Kadee Micro-Trains MTL 1:160 N Scale Variations Guide

1:160 N Scale Kadee® Micro-Trains® and Micro-Trains® Line Product Packaging, Pricing, Door, Truck, and Wheel Set, Variations Guide

If you have only recently begun collecting the high-quality, 1:160 N Scale products of Kadee® Micro-Trains® and Micro-Trains® Line (MTL), and/or you are interested in Micro Trains® product deviations, this packaging, pricing, door, truck, and wheel set variations guide is designed to increase your knowledge of various MTL production characteristics.  Compiled by Neville C. Wilson, an unabridged version of this guide is readily accessible from the link that is located at the bottom of this page, or through the "MTL Variations Guide" buttons, which are located on the page headers that appear above each of our eBay store pages, and under each of our eBay listing descriptions.

Notes: Dates of implementation should only be used as guidelines, as car parts and packaging was/is produced in batch runs, with numerous packaging and parts variations for slower moving products.  MSRP is the abbreviation of "Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price".

Jewel Box Insert Labels (for standard production models)

• Kadee® Micro-Trains® paper inserts with black, blue, and green printing, and a factory printed MSRP - November 1972
• Kadee® Micro-Trains® paper inserts with black printing and a factory printed MSRP - May 1975
• Kadee® Micro-Trains® paper inserts with black printing and no factory printed MSRP - May 1977
• Micro-Trains® Line paper inserts with black (and red by the mid-1990s) printing - October 1990
• Note: All Magne-Matic® knuckle coupler equipped models were packaged with a white paper insert, while Rapido coupler equipped models (circa 1971 - 1977) were packaged with yellow paper inserts

Jewel Box Lids

• Jewel box lids without an embossed company name - November 1972
• Jewel box lids with an embossed Kadee® Micro-Trains® company name - July 1981
• Jewel box lids with an embossed Micro-Trains® company name and a blank rectangle (a result of the milling out of the word Kadee®) above the company's new moniker - March 1991
• Short run of jewel box lids with an embossed, rectangular, Micro-Trains® Line logo and a pair of injection molding holes in the jewel box bottoms - September 2001 - Mid-2002
• Reappearance of jewel box lids with an embossed Micro-Trains® company name, the word Kadee® milled out, and no holes in the jewel box bottoms - Mid-2002 - February 2008
• Embossed, rectangular, Micro-Trains® Line logo on jewel box lids and a pair of injection molding holes in jewel box bottoms - March 2008

Factory Pricing (for standard production models)

• Product description and MSRP factory printed in blue (and very rarely black) on both ends of paper insert labels - November 1972
• Product description and MSRP factory printed in black on one end of paper insert labels - May 1975
• Product description with no MSRP factory printed in black on one end of paper insert labels - May 1977
• Small, square, white, self adhesive price tags bearing the Kadee® name are affixed to shrink-wrapped sets and the front left side of jewel box bottoms (Note: on occasion, white Kadee® price tags can be found on jewel box lids, or the undersides of jewel box bottoms) - June 1981
• Large, rectangular, yellow, self adhesive price tags bearing the Micro-Trains® name are affixed to shrink-wrapped sets, plastic, hinged lid (aka "tackle box") boxed sets, and the front left side of jewel box bottoms (Note: tags are often found  secured to both the jewel box lids and the jewel box bottoms) - August 1990
• Small, square, yellow, self adhesive price tags bearing the Micro-Trains® name are affixed to the front left side of jewel box bottoms (Note: in the early 1990s, a very small batch of these labels lacked the traditional, red, Micro-Trains® name) - March 1991
• No retail pricing on forty model releases - June 2000
• Barcode and MSRP are factory printed on the bottom of paper insert labels - October 2000
• Note: Although the majority of the barcoded models have MSRPs, a few instances of barcoded insert labels without retail pricing have been observed.

Factory Shrink-Wrapping

While both Kadee® Micro-Trains® and Micro-Trains® Line regularly plastic shrink-wrapped their car sets, only dealers and end-users applied (after-market) plastic shrink-wrap to the aforementioned firms' individually jewel-boxed models.

Stock Numbers (for standard production models)

• Five digit factory stock numbers - November 1972
• Eight digit factory stock numbers - January 2005
• Notes: With the exception of Magne-Matic® knuckle coupler equipped model number 23231, the factory stock numbers for Rapido equipped models (circa 1971 - 1977) end in "1" (for five digit stock numbers) or "-1" (in the case of six digit numbers).  The factory stock numbers for blister carded car kits end with the number "9".

Doors

• On occasion, plant workers installed the wrong style of sliding-door on 40 foot boxcar bodies.  In some cases, these door variations can impact the value of a particular Micro-Trains® model.  Collectors often use the abbreviation "NR" (or n/r) when they are referring to narrow rib ("Youngstown") doors, while the abbreviation "WR" (or w/r) is used to designate wide rib ("Superior") doors.  Narrow rib doors have fourteen ribs, while wide rib doors exhibit six ribs.

