Intermountain

Just got my first Intermountain cars, a few covered hoppers. Wow, I had no idea they were so nice! Very impressed with these, I'll have to pick up a few more!

 

I've picked up quite a few reefers in the ATSF roadname. I really like the IM rolling stock. The runs of 6 to 12 different numbers is a great concept.

It would great if Atlas and MT would follow that concept.

Atlas occasionally makes a car with two numbers.

MT doesn't follow that concept.

Stay cool and run steam....

 

It is just too bad that you can no longer buy InterMountain cars as kits. I still luck out and find an occasional kit now and again at shows. I don't like the job done assembling them in China nor the weight added - they are too light. This is the last kit I purchased.



You can't leave the ice hatches in ventilating position on the ready to run cars!!

 

Great work.
Even though superlatives flow like a stream sometimes, I really mean it.

They must have the molds or forms or whatever is needed to make kits lying around somewhere.

Are there any wood laser cut manufacturers of buildings out there with plans for trains?

 

Mark, the ready to run InterMountain cars are nothing but assembled kits. At a show about two years ago Brad Herz of Tex-N-Rails told me he had returned over 1000 kits to InterMountain, who sent them to China for assembly. IMRC makes the kits in Colorado and sends them to China for assembly into ready to run cars.

Too many kits were returned unsold. I will admit it took me three kits to learn the "tricks to easy assembly", and I've been building kits for a half century. Most folks did not want to make the effort. I found the WP-PFE reefer last December in a box under a vendor's table. He had them, but I had to ask.

 

I just ordered 4 kits. I will count the lessons learned.

 

Mark, since you just ordered four kits, here are three suggestions that will make assembly and use much easier. First, get a good sprue cutter. it is very easy to damage some of the InterMountain parts, like brake piping, brakewheels, and handgrabs, cutting them from the sprues. Second, drill all the mounting holes for tiny parts with a No. 78 drill before attempting to mount the part - paint partially closes many holes. Third, weigh the car before you seal it up as you will have to add a weight, not furnished.

I've used Tenax 7R to assemble mine and found it works well.

 

Thank you. There are now four less lessons to be learned the hard way.

 

Good idea about drilling through the part to mount and glue from behind. i'll do that.

My question is: how do you add weight? Plates, lead pellets, what?

I went to the Intermountain factory in Longmont, CO last Wednesday. They give you a nice tour of everything. Met great people, saw the mold making process, and enjoyed myself immensely. These are quality folks making quality products. If you ever get to Denver, go the extra 30 minutes north and check it out.
Dave

 

You need to add weight to the reefers by removing the roof. If the roof is ACCed on, then you could use a debonder to remove it.

I once got an assembled car and the roof was off to one end about 2 scale feet! But, it was ACCed on and I was able to adjust it. I am not sure if the reefers are put together with ACC.

Also, concur on all on the IM cars. I prefer them to most others. Easy to body mount couplers and to adjust the height.

 

I like them too.

I glued 2 nuts in each end of this kit so it is 1.1 oz.



Loco1999

 

David:

A-Line makes lead weights in sheets that you can cut up to fit each car.

Stay cool and run steam....

 

BB's are pretty easy to do if you want to get exact NMRA weighting standard weight.

Get a digital Weight Watchers type scale and weigh the car and add enough BB's (you can get the cheap ones - copper not required) and a strip of cardboard cut to size to bring up to standard weight. Glue the BB's to the cardboard evenly distributed and let dry completely. Place it in the car. I suggest this in case of an "oops". If so, just toss the cardboard and start over. It is better than scraping dried BB's off the car, or worse, warping or otherwise damaging the car with whatever you are using to loosen the glue already used on the car.

 

Even though it's before my era, that's a sweet looking WP reefer! Chuck never told me that IM made any. I bet he's keeping all the goodies for himself!
There's a photo on page 44 of the Western Pacific Color Pictorial of one such car in Iowa in 1955. I've always liked that photo...

 

I really enjoy building our kits as well. I've built many. Unfortunately the kits sell very poorly. In many respects they are easier to produce then the RTR cars. Obviously we don't have to send them to the factory for assembly. In the last several years we've seen a rather dramatic drop in kit sales. The market has literally disappeared. While we do get occasional feedback asking for kits, our kit sales don't mirror that feedback. To prove my point I can show you a warehouse full of these things.

David, It was great to have you. We always enjoy showing our customers around the shop and explaining what’s involved in making our products (I particularly like showing the tooling area).

Erik Welch
Production Coordinator
InterMountain Railway Company