Well, now we’ve had a chance to absorb the plusses and minuses of Lionel’s American Flyer cylindrical hopper, I thought I’d try to offer a general assessment.
Overall, it’s a pretty nice car. While I haven’t taken a scale rule to it, the A/F car appears to match photographs of prototype cars pretty well. Lionel was wise to choose a car not previously offered in S as an assembled car. True, it’s not a “fine scale” car, some of the detail is a little bulky, but not outrageously so.
It’s understandable that Lionel would want to capitalize on UP and NS “Heritage Fever” and offer the fantasy heritage cars. What remains to be seen is if this “fever” continues with future offerings of different cars.
The Canadian offerings are colorful and while the US road offerings may appear bland, they do appear to be correct. I leave it to the individual to decide which roadname he likes.
We may quibble about whether the car should have 3, 4, or 6 bays for a specific roadname, but we should remember that the S market (Hirail or Scale) is relatively small and it’s highly unlikely Lionel would move to get too road-specific on detail, particularly on freight cars.
Also a plus, at least for the scale side, is the provision for mounting Kadee couplers.
The big failings of the American flyer cylindrical hopper are the ride height and operation. It all boils down to the trucks. The attempt to satisfy the Flyer/HiRail and Scale segments in one blow has been an abject failure. It has been the cause of most of the ill will and criticism of the cylindrical hopper.
First, offering the car with scale wheels and Flyer couplers mounted is a puzzlement. The S market is without a doubt primarily Flyer/Hirail. Out of the gate these cars should have had Flyer wheelsets. I’ve seen conflicting reports that the car as is will or won’t run well on traditional Flyer track, A/F FasTrack and AM track. Different people are having different experiences.
What is certain that unmodified, the cars will not track through scale turnouts due to the gauge being narrow. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the wheel profile or flange depth, just the gauge.
Possible Improvements:
1: Change the spec on the axle to increase the gauge for scale wheels. If there is remaining stock of the axles, perhaps a spacer could be added to increase the gauge during assembly.
2: Offer the car with HiRail wheels only, with separate sale (and properly gauged) scale wheels.
Second is the car’s ride height. The cylindrical hopper ride too high and looks toylike, regardless if the car has a fantasy paint job or a prototypical one. This is due solely to the height of the sheet metal bolster. This may also be creating some of the operational issues.
Possible Improvements:
1: Retool the sheet metal truck bolster to lower the height to the proper height. This would also eliminate the need to include a spacer for Kadee couplers. The truck itself is a good looking, free rolling truck, but in its current configuration, it spoils the overall look of the car.
2: Design a new truck and coupler, using the defacto standard set by the former S-Helper Service. (I expect this to be highly unlikely.)
Third, is the Flyer couplers. Again there are some conflicting reports on how well these operate. This is something I’m not really sure as to what can be done to improve them. My own personal Flyer/HiRail operation is limited and I have experienced mixed results with various couplers from the Gilbert days to the present, along with the SHS, SSA and AM variants.
Various folks have come up with their own solutions to deal with the shortcomings of the trucks and wheelsets in order to place the car in operation on their railroads.
Some feel that Lionel should offer replacement trucks or wheels, either free of charge or at a nominal fee. I would suppose this is a possibility, but I think unlikely.
Others have indicated that the hoppers should be sent back, refuse delivery or cancel orders en masse in order to register their dissatisfaction. This would be a drastic measure to be sure and most likely be nothing more than a “feel good” moment for some. A sufficient number of customers would have to comply as would the major dealers for this option to be effective.
Plus, there are some of us that have accepted the hoppers for what they are and while not really happy about the truck/wheel issues, have chosen to deal with them to our own personal satisfaction.
I fully understand this is not an inexpensive car and expectations have not been met by many, but I think we can come up with a better solution that the equivalent of tying the car to a brick and throwing it through Lionel’s corporate window.
My personal feeling is that Lionel did not set out to make a bad product and upset their customers. I believe the marketing and engineering folks either didn’t do enough research about S in the 21st century or simply got bad information from someone.
Rusty
