Making Cheap IHC Passenger Cars Perform Better - Metal Wheels, Kadees, Lower Ride!

An epic struggle against brittle plastic! I decided to document how I go about body mounting Kadee couplers to an IHC heavyweight passenger car decorated for Union Pacific's Overland Limited. I purchased the 8 car set at a great price and figured it would be a good way to get into some trouble converting truck mounted couplers to body mounted, plastic wheels to metal, and adjusting ride height. This is how I went about doing so.
I'd like to eventually get some good quality heavys, but until Walthers does a mainline series ($45 and under) that isn't just streamlined cars I'm SOL.
00:00 - Intro
01:04 - Removing the trucks
01:27 - Raise the roof
01:50 - Mounting pads for the couplers
03:17 - Modifying the diaphragm for coupler clearance
03:47 - Drilling and tapping for 2-56 mounting screws
04:21 - On metal wheel replacements
05:01 - Modifying the trucks
05:20 - Lowering the ride height
05:51 - Replacing the truck pins with screws
07:37 - Carry that weight
09:45 - Checking coupler height
10:07 - Cool Shades
10:40 - Shorter cars, shorter coupler boxes
11:15 - The Battle of Brittle
12:15 - Final thoughts

[@bonzeroo]

Your video is very informative and quite watchable. Your narration is low-key, but straightforward, and even your choice of background music is not overwhelming, but sort of "chill" and relaxing. I really enjoyed watching your well-crafted video. Thanks for posting it!

[@yardsounds90]

Ha thanks! I like a chill vibe and model trains is (supposed to be) a relaxing hobby, so I try to go with relaxing music when I think appropriate. Thank you for watching!

[@w.rustylane5650]

I've done the same thing with some Rivarossi Southern Crescent Limited coaches. I cut off the truck mounted couplers and body mounted Kaydee couplers. I'm eventually gonna illuminate the coaches with LED strip lighting and keep alive circuits. I found a new product that will make this task much easier. It's ESU current collectors, part #50707, I got from Litchfield Station. They were $8.95 + $4.00 postage/shipping and you get enough to do 8 axles. You glue the pickups on the bottom of the trucks and the contacts rub against the inside of the wheel. Just have to remember to use insulated wheels, one opposite the other on the same pair of trucks. One picks up the track power and the other returns it to the track. I painted the coupler mounting pad with flat black paint. Cheers from eastern TN

[@larmo5633]

For those doing the body Mount couplers like shown here, be aware these cars may have a hard time negotiating tight curves if you use the coupler method he shows, there's a swing coupler that can be installed that would allow these cars to negotiate tighter curves.. nothing wrong with how he does it assuming you have wide curves though..also the correct wheels to use are Roll Tru scale wheels..thats rhe web site you want to search for, they have a few different variations of Riverosssi wheels to use that are correct..you can use intermountain, but tru scale will fit better.. Roll Tru Scale Rivarossi is the site you want to look at..

[@michaelmorgan7893]

Yes, I have had several of the older Rivarossi locomotives in the past, and those deep flanges do not like the frogs at some switches, or the diamonds at crossover points. Up until a few years ago when Rivarossi started offering scale flanges, we were pretty much stuck with Code 80 rail.

[@johnbanicki7232]

Great video with fantastic ideas for how to make these cars run better. I have a set of the IHC passenger cars that need this done to them. Thanks for sharing.

[@yardsounds90]

Thanks for watching! I would definitely say that my way is likely not the best way for everyone but it worked for me. Experimentation is always a good idea and not too bad when the cars are only $8 a piece.

[@bruceboyer8187]

I restored three dozen of these and Rivarossis. I enjoyed the modelling time to upgrade them. I used the Walters 508 coupler extensions. They look great and run great. They were to nice to toss and swap meet to someone who may upgrade and stuff in boxes should mean a will do not a never do.

[@gtown150]

Nice work. I have a couple sets of these cars the graphics and paint are flawless, which makes them very appealing. So I can understand why you would rehabilitate these for your fleet. Good tutorial. Thank you.

