Wm. K. Walthers, HO scale, troop cars

Two military passenger cars from World War II are now available ready-to-run from Walthers. They include Bachmann E-Z Mate magnetic knuckle couplers and models of prototype Allied Full-Cushion trucks with metal wheelsets.

Both models represent prototypes built to move troops across America during the latter days of World War II. To save time, these passenger cars were built as modified versions of the Association of American Railroads (AAR) standard 50-foot boxcar. After the war, the troop cars were sold to various railroads for conversion into head-end cars and maintenance-of-way camp cars.

Walthers models. Between 1943 and 1946, 840 kitchen cars and 2,400 sleepers (in two versions) were built. The Walthers HO models represent a typical troop kitchen car and troop sleeper from the second group of 1,000 cars (built without the center step wells). Model Railroader has published articles and drawings for all three: both sleepers in December 2001 and the kitchen car in February 2002. The models’ dimensions match these drawings perfectly.

These models follow the same construction as Walthers’ recent line of streamlined passenger cars. Each car has a one-piece floor and body core with individually molded sides and ends that snap-lock into place. A sheet metal weight lies on top of the floor where it’s secured by the interior and three screws. The roof snaps into place.

The styrene bodies on both cars are covered with well executed details, including the overlapping panel joints, rivets, and air vents. The window glazing is inset slightly and includes “aluminum” sash on the sleeper. The cars include sprung diaphragms that touch when the cars are coupled, and the underbody has the proper dual brake system.

Optional formed .010″ steel wire grab irons are provided, but adding them requires drilling 48 holes in the body with a no. 80 bit. I used a sharp scriber to deepen the molded starting points and found that drilling the soft plastic is easier than it sounds, especially if you have a modeler’s drill press. Then I used tiny drops of cyanoacrylate adhesive (CA) to secure the wire details.

Each car weighs a little over 4 ounces, which is about ½ ounce under the National Model Railroad Association’s (NMRA’s) HO scale recommendation of one ounce plus 1/2 ounce per inch of length. There is plenty of room inside both cars to add the needed extra weight.

Walthers provides excellent models of Allied Full Cushion trucks on the cars. The trucks have molded acetal plastic frames and blackened nickel-silver wheels with NMRA RP-25 contours. The wheels are mounted on needle-point stub axles which are pressed into acetal plastic axle tubes. All of our samples matched the NMRA gauge.

The Bachmann E-Z Mate magnetic knuckle couplers are body mounted at the proper height.

Our ready-to-run samples came neatly painted Pullman Green with black roofs, and they have sharply printed Dulux Gold lettering.

These models will make great additions for any layout set in the mid-to-late World War II or immediate postwar periods.

HO troop cars

Price: $24.98 each; two-packs,
$49.98; three-packs, $74.98

Manufacturer:
Wm. K. Walthers Inc.
P.O. Box 3039
Milwaukee, WI 53201-3039
www.walthers.com

Description:
HO plastic ready-to-run cars

Road names
Troop sleeper, Pullman; single
car, three-packs no. 1 and no. 2;
undecorated
Troop kitchen car, U.S. Army;
single car; two-pack;
undecorated