HO Scale Amfleet Cars

[Screamingman14]

Hey guys, so I've got somewhat of a conundrum facing me. A while ago, I came across several first run Bachmann Amfleet coaches in a mix of phase II and phase III. I'm planning to repaint them all into phase IV (IVb if I can find the decals). However, I'm also in need of a cafe car to complete this set.

As far as I know, Bachmann never made cafe cars in their first run, so my two options are the current Bachmann cars or the Walthers cars. I've heard that over the years the tooling has changed somewhat so the dimensions of the cars vary in accuracy. The stores around me don't have either kind in stock so I can't do a side by side comparison. What does everyone think about these cars? Does anyone own any of these who would be willing to share their opinions? Which one would be a closest fit to the ones I have now?

Thanks for all your help!

 

[Klinger]

I have a whole set of Walthers cars making up a 5 car train (4 coaches, 1 Cafe which I need to replace with a Heritage Diner some day)

I have used Bachmann cars in the past, the Walthers ones are far better. I don't know how close either are as far as dimensions go, but I think the walthers cars operate better, look better, they include decals for car numbers.

There is one disadvantage to the walthers car that I found, the wheels do not turn freely. You need to constantly drop in either Graphite, or oil the wheels (where the covers on the truck body's are that hold them in place around the axles) in order to get them to roll freely, otherwise the wheels will just drag.

Its just because of the way the trucks are designed, there are no actual bearings, so the axles just ride on the plastic truck body's, so they need to be lubricated pretty much every time you run the cars. I suggest that if you transport your cars to shows/layouts, while you set the cars up on the track, lubricate the axles. If you have a home layout and your cars are always on track, lubricate the axles every week or two.