Newbie has lots of questions!, need some help

[MercerMike]

With help from the 'group" I made my decision and have gotten things going, I actually figured out what size platform I am going to build taking into consideration many of the iteas that I got from here. Made a plan up (scary!) and am going to start laying track soon. Some of the questions I have deal with the rolling stock. My wife bought me a Bachmann, Thunder Valley set to start me off and my kids got me some rolling stock also for Christmas to start me off. The couplers on the Bachmann cars will not match up and look nothing like the couplers on the Life-Like cars for example, will I have this problems coupling up other manufacturers cars? Can I make all the rolling stock I will accumulate 1 coupler style? Should I avoid any cars in general? Looking for recommendations on Engines and freight cars. I see a lot of life-like, model power, atlas, con-cor, bachmann and others on E-bay, would these be good beginner purchases? Finally, Mother-in Law will buy me a passenger train as a gift for Christmas, not to get too crazy price-wise on her, can anyone recommend a decent passenger set and one that would of serviced the Northwestern PA area? Again a BIG thanks to all who helped here as without some of the guidance I received here I don't think I would of put the first 2 pieces of wood together to start..I am sure I will have a lot more questions as I get going....Thanks again and HAPPY NEW YEAR to all.

 

[MRLdave]

I'll assume you have some Rapido couplers.......these look over-sized, and look like a big letter G.......get rid of those. All the others are supposed to be compatible. You'll want to look at replacing the Rapidos with MicroTrains couplers (or Accumates from Atlas)...there are other brands, but MT and Atlas make complete truck assemblies which is the easiest way to replace couplers on cars. AS far as cars to avoid, the best advice is "you get what you pay for".......cheap cars will have less detail and many will have the Rapido couplers you want to get rid of. It's better to pay $15 for a good car with MT compatible coupler than pay $10 for a cheap car and then add a $5 set of couplers. You'll quickly learn which brands are the good ones, but Model Power and LifeLike as well as some Bachmann still frequently have Rapido couplers.......which doesn't mean to avoid them, but always factor in the upgrades you'll need to do.

For brands of both locos and cars, it's hard to recommend choices, because in many cases, new models might be very good, but older models might not........for example many new Bachmann locos are good, but stuff made even 2 years ago can be junk. If you stick with Atlas and Kato, you'll be pretty safe although there are some other good engines out there.

Sorry, I grew up in the midwest and live in the Northwest, so I'm not too familiar with what passenger trains ran in your area, but both Kato and ConCor make sets of passenger cars.

 

[SilverBlade]

MercerMike, I'm in the same boat. I went to my local hobby shop and deliberately bought cars of different makes. I got a few from Atlas, Bachmann, Micro Trains and Althearn. Opinions will very. Modelers have their biases just as do everyone else so take that into account. Sampling them yourself is the best way to decide what you think.

That said here is what I found. My 2 Atlas cars - crap. One had the coupler fall apart as I picked it up. The other coupler is out of gauge (too low).
My Bachmann - crap crap. Wheel axles constantly falling off for no reason at all, out of balance (leans to the side)
My Althearn - a little better. Rolls a little rough but its usable. Still I probably won't buy any more.
My 3 Micro Trains (2 of which were USED) - Beautiful smooth sexy wonderful pieces of art. They literally glide around the track. While I was buying my different samples a guy leaned over to me and told me I should stick with Micro Trains and forget about the rest. I am a total believer now. Like I said, we all form our own biases so you should at least try a few different ones for yourself. The good news is a new set of Micro Trains trucks can work wonders on a cranky car.

Seeing is believing so I made this short video. This is filmed with a phone so it's pretty crappy but you'll see what I mean:

http://youtu.be/8ruHFrzZ2eI

Another thing I have learned for myself that any expert here you tell you time and time again but you just can't appreciate it enough until you dig in and get your hands dirty is that it's all about track laying CRAFTSMANSHIP! I modeled HO years ago and found it a lot easier than N scale. You just have to take your time and lay your track perfectly. Nothing else will do.

 

[MercerMike]

Excellent and THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!...I appreciate your efforts and this sure helps as seeing is believing, Thanks again and Happy New Year

 

[MercerMike]

Thank you and you are correct, these appear to be Rapido, going up to the Micro Train site and look around. Thanks again and Happy New Year.

 

[railfan]

MercerMike, I'm in the same boat. I went to my local hobby shop and deliberately bought cars of different makes. I got a few from Atlas, Bachmann, Micro Trains and Althearn. Opinions will very. Modelers have their biases just as do everyone else so take that into account. Sampling them yourself is the best way to decide what you think.

That said here is what I found. My 2 Atlas cars - crap. One had the coupler fall apart as I picked it up. The other coupler is out of gauge (too low).
My Bachmann - crap crap. Wheel axles constantly falling off for no reason at all, out of balance (leans to the side)
My Althearn - a little better. Rolls a little rough but its usable. Still I probably won't buy any more.
My 3 Micro Trains (2 of which were USED) - Beautiful smooth sexy wonderful pieces of art. They literally glide around the track. While I was buying my different samples a guy leaned over to me and told me I should stick with Micro Trains and forget about the rest. I am a total believer now. Like I said, we all form our own biases so you should at least try a few different ones for yourself. The good news is a new set of Micro Trains trucks can work wonders on a cranky car.

Seeing is believing so I made this short video. This is filmed with a phone so it's pretty crappy but you'll see what I mean:

http://youtu.be/8ruHFrzZ2eI

Another thing I have learned for myself that any expert here you tell you time and time again but you just can't appreciate it enough until you dig in and get your hands dirty is that it's all about track laying CRAFTSMANSHIP! I modeled HO years ago and found it a lot easier than N scale. You just have to take your time and lay your track perfectly. Nothing else will do.

I liked your video demonstration and left a comment on there.

 

[Jim 68cuda]

My trains are HO scale, but I appreciate your video demonstration and your advice.

 

[SilverBlade]

railfan: That was an excellent fairly dramatic demonstration. Having never owned any (yet) microtrains stands out as a brand on my list to try. Perhaps that atlas car has the larger flange wheels?

I suspect that this Atlas was a lemon among Atlases, and was surprised not to see better performance. The trucks appear to be very low profile which may restrict their turn radius, in effect making the car function more like a much longer tanker or passenger car. On the other hand it didn't do any better on the straight either. And it only has one coupler because the other one flat fell off! My Athearn didn't fair much better, and we won't even mention the Bachmann.

So for me, at least, it becomes very simple. Puzzle over why my other brands run like poop, or just go with what's proven to work. I'm straight Micro Trains man from here on out. Locomotives, unfortunately aren't so simple. And I really want that Atlas CSX Dash 8 40B!