Lionel 89' Auto Racks

cant you put weight in it?

those auto racks are really nice cars. I weighted all of mine with some weights take for MTH containers and they track very Nicely.  Right now I have 15 on a train with 32 other cars behind and they do fine with no problems. Weight them down inside to avoid issues. 

If the new auto rack car doesn't work out you can always do what Mike Reagan suggests.  He gave me a sample body while visiting Canfield service center a couple weeks ago and suggests it is a great way to introduce trains into the kitchen.  Not sure my wife appreciated the thought though.

I think they're so light because they intend to make cars to put in them. Nevertheless, a 2 foot steel bar on the floor of the car would make them plenty heavy. That being said, I havent had any tracking issues with mine, and I mix them in with the heavier Atlas articulated cars.

TRAINCOLLECTOR2   I have about 12 auto carriers and as you noted they are light.  I tested them with a long train and started and stopped the engine quickly - the cars would rock and maybe pop off the track.  Easy running is OK.  Add weight - I added 5-6 OZ by filling the trough in the center of the car on the bottom flat car porting of the car.  Remove 2 screws on each end of the car AND the center screw under a cover.  With a sharp tool pull the bottom of the clip out away from the trough and pull up slightly - then pull the other side out.  If you have old wheel weight - 3 oz cut off the steel clip and shape the lead to fit the trough.  I super glue the weights in.  I have also used #12 lead shot.  2nd the car couplers will open on long train with either or rough track or high speeds.  I found some springs with the same diameter but about 3-4 times the spring rate and the cars will not come apart.  With the coupler fix and extra weight these cars are great.  I will try to get someone to take a video when we run at the Henry Ford Museum at the end of July.. If any one wants to talk about the modifications I made please send me an email with your phone number and tine to call.  thanks Bruce

Thank you to all of you for your advise. Going to get some "sticky" wieghts and stick them inside.

How long will it take for Lionel's Die-Cast division to have 1:48th scale Automobiles produced? 

I wonder if they will be able to make the auto carriers without roofs and end doors to match some real Auto Carriers? Boston and Maine had Auto Racks without roofs.

Andrew

seems like the addition of vehicles, die cast or plastic would really make this car very top heavy and unstable

Can anyone tell me where I can buy open scale length auto racks please? I only ever see enclosed scale length units.

Take a look at this https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/t...83#11707689412056683.  Also look at Accurail. Some real nice equipment.  Nowhere on their web site could I find the scale of what they were selling, but I think it was HO. It would be nice if they could be talked into doing O scale.

Aside from scratchbuilding, the enclosed units are the only ones out there. There may be some kits (Quality Craft?) floating around here and  there, but they probably date from the 1960's at best.

The closest I've seen to a scale open rack were the kitbashed Lionel/MPC autoracks of the late Roger Arcara, who used as many as four of the old bilevels cars to build stretched, widened versions that were close to scale size. I recall asking about the details of their construction as he exhibited his wares at the old train shows at the White Plains (NY) county center back in the 1980s

---PCJ.

Hello Allan,

here is a link for an dealer here in Switzerland. He has two overland santa fe open deck in stock.

http://trainmaster.ch/X-322.htm

He is a great dealer and a nice guy. I have done quite a few purchasing at his store.

Greetings from Switzerland

Martin

Thanks Martin, I'm looking for open sides too. From the comments previous, it looks like a kit bash is the only option.

Is this a new model to be released?