I had some K-Line traditional sized (O-31) engines and cars that I sold. They all had great detail and performed well.
I currently have 4 scale steamers and a scale GG1, all upgraded with various kits from ERR. I have about 2 dozen scale freight cars and several 18" and 21" passenger cars too. They all run great and look great. Like others, I miss the company.
I think I am. Here is my list, all of course Milwaukee Road.
3 sets A-A or A-B-A F-3s....4 Trainmasters,...7 scale steam engines including 3 Berkshires. K-line was the best deal around with those scale engines and cars. They forced many changes in the O scale field including passenger car interiors, more detail on F units and Trainmasters to name a few. I miss them.
My other engines are a MTH electrics, 3 scale Little Joe's, 2 sets of box cabs 1 Bipolar and 1 Hiawatha Brass Weaver and set A-A Atlas FM. Don
I am a fan of their passenger cars, coil cars, intermodal, to name a few.
k-line & Williams baggage cars
scale rail posted:I think I am. Here is my list, all of course Milwaukee Road.
3 sets A-A or A-B-A F-3s....4 Trainmasters,...7 scale steam engines including 3 Berkshires. K-line was the best deal around with those scale engines and cars. They forced many changes in the O scale field including passenger car interiors, more detail on F units and Trainmasters to name a few. I miss them.
My other engines are a MTH electrics, 3 scale Little Joe's, 2 sets of box cabs 1 Bipolar and 1 Hiawatha Brass Weaver and set A-A Atlas FM. Don
You converted me, Don. I have a few. Love them! Matt
I too am a K Line fan-including their 6464 type boxcars ( lots of them, reasonably inexpensive, some interesting road names, etc. ), die cast frame tank cars, 16 wheel die cast flat cars with great loads, die cast hopper sets, Kennecott mining cars/engines, reefers, some really nice ( especially PRR) diesels and steam engines, Plymouth switchers, cabeese, club cars/engines ( I like even the "lowly" TCA Anniversary GG1 and passenger cars), passenger cars ( especially PRR) , circus cars, etc., etc.. I have been collecting them for years-wonder if they will ever become truly collectible-but I don't much care-I enjoy them as readily available they seem to continue to be. turtle7
Qat a hundred bucks each, the Train Masters were difficult to pass up. I 2-railed five of them and shortened two. And I don't do plastic!
I have small fleets of 21" streamliners in B&O, GN, UP, PRR, and onesies of CNW and Zephyr, all 2-rail. They are great - just what I wanted in $75 passenger cars.
And I have a Berk, 2-railed and bellied, with motor in firebox where God intended it to be. I still think it is undersize.
Wish I had jumped on the $100 Ep-5. Nice looking. I won't repeat your photos.
I have a set of K-Line full scale Metrolink Bombardier cars and a few die cast freight cars. Wish I had been able to afford the CNW gallery cars and streamlined passenger cars as well as the Amtrak California Surfliner set. They're going for a fortune when they show up on eBay. They did a phenomenal job on the Surfliner cars.
Great stuff. They were doing what had been said couldn't be done; compete at a lower cost. Folks said it about Menards too. 
I think besides the deathblow by Lionel in court, they had grown a bit too fast and extended themselves too far in the name of growth. I never looked into the power supply design to have an opinion. But on a similar note I thought Bill Gates's Windows was gonna loose to to IBM "Doors" in court, seeing how he was in charge of IBM's Doors, but it didn't work, while his oh so similar "windows" was fine. You folks don't know how close we came to IBM continued dominance of computers and Microsoft failing as MS went public nearly for legal defense funds alone. Having seen both in action, I have to agree it seems to be a copy.... a working one .... I'd love to know what was wrong with the Doors, but thousands of zeros and ones for binary logic aint my thing either
You lost me. Here is a K-Line H16-66 and a 21" gallery car. The locomotive is in the wind; the car and a mate remain here.
When I was maybe 14 or 15 I ended up winning a Mikado during a K-Line visit to Charles Ro. The guy also gave me his K-Line hat. Unfortunately a couple years ago the tether to the tender shorted out and I have had trouble finding the right replacement, got one online but unfortunately it was the wrong one.
Prior to that and afterwards my dad and I really liked K-Line because of the price point, the variety, and the quality (for the price point). We joined the KCC and had a couple cars from the 15" Golden State set which we got rid of when we got the 15" Broadway Limited Madison set (still looking for the 2 car add on!) as well as the KCC GG1 and A5 switcher. Had a couple of MP-15s, the US Army set, and some misc. cars. Also had the Coca Cola polar bear handcar and one of my dad's all time favorite cars, Santa and his reindeer with the blinking Rudolph's nose. Also think many of the buildings I have were "detailed" remakes they put out of old plasticville.
Just last year got a set of the PRR Interurbans online thinking they were the 15" set, but turned out they were 18" which was a bit big for my layout, so those may go. Always wanted their Empire State Express.
