Let me start with the fact that I just unpacked these and have not run them. I’m excited to see innovation and at first glance these cars are it! They have good looking metal trucks and metal wheels with spinners! Yes! Modern rolling stock with good innovative design? I have not checked for any measurement accuracy on any of the car yet.
Well let’s see what else. To me the coal load looks real. It may be of slightly large chunks and not shaped like modern fills but it does look good to me. A definite improvement over plastic. Overall the car looks right. I had reluctance buying these as I had heard some rumors about breakage of some of their cars. I think this design helps as the cars have solid ends. Although the grabs look good, they feel flimsy and may break with rough handling. I would have preferred them made of metal. The stirrups don’t look right as they should have been shaped better and even had another step. I may upgrade down the road if they snap off. They appear like other manufacturer’s older cars have.
Wow, they include optional body mount couplers in the pkg. First off they look like KD and seem to couple to them. Not as well with some other brands. They don’t operate as smoothly either. Still, I’m impressed that they’re included. I just noted that they are too high and may need a shim. That’s OK with me as it’s better than too low and needing grinding of the car! I hope it’s not the car’s height? There’s also a chain connected to the coupler pin that allows them to be uncoupled from the cut lever. WOW again as that’s got to be a step forward. They don’t release easy yet. I’m thinking they’ll break in with some use?
OK, I’ve nit picked and have to say that any negative so far does not detract from me being so impressed with modern offerings from what looks to be an innovative company. I missed some of their loco offerings like the K4 when I was out of work. Hopefully they keep up with more stuff like this for us modern guys. I like!!!
