Anybody gotten a PWRS PS5077 yet?

[Specter3]

Pacific Western Rail Systems seems to have gotten their PS5077s in. I know that outfit has been pretty thoroughly discussed here and I don't want to hash that out again. But they have a model that has a very large representation on the Southern in the time frame I am modeling. It is $30 a pop plus getting it into the US. Despite it being expensive and the knowledge that I will have to strip, paint and decal it, I am pretty sure that since they made the model, no one else will do one any time soon. I know the HO models have been delivered and thoroughly panned especially given the price. You can find unhappy HO guys all over talking about the faults. Has anyone gotten the N scale model yet? Anyone ordered it and are expecting it soon? I don't want to miss out if it is a serviceable model. But if it is total trash, I can definitely spend the dollars elsewhere.

Thanks!

Ryan

[ai5629]

I pre ordered all six N scale Conrail cars.  I have not received any notification they are ready to ship.  I have been reading the comments on the Modern Freight Car group on groups.io, and those HO guys are ruthless.  They have been ripping that car to shreds.  There have not been a lot of comments about the CR cars, so I am hopeful they will be good.  One complaint that I did see regarding the Conrail cars was the font used on the 1 1/2 inch brake shoe stencil at the end of each car.  Good grief.  Maybe modeling N scale for 37 years makes me thankful to just have the model produced, even with some compromises.  These are expensive toys after all.  Thank you.

Jeff

[Mark5]

Ryan, were all of the Southern's PS 5077s ex-Railbox?

https://www.pwrs.ca/view_product.php?ProductID=254015

[basementcalling]

Wait, these guys make their own cars? I thought all their products were just custom run Micro Trains.

[cjm413]

Ryan, were all of the Southern's PS 5077s ex-Railbox?

https://www.pwrs.ca/view_product.php?ProductID=254015

That is correct.

Southern did have a large number of early 5277's with 12 x-posts rather than 10 x-posts where PWRS 12 post 5077 could potentially be used as a stand-in. 

MDC's BFF car with the wrong PS roof would be another potential stand-in for the early PS 5277 after removing the rivet strips from the end panels, etc.

[cjm413]

Wait, these guys make their own cars? I thought all their products were just custom run Micro Trains.

They had previously made their own HST 4550

[Ike the BN Freak]

I pre ordered all six N scale Conrail cars.  I have not received any notification they are ready to ship.

My order has shipped, so hopefully I'll have them by the end of the week. But I had to go into the "goodie box" and request them to ship it.

[squirrelhunter]

Does any retailer in the states carry these? Or even one in Canada? I only want 1 or 2 and don't want to jump through the PWRS hoops to get them.

[Tristan Ashcroft]

I pre ordered all six N scale Conrail cars.  I have not received any notification they are ready to ship.  I have been reading the comments on the Modern Freight Car group on groups.io, and those HO guys are ruthless.  They have been ripping that car to shreds.  There have not been a lot of comments about the CR cars, so I am hopeful they will be good.  One complaint that I did see regarding the Conrail cars was the font used on the 1 1/2 inch brake shoe stencil at the end of each car.  Good grief.  Maybe modeling N scale for 37 years makes me thankful to just have the model produced, even with some compromises.  These are expensive toys after all.  Thank you.

Jeff

For the Conrail HO cars, somehow the font used for the 0 in the road number is obviously and terribly wrong.  And even though only about 20 % of those cars on Conrail had 0s in their numbers, NARC managed to run 4 of the 6 numbers with 0s in them.  (and yeah, everything bad said about the HO cars is grounded in reality)

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I ordered 4 cars at least five years ago when they were first announced. They charged my credit card then and I consider that money stolen.

I made a large stink about it several years ago at Springfield and someone finally got ahold of me. They spent about 15 minutes trying to convince me to join their "Porter" subscription service. They stated I could cancel my order but there was some service charge that equaled about 1/3 the purchase price and I would never be able to pre-order from then again.

I hung up on them in disgust.

[Specter3]

Yes the 12 post cars that SOU had were PS cars with the sill that looks like an older PS1. I don't know whether they are 5077 or 5277s. But to my knowledge these are the closest models to the 19xxx boxcars,(links to SOU Railfan)

http://southern.railfan.net/images/archive/southern/freight/box/19620.jpg

33xxx cars

http://southern.railfan.net/images/archive/southern/freight/box/33698.jpg

41xxx cars

http://southern.railfan.net/images/archive/southern/freight/box/41052.jpg

52xxxx cars

http://southern.railfan.net/images/archive/southern/freight/box/526446a.jpg

that I have ever seen produced. Athearn produces a 5277 that has the straight sill and only 10 panels that is not right as far as I can tell.

But as a person who has built a fleet out of second hand $10 and $15 boxcars I am really hesitant to pay $30 a car for something I have to strip and paint and decal. But by the same token, what are the chances any one else will do these or anything close so I can have 12 panel PS cars with the correct sill? I have modified the sill on a number of my stand ins, but I have not gone so far as to shave the sides and add the extra vertical. If it was one car, that might be an option. But when you need 10-15 of them, it doesn't  make as much sense. So maybe I can hope that the N scale cars as as bad as the HO ones and people will be dumping them for below retail in a few weeks? No, that is not my style and I can't wish that much misfortune on anyone. With the HO ones being bashed from coast to coast the chance of a next run with actual SOU paint goes down by the minute IMHO. I could pay $30 for something that I could weather a bit and run. So decisions decisions.......

[ai5629]

My order has shipped, so hopefully I'll have them by the end of the week. But I had to go into the "goodie box" and request them to ship it.

Thanks for the suggestion!  I just saw that my card was charged yesterday, so they must be in stock.  I checked my "goodie box", and requested them to be shipped.  I thought I would have gotten some sort of notification they were in stock, but no.  Hopefully I will see them in a few weeks. 

Jeff

[ai5629]

For the Conrail HO cars, somehow the font used for the 0 in the road number is obviously and terribly wrong.  And even though only about 20 % of those cars on Conrail had 0s in their numbers, NARC managed to run 4 of the 6 numbers with 0s in them.  (and yeah, everything bad said about the HO cars is grounded in reality)

I forgot about the zeros.  IIRC it was the type that had straight sides that was used on equipment that was painted by HCS in the Conrail Quality scheme.  Also, why four of six road numbers with zeros is another strange choice.     I will concur that is a pretty big gaff.  However, I am still excited to see the N scale finished product, incorrect zeros and all.  I am hopeful that the N scale version will have less of the HO assembly issues since the N scale cars have less separate parts vs. the HO cars.  Fingers crossed!   

Jeff

[Mark5]

However, I am still excited to see the N scale finished product, incorrect zeros and all.  I am hopeful that the N scale version will have less of the HO assembly issues since the N scale cars have less separate parts vs. the HO cars.  Fingers crossed!   

Jeff

Hope it is otherwise decent! (given the PWRS hoop jumping) - please share photos when you (or anyone else) gets them in hand.

[Tristan Ashcroft]

Hope it is otherwise decent! (given the PWRS hoop jumping) - please share photos when you (or anyone else) gets them in hand.

At the end of the day, they're Conrail yellow door boxcars.  On the plus side, the NARC cars aren't some kind of exquisite model that embarrasses the Atlas yellow door X71's they're mixed with.