obscure prototype to try to match the paint, they should be checking the obvious stuff like what brake rigging and trucks would be appropriate for what era, etc.

I've been becoming more and more aware of the differences in freight cars and freight car types as I delve deeper into the "modeling" aspect of the hobby (now that the "build a reliable and scenicked layout" phase is done), and I am noticing more and more issues with Micro Trains cars that I didn't before.

MTL still makes the best couplers in my opinion, and they make good trucks (minus the pizza-cutters), but the car discrepencies are starting to get my attention.

I'm still quite happy with an 85-90% solution so long as it's reasonable.  If my gon has one too few panels, I don't care.  If my boxcar door is a foot too narrow, I don't mind.  38-foot pipes in a 40 foot boxcar?  I have a problem with that.

[wm3798]

I could be wrong (been wrong before...) but steel plates usually move in gondolas, no?  Just askin'...
Lee

[Chris333]

They have a coal load in the works for a flatcar load, but it wasn"t ready yet 

[3rdrail]

I could be wrong (been wrong before...) but steel plates usually move in gondolas, no?  Just askin'...
Lee

The AAR open top loading rules from the 1930's that I have do have rules for loading steel plate on flat cars. But, I agree that it is far more common in gondolas.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I usually see plate on flats, like the IM 60' cars. Slabs usually end up in gons though.

[Iain]

I've only seen plate on flats.

[3rdrail]

I've only seen plate on flats.

You would not see it in gons, unless you were on an overpass.   ;D

[Greyryder]

My biggest pet peeve with MT these days is not making trucks available with low profile wheels in bulk packs.

I need to purchase a few bulk packs but I have been holding out to when they come with low profile wheels. I think it is a sham that I should have to purchase new trucks and then wheels for the ones I will throw out. >

Just more incentive to switch over to metal wheelsets.

[GonzoCRFan]

I've only seen plate on flats.

You would not see it in gons, unless you were on an overpass.   ;D

That is not exactly true:

http://sean121982.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1189084

http://sean121982.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1189083


They use those to ship excessively wide steel plate, they're fairly common coming out of the old Lukens plate mills in Coatesville and Conshohocken, PA

[ai5629]

In regards to strange loads in boxcars, I have seen railroad wheels in a boxcar.  I saw this at the Conrail Hollidaysburg car shop about 10 or so years ago.  The boxcar was a Conrail BR50L, nee Reading XLj, or if you prefer, a 50' PS with a 10' door.  I thought that was really cool myself.  I have also heard of aluminum ingots being shipped in Canadian National boxcars for the Werner ladder plant in Greenville, PA.  I would have to agree that the steel plates seem a little far fetched.  If I were doing plates, I would get thin brass, paint it a steel color, and band a bunch together. 

[Dave V]

Overall, I'm still happy MTL is in business, and I still review their monthly offerings.  As recently as 2 weeks ago I bought an MTL car (a Conrail gon with a very nice railroad tie load).

But Atlas has really been shining lately, between offering must-have cars with a good mix of common and uncommon road names, lower ride height, low-pro wheels, sharp paint, new body styles, etc.  If MTL wishes to compete with Atlas for the business of guys like me and others here who are modelers and runners, they may need to make some adjustments.  If they're more interested in keeping the collector's market cornered, then they will probably keep on with business as usual.

Maybe by default I associate with like-minded hobbyists, but the only real N "collector" I know (Todd Treaster) also has a humongous layout he operates.  So I guess I still don't really relate to the pure collector, because I'm not real familiar with any of them.  Sure we all have an element of the collector in us, but I suspect many (if not most) of us here at the Railwire are interested in running these cars in a realistic way past realistic scenes.

So the burn comes when a flawed car (flaw is, of course, viewer-dependent) rolls through a scene that we've otherwise gone to pains to make as correct as possible.  So our carefully painted and detailed GP38-2s pull the local through a faithfully reporduced right-of-way, only to pick up an MTL boxcar sitting a foot and a half too high with a body color two shades off...  In many cases I'm OK with that if the positives about the car outweigh the negatives.  But if Atlas or someone else offers a very similar yet more correct car, I'd have to pass.

Nevertheless, I suspect MTL will hit a homer for me a few times a year, ensuring there will always be a few MTL cars riding high above my rails!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Thinking more about it, those loads would be 150 tons each, easy.

Wow... that doesn't even take knowledge of trains to get right.

[wm3798]

3/4" steel plate weighs 30.72 lbs/sq. ft.  So, an 8'x8' plate would weigh in at just under a ton.  How many plates are on the model and how big are they?

If there were 100 plates at a ton each, that would probably work out to four hacks of 25 sheets each, which, not counting for spacers, be about 19" tall.  That wouldn't be outrageous for a modern car.  But archbar trucks and a wooden deck?  Mmmm.

Lee