Watch out, Trainman... There's someone creeping up on you...

[sizemore]

Is it me or does it ride lower than the venerable Atlas 50'? (last Atlas flat I had was a 40' - long gone)

Same height. I almost thought they came from the same mold as the Atlas 50' Flat. I really had to look to figure it out.

The S.

[sirenwerks]

Both the Athearn and latest Walthers GSC flats ave nice brake weel detail.

Aside from positioning, the brake wheel detail's not my beef. They can be replaced easily with an aftermarket improvement if need be. The issue is the stake pockets on the Bachmann and Atlas cars, they're horribly out of proportion.

The Athearn, Walthers, and MT cars are all good castings but the first two represent later 50'+ designs and the MT car is a side-brake wheel design. We need an earlier 50' riveted end brake wheel design of a similar quality.

This is more of an issue, IMO, for western road modelers, since those roads used a wide variety of flats to haul lumber.

[Mark5]

This is more of an issue, IMO, for western road modelers, since those roads used a wide variety of flats to haul lumber.

We gots lumber back east.

[wm3798]

I stopped into Hobby Town, and not surprisingly, they don't have the newer releases in the case.  There are lots of cars from two years ago with full MSRP tags on them, though... :

Looks like I'll have to go to Baltimore to fondle one of these in person...  Although Star Hobby there at the bridge is a Bachmann dealer...  Only there, the N scale case is usually at the bottom of a pile of UPS boxes...

Sigh.

Lee

[Philip H]

This is more of an issue, IMO, for western road modelers, since those roads used a wide variety of flats to haul lumber.

We gots lumber back east.

 :

[sirenwerks]

Although Star Hobby there at the bridge is a Bachmann dealer...  Only there, the N scale case is usually at the bottom of a pile of UPS boxes...

Sigh.

Lee

And it's always underneath a pile of boxes. I haven't been able to ascertain whether it's the same pile of boxes each time though. And each time, the owner always comments about how N scale doesn't sell but can only shrug when I remind him the case is ALWAYS buried beneath boxes and, hence, invisible. "Dense" is the word that comes to mind.

[Mr. G]

Funny, the picture in the August issue of MR (p. 12) makes the stirrups and coupler look far chunkier.