| Last updated on January 30, 2021
Freight cars are the stars of James McNab’s HO scale Hills Line layout, so he’s working to get them performance ready! Discover his helpful modeling tips, tricks, and insights that you can use to keep your rolling stock in prime operating condition!
Members enjoy 15% off any purchase in our store. Join Today!
Milwaukee, Racine & Troy HO scale steel cupola caboose - road name 1407
Don’t miss this exclusive HO scale Milwaukee, Racine & Troy steel cupola caboose.
I follow the same conceptual process as James for car prep, but with some detail differences. I also standardize on Kadee semi-scale couplers, but prefer the short shank version rather than standard. No extra shim/spring, tho. And the “hoses” stay on since I do use magnetic ramps for uncoupling in many places. On trucks, as a modern railroader, I have standardized on Athearn Genesis 70 and 100 ton trucks with rotating bearings and 0.088″ wide wheels. While technically not NMRA compliant, they work well on my code 70 track and look great, especially on tank and hopper cars. I use Microscale decals for the reflective stripes and almost all boxcars have Blair Line graffiti, often extending the entire car length. Smattering of graffiti on other car types. LaBelle #12 lubricant on the Kadees assures sensitive and smooth coupling and uncoupling of even single cars.
All very necessary steps for effective switching performance.