IM "Value Line" 50' High Cubes

[basementcalling]

So, from looking at the NSS page pics of the models, it appears the SP relettered GWS cars are painted with faded color compared to the GVSR version?

If so, I like.

[nkalanaga]

I, also, like closer coupling for most cars.  But these aren't supposed to couple closely!

Off topic. but that is an unremarked reason for getting rid of roofwalks.  With increasing use of cushion underframes, the roofwalks had to be extended as well, and the overhangs were getting inconvenient, support-wise.  If there had been a reason for workers to walk the roofs, something would have been done, but in this case safety and construction issues pointed in the same direction.  Covered hoppers had to keep theirs, but very few covered hoppers have extended draft gear.

[tehachapifan]

Fairly confident this SSW photo is from the '90-ish period:

http://www.railgoat.railfan.net/photos/sp/ssw/ssw061579_derek_waggoner.jpg

Looks like it could be.

[basementcalling]

Just listed on Hogtrainz for anyone bummed that they might have missed out on some of the roadnames from other vendors.

https://hogtrainz.com/NINTERMOUNTAIN50FTHIGHCUBE.htm

BN is already off the board though, but all other road names still listed as in stock.


Good thread, and when combined with the proto discussion from the earlier thread from 3 years ago (Man how the Chine supply pipeline is unclogging )  it made picking the least foobie cars easier.

If I am reading sequencing correctly, a few of these may have lasted long enough to run along with TBOX and FBOX cars?

[jagged ben]

...
If I am reading sequencing correctly, a few of these may have lasted long enough to run along with TBOX and FBOX cars?

For 'modern', post 2000, I would go first for the SP Golden West, BNSF and MDW.  Next in line would be UP, ATSF, and the later SP and SSW, with a lot of weathering.   The others could be appropriate with the right kind of patching.

[basementcalling]

For 'modern', post 2000, I would go first for the SP Golden West, BNSF and MDW.  Next in line would be UP, ATSF, and the later SP and SSW, with a lot of weathering.   The others could be appropriate with the right kind of patching.

@jagged ben, about what I was thinking. Hoping to do some sequential fleet weathering with a couple yellow door SP & SSW gunked the hell up badly, the newer SP & SSW scheme heavily weathered but not as much, some bleached out and weathered UP, and then a mix of SP Golden West and BNSF looking well used but respectable. Might throw in a couple pure GWS to contrast with the faded SP reporting mark ones.

All the MDW cars in this scheme I have seen are pretty ugly. I'm not getting any DRGW or ATSF. Missed the BN cars completely.

[C855B]

Thanks to the heads-up about dwindling inventory, I managed to snag one each BN, SP and SSW. Looks like I'll see 'em Thursday.

[C855B]

They arrived a day early. IM gets an A+ from me. Lettering is OMG crisp - even the lease stenciling is legible... under 10X magnification, that is.    Wheels look great. Yes, these may not have the ultimate in modern detailing, but that is to be expected at the price point. They most certainly convey the ambiance of the real thing I saw on SP every day growing up in the Mojave area.

Where IM scored in my book is the body-mounted couplers. Thankfully they ignored the trend of molding an MTL-compatible coupler box into the underframe. It is a separately-applied MTL 1015 box and coupler. Will wonders ever cease! Replacing with True Scale Couplers was a straight swap - easy-peasy. Better yet, though it didn't fully model the extended draft gear, the long shank TSC better conveys the idea (on the left, obviously):



Mikey likes it! Hey Mikey!

[Mark5]

Coupler Fail. Should'nt these have extended draft gear?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I'm jealous of your SP cars!
I missed those and the Cotton Belt ones. Maybe I'll find some this weekend at Timonium.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I ended up getting over a dozen of these cars, and may get a few more. Mostly SP/SSW/Golden West but a few UP and an ATSF as well. These are instantly some of my favorites. They just look right to me. And the price is good too.

This is what Atlas SHOULD be doing with the Walthers tooling.

[basementcalling]

I'm jealous of your SP cars!
I missed those and the Cotton Belt ones. Maybe I'll find some this weekend at Timonium.

@Ed Kapuscinski , scroll up and clicky the linky.

[jagged ben]

Coupler Fail. Should'nt these have extended draft gear?

You know it says something that this is even an expectation nowadays.  It was only a few years ago that Wheels of Time and ESM first introduced models with extended draft gear.  A lot of Atlas and Athearn models that ought to have them still don't.  This is of course IM's 'value line', too. 

I think what surprises me most is that after all these years we still don't have an extended draft gear offering from Micro-Trains that would just be a screw-off, screw-on replacement for 1015s or 1023s. 

[tehachapifan]

Also interesting that this boxcar has two inline screw holes as if intended for some other coupler box arrangement.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Those are holdovers from the LBF days.