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GREAT MODEL RAILROADS VOLS. 1-67


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wheels. Like the Micro-Trains cou- plers, Fox Valley metal wheelsets are one of the best on the market. It is nice to buy a model and not have to convert it over to Micro-Trains couplers and Fox Valley wheels. Because of these items, the car tracks and operates ex- tremely well. I tested the cars on my test track of doom (a loop of track that is so poor that almost nothing will run reliably on it) and the cars handled the tight curves very well. The cars never derailed, uncoupled or gave me even the slightest hint of trouble. This car is advertised to operate on 9³/₄″ radius track, and I can confirm that this is true. Positionable ramps for loading and unloading trailers is one of the good features of these cars. These are the ramps that are lowered to bridge the gap between flat cars and allow trail- ers to be driven onto the flat car. Raised trailer hitch pedestals are at- tached and included are lowered hitch pedestals. It wasn’t uncommon to see a car with only one trailer riding on top of it. The other pedestal would be in the lowered position then. Mounting brackets are also included for carrying containers and these cars were used to ship containers instead of truck trail- ers. These features make the car very versatile.


Trainworx supplies a lot of separate- ly applied pieces on this car. There are stirrups and grab rails on each end of the car. These are molded in plastic and are super thin. I figured they


would be quite delicate but mine were actually able to withstand some abuse without breaking. The brake rigging is also separately applied as is the brake plumbing. One of my favorite details is the long rod that extends from the end of the brake cylinder to the handbrake as well as the metal supports on the underside of the car.


The paint on the car is well done, and the lettering and lube plate data is finely applied and is quite crisp. The paint color has just the right look, too. The TTX cars were an odd shade of yel- low and this car captures it nicely. The molded plastic pieces are yellow as well, but are a slightly different shade. I am going to weather mine a little bit to match the car more closely. The cars look great though, so I would consider that to be a very small nit-to-pick. Inside the box, instructions are in-


cluded for lowering the car. This is be- cause the cars are raised slightly in or- der to operate on the 9³/₄″ radius curves. If you have wider curves you can lower the car to achieve the ulti- mate in prototypical ride height. As is, the cars look so good that I didn’t even notice they were high right out of the box. I think I’ll leave mine alone even though my layout has curves with a minimum radius in excess of 30″. The bottom line is that if you are an intermodal modeler,


you’ll probably


want these cars. They are a much need- ed addition to N scale and come with high end features like Micro-Trains couplers and Fox Valley wheels adding


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VISA, MASTERCARD & DISCOVER CARD - Same Price - Cash or Credit RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN


273 Route 110, Suite 114 Huntington Station, NY 11746-4149 Phone: 631-692-8805


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