New Micro Trains Sleeper "A Review"

[Nato]

 I recieved my two MT Heavyweight 10-1-2 sleeping cars today. On a 1-10 scale I would rate them a 9.8.Not a ten you say. The car is very nicely done, detail is very good. Interrior's are a medium green color which looks nice when viewed through the windows. The platforms have the inside bulkheads with a door ,no glass in the door windows. I was under the impression the diaphrams were spring loaded. Well they do seem to move when pressed on, ,but they do not stick out very far unlike those on Rapido, Walthers light weight cars or the American Limited ones on IM Centralia cars. ("B-z-z ! Points Deduction") ,when coupled together there is quite a gap between cars ,they look better coupled to a lightweight car with a slightly extended diaphram.Even the old Rivarossi cars with Rapido couplers couple closer together. Hey!You get steps on the platform ends,no more having to buy aftermarket (if you can find them ) cast metal steps and gluing on. Here is my number one big gripe, MT you have all the data on these cars ,that includes car names so why did you leave the PULLMAN lettered car unnamed. Somewhere buried away I have an old Micro Scale set for Heavyweight Pullman lettered cars, but I'am not even sure if they haven't dried out and are no good, also if they list which car type gets what name,I will have to dig out my referrence books for that. MT could have atleast included a decal or dry transfer name sheet like Walthers is doing. The Great Northern car does have a car name which is correct for these cars after reassingement to the Empire Builder in 1929 from the 1923 Oriental Limited. All in all this is a nice model and is a welcome addation to the N Scale passenger car marketplace. The latest MT Micro News letter on page 4 shows thet Rapido Trains has produced one of their battery powered lighting kits for use with these cars. Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.

[SkipGear]

Nate,
 They left the names off at the request of MANY MANY modelers. Now I can buy 3 or 4 and just add decals, not have to worry about stripping them, screwing up the paint and then having to find not only names but the rest of the data also. The cars would have been assigned to specific railroads and names on the cars limit the sales potential of the car. People that care about names, would not buy them if it wasn't a name that was used on their road. People that don't care about names, won't even notice them missing.

 Rapido did nothing new. These are the same Easy Peasy light kits that have been sold for the past 6 months or more. The MT car was deisgned to accept them.

The only drawback to these cars is the coupling distance, everything else is a home run.

[sizemore]

I was under the impression the diaphrams were spring loaded. Well they do seem to move when pressed on, ,but they do not stick out very far unlike those on Rapido, Walthers light weight cars or the American Limited ones on IM Centralia cars. ("B-z-z ! Points Deduction") ,when coupled together there is quite a gap between cars ,they look better coupled to a lightweight car with a slightly extended diaphram....Here is my number one big gripe, MT you have all the data on these cars ,that includes car names so why did you leave the PULLMAN lettered car unnamed. Somewhere buried away I have an old Micro Scale set for Heavyweight Pullman lettered cars, but I'am not even sure if they haven't dried out and are no good, also if they list which car type gets what name,I will have to dig out my referrence books for that. MT could have atleast included a decal or dry transfer name sheet like Walthers is doing. Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.

I dont know.... An American Limited diaphragm kit cost ~5 dollars, and takes 5 minutes to install. A fresh decal sheet from Micro-Scale, or even creating your own and having another print it takes maybe 20 minutes plus a few days in the mail (worst case scenario). We are getting a car that CREAMS the IM/Centralia cars in appearance/detail versus price; I could have 3/4 of these Pullmans for roughly the same price of 2 IM/Centralia cars which have HORRIBLY inset windows (when Rapido and Walthers both have fitted "glass" for roughly the same price as the IM/Centralia cars). This is a homerun in comparison to the 3rd base hit by both IM/Centralia or Walthers.

Just my .02 (Canadien),
The S.

(edit: should have been MS not MT...soz Joe)

[JoeD]

Thanks for the review, good to get feedback like this.  The Pullman without the name was intentional because so many folks asked us for this version...and if sales are any indication, they were correct.  We considered doing a decal sheet, but with all the name possiblities, it seemed a can of worms I didn't want to open.  Micro Scale has these in stock and with a minor investment you can buy a bunch of trains and letter them easily.  Heck I didn't even get any of them, and we made a bunch of extras too.  Looks like I have to dig around in the scrap box for my SP's )

Cheers

Joe
MTL

[Chris333]

Some places are sold out and getting re-stocked. I got mine today, it does look good.

[oakcreekco]

Got my one "Pullman" early this week, and it surely is a nice looker. I can't comment on the coupling, as I only have the one, but I ran it with some Kato's behind my PA, and it looked very nice.

Just as important......................it has run flawlessly. No derails, skips, jumps, or anything else. It's just a car doing its' thing very well.

It's nice to have cars this well done, affordable, and MADE IN THE USA. I'll be buying more without a doubt.

[Bob Bufkin]

Waiting for my 2.  I've got the decals for these and just need to decide what name to place on one.  The other one will have a made-up name of my choice.  Are any going to be done in other paint besides Pullman Green?

[sizemore]

Waiting for my 2.  I've got the decals for these and just need to decide what name to place on one.  The other one will have a made-up name of my choice.  Are any going to be done in other paint besides Pullman Green?

I have two and have two more on the way. Be Jealous. 

The S.

[bbussey]

Still waiting for my one to arrive.  I'll add ALM diaphragms and move the couplers back if necessary.

Are 1015 couplers on the sleeper, or are they 1023 as on the RPO?

[Chris333]

They are 1015's held in with a pin, very easy to move back. I only have one car, when the others are released I'll see how big the gap is and tighten it up as much as my curves will allow.

[wazzou]

They are 1015's held in with a pin, very easy to move back. I only have one car, when the others are released I'll see how big the gap is and tighten it up as much as my curves will allow.

On which layout?  ;D

[Pete Steinmetz]

I have 3 of the cars.  If they had a car name from the factory, I would have only bought 1.

Do full baggage cars in many many roads.

[Chris333]

On which layout?

Which ever one is up when MT releases a whole train. 

[altohorn25]

One fix I've found for the space between the cars is to swap out the n scale (1015) coupler and put in a body mount MT Z scale one instead.  It pulls the cars much closer together and they look more prototypical as well as far as their size.  Put FVM 36" metal wheels in the trucks and you are good to go.  I purchased 4 of these and plan to strip a couple for my heavyweight MILW Olympian.

Nate

[jmlaboda - RIP]

Is the roof a separate part???