walthers trainline, quality of units?


They're fine, depending on how much detail you want. They directly compete with the Atlas Trainman and the Athearn RTR line. The mechanicals are the same as the P2K units but many of the details like grab irons, lift rings, drop steps, and MU cables are left off. They are excellent deals for the money, especially since they are easy to convert to DCC. You can detail them out very nicely for lest than $10 in parts if you have the time and skill to devote to detailing.
 
I just picked up three B40-8/W's from a friend in a trade. He is upgrading to Atlas units, which offer FAR better detailing, hands-down.

However, they are incredibly smooth running units. They are perfect "club runners", I've got no problem runnning them around the club layout, whereas my Atlas units make me nervous when they are out of my reach!

The GP9's are the old Cox-brand shells, and are quite crude and ugly. But they do run nice...



I will definitely pick up some more B40's if I get the chance.
 
what do you mean the atlas make you nervous out of reach? I know they do look far better looking but I dont feel comfortable hacking one of them up if I had to.
 
NYSW F45 said:
what do you mean the atlas make you nervous out of reach? I know they do look far better looking but I dont feel comfortable hacking one of them up if I had to.
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I was only referring to their exquisite detailing & fragile parts. Things don't run too smoothly on our club layout, and derailments and other mishaps happen not 1/87 as often as the prototype, but at least 87 times more often. I just don't worry as much as about the Walthers units as I would Atlas.

(I know that time isn't scaled the models in that way, but it looked like a good exageration)
 
Yeah, a couple of clubs I've seen have some pretty bad spots, especially when they use modules. The link tracks are often poorly done and cause derailments. Unless you have a radio setup and can follow the engine around or run it away from the edge I'd stay in reach. Other clubs have excellent tracks all around but you never know what drops off of other trains.
 
mantua steel boxcar

What is the difference between a Mantua steel boxcar and a boxcar or rolling stock of some other brand? I'm not sure what the "steel" part of the car description really means. I'm new to this. Is one better than the other. Please help this novice on buying rolling stock and which couplers to always insist on. Thanks.
 
The Walthers Trainline mechanism in my opinion is not very good. It would run nice one day, then run terribly the next, then someday in the future, it would run good again. It's almost like it has a mind of it's own.

The F40PH mechanism is a bit different. The F40PH's mechanism doesn't run faster than about 30 scale mph even with the throttle opened to max. The Dash 8-32BHW doesn't seem to have this problem although it still has it's good and bad days. You can get a Walthers Trainline Dash 8-32BHW for about $50 or if you pay $100 more, you can get an Atlas Dash 8-32BHW on ebay brand new with DCC and sound.
 
thats some good info to take into consideration. I'de love the atlas units but money is always tight for me. If I decide to go ahead with another amtrak project i might go atlas for 2 and 2 crap units for the "projects".
 
I purchased a Trainline GP9M last year with the intent of repainting it into ICG colors. I came to find out, after purchase, that the body is wrong if I want to be somewhat realistic.

However, if it is easy to convert to DCC, I may have to give it second thought, and maybe keep it in its UP paint.
 
Matua "steel" rolling stock

Thanks for the resonse. I will probably avoid the locomotives, but my real question pertains to Mantua rolling stock. What is the difference between a plastic-molded freight car and a "steel" car? I just want to avoid any problems.

Also, are there any type of couplers I should avoid when purchasing used stock?

Thanks
 
wingman said:
Also, are there any type of couplers I should avoid when purchasing used stock?
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Personally I am not really concerned with what couplers are on used stock because I will likely change whatever is there to Kadee. When I find something I want, I look more at the condition of the car, prototype accuracy, weathering (if any), road numbers )in case I already have a like unit).

If it already has Kadees that is a bonus, but I find very few used cars with Kadees already installed.

Obviously though, if couplers already installed is a concern for you then you will want to avoid the old horn - hook couplers for sure.

To me it's part of the hobby to modify the car by changing the couplers.:D
 
I love my F40PH. It is very quiet, and I never run into trouble. I was able to install a decoder into it no problem. The detail level is okay for me, I'll worry about that stuff more on my next layout.
 
wingman said:
Thanks for the resonse. I will probably avoid the locomotives, but my real question pertains to Mantua rolling stock. What is the difference between a plastic-molded freight car and a "steel" car? I just want to avoid any problems. Thanks
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I'm assuming you mean the Mantua Metal line of locomotives and freight cars. Mantua bought out a line of cast metal models a few years ago and they were very nice for the price. I'm not sure if they are still in production. The freight cars have all modles detai very similar to an Athearn BB car but the metal construction makes the weight closer to and, in some cases, over the NMRA standards. They are more difficult to detail because of their metal construction but the level of cast on detail is quite good. I have several of the freight cars and an F-7 and have been pleased with considering the price.
 
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