Large Scale Central

What 8-years does to a boxcar

General Discussion
#1

On my old layout that is now in layout heaven I had placed a Accucraft all brass boxcar out on display and left it there…for the entire 8-years it was in existence.
Here is a picture from the old layout:

When I purchased the boxcar which is a 1-gauge…I didn’t really know what I was buying! I didn’t understand all that well the difference in gauges. So when the car arrived I was shocked to see how small it was when next to the engines I owned at the time (All LGB and a Bachmann Shay).
Seeing how I was never going to use it (although now I would, because I have a nice collection of 1/32 items) I decided I would just leave it outside.
Here is what the car looks like today after being outside for the entire 8-years of my old layout, and being stored in my basement for the last 5-years.








My only ever attempt at weathering!

#2

And you did a great job of it Vincent!

#3

I will run out of time if I have mother nature weather the rest of my trains!
I should try and oil up the wheels and see if they will still roll, I think the couplers are pretty well done for.

#4

The couplers are probably fine. Just lube them with graphite and replace the spring with the short one out of a Kadee coupler packet.

#5

So how many residents (yellow jackets etc) did you have living in your boxcar? Looks like a nice house.

#6

Chuck Inlow said:

So how many residents (yellow jackets etc) did you have living in your boxcar? Looks like a nice house.

While it was out on the layout I never noticed any bee’s inside it, however…the Aristo water tower that was on that layout was loaded with them!
I will say I had to knock something out of the car last night before I took pictures of it, whatever it was it was very decomposed…I think it was more of a mouse house then a bee’s house!

#7

I love the way it looks. Wonder how a Bachmann box car would fair in eight years? Regards,Ron

#8

I have had a section of bachmann track outside for 5 years. When people say it will rust into nothing in a year its not true at all. It is holding up very well, rusty but you can still run battery or live steam over the rails. If someone cant afford track, use the bachmann. You can get at least 5 years and prob more out of it.

#9

re: aging track. The ties on my AMS track seem to be NOT UV protected. I have some that is 5-6 years old, and ive had to replace the ties, the nubs that hold the rail on break off. And the ties fade terribly. I think I need to get some flat UV spray for my track.

#10

“I have had a section of bachmann track outside for 5 years. When people say it will rust into nothing in a year its not true at all. It is holding up very well, rusty but you can still run battery or live steam over the rails. If someone cant afford track, use the bachmann. You can get at least 5 years and prob more out of it.”

Hi Vincent,

A few years ago I visited an outside layout with Bachmann track and, like you said, the track was holding up far better than I expected.

A couple of years ago I sold a friend a Lionel layout and against my advice he actually put it outside under a tent. He leaves it outside trains, track and everything 24/7/365 just as he does his large-scale layout except he drives the large scale engines into tunnels at night.

Of course the sun fades everything but he runs his trains about eight hours a day every single day and probably gets more for his money than any of us. Amazingly he has very little trouble with the electronics and sound systems. I would never recommend it but he probably has more fun than the rest of us put together.

He is the only guy I know who literally wears out every brand of locomotive he has had. Of course sometimes he burns stuff up but he considers that a fair price to pay for having everything available whenever he feels like running it.

Jerry

#11

Ron Tremblay said:

I love the way it looks. Wonder how a Bachmann box car would fair in eight years? Regards,Ron

Hi Ron, If you like I can get photos of various brands that have been in the sun for years. They pretty much turn out as expected with LGB the best but eventually even LGB fades. What becomes evident (with buildings too) is which were painted and which (like LGB, Pola & Piko) are colored plastic. Eventually the sun wins but shade trumps the sun. Jerry

#12

Jerry,I have seen what one winter can do to a piko building. It ant pretty. Mostly from the wait of the snow.

#13

I’ve kept a string of Bachmann cars outside 24/7 for 6 years. They have endured everything from 100 degree temps to 2 feet of snow. Nothing much happened except for fading, so I weathered them myself 2 years ago. Some of the windows fell into the caboose, allowing paper wasps to inhabit. Two stock cars, they simply crawl between the boards.

#14

Hi Ron,

I know what you mean. The Piko (and Pola) glue often fails over the years and when the buildings are abused by snow, critters etc.

#15

I don’t use ebay anymore (haven’t in about 10 years) but I was able to search my old user feedback and found that the person I bought this from (who is still a active seller) was someone with the user name unitah_mallet

Anyone know who that is by any chance?