I’m looking at purchasing an old K-Line wooden reefer in memory of a good friend (I’m buying it completely for the graphics on the car). From the photo I’ve seen of the item, it looks maybe 1/24th-ish or maybe narrow gauge-ish. I run mostly standard gauge 1/29, with some other scaled rolling stock that looks okay and plays nice to my eye. However, I do not have the item to do a direct comparison with my mostly 1/29 stock.

So, what do you know about the old K-Line “G” stuff? I’d love to see a picture or two of a K-Line reefer mixed with some standard gauge Aristo or USAT stuff. Is it fairly reliable stuff or should I avoid it like the plague?

Thanks for your help.

-Kevin.

Jerry Barnes has a bit of it and from what I have seen it blends in quite nicely. But you need to buy it for the memory and not for the looks as you have already stated!

The K line reefer I have looks to be a lightweight copy of the Bachmann reefer. The wheels were total crud. But after putting metal wheels and Kadee couplers on the thing, it runs just fine, even though its one of my lighter weight cars. It should play ok with 1:29 stuff, if you don’t obsess on the grab irons.

" Rooster " said:

Jerry Barnes has a bit of it and from what I have seen it blends in quite nicely. But you need to buy it for the memory and not for the looks as you have already stated!

Thanks Rooster. I’ll check out his site and see if he has any pics of them running, mixed with other brands (Aristo, etc). And actually, I’m buying for the looks (the graphic on the car). My memory was shot years ago. -Kevin.

David Maynard said:

The K line reefer I have looks to be a lightweight copy of the Bachmann reefer. The wheels were total crud. But after putting metal wheels and Kadee couplers on the thing, it runs just fine, even though its one of my lighter weight cars. It should play ok with 1:29 stuff, if you don’t obsess on the grab irons.

Thanks for the info. Actually the grab irons bug the crap out of me, but the graphic on the car is perfect. I guess I’ll either have to live with the grab irons or “fix” 'em. -Kevin.

Sorry double post

-Kevin.

dieseldude . said:

David Maynard said:

The K line reefer I have looks to be a lightweight copy of the Bachmann reefer. The wheels were total crud. But after putting metal wheels and Kadee couplers on the thing, it runs just fine, even though its one of my lighter weight cars. It should play ok with 1:29 stuff, if you don’t obsess on the grab irons.

Oh Hey, David- Since you’ve got one, I should ask- how does it compare dimension wise with aristo, USAT 1/29rolling stock? I couldn’t find anything on Jerry’s site about these. Thanks in advance. -Kevin.

My guess;

Since Jerry favors 1:32, they are probably small.

Isn’t K-line a Lionel clone?

John

I don’t have any USA 1:29 stuff, except an F3. Its comparable to the Bachmann 1:22.5 boxcars/reeferrs (since its a cheap knock off of one), USA 1:24 reefers, and LGB 1:gummy wood-side boxcar. I run mine in the 1:24 scale consists, not in the 1:29 consists. It would be almost long enough, and wide enough, but a tad short in height, to run with my 1:29 Aristo boxcars.

Thanks for all the valuable info. Sounds like something that I should pass on.

-Kevin.

I dunno. If you like it you can fake it a bit.

Here, maybe this will help, but maybe it won’t

The Heinz pickle car reefer is the K line car. The Tiffany car is a Delton car. The Denny’s car and the Pennsylvania cars are USA wood-side reefers, and the PRR steel boxcar is a USA 1:24 ish boxcar, not the 1:29 more modern stuff USA has, all behind an LGB Mogul.

All the cars are reported to be 1:24th scale, and as you can see, they are all about the same size. So, if you know what size any of those cars is, compared to a 1:29th scale boxcar, then you know how they all compare, more or less.

And here, I have a 1:24th reefer, the blue 20th anniversary car, next to an Aristo 1:29th boxcar, the dark blue ECLSTS car.

Length and width its comparable, but the 1:24th car is not quite as high as the 1:29th car.

Wonderful! Just the kind of thing I was hoping for- a picture. If I could press the " Thank" button more than once, I would have!

So, thanks again!

-Kevin.

dieseldude . said:
I’m looking at purchasing an old K-Line wooden reefer in memory of a good friend (I’m buying it completely for the graphics on the car).

What type of couplers and wheel sets are you gonna put on it when it arrives?