Freight Car Accuracy

[chessie8553]

Being that this is the 'diesel detailer', most of us probably put a bit of time and effort to model locomotives that are highly accurate depictions of the prototype. But what about the rest of the train? Recently, ExactRail has released a model of the Berwick 7327 60' box car and Chessie is one of the road names being offered. However, ExactRail's model is not exactly.....exact (AlmostExactRail). I wont get into the details, but I wonder how important is freight car accuracy to you? (especially considering that some of these cars cost around $30 - $40 a pop!)

[beentherecnthat]

I tend to model fairly accurate cars for my home road (CN) but worry less about accuracy for foreign and private road cars. That is not to say that some of them are not highly detailed accurate cars, I sometimes find doing a freight car detail project is a nice change.

[iomalley]

I'm not as critical of freight car accuracy. I'm a 90%er on accuracy for my diesels, but 75% on my freight cars. I'd rather pay $8 for a Walthers SOU waffle car and weather/superdetail it, than spend $35 for a SOU Exactrail waffle for example...even with the WKW inaccuracies.

Economy dictates paying minimums for frieght cars given the 25:1 ratio on the layout...at least for me anyway...

I've even built Kaslo freight car kits of 50'+ length cars and put 40' dimensional data on them...if you're looking that closely at my cars, odds are you're going to get swatted in the back of the head.

I love the new 60' berwicks, even if they are not accurate. details and plausible paint schemes go along way for me...I'm going to score a C&O one I think.

I even run fictitious roadnames on my layout, like V&O, UB and Ohio Southern. (I have made the cars more plausible with COTS and ACI labelling tho)

[bnsf8802]

I am OK with spending $20 - $30 a pop for a freight car if I really like it and it my prototype (Athearn Ethanol tank cars come to mind) but in general I am happy with older runs of Walther's Cars I can pick up for ~$15 at my LHS.

My Requirements for Rolling Stock are:
-Decent Level of detail so it blends in with the other more highly detailed cars
-Crisp Lettering
-Plausible Roadname/ Paint Scheme
-Fits my prototype
-Operates Well (Rolls Freely, Coupler Height is right, etc.)

If it meets all of the above then my bank account is probably going to take a hit ;D

[JamesL]

Detail on my cars is dependent on the wallet usually

If I find one that looks good and is at a decent price I will definitely go for it if I can, but I would rather buy a large lot of plausible cars and slowly detail them over one well done modern made car.

As far as detail is concerned, I focus on the sides versus the ends. This is what most people see, the majority of issues can be covered by decals or weathering, and I always have the same car at the end of the train since it is the one with a FRED. One day I will get around to them!

[cartelcaipira]

you guys are lucky to pay 20, $ 30 for seeing that we pay $ 20
for us here in Brazil a boxcar made ​​in usa quality sells for $ 60 and pay with pleasure
I've been lucky I bought three boxes accurail for $ 70


www.frateschi.com.br/site/?page=vagoes_carga

[Packer]

I'm not too worried about frieght cars that much, as long as they look "close."

Most of my fleet is Athearn or MDC kits. The older kit cars are more durable and inexpensive, which are 2 big things for me, since I should have some unit trains.

Given the choice between 1 Exactrail FMC 4000 3 to 5 of the MDC thrall gons, I'd take the MDC ones anyday. I haven't been able to find the latter in unmodified condition (there was a set on the bay a bit ago, but the weathering was all screwed up IMO) though, and would love to make a good-sized unit train out of them.

[diesel]

at this point I'd be happy if I finished one of my current projects this year! (I have a few that are close...)

As far as rolling stock goes I do like older kit type stuff as well as the newer detailed cars. My wallet does not like the newer cars, so I try to find the best deals I can like at train shows, but when there's something I really want...

I've been fooling myself to think I'll eventually get the whole fleet detailed to look like the real thing. It'd be nice though. Instead, I hope to do a few that are pretty close to proto and if I have time weather most of my cars to look the part. I have over 600 cars, so it's gonna be a lot of work! (I like unit trains...)

