Model Railroading > Mid 70's TOFC flats

Good evening,

I am looking to purchase several HO scale 89' flat cars but need ones that fit the mid 70's. I have tried finding reviews of the available models in HO scale but have not had much luck. Any suggestions on the right models for that time period?

Thanks

Michael

Michael Osweiler
Waseca, MN

F89F's from Athearn, and F89J's from BLMA have your name all over them!!

Now the next question; ... where/who makes appropriate trailers and Containers for that era AND does not paint any and all road liveries that sell irrespective of prototype fidelity?

Rick

A-Line has their 40 foot Freuhauf trailer and there's always the old Athearn Blue Box 40 foot trailer if you enjoy upgrading old kits.

What would be the cut-off date for the Athearn 86 ft pig cars?

We were looking at the older BB cars and comparing to the RTR version, there's a whole bunch of improvements to the underframe that gives the RTR a better profile, closer to the rail and a better runner.

Walthers had 70 era containers. Perhaps on e-bay

Additional question. When did the 45' trailers come into use? I'm thinking
late 70's with 48' and 53' in the 80's.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

ntharalson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Additional question. When did the 45' trailers
> come into use? I'm thinking
> late 70's with 48' and 53' in the 80's.
>
> Nick Tharalson,
> Marion, IA


Sounds about right

A related question, then... when did the TT flats go from brown to yellow?

Thanks.

Bill

SP8404 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A related question, then... when did the TT flats
> go from brown to yellow?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Bill

The yellow Trailer Train scheme started in 1970.

As far as I can tell, the "When did the 85' flats disappear?" question never really got answered, either.

I'm sure they were gone from TOFC service by 1990, the year I'm collecting intermodal stuff for a future layout, but I'd have to think many were still in that service in the mid-70s. And are these now the backbone of the ITTX fleet or other Trailer Train flats for specialized service?

Maybe 1981 for the 85 ft cars, there were stories of building 89 ft cars from 85 ft cars. These guys make minor mention to conversions in 1981:

http://www.ttx.com/corporate-information/history.aspx

The paint schemes appropriate would be Trailer Train Brown and Trailer Train Yellow with Trailer Train spelt out on the car side sills.
TTX, reporting marks were is use (see below), but the TTX logo came much later. Of the 40,260 cars in service in 1978, the number of cars per reporting mark were as follows:
GTTX 2260 (6%) General American design
LTTX 1840 (5%) Low Flats
TTAX 5750 (14%) All purpose flats
TTCX 700 (2%) container flats
TTX 29000 (72%) trailer only flats
XTTX 710 (2%) four-hitch Triple-28s

TTX cars included the F30 ex PRR cars in series TTX 475000 (Bowser do the basic flat in styrene) and 75' ex PRR cars in series 470000-471200 (Walthers did this car in styrene - commonly available thru ebay and swap meets). Only the Athearn 86' car is correct and represents TTX 473000, 474000, 477000 & 479000 by PS. The other Athearn car is a shortened representation of an 89' car.
89' cars were also in service in the 1970s but i don't have the data on hand.

This information was sourced from a clinic presented by D Scott Chatfield at the Pittsburgh NMRA National Convention in 1990? The clinic notes were published in the Clinic Book for that Convention.

cheers
Dave

SDL39FAN Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Good evening,
>
> I am looking to purchase several HO scale 89' flat
> cars but need ones that fit the mid 70's. I have
> tried finding reviews of the available models in
> HO scale but have not had much luck. Any
> suggestions on the right models for that time
> period?
>
> Thanks
>
> Michael

Obessedfoamer is correct - the new yellow TT F89F from BLMA is right up your ally, as is the Genesis 89' flat car.

Unfortunately the Genesis 89' flat cars are largely sold out and when I emailed Athearn about producing more, they said they had no plans so it will be a long time if assuming the ever produce them again. =( The few that you can find are priced near MRSP and just more than I'd want to pay.

The other main 70's flat cars are the Walthers Trailer Train TTX reporting marks flush deck flat cars and the Atlas Trailer Train TTAX flush deck flat cars. Both of those are largely sold out as well, but a few are still out there to treasure hunt.

As far as the 86' flat cars, I'd suspect there were quite a few still on the rails in the 1970's and as others have commented, they probably lasted until the mass conversion of the TT fleet for two 45' trailers. Any 85' flat cars after 1981/82 would have been rare, or converted to specialty use. D&RGW converted some of their 85' flat cars, for example, to carry poles or other things according to Jim Eagers Color Guide book.

I am modeling the 70's and 80's; to cover the 70's I have a few Athearn 85' TTX flat cars - non-flush deck variety - in TT yellow and a brown one. From past research, the flush deck are shorty 89' flat cars so the Walthers and Atlas, even Accurail flush deck's would be more accurate and the best choices for flush deck. However, the non-flush deck Athearn 85' flat cars are apparently fairly accurate - and probably would be useful to have a few for 70's TOFC/COFC.

Now that we have a fairly good selection from Athearn Genesis, Atlas, Accurail, BLMA and Walthers for the 1980's and beyond, it would be nice to see a manufacturer offer up another late 60's - 70's era TOFC flat car not yet available, perhaps the Evans flat.

Cheers, Jim Fitch



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/14 07:02 by SPDRGWfan.

A few of those thin-silled 89' flats manufactured by General American would fill the final gap for me in HO. SP & ATSF had a fair number of them, and likely other roads too.

Cheers,
Harry