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Here are a few pics I just took of the set I received today and a couple of items of note.  (I'll post pics of the detail damage along with several rants in the next post.)

* The CSX containers that come with the set appear to be the CSX blue but their mat surface finish makes them appear drab when placed next to Atlas containers.  Interestingly enough, the Jinzo 53' CSX Atlas container that I have takes on a purple hue when placed next to these MTH CSX containers.  The doors on the MTH CSX containers do not open.  However, the detail on the non door end and the detail of the rivots is very good.  The pegs however are rather large compared to the Atlas containers.  They cause the CSX containers to ride high when placed a top the Atlas containers.

* The detail on the husky cars is very good but also very delicate.  There are many broken, bent or loose pieces on the end units.  For the most part, the swinging guides work well.  There was only two that I found that did not swing all the way end to accommodate 40' containers on top.

* The articulation attachment between cars is excellent...much,  much better than the Atlas attachment method.  Each spine top swivels out of the way to add the coupling and then is swung back over top of the coupling to prevent it from coming out.

* The printing is very crisp...even the smallest lettering could be read.  There is no highlight striping on the cars though.  Also, the walks appear to be plastic as well.  The only parts that appear to be metal are the trucks.

* The unit, when fully assembled, is just shy of 6 feet in length...it appears to be about 66 inches.  I would not attempt to run this on less than 54in track as the space between the cars is only about 0.5in and the middle cars do not have extra angle movement in the articulation joints.

* Some of the cars had issues where the top container could not fully mate with the bottom container due to molding issues around the walls.  I only found this in one case.

* There appears to be a lot of frictional drag in the trucks, esp. when the well cars are loaded.  I would recommend slow start speed profiles regardless and multiple engine lash-ups if 2 or more of these sets are present on a consist.

Overall they it is a nice set for an Intermodal themed layout...possibly not a modern Intermodal themed layout as I have not seen the units on any consist within the last 3 years in this area.

Anthony

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  • MTH TTX Deep Sided Husky Stack Set
  • MTH TTX Deep Sided Husky Stack Set
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  • MTH TTX Deep Sided Husky Stack Set
  • MTH TTX Deep Sided Husky Stack Set
Last edited by A. Wells

Now for the bad!

For shame MTH; for shame.  There are broken, bent and loose pieces on the ends units.  It is clear to me that the packaging and the packaging method is to blame.  If yours is like mine, you better have some modeling glue handy and a steady hand and some free time.  For the price, MTH should have done much better in making sure these pieces were in pristine condition when they arrived at their destination (aka. my house).  At least one bottom grill does not latch fully to the bottom of the unit.  It pressed with enough force, the bottom grills will come apart from the walls.

Not all detailed components fully mate with the unit either.  The hoses and such just ride up against the side wall (unless they are like mine and have come completely separated from the whole unit (I neglected to take a photo of my pile of pieces.)).

Luckily, should I get these pieces reattached, straightened and what not, I'll probably be the only person to know there was damage present to the cars.

Anthony

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@A. Wells posted:

Here are a few pics I just took of the set I received today and a couple of items of note.  (I'll post pics of the detail damage along with several rants in the next post.)

* The CSX containers that come with the set appear to be the CSX blue but their mat surface finish makes them appear drab when placed next to Atlas containers.  Interestingly enough, the Jinzo 53' CSX Atlas container that I have takes on a purple hue when placed next to these MTH CSX containers.  The doors on the MTH CSX containers do not open.  However, the detail on the non door end and the detail of the rivots is very good.  The pegs however are rather large compared to the Atlas containers.  They cause the CSX containers to ride high when placed a top the Atlas containers.

* The detail on the husky cars is very good but also very delicate.  There are many broken, bent or loose pieces on the end units.  For the most part, the swinging guides work well.  There was only two that I found that did not swing all the way end to accommodate 40' containers on top.

* The articulation attachment between cars is excellent...much,  much better than the Atlas attachment method.  Each spine top swivels out of the way to add the coupling and then is swung back over top of the coupling to prevent it from coming out.

* The printing is very crisp...even the smallest lettering could be read.  There is no highlight striping on the cars though.  Also, the walks appear to be plastic as well.  The only parts that appear to be metal are the trucks.

* The unit, when fully assembled, is just shy of 6 feet in length...it appears to be about 66 inches.  I would not attempt to run this on less than 54in track as the space between the cars is only about 0.5in and the middle cars do not have extra angle movement in the articulation joints.

* Some of the cars had issues where the top container could not fully mate with the bottom container due to molding issues around the walls.  I only found this in one case.

* There appears to be a lot of frictional drag in the trucks, esp. when the well cars are loaded.  I would recommend slow start speed profiles regardless and multiple engine lash-ups if 2 or more of these sets are present on a consist.

Overall they it is a nice set for an Intermodal themed layout...possibly not a modern Intermodal themed layout as I have not seen the units on any consist within the last 3 years in this area.

Anthony

Anthony,



These are still used every day. They only can take 20/40’ international containers, so they are not as widely used if it’s a domestic shipper.



I only tried the MTH on the bottom and Atlas on top

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Here is a few more pics from my temporary layout. I guess I was lucky this time. These showed up in flawless condition. A Wells.....sorry yours showed up with loose pieces. I have been there many times before. I know it is not fun. Not sure how I lucked out this time. I am generally happy with these( I better be, I waited long enough for them). Was not too sure about the color on the CSX containers at first but when all 5 cars are put together they look sweet. (in my opinion). Not an expert on CSX colors.

  One observation......look at the pic showing the new CSX/TTX well car versus the CSX well car with white Nedloyd container on top. That CSX  well car is from an earlier release. Do you see the difference in height between the two? Notice that the white Nedloyd container sits about 3/8" lower? This is because the (2) 20' containers on the bottom of this car have different height dimensions than the 40' or 48' MTH container. Wonder why that is the case. Maybe that is prototypical?

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@jini5 - I noticed that height difference with the older 48' Hanjin containers as well.  I was too lazy to measure but I knew it was about 1/4" higher.  I have no idea why there is the size difference with older MTH containers but I do have the containers from my newer MTH 48' husky stacks to switch out with the CSX ones as desired.  (Shame the Lionel ones aren't scale length wise...I have a small army of those.)   I also have the CSX 5 car in a box somewhere with those Nedloyd containers.  I was too have two of the TTX instead of the one but I decided against having two.  Your CSX containers look much more blue than mine.  Maybe it's because you have decent lighting to take photos with For some reason, mine seem much darker than what I'm accustomed to.  Do you notice any drag when you're running them?  (Oddly enough they don't drag as bad as my recent B&O passenger car acquisitions but it's still noticeable.) Anthony

Last edited by A. Wells
@Jeff78rr posted:

I like the look of the different height with these containers. Not all containers are equal on any train- some are hi-cubes, some standard, some 40’s, some 53’s, and yet some are 20’s. Mix them up to make it accurate for sure!

I was just responding that the answer to the different heights is staring me right in the face.  They're hi-cube.  I didn't think CSX had hi-cube 40' containers though.  Jeff - My 53' containers don't seem to fit in these well cars.

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