Bob - Did not think about that. Very astute observation. I have an overpass i had to build so my grandson wouldn't have to jump over the 3 tracks to get to the walk area. The gaps are narrow. How does one find out if the Blackhawk has fold back blades. I know the real ones do, but we are talking about a toy here.
Steve - I saw that about the lubrication as well. Thanks for the heads up.
I don't know about you guys, but Menards hit the target with those flat beds. I mentioned this once before in a previous reply. 14 3/4" translates to 59 feet based on what i've been told about 1/4 inch scale. 55 to 60 feet, based on what i have seen online, is the standard length for an operational flat. Now before train buffs chime in and correct my spelling, this was one website asking the question, "what is the standard length for a railroad flat car?" Wikipedia gave me some info on it, and a couple others gave me the same basic dimensions. Anyway, the scale model is built to mimic the real deal. The reason I bring this up is because I have Lionel flats with loads, and MTH flats with loads. When you look at the Lionel flats compared to the MTH, MTH looks like a gorilla standing next to a chimp. Both cars are supposed to be 1/4 scale, I guess, but if you go by real dimensions, some my lionel's would be 44 or 45 feet if they were real. The MTH scale, and I am aware that they have grades of scale size to make the cars work on 027 and tighter curves, seems to remain closer to the real thing. Premier seems to be the real thing, where Imperial and railking are miniature versions of the real thing. Doesn't lionel have something called Standard O?
