# K-Line S gauge Freight Cars



## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

The K-Line cars have come up in postings on several S gauge forums recently so I purchased, as intended, a UP box car for test and evaluation. Seems as though two more came along with it. I will post more pictures plus initial impressions later today.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

The UP box car has been unboxed, measured and put on the layout. My initial impression was it was not an S gauge car. To me, the feel in the hand and the apparent visual size is just not right for a 40' S gauge car. The appearance of the car is good and the painting and decorating are excellent.
My thought was these would fit well behind the Lionel AF, K-Line derived, Big Boy. That is in fact the case. They match perfectly. Below are pictures of the 4014 tender along with the 3985 UP Challenger tender. These are identical in real life. The height difference is obvious. The 3985 tender in 3/16 scale is 2" W and 2 5/8" H. The 4014 tender is 2 1/8" W and 3" H. 1:59 or 1:60th of full size. The length of the 4014 tender (top) is shorter than a correctly scaled model.
The remainder of the pictures below are the K-Line UP car coupled to 4014, they look good together.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

I broke this up into several posts for clarity (hopefully.) The subject of this one is dimensions and comparisons with other S gauge 40' boxcars.
The Gilbert car, based on the smallest prototype is 1 3/4" W x 2 1/2" H x 7 5/8" L. The SHS car, based on a slightly different prototype is 1 11/16" W x 2 9/16" H x 7 5/8" L. The AM car based on a much newer and taller prototype is 1 13/16" W x 2 3/4" H x 7 5/8" L. All the height measurements are to the top of the catwalk.
The K-Line car measures 1/15/16" W x 2 7/8" H x 8 1/4" L. It scales out to 44' long. The trucks are excellent, very free rolling and correctly gauged out of the box. They are not AM trucks, the difference is apparent from the picture of the bottom of the car.


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

Nice comparison Tom. I guess scale is not always true scale. I knew there were differences from manufacture to manufacture. I know my Showcase series cars are a bit different in size than my AF cars but isn't really out of line since when mixed freights of box cars were popular that was not uncommon. 

Kenny


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Thanks Kenny. With the exception of the K-Line cars all the other cars are correctly sized. They are all just based on different prototypes. Provides us with real world variations for our layouts. 
The K-Line cars look great behind 4014. I will take some additional pictures of the train later. The K-Line cars look way too big behind a Light Mikado.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

I really like the UP car. I know it is bigger, you know it is bigger, but I think it looks fine. It still is
not as tall as 4014's tender.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Here are more pictures taken this morning. The painting and decorating on these cars is really first rate. The Santa Fe red is slightly darker than the red used by Gilbert, the K-Line red looks better.
The PRR car is nicely done but does not look right coupled to a Light Mikado. However its a different story with the more modern ES44Ac. Its the Gilbert car that looks like it does not belong. This test has convinced me to get some of the larger American Models 50' box cars to use with these more modern diesels.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Your new cars look great. Yes, the paint and graphics on the K-Line cars is nice. Love your new Pennsy car. They are a bit big when coupled to a Gilbert. Squint a bit and they look great. I do not regret buying my MoPac K-Line car. How many K-Line cars did you buy?


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

I bought (or rather had my wife purchase for me) the three cars shown in the first post. The UP, PRR and Santa Fe. There are two Coca Cola cars I would like but they were with a different seller and more expensive so I passed on them for now.
These K-Line cars work much better with the newer Lionel AF Legacy engines like the ES44Ac and the SD70ACe.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

A few more observations. The cars are very free rolling, I let one go on a 2% grade and it was rolling fast at the bottom of the grade. All the wheels are metal and all are insulated from the axles so they sound good rolling on the track. The design of the truck makes it inevitable there will be a short if the car derails. The bottom of the spring perch sits on one rail and part of the center mount structure contacts the other rail. I bumped one with my hand and just one pair of wheels on one truck derailed, instant short circuit. The ZW-L foldback circuit activated and I got the car off the rail quick enough to prevent the overcurrent breaker from actuating. Take a look at the picture above of the bottom of the K-Line trucks.
Here are a few more pictures of the K-Line cars behind the PRR ES44Ac. I think they look good together.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Duplicate text deleted.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

I agree, they free wheel (roll) great. I noticed that on my MoPac car. They look great.