Been a K Line fan and KCC member from the beginning. Have all the Golden State cars in 027, all the circus cars, all the WP feather boxcars, multi sets of CNJ hoppers, CNJ Plymouths, PRR A5, (2) K4s, multiple other freight cars. Always looking for a CNJ 4-6-6T junker or low priced that I can convert to an appropriate 4-6-4T.
Old K-Line steamer that comes out at Christmas time. Fantastic runner and pretty good smoker
K-line product was very good for it's time compared to the price. Certain pieces stick out for me as being superior such as the H-24-66, the Superliner cars most out of the 21" production line, and the EP-5. Their EP-5 is the most "scale" out of nearly everyone ever done in O and is more accurate than Overland's brass version from some years ago.
I like their F40's as they replicate the "Phase II" production variant from EMD with the recessed fans. While not always accurate for the paint schemes they put on them, that is what distinguishes theirs from the MTH production.
Overall a great product line that was balanced at a good price. However, regardless of the lawsuit, I don't know if it would have been sustainable in today's market. The market has just changed so much.
My "graffiti" version of the SP express boxcar is a one of a kind I believe. I purchased this out of Gordon Wilson's collection at a TCA Desert Division Auction a number of years ago when he was thinning out his massive collection.
Having posted before,I forgot to comment on their catalogs which I think were just pure fun to review !! What's interesting to me is that although I'm certain that they had lots of "mistakes" for us rivet counters and "demanders of realism" to identify (including myself-at least sometimes) , they clearly escape the wrath of those collector/runner types evident in some discussion themes on the Forum even now. On the other hand, wasn't K Line among the first to put lift rings on their PRR diesels and make the RRR hammerhead? Enjoy your trains-a great hobby with some even greater participants !!
I have always enjoyed the K line Classic boxcars and scale diecast hoppers. Colorful and great all metal trucks, sound particularly cool on 90 degree cross track and 022's.
Happy I spotted this topic. I recently ran an all K line train behind PW Lionel 2339.
I own about a dozen k line classics, only seven would make the 031 return loops and figure eight on table #3. Here are a couple of photos.
One more photo.
i recall going to a K line super store on a regular once a couple week visit.
It was somewhere in Long Island long ago. I was always excited to have these forty footers as they were somewhat like the 6464's I could not really afford at the time. The classic series tank cars were awesome as well. I will start looking for them again when a good deal happens.
Yeah, I agree, K line was one of the best bangs for the buck out there, especially the classics series.
I just picked up my first K-Line Locomotives... 3 GG1s circa 2001... Wish I could take a decent photograph...
They are fully TMCC from the factory, DC can motors (they crawl beautifully) and pull a ton! They have Full Doors with very nice separately applied hand rails and ladders as well as Lighted number boards with gold accent. The horn and bell sound better than the Lionel offerings of that era as well (although, still not great). While the Lionel's are reproductions of their post war GG1's... K-Line went for a more prototypical detailing/styling. I have a full scale VisionLine GG1 Lionel 6-82749 and the little old K-Line's look pretty good next to it. I'm going to see if I can take the driver truck side frames and front/rear trucks off my Lionel's and put them on the K-Lines... only place they seem to have fallen short.
*new* K-Line enthusiast!
dennis
I don't have that many pieces from K-Line but I'd sure love to pick up some more. What I do have, I really like and I have a 2-8-2 that I recently found out was a K-Line engine. It is scale and it one of my favorite steam engines. I can't wait to see it run. I'm always on the look-out for scale K-line equipment.
Thanks for bringing this subject up.
I have amassed almost one of every 742 refrigerator car.......except Loonie Tunes. Always on the lookout for 742s I don't have. I buy scale steamers when I can afford them and have 8 scale Hiawatha cars and matching AA units. Love the detail.
Have a lot of K-Line. Sad that they are gone. My favorite item is the American Freedom Train I have a complete set 30+feet. That's the engine and 18 cars. When I take it to shows and run it in the modular layout there are always many questions about it. 
I purchased these K-Line Pacific Electric interurban cars about 20 years ago and had never run them until today. I placed them on the track, set the transformer to 13 volts (at about 1.3 amps) and they started immediately and ran smoothly. The #1007 car is powered by motors in each truck. The #1008 car is unpowered.
MELGAR
MELGAR posted:I purchased these K-Line Pacific Electric interurban cars about 20 years ago and had never run them until today. I placed them on the track, set the transformer to 13 volts (at about 1.3 amps) and they started immediately and ran smoothly. The #1007 car is powered by motors in each truck. The #1008 car is unpowered.
MELGAR
That, Melgar, is a true test of a great engine: put it in storage for 20 years, then put it on the track, turn up the power, and it runs like a Swiss watch!
I have quite a few KLine including the Penn K4 Pacific, rolling stock and 2 KCC 2000 Aluminum Passenger Cars with display that still boxed, never used but I did open them. One has a slight scratch the other is magnificent. Plus they came with people inside.
I love the K Line 15 inch aluminum streamliners. I have the S Fe Super Chief, GN Empire Builder, NP North Coast Limited, NYC Empire State Express, B&O Columbian, PRR FOM, D&RGW Prospector, New Haven, Southern Pacific Daylight, and Canadian Pacific. I also like their diecast hopper cars and have 6 C&Os with different numbers.
