Accurail Boxcars

I just completed a build of 6 Accurail boxcars. Overall, the process was not difficult and resulted in a nice looking box car when I was finished. There were a few steps along the way, however, that caused considerable difficulty. This post will cover the details of the build, both good and bad.

Building the cars is a process of installing the underframe parts and couplers, gluing the weight to the top of the underframe (to reduce warping), installing the trucks, and stuffing everything in to the shell.

Accurail uses a system of "half-moon" slots to indicate where the details are supposed to go. It's a simple process of cutting the part free from the sprue, installing the part, and adding a drop of CA from above to hold everything in place. Very nice.

The couplers are a different story. The included couplers were some form of dummy coupler, but the car easily accepted Kadee #5s with no modifications. However, Accurail uses a friction fit pin on the coupler box that makes it difficult to install the cover. If everything is not line up just so, the pin breaks and has to be replaced with a screw.

The trucks install with a similar friction pin. After promptly breaking the first two pins, I put the cars aside for a while until I could get screws to replace them. Fortunately a 2-56 is a direct replacement for those pins, and no drilling or tapping is necessary. (Unfortunately, the ones I got were flat head so the screwdriver kept on slipping. Next time it's Phillips or nothing.)

Before installing the wheelsets in the trucks, they were reamed out with a truck reaming tool. The tool only cost $10, but works wonders on trucks. The wheels roll much easier after a few seconds using the tool.

Once the undercarriage was assembled, it was time to install the shell. I had good success placing the undercarriage as high as possible against the most curved side of the shell and sliding a prybar^H^H^H^H^H^H^H screwdriver along so the shell covered the undercarriage. After a few seconds, everything would snap in to place and be solid.

With the build complete, it was time to make sure everything was up to standards. This involves weighing the car and adjusting coupler height.

It was wonderful to see that the cars weighed in at the NMRA RP weight. I usually wind up either trying to find something to add to the car or just dealing with the car being too light, so this was a welcome change.

Most of the cars required a washer to adjust one side or the other to fit the coupler height gauge. This requires removing the truck and installing the washer on the mounting screw. The pins included with the kit would have all broken by now if I hadn't used screws.

The Accurail boxcars produce good models, but beware the friction fit pins. Chances are good your car will need adjustment later and the pins will break (if they haven't already.) I was extremely pleased to see something meeting the NMRA weight RP, and am ready to see them running around the layout.