1:22.5 SCALE ROLLING STOCK
Manufacturer: USA Trains, P.O. Box 100, Malden, MA 02148. Price: R-1924 Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes boxcar $62.95 each, R-1679 Santa Fe reefer $69.95 each suggested list. R-1923, a companion SR&RL boxcar with road number 84, is also available.
REMEMBER LAST ISSUE when we reviewed a pair of USA Trains reefers and a limited edition boxcar? Good, because this time it seems redundant to repeat everything in those reviews. Besides, the quality of the materials and workmanship of the samples we are reviewing in this issue is excellent and that of the finish is generally topnotch. Since this issue's cars are identical in all respects to those in the last issue except for the paint schemes, look at the photos and let the following colorful words guide you the rest of the way:
With the introduction of the SR&RL boxcar, USA Trains appears to have anticipated the arrival later this year of LGB's Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Forney. The car body is a medium shade of green, the roof, hardware, and underbody (including the truck sideframes) are black, and the lettering is white. The outline around the white Sandy River herald and the graphics on it are black. As usual, the base color is smooth, even and opaque. The white graphics fall barely short of USA Trains' usual level of perfection. If you look closely-very closely-you may detect some spots where the paint is less than perfectly opaque. You wanted a picky review? You got a picky review. But, frankly, if I had achieved that level of coverage with an airbrush and a stencil, I'd be pretty happy.
Otherwise, the paint and every other aspect of overall quality are perfect.
Our sample had two glaring apparent discrepancies: The color scheme and the underframe. Our sources indicate the Sandy River painted the exterior of its boxcars, including the roof, boxcar red. They also indicate the Bettendorf trucks and steel underframe of boxcar number 86 are inappropriate; the underframe of a car in that number range should be wood, it should have truss rods, and the trucks should have archbar sideframes. I point that out even though I realize USA Trains intended neither car as an accurate model of its prototype. But, since they make both kinds of trucks and underframes, one combination is obviously more applicable than the other.
The Santa Fe reefer represents a standard gauge car. The sides are medium yellow, the roof and underframe are boxcar red, and the hardware is black. The lettering on the sides is black and the Santa Fe herald is red with white lettering. The lettering on the car ends is white. All graphics are crisp, clean, opaque, and very legible. The reefer is very attractive and its paint and lettering are perfect.-RR
