Quality of IHC ore cars?


jasonelki

jasonelki

Milwaukee Roader
Looking to purchase some of these but have never seen them in person. Are they nice items? How about the details? What brand do they compare with, athearn, proto? I suppose these are older items since I have yet to see them at my LHS.

Thanks for any advice.
Jason
 
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Wow, IHC must be fairly average stuff, if it was really nice or very poor someone would have let me know! :D
 
Easy there grasshopper"
If it were I , Better you maybe you should seek out either The Older MDC cars or the newer Walther cars as IHC ore cars are most likely going to need a few modifications for smooth operation.
the wheel sets most likely will not meet the RP-25 spec's
The truck bolsters will be the split variety using pressure rather than a center screw to hold them,finally the couplers will be the talgo type.

One thing I would recommend is what ever ore manufacturers car you choose you might with to think about short drawbars between cars forming 8 to 10 cars strings rather than individual couplers on each car.

Whatever your choice Good Luck. :)
 
The IHC ore cars were made at least 15 years ago. As GN said, the flanges are oversized, the couplers are horn hooks and truck mounted, and it's not easy to replace them with body mounted couplers because the ore cars are so short. The wheels at least need to be replaced to run well on anything smaller than code 100 track. The detaisl are very coarse compared to any of the modern cars. If budget is an issue, these can sometimes be picked up cheap on e-bay. With some additional detailing, wheel replacement, and going with drawbars, you can have a presentable train. If budget isn't an issue, the Walthers ore cars are far better in both running and detail qualities.
 
GN and Jim, thank you very much for your responses. I think I'll avoid these ore cars, I've got enough projects already! I'll have to look into the walthers cars in the future.
Thanks, Jason
 
If'n ya want some nice coal cars get the Atlas offerings. I also run the Stewart kits. I don't care for Walthers, as they seem to be overpriced for what you get. If you don't mind doing a little detail work, it's STILL hard to beat the price of old Athearn BB kits.

Bob
 
I got some about 8 years ago, it was a pain in the backside fitting couplers and new trucks so i sold them all on fleabay, however 6 years later i found a good use for the couplers, trucks and wheels, i left them in a plastic tub of steel nails and screws and left it out in the rain, 2 years later they are rusty as anything and are now scrap loads in my scrap gondolas, so some good did come out of the experiance ;)
 
stationmaster said:
If'n ya want some nice coal cars get the Atlas offerings. I also run the Stewart kits. I don't care for Walthers, as they seem to be overpriced for what you get. If you don't mind doing a little detail work, it's STILL hard to beat the price of old Athearn BB kits.

Bob
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Hmm, I see the atlas N scale ore cars, but not the HO version. Do/did they offer these at one time?
 
I didn't buy mine, but inherited about 50 of them. Dad had a knack of buying undecorated cars and badging them for his needs. I haven't bought any, but these are Atlas, no doubt about that. All are marked for U.S Steel and most look to have decals applied to undecorated cars. I will see if I have any to photograph here. Most of my cars are up north at our new house. I should be up there sometime this week. Hopefully. That is my plan, anyway.

Another manufacturer to check would be Bowser. I know I have a buttload of their coal cars. AccuRail may also market ore cars.

Bob

I have found that the ONLY cars Walthers does a decent job with is their passenger cars. Even they are overpriced but do lend themselves nicely to fine detail work.

Bob
 
stationmaster said:
I didn't buy mine, but inherited about 50 of them. Dad had a knack of buying undecorated cars and badging them for his needs. I haven't bought any, but these are Atlas, no doubt about that. All are marked for U.S Steel and most look to have decals applied to undecorated cars. I will see if I have any to photograph here. Most of my cars are up north at our new house. I should be up there sometime this week. Hopefully. That is my plan, anyway.

Another manufacturer to check would be Bowser. I know I have a buttload of their coal cars. AccuRail may also market ore cars.

Bob

I have found that the ONLY cars Walthers does a decent job with is their passenger cars. Even they are overpriced but do lend themselves nicely to fine detail work.

Bob
Click to expand...

Oops, I should have specified taconite ore cars, which are very short and would look and function well on my layout!

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/932-40501
 
I really like the old Roundhouse ore cars...
IMG_4102.jpg


That have cast metal bases, are reasonably detailed, and best of all they're cheap like me. :) And at only 22 scale feet long, they're perfect for a layout that has small radius curves.
 
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