American Mainline 1:29 scale Frisco boxcars

American Mainline has a set of Frisco 40 ft. PS1 boxcars with 8 ft. Youngstown doors on their website in 1:29 scale. Are there any garden railroaders operating these cars and how do they compare to the prototypes assuming the Frisco rostered these cars and aren´t generic models with Frisco lettering?

Caboose Hobbies shows them on their site at their standard discount price. Add their periodic special sales with additional 15% discounting and this might be a good deal. They would look real nice on top of my bookcase holding my Frisco and Katy books!

Are there any other dealers who can beat the Caboose Hobbies pricing?

Joe Toth

 

Hi, Joe,
I have two of thise cars, they look great. Better pricing can be had at Large Scale web sites. I paid $55 for one at the Large Scale Convention in KC this year.
Dan

 

Thanks for the info Dan. I would like to get all four with an SD45 and a tuscan red wide vision caboose and mount on a trestle along the top of my bookcase. A friend of mine wants to construct a garden railway and that would be a great place to run the train. A large scale switching layout along my 18 foot livingroom wall would be a bit crowded. The S scale venture should take care of the indoor project.

Joe Toth

 

Large scale decals can be had thru several sources, including Tom Stolte at Oddballs.
Dan

 

I´m exploring the remote possibility of a large scale operation along the 18 ft. long wall with a non-scenic single track mainline around the other three walls to permit continuous running. As cool as S scale is, the G scale pricing is compeditive when compared to most of the other scales and running a three unit set of SD45s on a coal train blows my mind (what little of it that´s left). Though the time-line wouldn´t be correct I would protolance (is that the correct term?) and have a depot simular to the Cotton Belt´s at Carrollton, Texas, and the long gone Tower 77. I remember it as a kid. The Cotton Belt served as a joint agent for the Frisco and Katy. I was told that Tower 77 was operated by the Katy.

With three railroads crossing at the depot in Carrollton it was pure railroad drama! The SD45s with a long coal train pounding the diamonds of the Katy and Cotton Belt was beautiful classical music to my ears! Long live Frisco!

Joe Toth

 

Check out Dan Hyde's Frisco large scale venture in the Gallery and be sure and go to the Accucraft thread in the G scale modeling section and visit the Reindeer Pass site. You have to go to their Accucraft product page for AML 1:29 scale models and then Rolling Stock. The Pullman-Standard 4750 covered hopper is an awesome model and the Frisco version is a "Must" even if just to place on a display track in the train room! Like Ken mentions, 1:29 scale models are about three tims the length of an HO model and one AML covered hopper is about three times the price of a Kadee HO car but look what you get!

Large scale continues to attract modelers and the prices are compeditive with the smaller scales. Though 1:32 is correct for prototypical equipment on G gauge track (Lionel, Mike's Train House, MDC (now Piko, as they purchased the dies and now market the models), both Aristo Craft and USA Trains opted to go with 1:29. However, USA Trains American Series and work cars are 1:24 scale as are Hartland Locomotive Works (old Delton) products. There are also the LGB and Bachmann 1:22.5 products and Bachmann's F scale 1:20.3 as well. My good friend, the late Chester Holley of Tampa, Florida, who ran the best train shop in the Sunshine State for over 60 years, ran what ever he liked. He had a loop of LGB track in his house where he test ran new products and also displayed his huge tinplate collection of pre-war standard gauge trains.

MTH is manufacturing the old Lionel standard gauge tinplate again and for the sheer size of the large metal trains running on tinplate track is pure music to one'e ears. I can imigine how the boys of the 1920s and 30s were excited when these trains ran around the family Christmas tree each year and then returned to their layouts in the attic or basement after the holidays. Though they weren't prototypical by any means the boys had FUN ruuning them just the same and that is what the hobby is supposed to be all about. Fine scale models are truly works of art but sadly many nitpickers have lost the spirit of the hobby but that is their problem and their own personal loss.

Have Fun!

Joe Toth