What do you think about Athearn,Walthers,Concor passenger cars


D

dekker

Member
Here is why I am asking. I am starting to put together an Amtrak set. I am wanting it to be the modern day double decker superliners in phase 3 or 4 paint. I don't think that Athearn even offers superliners but I could be wrong. I have purchased several Walthers RTR frieght cars and I think that they are great. I have not purchased any RTR from Concor or Athearn. I know that you get what you pay for but I was just looking for some input. How does Concor pass. cars( and frieght in general) rate against the other two? PS: I am not into SUPER detail just a good looking, smooth running, nice product. Thanks!
 
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Well I'm not sure exactly the style you're after but the Athearn streamline cars are pretty nice. I've bought a bunch and like them. They're all older blue box pieces.

They don't necessarily have the detail of some of the more expensive stuff though, but they can be had for pretty reasonable prices on eBay.

Mark
 
Athearn's existing line of passenger cars dates from the 1950s, and has no prototypes except for (barely) the baggage and RPO cars. The others are shorty or freelanced versions of actual cars.

ConCor's cars are crude, mostly 1970s tooling.

Walthers is definitely at the top of the pile. If you are wanting Superliners, Walthers is the way to go but be aware there is a new run of them now with a plated finish. The older runs aren't bad either but if you like the plated finish, you probably wouldn't want to mix the old and new. Walthers began making classic outline (pre-Amtrak) passenger cars again about 7(?) years ago and they've pretty much outgunned everybody in terms of variety since.

If you just want something to put on the track and run, the Athearn cars are cheap and run well - nothing short of a 7.9 earthquake will derail them.

Andy
 
I bought 12 Con-Cor superliners a few years ago & it took me awhile to figure out how to keep them on the track. 1st thing I had to do was realign all the wheels w/an NMRA gage, then I had to add xtra weights to every car, then I had to glue the roofs to the sidewalls because they were warped & then I had to redo all of the couplers to the right heighth. Some cars took a dropped head coupler & some took a standard coupler & 2 of them had to have a raised head coupler. 3 of them were phase 1 & 9 of them were phase 2, but the diff. cars in the bunch didn't take all the same coupler heighth.
So, I can tell you I've seen some of the Walthers Streamliners & they are much nicer & have more detail. The early Walthers cars were slightly bowed in the middle(drooped center) on some, not all.

Larry
 
i like the walthers cars from what i've seen. i personally dont have any, but i do want to get a few for an ocs train.

how about the rapido cars?
 
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