# Found a REA car in the garage, what is it?



## jhickman (Nov 30, 2009)

What on earth is this? I know it's an REA - 31105. Brass throughout, smoke unit, lighted, ect... but I have no idea of it's value, ect... I know REA used to be an importer of LGB back when I first started collect them in the 80's, but I didn't realize that they had their own brand of cars. Other than the box telling me it's an REA product there are absolutely no marking on the bottom of the car. It was made in South Korea as stated on the box. I have no recollection of ever getting this car or how it came to be in my garage. I also only found one link to it on the internet and that wasn't very helpful.


This car doesn't fit with anything I run on my layouts and before I hand it over to my boys to play with on their tracks where it will be run loaded up with Star War figures I wanted to find out if it's worth anything. 


http://picasaweb.google.com/joe.s.hickman/Trains#5434845887171296706
http://picasaweb.google.com/joe.s.hickman/Trains#5434845910084615954


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## jhickman (Nov 30, 2009)

I just 4 more of these cars in the garage but these were inside of 4 LGB bridge boxes. Weird how we come by things in life.


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Joe,

Those are what are called "Sierra Cars". REA is now called Aristocraft, and those cars are still made today. The one in your picture looks like it is in great shape. These go well with the LGB cars. Are you going to sell them? Look at eBay for current pricing.


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## jhickman (Nov 30, 2009)

markoles, 

That explains it. I only saw one link for this car on Ebay and it was for parts. I guess now that I have 5 of these cars I'll see how they look with one of my American engines. The lights are very bright, which I like and each car has a smoke unit so that might be fun. Two of the cars have minor damage from being improperly stored, which are easy fixes. 

Joe


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Joe,

Nice! I think aristo still sells the smoke units and other parts. 

I also believe there is a considerable ammount of drag from the power pick ups on those cars. Act a lot more like brakes than anything else. You might want to consider one ball bearing axle for power pick up. Due to the low power draw, you shouldn't have problems with using ball bearings instead of the brushes. You could also rewire them to run off a 9v battery, but that would also mean you'd have to turn them on and off manually. Just some ideas, nothing wrong with the way they are now.

Mark


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## jhickman (Nov 30, 2009)

markoles, 

I ran a couple of the cars on my indoor overhead and those cars definitely drag. The American engines that I have got have a enough power to move them though. 

I'm going figure out a price on these and if they aren't worth that much I'm still considering letting my boys have them. They don't have any passenger cars for their room sets & with the lights and smoke they might get a lot of enjoyment out of these. The LGB sets I got them still look pretty good after a couple of years wear and tear. 

Joe


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## altterrain (Jan 2, 2008)

They'll go for around $40 each on eBay. 

-Brian


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

That's a "Sierra Coach." Aristo still sells them. I have 4 in Pennsylvania colors and love them. You can get better electrical pickups for them that don't drag so hard. In fact, the newer ones roll very smoothly.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

The newer cars have the new pick up system for the lights and really eliminates the drag. Later RJD


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## jhickman (Nov 30, 2009)

altterrain, 

Thanks for the pricing, the kids will enjoy these. It should prove to be a good test to see how well they take care of them. 

markoles, Torby, aceinspp, 

You guys weren't kidding on the "drag" factor. I wanted to test the cars out on my overhead layout and I placed the cars on the back of 7 LGB cars already attached to an engine. I turned on my transformer and it ran around about 2 times and pow, derailment of most of the LGB cars in-between my engine and REA cars. Someone must have been looking out for me because after a 4ft to 5 ft fall onto my glass desk their wasn't a scratch on any of my cars. One car had windows pop out (quick fix), but that's it. 

Do you guys have any links to inexpensive pickups or perhaps any hacks I can do myself to get rid of this drag before I hand these off to my boys? 

Joe


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Easiest thing would be to take the power pickups, known as "brakes" out and leave the coach dark. Mine are lit with LED's powered from 4AA battery packs hidden inside, though some are going to moan, "Oh, there he goes, bringing up batteries in a non-battery thread again!"


How crafty are you? I don't remember which style of wheels this coach has, but one style has one wheel connected to the axle and the other insulated. Another has both wheels fastened to a half-axle, and a plastic piece holding the half-axles together. Either way, you can find a brass tube at the local hardware store that just fits over the end of the axle, and use this to make conductive bushings in the truck with a wire soldered to it. I did that with a bobber caboose once.


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