[@halliebohan884]

Nice job. I am using kadee couples and their swing kit to allow the couples to swing on curves. Hal

[@yardsounds90]

Ah the Kadee 451 I believe? I looked into trying those, bought a pair too but ultimately went with the body-mounted boxes. Either way, it's better than the old truck mounted couplers!

[@Greatdome99]

Use Post-it-Notes for window shades. A medium gray is better than white.

[@MrSEANDEERE]

This has me curious I got 5 of these in Canadian National Green scheme. They came with metal wheels already installed but had the horn hook couplers. They were used so the previous owner must have upgraded them. For what I payed I can't complain they are very nice passenger cars and look great behind my Mehano CN Hudson 4-6-4 and Mountain Type 4-8-2 bullet nose!

[@dundasjunctionmodelr.r-jam8267]

Excellent upgrade , I have a lot of Riverosi and ConCor cars that need upgrading, also subscribed your channel

[@SuperRobotStudios]

This is great, very helpful indeed! I’ve actually recently bought some IHC N&W passenger cars and intend to upgrade them to modern standards, so your video will be very useful for that. Love your other videos btw! Especially your upgrading of your Rivarossi Big Boy!

[@yardsounds90]

I think as long as you don't spend too much on the cars themselves, they make a great platform for upgrading performance! Just be careful of any cars that have the brittle plastic - at least three of my 8 car set are oddly brittle but with some careful handling should last as long as I do. Thank you very much for watching!

[@normansilver905]

Thank you for sharing. I'm starting now. For a reasonable price I can run some nice looking HO passenger cars.

[@damiencx5002]

Top video. I have done the same thing with my collection on IHC AHM/Rivarossi passenger cars. Better metal wheels, some weight, kadess's etc, makes them run a lot better. I have added interiors to a lot of them (can be very hard to get at times here in Australia and can be very expensive) some i made my own and detailed them with new diaphragms, and custom detail some of them and work of a prototype plan. It adds up after awhile $ but still cheaper than some of the new RTR coaches, and enjoy working on them. Really enjoyed your video, great work what you have done A+👍 🇦🇺

[@stroodlegoatcheese4384]

Use Roll-Tru wheels. They’re the proper size and don’t cost much more than Intermountain wheels and are a perfect 1 for 1 replacement.

[@yardsounds90]

I'm considering swapping them out with the Roll-Tru sets eventually, I just had a lot of intermountain wheels on hand and wanted to make use of them. Will probably do an update video too

[@weekendrailroader]

I've been working on upgrading a pile of old Rivarossi, AHM, IHC, and Con-Cor passenger cars. The process I've settled is almost the exact same as yours. Still, even after careful filing of the carbody bolster and the top of the truck frames, I still have issues with some cars not sitting level on their trucks, leaning to one side and wobbling while in motion. I'm curious if youve had similar issues. For journal boxes with too much end clearance for Intermountain wheelsets, you might try Athearn Long Axle wheelsets. I've found that they work well in trucks that have worn or over-sized journals.

[@lellopesce]

Great video and great comments, especially about the current cost of new cars. I also have done these conversions/updates to Rivarossi/AHM/IHC cars myself. Its a good way to continue in this hobby.

[@yardsounds90]

Thank you very much! Working on these cars was a lot of fun and I get a lot of joy doing that sort of modeling. My only wish is that some of the cars weren't so brittle but otherwise its hard to complain for under $10 a piece.

[@bruceboyer8187]

Liked the styrene window shades.

[@starman1380]

Nice video, I have a few (and trying to get more) for my 3977 to pull.

[@yardsounds90]

Thanks for watching! They are a decent passenger car and with a little work can perform really nice

[@whiteknightcat]

With all the breakage it seems it would have been better to just spring for proper trucks from a third party. A small bit of Evergreen "pipe" of the right diameter could be cemented in the bolster mounting holes, then drilled to the correct diameter and tapped for the usual 2-56 machine screws. I also prefer to use the taper headed screws as these will sink down and self-center in truck mounting holes that may be a little too wide. The flat upper surfaces of the screw heads clear any moving parts on the trucks. As for the couplers, the #5 might make negotiating curves a little problematic. I'd suggest the Kadee #451 self-centering swing mount coupler for the cars. There's another video demonstrating their installation but that particular video shows the wrong way to mount them, including not leveling the mounting surface, and not understanding how the swing mount works and ending up with just a long immovable coupler pocket.

