What a beautiful job Walthers did with these cars.  These cars rival the business cars by Kato or the freight cars by Kadee.  They are pricey, kinda, but well worth it I think.

Several changes to make them smoother (even though they are, out of the box, some of the smoothest running cars I have ever seen):

1. Change out the couplers for #22/32/42 Kadee.  I didn't have any problem replacing the copper spring on my Walther's Budd cars. They come with McHenry's or E-Z Mate's on them. In my experience the couplers with plastic springs on the knuckles give out on the uphill climbs. On a flat surface they are generally ok but I replace all of mine with Kadee anyways to improve reliability.  Even if you don't use Kadee you should replace the out-of-the-box couplers with overset (shank is mounted high on the knuckle which makes the knuckle ride lower) shanks.  This is because the coupler box is too high for centerset shanks.  You will also note that using overset couplers will allow you to uncouple the cars manually easier as the knuckle will not touch the diaphragms.  I have been told that you may have to enlarge the hole in the copper "spring" to replace.  I didn't have this problem and am researching the issue to see if it is a particular model or road name.

2. Take off the coupler box cover and file away any leftover molding flash from the working parts.  This is unfortunate that a quality issue like this was left out of the manufacturing process.  The flash was very noticeable on several of my cars and contributed to derailments.  I now do this on all of this series cars as a matter of course.

3. Clip the plastic springs on the coupler pocket centering mechanism.  After all is said about quality, this may or may not be an issue for you.  It bothers me (not disturbs, which is a deeper sense of bother) when a mechanism binds or "pops".  This is usually a source of derailments.  In this case the plastic "springs" that are in the underside niche for the coupler box "swing" mechanism which are used to center the coupler box are too long.  If you turn over the car and push the couplers from extreme side to side you will see what I mean.  It "pops".  And the reason is that the plastic spring catches on the niche.  You could carve out the niche to accommodate the longer spring or just simply cut off about 1mm of the plastic spring since this is not a critical component.

4. Change out (clip off and reset) the steps/stirrups  from the diner and RPO (railway post office) cars.  These interfere with the trucks and always cause a derailment of these cars on tight (shorter than 24 inches) curves.  In Walther's defense, it says on the box, "minimum radius of 24" recommended".  The actual steps (I have several sources that I am tracking down for prototype pictures) were angled out at the top where they meet the body.  The angle looks like about 45 degrees.  I am told that specs said at least 60.  The stirrup itself is vertical but away from the body.  If modeled correctly in either plastic, brass or metal then it would not interfere with the trucks.  A suggested way to do this without removing the steps is to use a hot instrument (curling iron?) and some aluminum foil.  I bought the steps from Eastern Car Works but they did not have this bend in them.  I will either make some brass alternatives or find a brass source and report here.

5. Southern Railway only...  You need to research your prototype.  Walthers, for the Southern Railway at least, evidently picked a time and era, which they should have, and modeled this narrow era only.  It appears to be at the close of passenger service, '67 to '78.  You can do better by adding a couple of other cars to the Southern livery.  First is the tavern/observation car.  With the rounded end, it makes a striking addition to any passenger service.  It was on many of the big-name trains from 1940 to 1967. Walthers trades an undecorated which is scarce.  The closest is the Santa Fe observation car and change the letters.  The second is the baggage/dormitory car.  This was seen on just about all Southern passenger service.  Also undecorated, a must for Southern or any southern area roads.  You can do without but it would be like having a steam engine without a tender.  (Ok, maybe not that radical)

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I didn't realize until this last week that the 20 and 30 series couplers are really made out of a composite material. It is kind of like Delrin but with more of a fiberglass feel. You can tell it is different when you file (or "burnish") as I do with all of my couplers. The 40 series (#42 being the twin of the 22 and 32) is advertised as "metal". So is the #5. These are what we usually get when we buy the bulk packs (380-11). Even though #28 and #38 are the same dimensions as a #5 the couplers inside these packages is a different material. Now you may be saying "so what?". And the answer would be that it really doesn't make a difference unless you have brass or metal undercarriages on your cars. Then the non-conductive #28 or #38 couplers might be important to keep the couplers from conducting electricity from car to car (assuming the cars were picking up one rail or another and transferring this to the body). In many Bachmann and Kato engines this is the case and you should ALWAYS use a non-metal coupler (30 series was made for engines) even though the instructions from Kadee say use a #5 drop in. Now the burning question is "How about the #58? Composite or Metal?" And the answer is...(looking it up....)....all metal! Hmm, interesting.

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It was pointed out at a recent Train Buddy get together as we were drilling holes in the ends of a module with a one inch drill bit, that we should be greasing the bit with Ivory soap.  Several laughed.  Several others pointed out that it was a well known lubricant for heavy machinery, especially metal to metal sliding surfaces.  I played the trombone for most of my school years. It was well known that you used cold cream instead of "trombone oil" for the slide. The right lubricants are very important. That's why at Train Buddy we take out the "packing" grease and replace it with specially formulated oils and greases for model railroad engines! Many times when I am servicing a locomotive I find that someone has used 3-in-one, clipper oil, sewing machine oil, Vaseline® or the other day it looked like someone used automotive gear lube! Most of these are made for metal to metal surfaces (except for Vaseline). And the only problem with Vaseline is that it stays gooey. That means that many of them can have rust inhibiting or rust dissolving chemicals which are not plastic friendly. The gears that we use in our engines today, mostly Delrin®, also have a soft and pliable composition. This composition is intended to be slippery even when no lubricant is applied.