New to HO, help please.

[cinemafreak]

Hello,

I have a Athearn C&NW #5091. I bought this years ago when I thought I would start my HO project. Now that I am older and have more money, I am getting started again. I need some help on picking out some rolling stock that fits this engine and what makers to go with (Athearn, Accurail, Bachmann,...). Looking for quality, but nothing that breaks the bank right off the bat as I have to spend on track and table.

Thanks!

 

[wheeler1963]

Welcome to the forums. Gotta have a little more info than the engine number. It could be a steamer, a diesel? Then what type of steamer or diesel. Just about any rolling stock goes with an engine, it's more what era you plan on modeling that matters.

 

[cinemafreak]

GP50 Powered

 

[wheeler1963]

That makes it a more modern engine then. Any of the manufacturers you mentioned would be OK for that engine. Just a rule of thumb for that new of an engine. Most boxcars would not have roof walks on them. They were out-lawed way before the GP50's came out.

 

[cinemafreak]

Ok, but should I stay away from or stay with certain Names on stock such as Santa Fe, Canadian National, CSX, ... I want to be relativly authentic.

 

[wheeler1963]

In this day and age it's hard to go wrong with any name on rolling stock. Although rail roads have come and gone, most of them live on with some of there equipment still roaming the rails today. A couple of weeks ago, Mark and I found a B&O (Baltimore & Ohio) cement hopper still in service without any CSX makings on it. Now the B&O officially went out of service in 1987.

 

[MGWSY]

Here it is.

 

[lmackattack]

C&NW was merged with UP in the mid 90s around this time C&NW was interchaging with just about all the railroads in chicago at that time. IC,BN,UP,SantaFe, etc.... but as already mentioned, in these modern days of railroading you can find just about any US Railroad car floating around all the diffrent railroads.

Personaly, I Enjoy the old Athearn Blue box "kits" that are still found on Ebay. You can get 2 of them for the price of 1 new ready to run Athearn. the newer stuff has much more detail but you pay for it. its also alot more fragile with all the little plastic parts. I have about 150 freight cars and most of them are the BB kits just because they look good and are cheep.

 

[alcoman]

GP50s were built between 1980 and 1985. That gives you 1980 to mid 1990's for the C&NW paint scheme. So modern cars with build dates from maybe 1960 to 1995 for your consists? A lot depends on what you like to see on the rails.

Do a little research, read some of the threads on here (there is a lot of good info around.) Try to have fun, whatever you do.

 

[Lester Perry]

If you are asking about good quality in rolling stock with out breaking the bank. I would say Athearn blue box. Accurail, MDC/Round house. If you can find them they are reasonably priced, easy to assemble. I would avoid Tyco Mantua & Bachmann for now. Watch for local train shows to find these as the kit stuff is a little harder to find

 

[ST214]

I saw one of them on CSX's Boston Line a few weeks ago. Have seen many patched ones, but that was the first time i had seen a unpatched one go by.

Here it is.