[@flagman515]

Interesting video. Thanks. However, the music was a bot distracting. Lots of good ideas though.

[@yardsounds90]

Thanks for the feedback and for watching. The music is mostly a result of my not caring for my recorded voice by itself, but I'm trying to use it less these days except for a little intro and outro.

[@georgezapalac3385]

Thank you for the video. It has a lot of helpful information. What is the minimum radius these cars can negotiate with body-mounted Kadee #5 couplers?

[@yardsounds90]

Thanks George! I have not managed to test them on anything less than 28" as that's what I used for the temp loop if EZ-track at home. I probably wouldn't expect them to manage anything under 24" radius with the standard #5 Kadees as they are.

[@dapro2848]

I just did this conversion on a Rivarossi set with body mounted Kadee couplers and these cars will go through a #6 Atlas crossover switch with no problem, no binding. I have a small Christmas village that I believe has around 24" curves and they also make it around that with no problem.

[@stevenseguine9447]

I liked your video. Did you have any trouble with the larger Intermountain wheels and their longer axles causing friction? Why did you shave off the top of the truck bolster and bottom of the body bolster if you just replaced them with washers?

[@yardsounds90]

Thank you for watching! I actually have found the Intermountain wheels to be too short in axle length, they are more loose in the trucks than I care for so I'm going to try a few other brands and see what might be a better fit. For removing the bolsters, there are two main reasons. 1. The bolsters on the trucks and the cars are too thick so the cars would ride very high, however I still want a washer between the trucks and car so I'm not just pinning the truck to the chassis. The washer is much thinner and allows the truck to rotate. 2. When I would replace the original 'snap-in' pins that held the trucks to the chassis with a nut and screw, the screw going into the chassis would cause the very brittle plastic around the bolster to crack and break, so I shaved them down and sanded them smooth. That was just my approach with these cars specifically.

[@jackandsusangerstner1369]

Your video is great but, never seen a passenger train with NO people…

[@yardsounds90]

Unfortunately IHC passenger cars don't come with interiors, and finding the interior add-ons they sold is rather difficult these days (and expensive when they do turn up). I'd rather have a train with no passengers and interior than no train at all, but that's just me.

[@STho205]

He makes a good point about people and interiors. One problem with the AHM interiors is they too are devoid of life. Buying 25 to 50 seated figures and fitting them to the cast interior is a royal pain and would cost $50 The presenter's window shades are a good 1st step. Myself I just use label paper which looks like shades and sticks easily. A solution for people and seats or baggage compartments and RPO is printed interiors. Find a photo of real car interiors for the period, and print them on paper or transparency sheets. Cut them out to meet the floor and roof but back them off the windows a bit. This covers the weights and really works well if you light the cars...but pretty convincing unlit as well

[@StevieWonder737]

That set up will never work on anything with a turn radius of less than probably 30" ... certainly not 24". The couplers are too close and on tighter layouts that will cause the car bodies to contact each other and cause incessant derailing.

[@yardsounds90]

I have run them through 24 inch curves at a club layout without issue. It doesn't look great but I have not had any issues with derailing.

[@w.rustylane5650]

I wish you wouldn't play music and then try to talk over it. Just doesn't make any sense. Cheers - TN

[@yardsounds90]

That was more of an artifact of a personal dislike for my own voice, but I've stopped doing it (or doing it as much) and only use music to start (and end) the video in these days.

[@tazsnuts99]

Kadee 148 couplers are way better then #5

[@yardsounds90]

Operationally they are the same, but I would agree that #148s are preferred for ease of installation. For these IHC cars, I wanted to use up a pile of extra #5s I had on hand.