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## Mikeh49 (Sep 20, 2015)

The K-Line cars got me curious about various sizes of boxcars. Looking for a prototype as tall as the K-Line led me to this:
ATSF #276594










This car, built in 1947, is almost 14 1/2 ft tall, pretty similar to the K-Line. The K-Line remains too wide, however, and is longer than the prototype. We've been focusing on the height, though, so here is a real world example of a tall boxcar. So, run 'em.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Mike, thanks for finding that picture. In 1944 the AAR revised the box car interior height standard to 10'-6", that ATSF car appears to be made to the new standard. Looking at the post above with the car dimensions the Gilbert car is 2 1/2" and it models a car built to an old standard interior height of 8'-7". The difference in model height between 8'-7" and 10'-6" is .46". The K-Line car is 2 7/8" high, almost spot on for a model of a car built to the updated 1944 AAR standard. Of course as you say the K-Line car is 4' too long and 2' too wide to match the 40' cars other dimensions.
The reason I got three K-Line cars was so they would be more visible in a freight consist. What I discovered by operating the cars is the height really stands out when coupled to Gilbert cars and steam engines. When coupled to modern prototype diesels or the over scale Big Boy they look correct. The layout I have is an around the walls type with lots of tunnels, grades and bridges. On this layout the extra width of the K-Line cars is not apparent. The extra length is also not apparent unless there is a Gilbert box car on both sides of it. I have a small display type layout as well. On this layout where the entire train is always visible circling right in front of me the K-Line box car size discrepancy stands out a lot more.
I am happy with the cars because the trucks and couplers are first rate as well as the painting and graphics. Were I operating a pure Gilbert layout these cars would not fit in to my eye. But with all the taller AM boxcars and modern, large, Lionel AF Legacy engines they fit right in. Interesting that a car I disdained in 2003 I am now pleased to have on the layout.


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

Tom I have to agree that those K-Line cars look best behind your ES44Ac, not so much behind the Light Mikado. Since I have only AF engines, I couple only AF cars behind the engine then a couple cars back Showcase car or what ever non-AF car I use since that doesn't make the size difference so obvious. 

Kenny


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Kenny, that is indeed the case. I just tried putting the PRR car behind the Legacy Y3 tender. Even with that engine the car looks out of place. I will post some pictures in the photo of the day thread of the Y3. Here are some I promised with the UP car connected to 4014's tender. It is a bit of an optical illusion but the catwalk is even with the top of the tender's water tank deck. The K-Line car looks much better coupled there than a Gilbert car.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Just a few more pictures of the K-Line cars with more modern AF by Lionel Legacy diesels. The UP car is being pulled by an SD70ACe, the largest diesel Lionel made in S gauge. The yellows kind of clash.
The Santa Fe car is behind a slightly smaller but still big U36.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Great pics Tom. I enjoy seeing them. The K-Line cars look good on your layout. I can tell you like them. I like them also. Even though I only have one. I looked on ebay and the O scale K-Line are alot cheaper than the S scale ones. I will have to get me that UP car. The O scale are described as O27 cars. Which means on the small size. Placement in a train will matter in O and S scale trains.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Mopac, I only own those three cars because you bought the MoPac car. I had completely forgotten about the existence of the K-Line S gauge cars until your post. I will get some AM 50' cars to run behind those big diesels. We are going back east for 10 days first thing Thursday morning so I will defer any more purchases until we return.
I would like to get the two Coca Cola K-Line cars but not for the price the seller is currently asking. If they are still for sale when we get back home I will try a discounted offer. I also think they look great on my layout but not so much on the 5'x8' holiday layout. I will not use them on it, only Gilbert cars and engines.


