Proper trucks for Rail Box cars.

[Catt]

Hi guys got a question for you.I am about to start a 3 boxcar project to make some Railbox using some Round House kits.I'm planning to make these prototypical as I possibly can.

What are the proper trucks for these cars? I'm thinking 70 ton trucks with 33" wheels? Does that sound right?

[nkalanaga]

Definitely 70 ton, and 33 inch wheels, but I have no idea beyond that.  If you have the "good" kits, with MDC's roller bearing trucks, I'd just change the wheels.  The plastic wheels, on metal axles, weren't much good, and even turning the flanges so they would work on small rail didn't help them.  But the frames are fine, and take Precision Masters 0.543 inch axles.  MT 1008 wheels, the original versions, worked as well, so any "MT axle length" replacement wheels would probably be usable.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I think there are a few with 100t trucks, maybe some of the ACF cars? The rest should be 70t. It takes a lot of work to improve the running qualities of the MDC truck, I would just use MTL Barber trucks.

[cjm413]

I think there are a few with 100t trucks, maybe some of the ACF cars? The rest should be 70t. It takes a lot of work to improve the running qualities of the MDC truck, I would just use MTL Barber trucks.

The ACF 5077's and 5290's were 70T cars.

Also, the offset kingpins on the MTL trucks make them a poor substitute for the MDC trucks that have centered kingpins.   If you don't want to keep the MDC trucks, Atlas makes 70T trucks with centered kingpins.

[nkalanaga]

My trucks have run for years with no problems.  Some, especially towards the end of production, had some thin flash, that interfered with the wheels, but that was easy to trim off.  The secret is to use good wheels.  The MDC wheels, metal or plastic, were junk.

I have a lot of these trucks in service, as I bought a hundred pair as kits from Walthers.  At one time MDC sold them as parts:  frame, pin, coupler, wheels, etc.  All I bought were the frames and pins, and a bunch of PM wheels. 

I've also trimmed the raised ring off the top, installed 36 inch wheels, and made 100-ton trucks from them, before read-to-run 100T trucks were readily available.  Atlas plastic and metal, MT, and FVM 36 inch wheels all work fine in them.

If you do change the trucks, remember that BLMA trucks will make the car sit too low, unless you add a washer!

[Catt]

Thanks for the imput guys it is appreciated.