Intermodal


B

Boilerbuster

Member
I have a few sets of Intermodal well cars and well here is my opinion of each set
First set is the Intermountian set. they are a 5 car set thrall well car. Well with all the derailments that I incountered with the ballanced two piece trucks I found that this set is best put at the rear of the train as it just wont handle any weight. These are a 40 ft on the ends and 45 ft on the three in the middle.
I also have two concor sets and I am not happy with concor at all. They lack weight and cant even handle themselves let alone any weight added to them. This seems to be the concor way and I will never buy any more of anything from concore, These are the 48 ft 5 car set.

Finaly I just got a set of KATO 53 ft which is a three car set. There weight is perfect and the cars seem to be well ballanced the center wheel sets are a differant diameter then the end sets and are done just as the prototype. They are great at any point on the train and right from the box need no adjustment. They look great and run well. I think from now on I will be
running only KATO Intermodal cars for any intermodal setup.
 
Are the Intermountain and Concor sets heavy enough? Seems like they could benefit from more weight on the car itself..


Bah, nevermind. Just re-read the post.

If the cars are loaded, you could slip a plate in under the containers..
 
The concor cars could use more weight but as far as detail goes I really like the KATO units. However I also need to keep in mind in what I payed for the KATO ones they are much more expencive.

Wellcars.jpg


KATOWellcar.jpg


KATOIntermodal1.jpg


KATOIntermodal.jpg
 
Don, there's a reach across time - container cars next to PFE woodside reefers. :) Although they are too modern for my era. those Kato cars really do look good.
 
lol I did that on just to catch someones attention.
I run those refers with a 40's Boxcar train that consists mainly of those type refers and some box cars that I got that are all Intermountian, They are for my Steam engines. By far some of the best pieces of rolling stock out there. I have the OWRN up set as well as a few odds and ends that make up a 28 car train that are all 40 ft box and refers. I cant see how Intermountain could have gone so right on those cars and have messed up so many others. I found however on some of the cars with the two piece ballanced wheel sets all one really needs to do is loosen the screw some. However that makes the cars wobble some when rolling. It looks ok if one or so cars do that but all just looks like the maintence crews are out to lunch to much.
 
BTW I also ordered some more 53 ft containers. a set of Schnider and a set of Pacer Stacktrain containers lol Blue and Orange, I must be a broncos fan lol
I hope to make the train up mainly of Schnider and JB Hunt and the few Swift ones that I will also have later.
I drove for both Swift and JB Hunt.
 
The Kato's are cast metal. If you like their running ability, only Walthers cars will match them in weight. Athearn, IM, Atlas & Concor, its a good idea to add weight to the container to provide slightly better tracking.
 
I think your right about adding the weight to the Container. I would rather add it to the Containers due to it would be out of site and would be a little more realistic as far as where the weight is. I just wonder what would be if one would add weight to both containers top and bottom. However it would be best to add to just the lower container.
 
I have about 5 diff. brands of well cars & the metal ones track better than any. I add weights to the bottom of the bottom container. The heavier the better. I've also added weights to containers that I could get the bottoms off. The inside weights work a lot better. W/the weights on the bottom of the container it has a chance to slide around if it's not real tight in the well. I think I only have 4 real containers that I've bought at train shows real cheap. The rest are made from semi trailers that I've bought at Dollar Tree, Big Lots & Walmart. I've got a lot of semi tractors on the layout w/no trailers.

Larry
 
anyone use hte a-line sealand stack trains? i've been trying to find the nysw versions for awhile now.
 
NYSW F45 said:
anyone use hte a-line sealand stack trains? i've been trying to find the nysw versions for awhile now.
Click to expand...
PPW/A-line has them in stock:
http://www.ppw-aline.com/gunderso.htm

On another note, I'm waiting to hear back from my supplier, but I plan to use a tungsten/epoxy mix to mold "replacement" weights from A-line, Athearn, Atlas & Concor intermodal, mostly so that I can safely run bare table trains. Tungsten is 1.5x heavier by volume then lead, however it comes in a powder form so it can be messy...
 
BoilerBuster!
Yes the Kato is more expensive than other well cars. BUT you get six containers with them and the containers have magnets and a steel plate inside so they lock to each other. All other well cars I have seen comes without containers and when I have added the price for car and containers the Kato don't seems expensive any more.
As you might have guessed already I have bought a lot of the Kato's already. Sometimes I need to add a little weight to the first bottom container in the train to have the first car track better in tight curves when pulled by a long loco with short couplers.

Edited 2008-11-28
I'm referring to N-scale cars.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
NYSW F45 said:
is the tungsten safer to handle over time then the lead is?
Click to expand...
Yes, its non-toxic, as long as you don't inhale the dust! Metal dust of ANY sort is bad for your lungs. It cannot be melted and poured though (well w/o the aid of some expensive equipment, however the dust/epoxy mixture is supposed to be stiffer then and molded, poured lead!
http://www.tungstenheavypowder.com/

nof said:
BoilerBuster!
Yes the Kato is more expensive than other well cars. BUT you get six containers with them and the containers have magnets and a steel plate inside so they lock to each other. All other well cars I have seen comes without containers and when I have added the price for car and containers the Kato don't seems expensive any more.
As you might have guessed already I have bought a lot of the Kato's already. Sometimes I need to add a little weight to the first bottom container in the train to have the first car track better in tight curves when pulled by a long loco with short couplers.
Click to expand...
The Kato containers are separate, $24 for two, plus $80, or $85 for the Maxi-IV at MSRP, where did you find them with?
 
jbaakko!
Sorry for not mentioning that I'm a N-scaler. I have edited my earlier post. Thanks for the correction.
 
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