Model Construction
The model closely matches prototype dimensions in the Simmons-Boardman 1997 Car & Locomotive Cyclopedia. The car’s primary spotting features are the high side sill with a pair of thin horizontal reinforcing ribs that run the length of the car along the top and bottom of the curved sides. Each car has three compartments, trough hatches, and three bottom outlets. Athearn’s instructions say more than 20,000 prototype cars have been built for more than two dozen customers.
A one-piece detailed plastic body casting includes the sides, ends, and hopper bottoms. Athearn uses two different body castings to simulate the prototype cars fabricated in Mexico with 12 side panels or cars built in the United States with only ten panels.
All of the 84 remaining details, from the roof hatch to the bottom outlet gates, come as separate parts that are factory-assembled. Of particular note are the .010″-thick etched-metal running boards and the fine cross-sections in the molded end bracing, ladders, and small details. Many of these scale-size parts are quite fragile.
Wheels & Couplers
The scale 36″-diameter wheels have .088″ treads which are close to the NMRA’s Recommended Practice size of .086″ for HO fine scale wheels. These wheels are mounted on stub axles which are pressed into acetal plastic axle tubes. The outer axle ends step down in size to reduce the friction in the sideframes so their rolling qualities are only slightly inferior to the usual needlepoint bearings.
Accumate scale magnetic knuckle couplers are mounted at the correct height in coupler boxes cast into the stub sills. The box lids are secured with Phillips screws. The one problem here is the coupler box is too narrow to substitute the more common oversize magnetic knuckle couplers if desired.
Painting & Lettering
Our sample car was finished in a prototype paint scheme that was very well done, and all of the lettering is clear and sharp, including the tiny “Caution no side ladder” notes on the roof edges.
Athearn has once again raised the level of detail included in this contemporary car. At the same time, the firm has taken quite a gamble in marketing a car of this caliber with fine scale wheels and exact scale couplers. It will be interesting to see what kind of acceptance these models receive.
Price: $34.98 each
Manufacturer:
Athearn Inc.
19010 Laurel Park Rd.
Compton, CA 90222
www.athearn.com
Description:
Ready-to-run plastic freight car with 100-ton roller-bearing trucks:
Acetal plastic roller-bearing caps
Acetal one-piece truck frames
Blackened nickel-plated brass wheels
4½-ounce weight (½ ounce under NMRA’s Recommended Practice)
Road names (ten-panel car):
Undecorated; ADM Transportation Co.; AG Processing (AGP); Burlington Northern Santa Fe; BNSF (12-pack with individual car numbers); Cargill; CSX; Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern; Farmland Industries Inc.; Illinois Central; Norfolk Southern; Soo Line (CP); U. S. Borax
Road names (12-panel car):
Undecorated, BNSF, GATX
