Is this really necessary re: 4000CD cars?

[Mark5]

On the "Exact" railer 4000 - are the couplers body mount or truck mount?

(they look truck mount)

[up1950s]

Having the same car and paint done up by 2 different manufactures serves us very well .

First , we now have a comparison to see how each manufacturer attacked equal challenges .

Second , we can choose the one we want .

Third , by getting both we have a greater number of cars with different numbers .

Forth , very rarely , except when first delivered , do the sister cars look like clones , weathering , fade , and re-stenciling happens .

[asarge]

On the "Exact" railer 4000 - are the couplers body mount or truck mount?

From the picture of the BN Car, they are definately truck mounted and the desription says McHenry Couplers.

[asciibaron]

Famous last words! ;D

do you know of another way to have 2 dozen LV covered hoppers?

[Brakie]

Guys,I will buy both brands of hoppers.

So,do we need 'em? For me the answer is yes!

[lock4244]

On the "Exact" railer 4000 - are the couplers body mount or truck mount?

From the picture of the BN Car, they are definately truck mounted and the desription says McHenry Couplers.

My experience with McHenrys so far is that the draw bars are one size fits all, and the don't fit all... just looks like my offset hoppers are cushioned. That and the truck mounted couplers makes me wanna go with the BLMA cars. Not that I really need any, but Craig's look freakin' sweet... they'd have come up here in the 1980's, so it's ok.

[Mark5]

I've been unimpressed with the McHenry's (all the truck mounted ones). Main problem being as pointed out the excess "cushion" coupler effect. They might be useful as body mounts - I may pick up a set of the separate ones for experimentation ...

[wm3798]

The excess shank length is the problem.  With Accumates, the extension is due to the ridiculous bi-polar box (designed to work with Crapidos) but you can clip them and do a quick body mount set back far enough to fix the problem. 


I'm not sure you can push the McHenry box far enough to compensate for the shank without interfering with the wheels...  Especially if you're going "down low" on the ride height.
Lee

[Robbman]

Undec = cover everything 

that's the only way i'm getting 2 dozen LV covered hoppers for the zinc mine!

LV bought ten PS-4000s... they leased another 28 (TLDX reporting marks).  All were trough hatch equipped, and all were gone by 1974.

[bbussey]

Good point mbut remember, most people think in terms of 50' and may not realize 52'6" may be what they are looking at. It's not that people like nice round numbers, just that they don;t know any better. This is speaking from a retailer perspective.

That's my point exactly.  You articulated it perfectly.

bb

[asarge]

I'll predict that sometime in 2010 we will have new gondola of the 52'6" variety announced. Doubt we'd see it until 2011, but we just might see it announced later in the next year. No, many people just don't really care about 50', 53' or 52'6". But if they don't care, why not do it right and get everybody interested. 52' 6" Fishbelly Gons have been way underrepresented over the last decade in N scael. And they were/are everywhere.

My point on theundecorated models is that many will say they want them but not as many will either spring to buy them or if they do, try to dump them or trade them back when their road is announced. But if you need a dozen or so then the undec may be the best way to go, unless you don;t care about duplicate numbers.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Atlas has two 52' gondolas available, how have they sold? I just bought my first Evans, the other one is a bit too new for my 1990's based era.

BLMA wins on paint, ladder rungs and body mounted couplers.

Were any of these seen around the late 1990's? If so who ran them? I would like to add a few for my Boston line.

[bbussey]

BLMA wins on paint, ladder rungs and body mounted couplers.

Add to that the height-over-rails, brake platform, roof grabs, vertical posts, truck detail, and wheels.

[FrankCampagna]

Good point mbut remember, most people think in terms of 50' and may not realize 52'6" may be what they are looking at. It's not that people like nice round numbers, just that they don;t know any better. This is speaking from a retailer perspective.

That's my point exactly.  You articulated it perfectly.

There simply aren't many gondolas out there, period. I'd buy the correct ones. Until then, I'll buy MTs, because they are there. Correct ones aren't.

Frank

[Robbman]

Atlas has two 52' gondolas available, how have they sold? I just bought my first Evans, the other one is a bit too new for my 1990's based era.

BLMA wins on paint, ladder rungs and body mounted couplers.

Were any of these seen around the late 1990's? If so who ran them? I would like to add a few for my Boston line.

Quite a few I'd say, given that they'd still be in their service life.  When I did an UMLER search back in Feb... only a very few CSX (former ACL) and BNSF (former ATSF) cars were still in there. 

I know for sure the green C&NW cars were still plying the rails up to 1996 or so... at least in my neck of the woods on NS trains anyway.