Model Railroading > RBBX 84705, my first flat and wagons

Completed my fist 89' flat with three circus wagons. The flat is a Walthers 89' flat, modified by removing the center rub rails and putting rub rails/ C channel on both sides and the bridge plates on both ends.. The three wagons are 3D printed by Circus City Decals and the tractor is by Viking.

---

---

---

The prorotype flatcar was former GTW 303079.  Here is the FULL HERITAGE for the prototype car:


RBBX 84705
Original Reporting Marks:  GTW 303079
Built in 1969 by Bethlehem Steel
Original use:  for 1-40’ and 1-45’ Trailer-On-Flat-Car [TOFC] configuration

 Ringling Bros.’ ownership data:  Purchased in 1989 from Grand Trunk Western RR. I.D. tag # HO131.
 
1969 GTW 303079 - GTW RR (TOFC interchange service)
1989 SOLD to RBBB Circus
1990 W.Q. 303079 VENICE FL – W.Q. - RECYCLE
1991-1994: RBX 18 RED UNIT Circus Flatcar
1995-1996: RBBX 84705 (18) RED UNIT Flatcar
1997-1999: RBBX 84705 (xx) RED UNIT Flatcar
2001-2001: RBBX 84705 (xx) - Removed from service in Jan. 2001; stored in Green Cove Springs, FL
2002-2004: RBBX 84705 PALMETTO Shops - Stored
2005 RBBX 84705 (xx) Ellenton, FL - Stored
2006 RBBX 84705 (xx) Ellenton, FL - RECYCLE
2007-2016: RBBX 84705 (xx) RED UNIT Flatcar
 
Car Body Type:  (CS) Carbon Steel
Brake Valve Type:  ABDXL
LAST Recycle Date:  3/3/2004 

NOTES:Equipment characteristics of RBBX 84705: AAR car type M530 (M-O-W, Scale, Passenger, Caboose, and End-of-train information systems), plate type B, tare weight 74,900 pounds, total gross weight allowed 200,000 pounds, load limit 100 pounds, external dimensions (length 94' 6", width 9' 0", height 6' 0"). [Courtesy of [i]BNSF Equipment Characteristics[/i], November 1999]

Railcar fleet details for RBBX 84705: Maintenance of Way, Scale, Passenger, Caboose and End-of-Train, Mechanical Designation: PS; Outside Length: 94 ft 6 in; AAR Car Type Code: M530; Outside Extreme Width: 9 ft 0 in; Outside Extreme Height: 6 ft 0 in; Height of Extreme Width: 3 ft 9 in; Plate Clearance: B; Tare Weight: 74,900 lbs. [Courtesy of [i]CSXT Railcar Fleet Details[/i], December 1999]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/24 08:58 by rbx551985.

I assume they chock the wheels and have a couple tiedown chains securing the tractor and wagons when it's prepped for movement?

Awesome model.  I wound up switching and hauling these a lot .

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I assume they chock the wheels and have a couple
> tiedown chains securing the tractor and wagons
> when it's prepped for movement?

I have never seen the wheels chocked. The wagons are secured at the four corners using chains.
I may attempt to simulate the chains ounce all my wagons, vehicles and flats are completed.
For now they will just sit on the cars.

Posted from Android

I have this photo of a June 3, 1985 of RBB&B's move from NYC to Philadelphia that might help to serve as a reference for how the carts were secured during a move. This photo's location was Manville, NJ on CR's Trenton Line.

---

Pattenburg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have this photo of a June 3, 1985 of RBB&B's
> move from NYC to Philadelphia that might help to
> serve as a reference for how the carts were
> secured during a move. This photo's location was
> Manville, NJ on CR's Trenton Line.

I'll add some context about this photo of the 1985 prototype train:  that was my first tour on the show, and I had strated out on the show's Traincrew (maintenance staff), and wound up being on the show crew for the rest of my time there after 1985.  There were 9 flats on the 1985 Red Unit, and that number increased over time to the mid-20-teens when both trains (Red and Blue) had 21 piggyback flats, each.

There were smaller versions of the large red banenrs (displaying the full show) name which were multi-section 3M Company decals.  And they were qutie expensive.  By the 2000;s the flatcar banners had largely been discarded which was a sucessul cost-cutting move.....  thus the simple silver appearance of the flats in the yeras leading up to the closing of the rail tours in May 2017.