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## alaft61ri (Oct 11, 2019)

Nice cars and really nice layout.


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

This is my new Dept. 56 retired Coca Cola Bottling Plant which I got for a Christmas display. I have Christmas boxcars and 5 AHL Coke trucks. No idea of what kind of Christmas display I will do short of using the Coca Cola building as a center piece. This could have been a pricey buy had I not gotten lucky to find this one toward the end of the listings. Better to be lucky sometimes. 

Kenny


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

These are the boxes of the only K-Line cars I have. When the K-Line discussion came up I thought I had at least one so went looking and found these. These boxes were in a box under my layout. The cars are somewhere on the layout. I didn't take time to look for them but I will. 

Kenny


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Kenny, that is cool. Nice.
Get us some pics of the K-line cars. I love to go through my boxes and find things I had forgot
about.


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

Mopac I have some HO pictures that I took with you in mind. These cars are old. I don't remember what years. The first picture is an over all view of a wall display. The others are pictures of the lower RH end. The 4 cars on the third shelf together are balsa wood and came as kits. Today they are very fragile so they don't get touched or moved. I think they were Revell cars.

Kenny


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

These are the lower RH cars. The cars have metal wheels and metal trucks. Some of the metal trucks have corrosion on them. The 2 Great Northern box cars, and the Dupont tank car and all the 3 dome tank cars came with brass wheels and metal trucks. Notice the weird square couplers on some of those cars. Another oddity is the fact that the brass wheel cars are horn hook cars. The ad cars and all the cabooses are Tyco along with other cars on the upper levels. The Southern Pacific and the Illinois Central box cars are metal so are heavier that most HO cars.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Cool pics Kenny. I don't have all those cars but I am familiar with all of them.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Good pics of some old HO cars. I do not have all those cars but I am familiar with all of them.

Sorry for double post. LOL, it is early.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Kenny, the Coke plant looks new, great find. Also your collection of older HO is amazing.
Here is the catalog art for the four K-Line cars you have.


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

Mopac I thought you might be familiar with those HO cars. I got another 182 Blue box Athern cars and 10 engines, pre-DCC. None of it has seen the light of day in at least 25 years or so. I'll just keep them along with the nickel silver track and I don't remember how many Piko switches (turn outs). Got no idea why I'm hanging on to all of it.

Kenny


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

Thanks Tom for those pictures and your HO cars comment. Those pictures are the very ones I have. I knew where the Hooker tank car and the Cookie Box cars were. The Seaboard box car and the Cookie box car are on the layout. Those two cars a little wider and taller than AF box cars, but not so much as to be a distraction or noticeable. As has been discussed, that really wouldn't be out of place in an early transition era layout like I have The Hooker and Shell tank cars fit right in with the other AF tank cars just fine.
Yes that Coca plant is new. I got in on a BIN deal. I was lucky enough to find this one for 25.00 plus 23.60 shipping. No complaints since I got the building so cheap. At first I saw them anywhere from 200.00-99.99. This one was the last BIN listed. I couldn't believe it.

Kenny


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## Chuck7612 (Jul 2, 2017)

Tom, excellent job of analyzing the K-Line cars. I tried 2 when I first got into S. Trucks are fantastic; identical to S Helper. But I am not a fan. To me they are about 1/56 scale. I keep one hidden in a rail yard, but I never run them. You also mentioned getting some AM 50 footers. I love those cars. While they lack detail like ladders and underbody, they are very nice. They do need weight though. I add weight to all of my freight cars, but these especially need it.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Appreciate the comments Chuck. I will probably not get any more of the K-Line cars. As you say, they are bigger than 1/64th and if I keep one in the freight yard one or two feet from me it stands out as "just wrong." Circling the layout 10' away from me behind the incorrectly sized Big Boy they look fine. In fact the help make the Big Boy look better.
I was not aware of the weight issue with the AM 50' cars. What is holding me up is that all the RR names I want are made on the insulated plug door molding, but I prefer the standard sliding door style.


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