Large Scale Central

LGB/Aristo

I noticed while my LGB and Aristo reefers werre side by side that they are very similar with the exception of a couple of screws and a detail part on the end… I am refering to the Aristo RC Cola & LGB CoCa Cola cars

I had an LGB car, a Bachmann car and a USA woodside reefer in my workshop shop once for service at the same time. They all looked like they came out of the same molds, with some minor changes.

I thought the LGB and the Bachmann were 1:22.5 scale and the USAT was 1:29 scale?

USAT makes the 1:29 modern steel sided reefers, and the “American Series” wood sided reefers in 1:24.

Greg

The longer I hang out in this hobby, the more convinced I become all the manufacturers use a rubber ruler when convenient.

Travis; it is more likely that the LGB reefer you have, and are comparing with another reefer…you are comparing it to a USTrains American series car. The Aristo reefers are much more modern, and don’t have truss rods.

The LGB and USTrains cars both look identical at first glance, but the roof hatches on the LGB car do not open.

If you look on the bottom of the two cars, you will see the make cast into them…

The B’mann cars are much lighter, and are much different castings. The brake staff on the B’mann car is all plastic, while the other two have part of the brake staff as a brass rod. The B’mann truss rods are all plastic, and the other two are metal rods. The ends of the B’mann reefer are very plain, and without extra details found on the other two cars…

The roofs on the USTrains , and LGB cars, are held on by 4 screws. One on each end, and one on each side, easily seen.

If the LGB car is, as claimed, 1:22.5, then the USTrains car is the same, in all dimensions, so it is the same scale.

Just for the fun of it, Greg;

Compare the USTrains, and LGB reefers, and a Delton box car (I don’t think Delton made a reefer, or that Aristo made a reefer in the old Delton line)

The two reefers are much the same size, while the Delton box car is much smaller, all around.

Delton was known to claim to be 1:24 scale, while LGB claimed to be 1:22.5.

So…what does this suggest to you…?

To take it one step further, compare the Delton box car with a B’mann reefer, at the same time…again, the supposed B’mann 1:22.5 reefer is larger all around than the Delton car, and more comparable with the LGB, and USTrains cars

I have all these cars sitting in front of me…while I’m not with scale in hand; I am still looking at them all with eyes that still work well enough…

…added to that; take an LGB box car, and add it to the group. It again is very comparable to the USTrains reefer, and larger than the Delton box car…so much for the USTrains reefer, being 1:24th scale…

Delton made a reefer or two. I have an original “Hood’s Milk” reefer and a D&RGW Fruit reefer by Delton.

Scale? The 1/24" Delton is a lot smaller than the LGB and USA woodsides.

Horrors, you mean to imply someone copied LGB?

I hear you Fred, not surprised, Aristo copied the track, USAT and others copied their cars, etc.

When LGB was the only game in town, it was natural for people to make lower priced copies.

(Again, the point I wanted to make is that “USAT reefer” can mean either the 1:29 ultimate series (good in scale) and the “American Series” which may indeed be “gummie” scale). I tried to address the confusion about these 2 “lines” at USAT.

Greg

I always thought the Deltons were going after the older equipment modelers. Say 27-35’ cars at a time when cars were narrow compared to more modern rolling stock.

Why would you want all the same? Only unit trains should have that conformity.

Perhaps they fudged the stats on the cars…

John