Help finding passenger cars that work on 18" radius

[wrksux]

My son wants passenger cars for his layout. he has 18inch radius turns and our local shop said there aren't any available because they are all too long. Is this true? If not which ones will work.

Also to further complicate this he has knuckler couplers. appearently these make things harder.

Thanks all !

[ripvanwnkl]

Try Athearn and Con-Cor for 72' scale cars and Roundhouse for 50' and 34' old time passenger cars.  My grandson and I have some of each and all work on 18" curves.  The shortest ones look the best on sharp curves. 

[MilwaukeeRoadfan261]

Try Athearn and Con-Cor for 72' scale cars and Roundhouse for 50' and 34' old time passenger cars.  My grandson and I have some of each and all work on 18" curves.  The shortest ones look the best on sharp curves.  

I agree. I myself run Athearn, Roundhouse, and a couple of walthers passenger cars and the only one I have problems running on an 18" radius turn is my Walthers Milwaukee Road 261 Super-Dome 53. The Athearn and Roundhouse cars are good quality for the price (about $22 for Athearn Ready-to-Roll and about $20 for Roundhouse ready-to-roll 34' and 50' and about $30 for Roundhouse 85' palace cars. I have also found older Athearn kit car passenger cars which make up 4 of my 7 car Athearn brand fleet of passenger cars at my local hobby shop Scale Model Supplies for $11.25!) as they are nice running cars and are great looking. Walthers passenger cars you have to be careful about. As I said, I have the Milwaukee Road 261 version Super-Dome #53 and the other Walthers passenger car I have is the matching Milwaukee Road 261 version Skytop Lounge "Cedar Rapids" and the Cedar Rapids can operate on turns as sharp as an 18" Radius curve while the Super-Dome can operate on turns as sharp as a 22" radius curve. As far as what you get your son that is up to you, just trying to help you in your decision.

[Doneldon]

I agree with you-

Sixty to 72 foot passenger cars look pretty good on 18" curves. Shorter ones are okay if you're modeling an old time period but they are out of place 0in more modern layouts. By and large, youngsters prefer modern settings because that's what they see in the real world. An 1880s layout might not grab their interest so you should probably look for more modern lightweight cars in moderate lengths. A stainless steel look might be a plus, depending on what your son likes. There are some 12" cars which can make it around 18" curves but they'll be far apart and look like a kinked chain on the curves, neither of which is cool. Go with the 60' to 72' cars. If you are patient and you want something a little better looking watch for Tenshodo's lightweight brass cars. They sell at a very competitive price compared to newly manufactured cars and they really are good quality. Many already have lights and interiors, very pricey additions to current plastic offerings. You can also find moderate length heavyweight cars but my guess is your boy would prefer the streamlinered look.
                                                                                                                                                                                       -- D

[jward]

would the bachmann amfleet cars work on 18"r? they used to. the amfleet cars are still used to-day by amtrak where most of the traditional passenger cars are gone. i know my son wants locomotives and cars he sees to-day, not the relics from the past i prefer.

[MilwaukeeRoadfan261]

The Bachmann Amfleet cars might work on an 18" radius curve, but I don't know because even though I am 19 I run more 1950's era/exursion passenger cars.

[Pacific Northern]

Have a look at the new Con-Cor heavyweight sets. I have a few and they are great. All the bells and whistles, interiors, lighting, metal wheels, KD type couplers. Great cars, track well.

http://www.con-cor.com/HO-1920-1950-Heavyweight-Passenger-Cars.html

There are not too many cars that willl reliably run on 18" radius track. These do.

[jettrainfan]

Anthern is a good one. I got 4 off ebay for $20 and a donation of 8! (6 runnabke, 2 need work). Nice coaches they are? Love running them.

[MilwaukeeRoadfan261]

Athearn cars are nice cars. If all my Athearn cars were one road name, I would have a complete set of the heavyweight cars.

[jward]

i like the athearn cars as well. especially the ready to roll ones. time spent not having to assemble kits is time i can spend on other tasks.

[ACY]

i like the athearn cars as well. especially the ready to roll ones. time spent not having to assemble kits is time i can spend on other tasks.

Athearn kits are called shake the box kits for a reason, they take a few minutes that is all.

[ebtnut]

Part of the issue with passenger cars and sharp curves is the appearance of the big overhang if you use the standard 80 foot long cars.  A lot of these car models will pass around an 18" curve but the overhang is such that equipment on an adjoining curve track might actually hit the cars.  This is what the shorter, 60 or 70 foot cars are recommended for these tight curves.  You really want to reserve the 80 foot cars for curves of 30" or greater.  I would note that there are the same issues with the 80 to 86 foot long Hi-Cube and container cars as well.