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Maybe there is some confusion about what a scale Budd car is?  To me, it is a 21" extrusion roughly matching the contours of cars Lionel made in the 1950s, and not an RDC or one of those smaller Flying Yankees.  K-Line and 3rd Rail have made very good scale Budd cars, and Mac Shops and Ed Alexander made really good kits.  They are all out there, for relatively cheap.

Originally Posted by Bob Delbridge:

What kind of features would Legacy or PS3 have to offer a passenger car?

Hi Bob,

 

The "trolley mode" station stop capabilities of PS2 and 3 are a pretty "killer app" for RDC's.

 

The 3rd-Rail RDC's are a beautiful model.  We have nine sets of them on NWTL.  The bodies are beautifully done with an excellent nickle plated finish.  It's a little more yellow than stainless steel, but it looks a lot better than silver paint.  The bodies are quite heavy and the manufacturer did a good job specing the truck spring.  When set on the track the springs compress about 1/3 of their total travel.  The fatal flaw of the 3rd-Rail RDC's is the drive.  They use powered trucks with a small motor driving worm gear boxes on each axle.  That provides plenty of power to move the car and it's coupled dummy, but the gear boxes have no seals.  After running a few scale miles the gear boxes heat up, the grease inside thins, and it wicks out the axles and onto the wheels.  They really can't stand up to regular operation.

No deep pockets here Al.  I do not smoke, gamble, do drugs and have 8-10 beers a year.  I was also smart enough to not get married a second time.  I am old.  House and two Florida Condos are paid for.  Nothing else left for me to spend my money on but trains.  I try to buy the right trains as we all know the train market has a lot of junk.

Originally Posted by Marty Fitzhenry:

I have a few of the 3RD Rail RDC cars and they are great runners and well built.

 

They are beautiful Marty, nicest I've ever seen. We had them here in Australia, they used to run down our beautiful south coast along side the ocean, it was a wonderful trip. If something as nice as these was released again, I'd buy them for sure.

Own a PRSL powered and unpowered RDC-1 pair from 3rd Rail. Gorgeous pieces! (as Marty has shown above). The low profile power truck motors have been smooth and dependable. A distinct virtue of the motor arrangment used in the 3rd Rail scale versions is that one has a proper flat floor throughout the length of the units permitting a full length interior without any obstructions which strongly contributes to the overall appearance of the model (A similar arrangement is used in the 3rd Rail Electroliners and the twin motors have been fine for me in my Red Arrow version).

 

If one is searching of the 3rd Rail RDC's in the secondary market, be aware that the satin coating on the nickel plating can be a bit touchy. Other than that one caution, the 3rd Rails make everything else look like silver painted lunch boxes.

 

Bob Bubeck

Last edited by Bob Bubeck
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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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