The wagons in the shot are a  combination of old and new:  the fluted-side wagons in the prototype image include many shorter in height than some of the others.  That was due to them having been constructed for what the show called "Tunnel Cars" - hollowed out baggage cars (6-axle cars) used back in the early 1960's when the show moved from the big tent show (seen in the 1952 movie "The Greatest Show On Earth") to indoor arenas which were promoted by Irvin and Israel Feld of Fats Domino and Buddy Holly fame.  They promtoed them and other tours, and their success led RBBB to have them promote their scaled-down show from the late 1950's-on.  That included scaled-down equipment, which the smaller wagons were built for.  Once again, these had all been completely phased out by the 2000's, replaced by larger wagons and show equipment.

Also, the bi-level in the image, brigning up the rear, was a prototype KIT-BASH kind of car.  It was designed to fit, fully loaded, through the Amtrak tunnel under Manhattan (the ruling clearance for both N. American RBBB tours).  Both of them (one per show) were cut down in the last decade of the tours to regular flatcars.

I am astonished by the details I'm seeing in these models:  at least 3 HO models of the modern RBBB trains are "out and about" (to my knowledge):  two of the Blue Unit and one (this one) of the Red Unit.  I've worked on both trains, and you may find a story I wrote about how the show created their two trains, published in the Feb. 2011 TRAINS Magazine issue. I often see copies being sold at trains shows.  The models are amazing, and bring back floods of emotional memories of working with so many people from all over the planet, and that it's actually a great thing that so many people of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds could be such a powerfully close-knit family.  We stay in contact now through social media, and ALL OF US are noticing these models and how excellent and well-detailed they all are.

Oh - I remember seeing a series of images taken of the Red Unit on the day this one was taken - and you can see me leaning way out of one vestibule, waving to the photographer.  On that topic, I'll leave everyone here with a laugh:  The morning this image was taken (and perhaps soon after this moment), "Mitzi," the lead showgirl, was at one point (on the twisting section of RR coming into north Philadelphia) riding outside in her car's vestibule, and looked back to wave to me, outside in the next vestibule.  We were moving along at about 15 mph - and with a sly grin, she yelled back something I got a huge laugh over:  "You'd better stop following me!"



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/24 08:22 by rbx551985.

Here is that photo mentioned in Rhett's thread!

---

It looks like in the picture that there was a U channel on top of the side rail that the tie down chains attached to.

Great jod and thanks for posting do not listen to these trolls you made a great train and they have pictures.

Dave

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It looks like in the picture that there was a U
> channel on top of the side rail that the tie down
> chains attached to.

GOOD EYE.  Yes, indeed - those were added by the show to all their flatcars -- and that is exactly how everything was tied down with the chain-binders.  I performed that work myself on hundreds of occasions.

Pattenburg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here is that photo mentioned in Rhett's thread!

Yeap, that's me.  I was still in railfan shock that month, a quarter of a year after first joining out with the show in Richmond, Va. in March of that year (1985), that I still got that I was a  part of this astonishingly large and famous "theater in the round" company that was so massive that it required a TRAIN to move it from city to city.  I admit that I could get a little crazy when photographers took images of us during train -runs.  Not usually being able to see either end of the train during runs was wild (the train was 42 cars long that year - about the same as Amtrak's Auto Train), and that awe would increase over the years as both shows (and their trains, Red and Blue), continued to grow in size until both trains were OVER a mile in length.  By the early 20-teens, the Red Unit was up to 60 cars and the Blue Unit was up to 61 cars.

There are many other websites and YouTube videos showing close-up views of the cars, including plenty of details such as the CHAIN-BINDER CHANNELS which were added to the outer length of all the flats so the wagons and highway equipment could be safely tied down from the edges.  We'd WALK ALONG the flats to hook those up from ground level, while the show's on-board train maintenance staff would be up on the flats to actually attach the binders to the vehicles.  This was usually at night and was indeed in ALL kinds of weather, including heavy rain or deep snow and ice conditions.  That was never an easy life-style, but when one was IN the show itself, the cheers of those thousands of Circus-goers made up for all the real blood sweat and tears we shed to make it happen.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/24 09:06 by rbx551985.