# Bowser?



## Oomowmow (10 mo ago)

I've recently run across a line of freight cars by 'bowser' which I've never heard of before. Anyone know if these are any good? They all seem to come with MT couplers (at least the ones I've seen) the prices are a little lower than most comparable stuff, so I'm thinking they might not be the best...


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## GTW son (12 mo ago)

I've heard of Bowser but as a larger scale manufacturer, never really thought of them as an N scale source.
So no experience at all with them, personally I would stick with Intermountain and MTL.
Although I did buy a used Atlas Coal hopper with load a few weeks ago, $12 how could I say no.
Missing one copper faux air line out of a MTL coupler. I can live with that.


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## Oomowmow (10 mo ago)

I prefer MTL, but I actually like Atlas as well. I've got a ton of Atlas rolling stock I bought in the 80's, most still have rapido couplers. I'll run a 'vintage' train with an older loco and enjoy the boxcars I used to see as a kid on penn central and GT. But I digress. I've only got one Intermountain, it's a 'Canada' grain hopper, and I actually had trouble with the body mounted couplers (they fell off! ) I ended up putting on a pair of MTL trucks with couplers attached. I've also got tons of Bachmann stuff from the 80's that's still running, and some Roundhouse boxcars. I'm actually open to trying any brand (at least once anyway) if the price is right.


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## GTW son (12 mo ago)

I did the same with my 80's stuff, swapped the old Rapido's for MTL.
I have both Battendorf truck packages but found some Barber truck packages too. 
Now I don't remember what I did with what.
Same as some rolling stock I had, packed it away for safe storage, now I haven't got a clue where it is....yeesh....


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## OilValleyRy (Oct 3, 2021)

I’ve never bought, or frankly seen N equipment from Bowser. But I expect it is on par with their HO line. A reasonable assumption I… uh, assume. The HO stuff is great! On par with Athearn BB meaning molded on grabs etc, but have a glossy Scalecoat II type finish in many instances. 
They might also do multiple car number runs still? They used to do 6 car number runs. Fond memories of having five or six 6-car sets arrive.

Give it a whirl.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

They have a few N Scale cars, and I would imagine, as you say, they are just as nice as the HO cars they do….they look pretty decent anyway…

Bowser N Scale

Oh, and an easy fix to the glossy finish paint is to give the car a quick shot of Dullcoat….every piece I have has had the “treatment”….


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## Oomowmow (10 mo ago)

That's an interesting group of cars, but the ones I've seen are grey (or white, hard to tell from the pics) UP hoppers. They're selling for a bit less than MTL or the other 'prime' manufacturers. There's also a line called Trix selling cars that look very similar for about the same price.


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## Displaced EL guy (3 mo ago)

I inherited some Bowser N scale pieces from my father's estate. I'm OK with the detail, etc. I used to collect a fair amount of Atlas. Bowser is a step up, IMO


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