Model Train Journal

Bought this from the Notch 6 / Madison Hardware Poster Company folks. I usually don't get these kind of cars but something about this one was cool to me. It's on the LionScale platform. It's a pretty nice car with a decent paint job. I do notice that there is a little bit of a rougher coat but this has been discussed before on these cars painted by Lionel in the US.

One wonders what careers those aspiring railfans (or failrans) went onto?

Neil wrote:One wonders what careers those aspiring railfans (or failrans) went onto?

No doubt, one of them is now Senator Blutarsky.

At least one of the students became a member of the Ghostbusters, I believe, Dr. Venkman.

The trucks on those cars are garbage See if you can find some of the Weaver die cast trucks

bluelinec4 wrote:The trucks on those cars are garbage See if you can find some of the Weaver die cast trucks

Please elaborate. Also, do they have postwar style wheels? And where was the tooling for the entire car made? Some of the stuff Lionel claims is U.S. made, comes from tooling made in China. That stuff is NOT U.S. made, in my book.

Does anyone here actually know what the XP in XP Trains stands for? I would guess "experience", but I'm interested in fact, not guesses, speculation, or "alternate facts".

Roy wrote:

bluelinec4 wrote:The trucks on those cars are garbage See if you can find some of the Weaver die cast trucks

Please elaborate. Also, do they have postwar style wheels? And where was the tooling for the entire car made? Some of the stuff Lionel claims is U.S. made, comes from tooling made in China. That stuff is NOT U.S. made, in my book.

The Lionel Lionscale line is made from former Weaver tooling and are made in the U.S. as far as I know.

Thanks, Jake.

Roy wrote:

bluelinec4 wrote:The trucks on those cars are garbage See if you can find some of the Weaver die cast trucks

Please elaborate. Also, do they have postwar style wheels? And where was the tooling for the entire car made? Some of the stuff Lionel claims is U.S. made, comes from tooling made in China. That stuff is NOT U.S. made, in my book.

If by postwar wheels you mean the large flange 3 rail wheels yes they do The wheels are the only metal part of the truck now The bolster is all plastic as well as the coupler Out of 40 LionScale cars I own about 20 had broken trucks the first time they ran One of them derailed had the truck break and melted the plastic without tripping our PCX The LionScale cars are manufactured, assembled and painted in the US

Thanks, bluelinec4. I've heard that " the LionScale cars are manufactured, assembled and painted in the US". I've heard the same about the earlier 6464-type boxcars used in the Presidential series, but I also heard the tooling for those was cut in China. We have very capable tool and die makers in this country, and if a product says Made in the U.S., the tools for it's production should be made here, too! I don't want just low paid labor in this country, but high paid labor, too.