The kit that started prototypical N scale (CS Models woodchip car)

[BCR751]

I have to agree with Bryan B., DKS, and others that developments other than the CS Models woodchip car kit were much more instrumental in making N scale more than a mere toy.

I'm not trying to take away from CS Models kit's role in N scale, but it was really more of a small blip than being instrumental in making N scale a "prototypical" scale.  I also own the vehicle models and I think the lumber loads I have are also from CS Models. both are very well done.

A "small blip for N-Scale, a HUGE blip for Canadian prototype modellers".

Doug

[Missaberoad]

Fine N Scale makes a R-50-1 kit

I forgot about that one, but unfortunately with only 400 cars (down to 97 by 1953) in a fleet of almost 40,000 they are essentially non existent.

A 91,000 series R-30-9/40-9 class car with 7000+ examples or a 62,500 series R-30-19/21/24 with over 5800 examples would be most welcome additions to N Scale.

[robert3985]

Hate to pick nits but the Micro Trains 40' wood reefer is a 1926 FGE / WFE prototype not a PFE car.
Still a very accurate model and has been done in GN/WFE a number of times.

AFAIK no one has made an accurate PFE wood reefer in N scale.

Edit: here is a mostly original car in GN paint... note that in the 1930s most of these cars were modified with Hutchens steel roofs (like the ones on the Intermountain 1927 cars)

(Attachment Link)

An extensive thread here at TRW made it pretty clear that the Micro Train "wooden reefer" is definitely NOT an accurate model of any PFE reefer...pretty close, but not perfect.

However, there have been a couple of accurate PFE wooden reefers offered in kit form from Fine-N-Scale, the first being their PFE Express Reefer.

Photo (1) - Fine-N-Scale PFE Express Reefer, Cast Resin Kit w Cast Metal Trucks & Etched Metal Detail Fret and Decal Sheet:


Photo (2) - Another View of FNS PFE Express Reefer (1st car behind motive power):


The second accurate wooden PFE reefer is the FNS 50' PFE Wooden Reefer.

Photo (3) - Fine-N-Scale PFE 50' Wooden Reefer (first car behind motive power) w/Etched Metal Detail Fret & Decal Sheet (if I remember correctly):


Photo (4) - Another View of FNS PFE 50' Wooden Reefer (6th car behind 4023):


FNS's 50' PFE Wooden Reefer is a great model, but it isn't perfect.  The main problem is that the gaps are filled between siding boards to allow the UP shield and the SP shield to be flat when the decals are applied, and unfortunately, they're on the wrong sides of the model.  The SP shield should be on the "B" end of the car (where the brake wheel is) and the UP shield on the other side (non-brake wheel end). 

Oh well.  Bugs me, but...not so much that I don't run my FNS 50' PFE Reefers all the time and make sure they show up prominently in the photos I take.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[nkalanaga]

Tad_T:  Thank you!  I'm glad you like them.

[basementcalling]

I would say the Atlas/Kato diesels of the 1980s were the models that made N scale operations possible, as before that quality running engines were hard to find unless they were a Con Cor PA 1. I also had an Atlas/Rivarossi SW model that ran well in 1983 on my teenage years garage layout, but it had little pulling power on the grades on my N scale mainline plan that used the Georgetown Loop plan from Kalmbach's 101 Layouts book. I had no clue at the time Georgetown Loop was a real thing or the plan was based on a narrow gauge prototype, but I built it as drawn for a 4x8 space and the curves worked well for N scale.

I wouldn't say the Atlas/Kato collaboration was prototypical, not on this site where the hood widths are so routinely skewered. 

I still have unbuilt kits from the Fine N Scale line, which were excellent offerings. Gold Metal Models and Scale Replicas detail parts helped move modeling forward in N scale, as did Minature by Eric.

I worry now though that the quest for prototype fidelity is squeezing out those who might wish to enter N scale, but can't afford 100-300 for a new engine (Sound is still about the least prototypical feature of a high quality N scale diesel to my ears and eyes, but to each his own I guess. Steam sounds seem more realistic to me, but then I wasn't alive to hear those iron horses running so I have no comparision material.)

I'm happy our models are becoming more authentic, and certainly the "toylike" nature of N scale has not stopped the dedicated, skilled and ambitious modeler from representing a prototype in N scale.  The Clinchfield was an amazing effort for the time period, and lets not forget the Reid Brothers layout, which took a back seat to no other in any scale for the realism with which it portrayed a prototypical stretch of railroad.

[thomasjmdavis]

The Fine N Scale kits are still available- and a great value.  And don't tell them I said that until I acquire another 1/2 dozen Caswell gondolas.

One name that hasn't been mentioned yet (maybe I missed it?), which had a huge impact on my own modeling is JnJ. I don't know when they started the business, but I discovered them sometime in the 1990s (I think, maybe earlier?)  A lot of folks know them only through the paint/lettering jobs they did, especially on covered hoppers.  But they produced (and I think in some cases marketed other small manufacturers under the JnJ label), parts, shells and car sides for a lot of equipment not available elsewhere.  The first passenger car sides (nickel plated, I think, or bright nickel type finish, in any case) I purchased were JnJ sides for an ATSF PS lunch counter car.  In the early days, they made sides to fit existing mass produced cars - those to fit Con-cor and Bachmann cars were short of scaled prototypes (but so were the Con-cor and Bachmann cars they fit on), but it turned "toys" into quite plausible models of ATSF sleepers or chair cars, .or Harriman RPOs (and coaches, baggage cars, etc.).  They also produced all sorts of detail parts, and resin versions of Zephyr and Super Chief cars, along with shells for such things as Sharks, DL-109 (and 110- I still have too many of those acquired as part of a lot on eBay) and Erie Builts (there I need a B unit if anyone has one lying around after 30 years) in railroad specific versions (an ATSF Erie and a MILW version are distinctly different).  What distinguished their shells from most others available at the time was that instead of casting on stirrups and similar details, they supplied a brass etching for such parts (although ladders were generally cast on).

[nkalanaga]

Peter:  Another very nice running early loco was the Minitrix F-unit.  Mine ran better the PAs, which I never could keep going, probably because they didn't like cat hair.  The Fs still run today, some 50 years later, and, if they get hair in the gears, can be cleaned in minutes - without removing the body.

[basementcalling]

Peter:  Another very nice running early loco was the Minitrix F-unit.  Mine ran better the PAs, which I never could keep going, probably because they didn't like cat hair.  The Fs still run today, some 50 years later, and, if they get hair in the gears, can be cleaned in minutes - without removing the body.

I never owned one of those. By the time I got around to being able to buy my own engines, I settled on the ugly Life Like $20 F units. I had 4, 2 that I bashed to handle a Con Cor F3 B unit shell. That 4 unit set would outpull just about everything else in my NTRAK club except the Con Cor Turbines and U50s a guy would lash together.

I still remember begging my dad to get us a Con Cor PA1 for $35 - a lot of money for a kid purchase in 1983 for us. He caved. I still have the unit, though it has an Erie Built V Line shell on it now.

[nkalanaga]

By the 80s the Minitrix units were getting harder to find, and more expensive.  They always did cost more than the "entry level" diesels, but, like the PA-1, the quality was worth it.