New METCA Milk Cars - Riverside, Brookside & Renken

@NOT LionelLLC posted:

Have no fear, try it.  Couplers are better on these 2021 produced cars than on the 2020 produced cars.

Stu

Stu, these were the ones that were delayed that you had talked about on Gary's topic about the bad couplers, correct?

@NOT LionelLLC posted:

Have no fear, try it.  Couplers are better on these 2021 produced cars than on the 2020 produced cars.

Stu

Stu:

Coming from you, I am certain that's the case, my friend. But the fact remains that fixed couplers are still significantly inferior to  articulated couplers, which Lionel always used until very recently, and are unacceptable. There is no escaping that. Lionel needs to immediately discontinue the use of fixed couplers and start manufacturing again all of their freight cars with articulated couplers. This is not rocket science. MTH and ATLAS O freight cars are all made with articulated couplers.

Pat

@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

Stu, these were the ones that were delayed that you had talked about on Gary's topic about the bad couplers, correct?

Yes.  Without going back to review that thread/topic, yes.

Stu

@irish rifle posted:

The cars are beautiful. I received my Renken milk car a few days ago. Like you, however, I was disappointed that the couplers are not articulated, so I won't buy any more of the new milk cars. I am not worried about derailments with my new milk car, as my curves are all O72 or larger, and I will also place the Renken car between two of the old Lionel milk cars that have articulated couplers.

Hopefully, Lionel will go back to installing articulated couplers for all of its freight cars in the very near future. I still don't understand why they downgraded their couplers by making them fixed. I'm planning to speak to Ryan about this issue at the York Meet.

Pat

Pat,

Speaking to someone from Lionel at York is the BEST thing to do.  Get the info straight from them.  As you know, all I do is design the paint schemes and graphics.  I have no input on the mechanical aspects of the cars.

Stu

Here is my quick YouTube review as promised. A huge thank you to Stu and METCA for offering these beautiful paint schemes!

https://youtu.be/7zDIMaaX9DE

@NOT LionelLLC posted:

Yes.  Without going back to review that thread/topic, yes.

Stu

Thanks Stu, I thought that was what I remembered correctly.

Stu,

Thank you very much for the email concerning my Brooksides.  I appreciate it that you took time to address my concern.

They will most likely be there when I pull in tomorrow.

Norm

Picked up a few things over there tonight(Metca stuff I mean). Thanks again Stu.

@EricTrainMan posted:

Here is my quick YouTube review as promised. A huge thank you to Stu and METCA for offering these beautiful paint schemes!

https://youtu.be/7zDIMaaX9DE

Good review but the new and improved couplers IMO are not good enough.  Sad the tooling for the 2000’s cars was lost.  Guess if I want any in the future it’s kadee conversion for sure.

@Peter B posted:

The new easy to convert truck design was brought out the same time Lionel introduced the Lionscale product line in 2016. The intent of these new truck designs was to make the cars easier to convert to scale couplers or 2 rail O scale. That said all good intentions but doesn't excuse the new mediocre at best half metal half plastic trucks and couplers currently being used. Hope Lionel goes back to installing the articulating metal couplers.

Peter:

Correct, but as the old saying goes: "The road to h**l is paved with good intentions." Weak excuse anyway. Both MTH and ATLAS were able to figure out the "easy conversion" issue without downgrading their 3-rail trucks and couplers, but not Lionel.

Pat

@NOT LionelLLC posted:

Pat,

Speaking to someone from Lionel at York is the BEST thing to do.  Get the info straight from them.  As you know, all I do is design the paint schemes and graphics.  I have no input on the mechanical aspects of the cars.

Stu

Hi Stu:

I know. You do a terrific job!

Pat

My Renken’s car arrived the other day and METCA did a beautiful job on them. Brings back memories of having Renken’s milk delivered to our home as a kid. The trucks are an improvement over some of the recent milk cars (articulation not withstanding). The decoration is crisp and the car has the internal tanks (I looked through the doors... not comfortable trying to pry off the roof).

i've resorted to adding weights to cars that connect to the non-articulated cars. It helps a lot.