Wheels of Time Harriman Cars "Wozzers!"

[Nato]

   I recieved a very large U.S. Snail Mail Package that I had to retreve at my Post Office (too big for the box) ,yes it was from Wheels O Time. Now I probably could have saved some money by going thru a dealer and having my card charged uppon release of the cars, but I elected to pay upfront to WOT and reserve there. I may have gone a bit overboard three 4 car sets one each in SP ,T N & O, and UP plus UP & SP 2 car add on sets. All I can say is Wozzers! (my apologies to http://www.wozzers.com/) .

These are some of the nicest N Scale passenger cars done by any manufacturer. The Prewar to early Postwar green schemes on the cars,SP Dark Olive, UP a similar but noticeably different DK Green,are wonderfull. The gold lettering and numbers really set it off.

Hey! N scale heavyweight cars with real steps under the platform doors. The roof vent detail is outstanding, not blobs but vents that stick up and overhang correctly. How do I know this because I revisited my huge referrence book "SP Passenger Cars Volume 1 Coaches and Chair Cars" published by the SP Historical and Technical Society.

The cars have interriors that are a redish brown flat color, one car end has the inside end door modeled as part of the interrior visible through the vestibul end, the opposite end is open no door, looking inside reveals the slightly higher  hight of the floor,passenger figures seated would probably have to be amputated below the waist. This was done so a flat weight would fit under the interrior, when viewed through the windows the seats look ok.

My biggest gripe, on cars lettered for "All Day Lunch Cars" SP & T & N O seats are modeled not tables between facing seats. A minor point. The underbody detail is really nice with some freestanding piping, brake cylinder,nice battery box ,center sill etc. The trucks are very free rolling with LP plastic wheels.

 Couplers are Accumates that are truck mounted on what looks like a WOT designed tapered extension,trucks are held in with plastic pins with large flat round heads. One word of caution, when storded in the semi-hard foam box liner the couplers can get jammed to one side, also if you re-store the cars in the box,pushing in gently on the coupler and then straightening it out returns it to center. The cars couple pretty close, the gap isn't too noticeable.

The cars come in nice fairly heavy cardstock boxes,the lid fits over the bottom,no end flaps to bend or tear, partial viewing windows on the lid allow you to see part of a set and read what the road name is, labeling on boxes is for all road names, with a space in front where the appropiate road is checked off. White semi- hard foam box bottom liners have been carefully die cut to fit the cars, 2 car sets have a different orientation in the boxes, a small printed sheet gives a brief history of the design and developement of these cars and has the specific railroad and time era for each particular set at the top.

 I took my Model Power SP Pacific with Vandy Tender out of storage and coupled it up to the cars, to see how many of these heavy cars it would pull (does not have a traction tire fitted) I got up to ten ,this is on the flat mainline prtion of my layout I'am sure on the grade going up to the top of my branchline it would ne more like two or three. I did not test there as the track is being ballasted and ballast hasn't dried yet. On a 1-10 scale I would rate these cars an 11. Yes thats right an eleven. Now of course I will have to break down and get some two-tone gray sets any yes Yay! Western Pacific all due out on the next release this Spring.   

Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.

Moderator note - reformatted for a little easier reading

[ljudice]

This is great news...

Did these cars survive into the modern era in MOW / Wreck train service?

[Mark5]

Thanks for the detailed review. Word is that they've go more stuff up their sleeves ...

[Bob Bufkin]

They look great but unfortunately they don't fit my Eastern layout.  Hope they do some baggage/express cars that I can use on my trains.
Bob

[DKS]

They look great but unfortunately they don't fit my Eastern layout.

One reason I model a tourist line like the Black River & Western is that there is always a perfectly valid excuse for placing just about anything on the rails that will roll. I think I may get some of these to use as tourist coaches. Two or three of these might look good trailing an RS-1 or a little Consolidation.

[wcfn100]

So was it just me, or were more poeple under the impression that WOT was going to be company that did small runs of prototypical cars?  I will have to say I completely had the wrong idea about these guys.

 The Harriman cars look fantastic a hopefully will be a huge success, but I think WOT needs to get an identity.  If MT has taught us anything, you can't have slogans like "The Real thing in N scale" or claim "historically authentic railroad trains" and then produce fantasy cars like they are doing.


Jason

[Mark5]

I'm hoping for a re-run of the ACL head end cars - I can actually use one.

[up1950s]

Got my olive UP 4 and 2 car set and agree these are great . Good enough that I up and ordered the 6 in UP gray that are coming out later .

[Nato]

Yes some of these cars survived even in Bay Area Commutter service untill the 1980's. Now there were longer leingth Harriman cars that were bult for Commute service and ran their entire lives in this service, but some of the shorty 60' cars like the WOT cars ended up in this servuice. SP's original PS built Bi-level lightweight cars previously modeled by Wheels of Time ran in service with Harriman cars. Also steampower hauled some of these newer cars often mixed together with Harriman cars. Now of course all the original Bi- levels have been retired, most after resale converted by Raider Rail Cars into Luxo dome cars for tour companies. Back to the main thread Harriman cars, both short and long were still operating when Caltrain took over the service in the(if I recall) mid 1980's. Some of the Harriman cars did go into MOW service. Probably one of the most unique conversions according to my large resource book from SP Historical and Technical society, were "Deportation Cars" converted in the late 1930's six cars fitted with heavy bars and screens on windows ,a metal gate (screen )partation to provide a guard's compartment. These cars were selected from cars that had already been air conditioned and one car lasted in service till the early 1960's.Air conditioned cars lost most of their roof vents, iceboxes under the cars for Ice Activated airconditioning on conversions for various use like lounge cars were so numerious its hard to keep up. Oh yes All Day Lunch cars (I was wrong) only had two 4 seat tables at the front, athree stool counter, small kitchen with distinctive diner-like side window,the rest of the car was coach seating. I hope Wheels does Harriman combine baggage,coach cars as they were used on many branch lines, especially on Union Pacific mixed trains in Nebraska and Kanssas.                                                                                                                            Nate Goodman (Nato).

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Nate

Could you do us a favor and add in some paragraph breaks. Your comments are always really good, but are often quite tough to read.

Thanks man!

[up1950s]

" I hope Wheels does Harriman combine baggage,coach cars as they were used on many branch lines, especially on Union Pacific mixed trains in Nebraska and Kanssas .... NATE GOODMAN "

Yes indeed , those would sell like hot cakes . I wonder if he is going to do some in yellow ?

[bobdobbs]

Hi

The couplers on my 6 SP cars are Micro-Trains.

Dobbs

[TiVoPrince]

Since actual 'SUBS'
are unlikely, these will make adequate stand ins with the bi-level cars already in hand...

[Chulvis]

Hi

The couplers on my 6 SP cars are Micro-Trains.

Dobbs

As advertised.

[Nato]

 Yes I tend to Ramble on Blog (Blob) Like so I will try to remember PARAGRAPH BREAKS.                         I may be wrong about the couplers but they sure look like Accumates to me.                                       Nate Goodman (Nato).