I have an old diesel switcher marked TRRA for my home town St. Louis, and an early Reading F7 AB multi-motor lash up that I was warned not to purchase. It still runs fine several years later.
I even have the K Line history book. It was a fascinating company and it's too bad that it couldn't stay in business.
Lew Schneider
K Line????? G R E A T stuff! I'm trying to obtain many SMOKING Cabeese for a display, and sometimes run. ................., but York is coming
The K Line Mikados are very nice............strong pullers; reliable; good to great smokers; just a blast to watch. Those F7's from about 2005/ or 2007? were great except for the renowned SH#### plugs that are TOO fragile.
redjimmy1955 posted:K Line????? G R E A T stuff! I'm trying to obtain many SMOKING Cabeese for a display, and sometimes run. ................., but York is coming
The K Line Mikados are very nice............strong pullers; reliable; good to great smokers; just a blast to watch. Those F7's from about 2005/ or 2007? were great except for the renowned SH#### plugs that are TOO fragile.
I'm in the market for a K Line smoking caboose too. Mine stopped smoking years ago for some strange reason; can't figure out how to get the shell off to investigate it, without breaking it.
One I didn't include in earlier post, because it is Lionel/K Line....
But has TMCC and RS, is a great runner and pulls like crazy! So many trains... so little time!
Jesse TCA 12-68275
K-line offered me a variety that was not available anywhere else, at a price I could afford. I could only afford a couple Lionel engines (steam).
Most of my favorite K Line trains have already been mentioned. The Freedom Train, the EP-5, the GG-1 (mine has the TMCC kit added to it). The 6464 boxcar set is superb, and although it is only 8 cars it is one of my favorites. The 18" madison cars look great behind any of the scale hudsons, including the K Line one (I have 5344). I recently bought the spine car set, and it is a fine addition to my intermodal fleet. I really wanted some of the 21" passenger cars but just don't have the room. I recently discovered that the streamliner plastic passenger cars were being made again and to my surprise, the cars I bought not only matched my 6 car K Line set but had different names and numbers to boot. Now I have 11 cars in NYC lightning stripe colors to haul behind my 2344 F3s. Makes a great looking train.
Rolland
It was the K-Line Collector's Club offer of a GG-1 for $100 that got me into O gauge and I haven't looked back since. For my money, the KCC was the best deal out there. I wound up with two GG-1s, a Lackawanna FM Trainmaster, the NH EP-5, the A5 steamer, and an ATSF SD70 (that wound up being K-Line by Lionel, but details). Also fell in love with those little Plymouths and their box cabs. And the reefers that wound up going for cheap after K-Line's demise were also incredible deals for the money…
redrockbill
Most of my locomotives and rolling stock are MTH but I did buy a good amount of the Coca Cola and Anheuser Busch stuff they did which I thought were well done by K-Line and bought a few other pieces of K-Line rolling stock and have a few of their club cars and operating accessories. It is a shame that K-Line is no longer in business for they put some wonderful products for the time that they were in the toy train market.
Here's a video of some of my K-line 21" Daylight cars. All told I have 33 K-line passenger cars that are 18" and longer. That is only beaten by my 54 GGD passenger car collection. When the price is right I still pick up the K-Line 21" cars where appropriate. I also look for the 18" baggage cars.
Total I have 18 daylight cars of which 14 are uniquely numbered. I need to add some weight to the loco to pull more of them and change out the lighting to LEDs. Not prototypicaly accurate, but they are fun to run!
GG1 4877 posted:Here's a video of some of my K-line 21" Daylight cars. All told I have 33 K-line passenger cars that are 18" and longer. That is only beaten by my 54 GGD passenger car collection. When the price is right I still pick up the K-Line 21" cars where appropriate. I also look for the 18" baggage cars.
Total I have 18 daylight cars of which 14 are uniquely numbered. I need to add some weight to the loco to pull more of them and change out the lighting to LEDs. Not prototypicaly accurate, but they are fun to run!
Whoa! And that is some beautiful layout you got there, Jonathan, with long straight aways and wide, gentle curves!
texastrain posted:One I didn't include in earlier post, because it is Lionel/K Line....
But has TMCC and RS, is a great runner and pulls like crazy! So many trains... so little time!
Jesse TCA 12-68275
The two in the background.....
Are they K-line or Fe-line 
Jonathan, I agree with Arnold. Both the K-Line cars and the layout are mighty fine! Mighty fine!
I put all of the Plymouth diesels and sets together for SWSat yesterday. Thought I'd add them here too.
Plus the 4 I already posted in my OP.
I can't take credit for the layout. It is my club layout, the Paradise and Pacific Railroad in Scottsdale, AZ. A great club of some really dedicated members. With my work schedule I don't get to spend nearly enough time there. I am grateful for those that can as they keep this running 363 days a year for the public. It's a lot of fun to operate on though!
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