Trucks

• Making a rather short appearance in the marketplace (September 1974 - October 1975) due to their fragility, Clip-On-Trucks, which have a pair of mounting ears, rather than conventional bolster pin holes, were an ill conceived innovation that came factory fitted with Magne-Matic® knuckle, or Rapido style couplers.
• Note: Although a few other models are listed in various collector guide books, only Kadee® Micro-Trains® 50' Steel Boxcars and 40' Double-Sheathed Wood Single-Door Boxcars with stock numbers 31000 (light brown with white dimensional data), 31118, 31139, 31170, 31463, 31487, 32000 (light brown with white dimensional data), 32076, 32144, 32166, 32499, 32507, 33000 (light brown with white dimensional data), 33089, 33121, 33451, 34000 (light brown with white dimensional data), 34033, 34091, 34105, 34151, 34472, 36000 (light brown with white dimensional data), 36034, 36084, 42080, and 42551, shipped in unmarked plastic jewel boxes, with black, blue, and green printed paper insert labels, and factory printed MSRPs, are considered legitimate, factory assembled models. 

• With the exception of extended length models (i.e., those with medium and long drawbars) and Rapido coupler equipped versions, the undersides of pre-Micro-Trains® Line production (circa pre-1991) Archbar, Bettendorf, and Roller-Bearing freight car trucks were embossed with the Kadee® name.
• Contemporary production (circa post-1991) Micro-Trains® Line trucks have the Micro-Trains® name embossed on their undersides, or the coupler box cover.
• Note: Although they were no longer factory installed on new car releases, the production of individually blister carded Rapido coupler equipped, Bettendorf  truck sets (factory stock number 1500) continued well into the early-1990s.

Wheel Sets

• Regular and Special-Run models are fitted with three piece (a steel axle with a pair of black, injection molded plastic wheels), rib-backed, deep-flanged wheel sets - November 1972

• Regular and Special-Run models are fitted with black (except for a few of the contemporary releases that were fitted with brown, green, red, silver, and yellow wheels), one piece, smooth-backed, deep-flanged,  injection molded plastic wheel sets - September 1987
• Along with a factory installed set of smooth-backed, deep-flanged wheel sets, an optional set of buyer installed, one piece, smooth-backed, low profile, injection molded plastic wheel sets are packaged with regular production model releases - July 2002
• Shipped without an optional, buyer installed, set of smooth-backed, deep-flanged wheel sets, regular production model releases are fitted with factory installed, smooth-backed, low profile, injection molded plastic wheel-sets - September 2005
• Along with a factory installed set of smooth-backed, low profile wheel sets, an optional set of buyer installed, smooth-backed, deep-flanged wheel sets is packaged with regular production model releases - October 2005 - December 2006
• Along with a factory installed set of smooth-backed, deep-flanged wheel sets, an optional set of buyer installed, one piece, smooth-backed, low profile, injection molded plastic wheel sets is packaged with regular production model releases - January 2006 - July 2007
• Effective August 2007, low profile, injection molded plastic wheel sets are no longer packaged with, or factory installed on regular production model releases.
• Effective March 2010, all Micro-Trains® Line N-Scale rolling-stock releases are fitted with new, "Standard", 33-inch injection molded plastic wheel-sets that look more prototypical and are compatible with code 55 track products.
 

• Note: While deep-flanged wheel sets were never officially named by their manufacturer, model train operators have unofficially bestowed the nickname "pizza cutter" upon these first (second, if rib-backed wheel sets are taken into account) generation products.

Proper Micro-Trains® Car Body and Chassis Assembly and Stirrup Step Orientation

• Turned upside down, with the brake wheel facing right, Kadee® Micro-Trains® and/or Micro-Trains® Line models (except for cabooses, which are listed below) that are fitted with chemically blackened, die-cast metal chassis are properly assembled when the smaller of the two cylindrically shaped appendages (Canister like shapes, the larger one represents an auxiliary air reservoir and the smaller one a brake cylinder) that are cast into the bottom of the metal frame appear above the pair of long, horizontal center lines that run between the two trucks.  The three or four links of chain that have been cast next to the small cylinder should face the right side (the brake wheel end) of the car.
• Turned upside down, with the offset cupola positioned toward your left and the long roof section facing right, Kadee® Micro-Trains® and/or Micro-Trains® Line wood sheathed caboose models that are fitted with chemically blackened, die-cast metal chassis are properly assembled when the smaller of two cylindrically shaped appendages (Canister like shapes, the larger one represents an auxiliary air reservoir and the smaller one a brake cylinder) that are cast into the bottom of the metal frame appear below the pair of long, horizontal lines that run between the two trucks.  The four links of chain that have been cast next to the small cylinder should face the left side (the cupola end) of the car.
• Turned upside down, with the offset cupola positioned toward your left and the long roof section facing right, Micro-Trains® Line steel cabooses are properly assembled when the square box and the smaller of two cylindrically shaped appendages (Canister like shapes, the larger one represents an auxiliary air reservoir and the smaller one a brake cylinder) that are cast into the bottom of the frame appear above the pair of long, horizontal lines that run between the two trucks.  The four links of chain that have been cast next to the small cylinder should face the right side (the long roof end) of the car.
• Injection molded plastic stirrup step moldings are properly attached to Kadee® Micro-Trains® and/or Micro-Trains® Line car chassis when the half-round notches (half circle shaped cutouts that are positioned on one edge of each stirrup step molding) face outward (i.e., toward the couplers).

Unabridged Version of this Guide

N Scale Kadee Micro-Trains and Micro-Trains Line Variations Guide Unabridged

Additional Model Railroad Related Terminology

Model Railroader's Glossary of Abbreviations, Grading, and Terminology

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