Details: Written by Suvarts Railroad; Category: Quick Reviews; Published: 05 February 2019; Hits: 1605

Details: Written by Josh Baakko; Category: Quick Reviews; Published: 30 January 2019; Hits: 4115

Quick Look: ScaleTrains.com Dash 9

In January of 2019, 5 year old ScaleTrains.com announced their HO and N scale GE Dash 9 locomotives, in Rivet Counter and Operator Lines. They had industry leading, In-Stock BNSF and Norfolk Southern models in Rivet Counter both Sound & DCC equipped, and DCC Ready. I ordered one Sunday, a day after the announcement!

Seen here is BNSF 4313, As delivered Heritage II Dash 9, with DCC & LokSound V5. This article is intended for you to familiarize yourself with the model in anticipation for the fast looming one month away. I will not review the sound capacities here, you can visit their YouTube for that.

Details: Written by Josh Baakko; Category: Quick Reviews; Published: 28 January 2019; Hits: 3691

Quick Review: HO Scale River Point Station Ford Expedition

Checking out the new River Point Station Ford Expedition EL.

Just a quick look over and first impression of the new release.

River Point Station started in the 1:87 (HO scale) vehicle market last year with some Ford F250 & F350 models.
Since, they've released a dually, and now the Expedition, along with a number of detail parts.

I purchased model number 536-7609.21, Platinum White, all over, including grille, satin chrome 20" wheels. I
plan to order a set of 17" wheels and swap them out, and install a light bar & push bar, to make this a law
enforcement vehicle.

The vehicle is very well made, and friction fit together, so disassembling the model is easy. The price point is
higher then that or most scale vehicles, but the quality makes up for that. The wheels roll smooth, and will make
for a decent addition to another model once I swap them out.

The vehicle comes with an interior, and tinted windows. The interior is complete, for the most part, though the
tail lights are exposed to the interior, so if you look through the windows you can see the red light glowing
through. I suppose this would aid in the install of lighting.

In all, its a GREAT model. Keep it up River Point Station, I cannot wait for the SSP Expeditions, and more
models after that. This model is worthy of 4 out of 5, based upon the price point.

Details: Written by Josh Baakko; Category: Quick Reviews; Published: 28 January 2019; Hits: 1761

Quick Review: Athearn Wide Vision Caboose

HO Scale RTR caboose painted and lettered for BNSF.

This BNSF caboose is still operated to this day on the prototype. It has been repainted green, with BN
reporting marks and a BNSF logo.

I pre-ordered this caboose when it was announced, through Maders Trains. It arrived last week, so I
took to looking it over. [Ed. this article was originally published in 2010]

The caboose is an RTR run of an old Athearn kit. The wheels are metal, insulated on a metal axle,
with McHenry couplers.

The paint is even and lettering crisp. It weighed in at 3.1oz, which is .4oz shy of NMRA's RP-20.1
recommended weight (the caboose measures in at 4 & 7/8th inch, rounded up to 5 inches).

Now for the fun part, critique. The caboose has a number of incorrect details, not to mention the
caboose's overall dimensions are off. First off is the running board and ladders. They no longer exist.
The side windows, and one end window have been plated over, Athearn got this semi-correct. On the
model the windows are visible on the sides, the prototype they are not. On the ends, Athearn lined the
plated over window in silver, where as the prototype is not.

The smoke jack is on the wrong side, the brake wheel housing is incorrect, and the coupler pockets do
not stick out from the sill. The under frame details are missing a few items as well.

View the prototype here:
http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1383809

Besides the inaccuracies, the caboose is a great model. I'm glad I bought it. The caboose will be the
feature of a future article series, about detailing a modern caboose.

I give this model 3 out of 5 for the noted inaccuracies.

Details: Written by Josh Baakko; Category: Quick Reviews; Published: 29 January 2019; Hits: 2771

Intermountain Railway Company Procor Pressure Flow Hopper

Intermountain Railway Company's first release of the Procor 3300 cubic foot pressurized unloading hopper came decorated in 3 paint schemes. Stock numbers 48901-01 through -06 featured a Canadian/Canadien National scheme, with gray paint, and red lettering. This model is shown here, is stock number 48901-03, CN #374537. Also available were 6 road numbers for British Columbia Railway (green and black with white lettering), stock numbers 48902-01 through -06, and one road number for a Halliburton leased car (light gray and red with white lettering), stock number 48903-01.

The cars are ready-to-run, and come equipped with Kadee #78 couplers, and standard tread (Code 110) 36” wheels. The prototype was equipped with truck mounted brakes, Intermountain included this detail on the trucks. The roof walks are finely etched metal, as are a number of the details.

These cars have a retail price of $32.95, and are available now. Intermountain announced a second run, due in March/April 2011. The second run will include the following schemes: Stelco (green and black with white lettering), stock numbers 48904-01 through -06; Mountain Minerals (tan with black lettering), stock numbers 48905-01 and -02; Canadian National (white with red lettering), stock numbers 48906-01 through -06; and Procor (gray with black lettering), stock numbers 48907-01 and -02.

Details: Written by Josh Baakko; Category: Quick Reviews; Published: 28 January 2019; Hits: 1564

Quick Review: ExactRail Trinity 6275 Box Car

A quick look at this ExactRail offering.

ExactRail Trinity 6275 Cu. Ft. Plug Door Box Car, review in short.

ExactRail released an HO and N scale model of the Trinity 6275 Cu. Ft. Plug Door Box Car,
and subsequently sold out of the TTX (FBOX) version within a month! This car has shown to
be a popular item, and is almost sold out completely at ExactRail, the N scale CN version
being the only one available! [Ed. this article was originally published in 2009, ExactRail has subsequently re-ran the boxcar a few times, proving to be just as popular each time.]

ExactRail released four paint schemes in the first run, TTX (FBOX), CN, SRY (blue) and SRY
(red). Each paint scheme came in 3 numbers, with 6 for the TTX cars.

In this review you'll see ExactRail's paint excellence, the detail, among other things.

Details: Written by Josh Baakko; Category: Quick Reviews; Published: 27 January 2019; Hits: 1483

Quick Review: Athearn Ford Model A Sedan

A quick look at Athearn's Ford Model A Sedan in HO Scale...

Very nice classic Ford in HO Scale.

Athearn did great on this model! I convinced my wife to let me buy a Model A, or Model T, after looking, finding a
few in my price range, I've decided to wait until I buy a house. So, I went out and bought an Athearn version for
my layout.

The model is well cast, smoothly painted black, with even paint for the white walls. The gloss black wheels are a
bit over the top, flat black would have been better here. The chrome bumpers should not be on the vehicle if
modeling a period era, since chrome is a newer invention.

The license plate holder on the rear is molded colorless, but looks like it'll hold a plate decal well.

The wheels are a tad angled on the axles. It's fairly hard to see at a distance but might show in photos. Can't
complain to much here, when assembling Jordan kits the wheels do the same.

I'm giving this model a 4.5 our of 5, due to the slightly angled wheels & chrome.

Page 4 of 4

Athearn RTR Union Pacific SD40N Review