When these 36’ Old-time box cars were announced by Athearn N-scale back in May of 2017, I knew I would have to buy some. I own several other items from their inventory, both before and after they acquired Roundhouse, and have been pleased with their quality. Since I model a branch-line of the Maryland & Pennsylvania railroad, the M&PA cars were a natural. When I finally saw them in stock at modeltrainstuff.com, I ordered them and waited for them to arrive. The wait was well worth it. The completely assembled models are highly detailed with molded on a separately applied details, such as grab irons, brake wheels, and a roof walk. Even though the doors are not moveable, the underbody has good details, including truss rods with turnbuckles. Printing on the cars is clear and crisp. Athearn’s description states that the cars include truck mounted couplers. But much to my pleasant surprise, they are body-mounted and easily comparable with Micro-Trains knuckle couplers. Wheel sets are low-profile metal and roll freely and smoothly on Atlas code 55 track and turnouts. The trucks mount to the body with small screws, which makes them easy to adjust. Lastly, the car is weighted nicely, not too light and not too heavy. Overall, I am very pleasantly surprised with these cars, even though they are slightly outside of my modeling era. Oh well, I guess I will need to weather them heavily and not allow them to be used in interchange service. I can’t wait to see more offerings like this from Athearn.
