Car Numbers

[John Ramsden]

 

Ok:  We finally have some cars that were promised long ago in a faraway realm, they are nice, good detail, good coupler, ?? paint on FCC Box, little pricey.
But ___ ARE WE TO GET ONLY ONE ROAD NUMBER ??
AMS WAS SMART ENOUGH --  they provide lots of numbers on their offering.
I would like more than one, but I would like different numbers on them.
I know better to suggest things to BMANN Inc.  But??

[Santa Fe buff]

Let's see, one of these:  has 3 question marks, so you posted 6:
63=18 + the 2 you posted after them = 20 Q-Marks, AHHH! TOO MANY!
let us avoid that in thee future...

B O T:

A road-name could allow us to look up what road-number's each company had, and what car is it? It could be a 50 foot boxcar too a 85' Pullman!

Also,
many people suggest things to Bachmann, just don't expect much feedback, but they do put it in consideration...

[Yampa Bob]

John
The issue is minor, the fix is easy. Woodland Scenics makes packs of dry transfer numbers, carefully remove the old number and add a new one of your choice.

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Hi guys,

Bachmann has listened a little!

They did a new name and number on the WPY G Scale coach, and there are four different numbers on the EBT hoppers.

It is an easy fix to change the numbers, but also not that tough to do it at the factory each time they do a new run.

I think Bachmann would sell more cars if folks did not have to do the "fix"

[Yampa Bob]

Unless several cars are packaged as a set, each different number requires a separate stock number, different labels, and added inventory problems for the dealer, not to mention the factory's cost of making more stencils.

I have 12 Bachmann Rio Grande coal hoppers, they came with the same number. It only took one relaxed evening to change the numbers.

Every time we ask a company to do these little things that we can easily do for ourselves, it just adds to the cost and confusion.

Model Railroading isn't instant gratification, learning how to change numbers will add to your modeling skills.

[pdlethbridge]

Another way to do it would be to leave the numbers off and provide a decal sheet with a bunch of numbers appropriate to the prototype

[JerryB]

With the exception of Santa Fe Buff who really shouldn't be trying to moderate the board by telling a poster what to post and to "let us avoid that in thee future...", all the suggestions have merit. Certainly the cost is of serious concern.

Assuming John is referring to the 1:20.3 cars, the prototype F&CC cars were only found on a very limited number of railroads. Bachmann currently supplies the boxcars in four paint schemes: Florence & Cripple Creek, Southern Pacific, Pacific Coast Railway, and undecorated. One could hope that the future will see these cars available in paint schemes of the other actual owner railroads, including Neveda-Oregon-California, Nevada County Narrow Gauge, and (especially) the U.S. Naval Supply Depot, along with a couple of others that don't immediately come to mind. I would guess there won't ever be (nor should there be) Santa Fe, Union Pacific or Sea Board Coast Line versions of these cars.

Yes, one can remove the existing number, and replace it with a new one. Dependent on a person's skills, the result can range from 'like factory lettering' to totally unacceptable, potentially leaving the car's graphics and paint needing serious restoration work.

I think pdlethbridge has best solution, as it would allow lots of car numbers, rather than just the ones the factory chose, while preserving the existing paint job. The cost of supplying a number-only decal sheet is tiny vs. supplying complete cars with various numbers. Virtually no increased costs, while providing something that might actually increase sales.

Happy RRing,

Jerry

[Ken S.]

I assume that Walthers sells alot of passenger cars by supplying name and number decals? Yet, the recent announcements are priced in the same range as the Rapido cars.

[Woody Elmore]

Back in the good old days when Athearn cars were the standard, part of the fun of model railroading was doing hands on stuff.

To change numbers I used a very fine OOO brush and a little white ink. I even used Liquid Paper ink once. It was easy to make a three an eight or change a one to a four. Other numbers required more creativity. A tiny bit of weathering and the car officially had a new number. No Big deal.

[SteamGene]

Accurail sells a decal sheet with the background in the car's color.  To change a car number, one merely cuts out the appropriate new numbers and decals over the old number.  I have 12 of their C&O three bay 70 ton cars which were the first with roller bearings and came with not only the original 1948 donut, but also a white horizontal bar that indicated the roller bearings.
Gene

[John Ramsden]

Great responses.  Glad to stir  the pot a bit and get a little thinking going.

The answer I was hoping would pop up  was to give us a Lettered -- un-numbered car with a rub on sheet,  of some,    if not all, the correct numbers for a given car and RR. 

Hope I didn't use to many faces 

And  Jerry,  you are correct on my referencing the 1:20 cars. 

I did have a weak moment when I saw On30 Tea kettle Shay, so I have one.
Looks cute next to a the Fn3 geared engines

[Santa Fe buff]

Jerry,
I'm sorry, no more out of me. I did another "Hick-up".

[JerryB]

<snip> I did another "Hick-up".

All of us have them from time to time!

Happy RRing,

Jerry

[Kevin Strong]

Bachmann's 1:20.3 hoppers come lettered without numbers. I thought it was rather nice of them to do that, and I'm surprised the idea hasn't caught on to the other cars in the product line. Alas, they don't supply dry transfer numbers to go on the car, but--as others have stated--they're available from other sources. If you can't find the Woodland Scenics (Model Graphics) dry transfers, try your local Michael's or Hobby Lobby in the scrapbooking/sticker section to see if they have anything that may work. Vinyl numbers (available from folks like G-Scale Graphics or Shawmut Car Shops) will also work very nicely.

Later,

K

[glennk28]

new numbers, whether decals or rub-ons, need to be the proper size and font to look right.  What I think would be good would be to have the initial part of the number on the car, with a "number jungle" (Old Walthers term--laid out so you can clip any two-number combination from the sheet. )

Some cars would only need a few--the upcoming D&RGW long caboose only has five numbers possible (0503, 0505, 0517, 0540, and 0574) while a Rio Grande boxcar would have 750 possible numbers (3000--3750) If you're not truying to match a prototype, then any good decal of a suitable size and font would do.    gj