Athearn HO Scale passenger trucks 90410 and 90411


OgreMike

OgreMike

Active Member
Hello all. I’m trying to find a dealer who sells the Athearn type 90410/411 2-axle passenger car trucks but rather than plastic, I’d like a totally metal truck. Does anyone have any info about this? Athearn stuff is plastic truck and wheels from what I can see. I’d prefer a heavier truck and wheel type than the standard plastic Athearn offering. Thanks. Mike
 
Hmmm, before Athearn there was Globe. Perhaps you could look up old Globe "kits" and see if they came with metal trucks.

I don't remember, does the Athearn 2-axle passenger truck have a truck mounted coupler pocket, or is that just the 6-wheel trucks?
 
Iron Horseman said:
Hmmm, before Athearn there was Globe. Perhaps you could look up old Globe "kits" and see if they came with metal trucks.

I don't remember, does the Athearn 2-axle passenger truck have a truck mounted coupler pocket, or is that just the 6-wheel trucks?
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Thanks for the input Iron. Yes, Athearn makes a truck mounted coupler draft box. But the entire truck seems to be plastic on their standard 90411 2axle trucks. I’d like to find the identical truck but heavier (ie metal). Mike
 
Vince-RA said:
If you don't need Athearn specifically, Walthers makes a nice all metal set of passenger trucks: https://www.walthers.com/pullman-standard-8-wheelbase-heavyweight-4-wheel-trucks-black-1-pair

The only caution I would give on these is to make sure the mounting arrangement suits your use case. Traditional bolsters will definitely not work on these, you almost need a peg to mount them on.
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Thanks Vince. I’ll take a look! Yes, the center mounting peg on the Athearn trucks is a very identifiable and central feature of their pax cars, it seems. Mike
 
OgreMike said:
Thanks Vince. I’ll take a look! Yes, the center mounting peg on the Athearn trucks is a very identifiable and central feature of their pax cars, it seems. Mike
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The problem with the other brands is the coupler mounting. Every brand I know that has coupler mounts on the truck are also plastic Lifelike, AHM/Rivarossi, Concor. I can't think of any metal trucks with coupler mounts ( Walthers, Central Valley, Soho, Rapido, etc.).

Why are you looking for metal other than weight? I've found the Athearn actually roll really well when you swap out the plastic wheels for metal ones.
 
Iron Horseman said:
The problem with the other brands is the coupler mounting. Every brand I know that has coupler mounts on the truck are also plastic Lifelike, AHM/Rivarossi, Concor. I can't think of any metal trucks with coupler mounts ( Walthers, Central Valley, Soho, Rapido, etc.).

Why are you looking for metal other than weight? I've found the Athearn actually roll really well when you swap out the plastic wheels for metal ones.
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Yeah, that’s really all I want to do is have a bit more weight. As long as the wheels can be metal, plastic trucks would be ok. Does Athearn make a metal wheeled truck in their 90411 configuration?
 
To clarify, you want the coupler draft box (i.e. mounting) to be attached to the truck? If so, that may be a bit difficult to find in metal. Because truck-mounted couplers are unrealistic, they tend to be found on cheaper, non-prototypical model trains; thus, they are usually made of plastic. Generally speaking, metal trucks are higher quality, more expensive items intended to more closely model a prototype, so it would be unusual to find such an item with a mounted coupler box.

If you just want more weight, the normal way is to add it somewhere in the car itself. Passenger cars should have plenty of room to add some weight of some sort. Is there some reason you want more weight specifically in the trucks? Changing just the trucks and wheels to metal will have only a minuscule increase in weight.

And if you just want metal wheels, you can easily change the wheelsets in those Athearn trucks to metal wheels.
 
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OgreMike said:
Yeah, that’s really all I want to do is have a bit more weight. As long as the wheels can be metal, plastic trucks would be ok. Does Athearn make a metal wheeled truck in their 90411 configuration?
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The wheels can be swapped out of the existing truck. I use Intermountain brand wheel sets. They come in 36" and 33". Prototype passengers should be 36", but I don't know what Athearn uses.
https://www.intermountain-railway.com/ho/html/40051.htm

There is also a little tool you can get to ream out the cone pockets. It really improves the rolling of the sets.
www.micromark.com

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