[m a y o r 79]

I think most of my freight cars right now follow the 3ft rule and it seems to work. Most of the time I think a good weathering job will be more noticeable on a freight car than making sure every last detail is correct.

Of course it also depends on the railroad you're modeling and the era. In my case I'm modeling the 1960's Milwaukee Road Beer Line.....all of the insulated boxcars that the beer was shipped out in....no one makes an even somewhat accurate model of so I've got a lot of expensive kit-bashing in front of me.

[royalblue72]

As I have a limited space, I run mainly 40' and 50' cars, which is hardly prototypical. I aim for a 75% accuracy on my diesels, which I know is much less than most of you, but I focus on operation and have found that some detailing below the carbody gets in the way.

I just prototypicaly weather units and freight cars and that usually covers a multitude of sins. I also run a caboose fleet and try to bring them to about 50% accuracy.

[kcs1967]

I agree with many of the comments, have more focus on the locomotive for sure, but I do want to the sheep between the lead, and the caboose to be plausible and for the most part accurate, for me what is the point in having it toylike in the middle. Having said that, I will not spend $40 plus on a car to work, I went to Hobby shop specifically to purchase the Xcaterail stuff, money in had ready to release, I looked at cars, for that price, there needs to be cut levers, PE details, I left the LHS, with purchase on detail parts and some parts to put into my warehouse, I guess I should thank them for sending me home to work on what I had.

[dave]

I am not a details person, so for getting the most bang for a price under 25-30$ I like Atlas Trainman. It 's the right combination of just enouggh detail, plus an affordable price

Also I dont like small platic handrail parts, as they tend to brake to easily so the fused handrails on Atlas Trainman cars. work perfectly for me.

[geepfan]

Never really cared about the detail on my rolling stock. I have an athearn reefer around here somewhere that took a plummet to the floor during a show and as a result lost all its ladders and brake detailing. It still runs in my train without either, never had anyone take notice or care. The only thing I have on my rolling stock requirements, is that the car cannot carry bright colors for more than a few weeks. Makes the car stick out too much.

Metal wheels and kadees are requirements at the local club, although I did have a few plastics that snuck in by mistake for a while. I run some plastics at home, and so long as the car is properly weighted I find they run as well as their metal counterparts.

I do occasionally spend the bucks on exactrail or similar cars, I like how they look with the details and paint even if they arn't prototypical.

I save all the scrutiny for my motive power and cabeese.

[gp30]

I don't consider myself a sticker on freight cars, but the more I think about it, I guess I am.

I try to get the running boards right, the door right and the trucks right. I'm too lazy to trim off the molded on grabs (I have a lot of Athearn BB and Branchine YM 40' boxcars), though.

I assembled a 40' Monon boxcar kit a few weeks ago, it had molded on grabs (which I ignored) the wrong running boards (which I replaced), and I installed Superior 7-Panel doors and National B1 trucks to make it accurate. I'm not going to go as far as to install cut levers and separate grabs.. besides, these things tend to break off over time.

[dtinut]

For me, freightcars are just another model - really no different than a diesel. I enjoy building models, so making changes and modifications is the same as a loco, although, there probably aren't as many "special" parts made for FC's like there are diesels.

Like anything else, some models come out of the box, a couple items added, like an ACI plate decal, or a COTS label, and some weathering, and it done. Others, maybe get a bit more, and some end up falling off the deep end, and get everything done to the nth degree. It doesn't matter, so much as you enjoy what you do.

It's a hobby, and the only requirement is that YOU have fun.

[acsoosub]

To be fair, the ExactRail 60' Berwick boxcar is accurate for all the other schemes it's offered in (MP, LN, ROCK, etc.), just not C&O/B&O/Chessie. The C&O parts cars are similar (different rib spacing on last panel, not sure if there's other subtle differences).

(Note that it's actually representative of an appliance service boxcar operated by those other roads, not autoparts.)

The C&O/CSXT schemes aren't accurate, as the real car is slightly different. All the other schemes are accurate. (But describing them as autoparts cars would be incorrect.)