schnabel cars


i saw a few on ebay( not sure how to post a picture yet). are they worth the money? and are there cheaper sources or no. thanks
 
They require a large radius and a lot of room from scenery. Larry (old fart) has a nice video of his on his layout but I could not find the link. Hopefully he will post it.
 
It's a frieght car that you either keep in a static display mode or only do special moves with. I don't think you see the Schneble car in a mixed frieght racing through the country side like a commuter train.
 
One of Larry's Schnabel's (I think he had more than one) is now trying to make it's way around my layout. With the large engine's that I have (Big Boy, UP DD40AX, others), I never thought about my scenery being in the way of a train. I don't know if I saw a minimum radius, and the car actually makes my curves, but if you are contemplating a Schnabel, make sure that you have WIDE curves and clear 'right of way' path around them. I think you should be looking at 40-45" right of way for one. My Schnabel is back in its box, waiting for a re-design of the scenery.

But it's still a NICE car !
 
I understand that even Union Pacific had to widen rock cuts on curves and even layout larger track curves to clear the Big Boys. I have the Athearn #4005 and had to do the same on our small club layout with 23" radius. Mostly little low hanging cab details. I am going to leave the "repair" scenery details.

Armchair http://armchairmodelbuilders101.com
 
One of Larry's Schnabel's (I think he had more than one) is now trying to make it's way around my layout. With the large engine's that I have (Big Boy, UP DD40AX, others), I never thought about my scenery being in the way of a train. I don't know if I saw a minimum radius, and the car actually makes my curves, but if you are contemplating a Schnabel, make sure that you have WIDE curves and clear 'right of way' path around them. I think you should be looking at 40-45" right of way for one. My Schnabel is back in its box, waiting for a re-design of the scenery.

But it's still a NICE car !

I had that car for almost a month before I tried it on my layout. I had to cut a lot of scenery(mountains & hills)away to get it to make the curves. Most of my curves were 24 to 28" radius. I also had to move 4 bridge posts, had to cut a 4" hole out of the back of a huge warehouse on a curve & move my giant junkyard about 6" away from the track on a curve. Also, you can't run 2 trains in the opposite or in the same direction on a curve w/the Schnabel. There's a lot of things that have to be moved or cut away to make it work. I saw one on Ebay go for $250.00 about a month ago late 1 nite. It had about 30 bidders & 4 guys were bidding on it the last 2 mins. The shipping runs about $20.00. BTW, don't have but 1 Video left on YouTube & that's an Aerial of the whole Layout. I still have a lot of people stopping to see the trains & they can't beleive it's all gone. Don't miss it yet. My Recycling business has gone nuts. Keep the 24 by 40 ft. building full of Electronics that has to be scrapped. Started out working 2 days a week & now it's 6 days a week. Did have 2 helpers & now I do it all myself.
 
You should go to Youtube and put schnable car and you should find some footage of schnable car movement. It will will give you good idea what a set up is.
 



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