85' Smooth Sided Passenger Car Questions

[Rickenbacker 325]

Loving the look of the new 85' Smooth Sided Passenger Cars. Finally a RBBX coach that looks like the real ones! A few questions before getting some of them. Do they have the same style coupler boxes as the full domes? Meaning, do the coupler boxes swing from side to side when the trucks move? I see that they are LED lit, are they flicker free? Lastly, any other types of cars coming out soon like a diner, baggage or sleeper? Hoping to get a few of these soon!

[InsideTrack]

The body-mounted couplers do not move with the trucks. We recommend you run it on 22" radius curves or greater. The interior lighting LEDs are  non-flickering. We do not know what RBBB cars will show up down the pike, but we hope to continue expanding the line. Enjoy the coach.

[Rickenbacker 325]

Thats great to hear!! Hope to see some more unique roadnames in the future! Maybe some NKP silver and blue cars, or Norfolk Southern to match the full dome.

[MilwaukeeRoadfan261]

Thats great to hear!! Hope to see some more unique roadnames in the future! Maybe some NKP silver and blue cars, or Norfolk Southern to match the full dome.

I wouldn't mind seeing some in Norfolk Southern or Norfolk & Western to go with the N&W J. Coaches in N&W are rather hard to find.

[ACY]

Coaches in N&W are rather hard to find.

I don't know where you have been looking but they are all over the place especially the Powhatan Arrow, MTH and BLI both made that set I think and Bachmann's Heavyweight Spectrum cars are still floating around. Also AHM/Rivarossi and later IHC made the streamlined cars in both schemes.

[thewizard]

Coaches in N&W are rather hard to find.

I don't know where you have been looking but they are all over the place especially the Powhatan Arrow, MTH and BLI both made that set I think and Bachmann's Heavyweight Spectrum cars are still floating around. Also AHM/Rivarossi and later IHC made the streamlined cars in both schemes.

Where? All I can find are models from the 80's, and the last set of MTH cars I saw sold for above list price.

[ACY]

Where? All I can find are models from the 80's, and the last set of MTH cars I saw sold for above list price.

They had the MTH cars at MB Klein for quite a while, they just recently sold the last one about a week or two ago, they were even on sale. http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/MTH-HO-80-60013-5-Car-Passenger-Set-N-W-p/mth-80-60013.htm
Train World also had the 5 car set as well until like a month ago.

And I see the Bachmann Spectrum Heavyweight cars all the time at hobby shops, flea markets and train shows. Lately there are not that many on ebay, but the last 5 years before this past year there were a ton.

And the IHC cars are not from the 1980's although they are very similar to the AHM and Rivarossi cars. And those are out there, but they are not much better than the AHM or Rivarossi cars from the 70's and 80's.
And you never said IHC cars or older cars were not good enough for you, or specified you only were looking for the MTH cars.

[thewizard]

That's just wrong. MTH shipped them in 2009 and they've been out of stock everywhere since 2014, when I was trying to find them.

I was only looking for the MTH ones, as they were the only modern streamlined models. Even the Bachmann Collectors Series are gone from eBay though, but were previously going for over $100 a set, and they're the Rivarossi models IIRC.

Either way, these new cars are nice, but I'd like to know what cars they're modeled off of, if any at all. And if they'll have them for the N&W!

[ACY]

That's just wrong. MTH shipped them in 2009 and they've been out of stock everywhere since 2014, when I was trying to find them.

I was only looking for the MTH ones, as they were the only modern streamlined models.

MTH did not ship them in 2009, they did not ship them until May 2011. Not sure where you got 2009 from.
When did you look on MB Klein or Train World?
MB Klein found a few sets in their warehouse and after they put them on sale they maybe lasted 2 days max, not sure how long exactly they were on the site before they put them on sale, but it was not more than a week.
Train World had two sets in stock for $470 plus shipping for like a whole month, I think that is full price though.

And on Nov 18, 2016 all 9 MTH cars sold on ebay new in box for only $200.

[thewizard]

Your observation that they were sold out within a week only proves my point, that they're a hot item and hard to find - not all over the place, like you stated.

I got the 2009 date from the MTH website. It lists "Delivery Status: Delivered JUN. 2009" [source]

I looked on MBKlein and trainworld back in 2014. I have a canceled order from 4/14 because they were out of stock.

When searching for the product number, the last completed listing on eBay is for $642.06 + $18.50 shipping for the 5 car set. [source]

Re-reading your last response, I'm certain we must be talking about different cars, as MTH only made the 5 car set, plus 3 extra cars for a total of 8, not 9...

[ACY]

I got the 2009 date from the MTH website. It lists "Delivery Status: Delivered JUN. 2009" [source]

I looked on MBKlein and trainworld back in 2014. I have a canceled order from 4/14 because they were out of stock.

When searching for the product number, the last completed listing on eBay is for $642.06 + $18.50 shipping for the 5 car set. [source]

Re-reading your last response, I'm certain we must be talking about different cars, as MTH only made the 5 car set, plus 3 extra cars for a total of 8, not 9...

They were originally supposed to come out in 2009 but due to several delays they shipped in May 2011.
You must have just not been looking for them at the right place at the right time. Generally when they are at full list price at MB Klein and Train World they don't sell too many but once they put them on sale they go really fast.
When there is something I want that is either expensive or hard to find; what I usually do is once a week or so I see who has it in stock between MB Klein, Train World, and if applicable the Favorite Spot. Then I generally compare prices between them ebay and amazon. If I  notice no one has them in stock, then I will keep on checking once a week until someone has them in stock for a price I am willing to pay.
Unfortunately for you,  you just didn't check frequently enough and kept on just missing out on them even though they were definitely out there and not that hard to find honestly, you just barely missed them probably.
I am on my phone right now or I could give you the link for the eBay auction for 9 MTH streamline Powhatan Arrow HO cars.
I know for sure there was at least the one five car base set and one two car add on set, but I am unsure as to whether there was a second two car add on set or two individual cars.
For my MTH NYC set there was 2 five car sets, 2 two car sets and 1 individual car for a total of 15 cars. But most people only usually just have the one 5 car set with the tail observation car from what I have seen and heard.

Good luck in your search

[Rickenbacker 325]

I am gonna ask this here instead of making a new topic since it is somewhat related. My friend and I have been modeling our own excursion train with 765, 1361, and soon to be 611 with sound and always running with a Bachmann ES44 for pulling power. He recently got the Milwaukee Road full dome and I got the Empire Builder full dome, both by Walthers. I thought it would be a good idea to get the Bachmann RBBX as well as the Norfolk Southern full dome. Does anyone have these? I wanna see if the size is somewhat close to the Walthers cars so they match. I am more concerned about the Full dome than the RBBX. The spectrum heavyweights are smaller than the Walthers ones so I just wanna be sure.

[jonathan]

I don't do Norfolk Southern, but I do run my Bachmann and Walthers passenger cars together.  They are close enough in dimensions that I can't tell a difference.

However, the shades of paint used are slightly different. You can tell a difference by the color shades.  Other than that, they run ok together.

Regards,

Jonathan

[Captain Crutch]

Just a quick question, are these budd coaches? I'm just confused and they look kinda like it. If not what is their basis. There's a certain loco I have that was meant to pull budd coaches and for some reason those are really hard to find in a simple silver livery which would go great with the loco.

[Len]

Even on the prototype there were slight variations in paint color. It depended on how recently a car had been repainted and whether the paint came from the same lot or not. So if it's just a slight shade difference, and not mixing 'Hunter Green' with 'Pullman Green', I wouldn't worry about it.

Len