HO MILITARY LOADS & WHAT FLAT CAR USED

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I remember an issue in model railroader, describing how to do heavy loads such farm equip/ military vech… what issue was it and which flat car do they used mostly. Thanks

2

The model in the article was from Intermountain, here’s a link

http://www.imrcmodels.com/ho/hoflatcar.htm

MTH also makes this car but theirs includes a load and cost a little more.

http://www.mthhotrains.com/Flat_Car.asp

I’ve seen both listed on Ebay, hopes this helps.

3

Bachmann makes a military flat with three axle trucks carrying a trailer with a missile. My younger brother has one. All you need to do is repaint the flat into TTX.

4

The Summer 2009 issue of SP Trainline published by the Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society has a long article of military-laden trains during WWII on the SP. There are also pictures of modeled military equipment on railroad equipment with tie downs and wooden wheelchocks. The modeler used a Proto 2000 flat car, Bowser flat car, and Proto 2000 gondola. The article states military vehicles were commonly shipped in gondolas due to the flat-car shortage. Even if one isn’t particularly interested in the SP, the article would be worthwhile to those curious of WWII railroad military practices.

Mark

5

You have two issues on your post - farm equipment and miltary equipment. Farm equipment and machinery is very light and requires no special cars. A trucker I talked to said it was the best load you could have since it did not tax the truck engine yet was a full load that you could make excellent time with it. Same goes for most military equipment. Only the armored stuff like Bradleys and Abrahms require special flat cars due to weight issues.

6

I used Athearn 50’ flats for my military train.

Specifically the flats decorated for Santa Fe that came with a single semi trailer. Used the semis elsewhere and used the flats for the military train. Nice that they all have different numbers. I also added real wood decks from Modeler’s Choice. The hardest part was finding some of the older Athearn flats.

The military vehicles are all Roco and the era is mid to late 1950s.

7

Nice little military base there. Now all you need is the giant ants… [:D]

8

Here are a couple links concerning DODX freight cars.

http://www.google.com/search?pz=1&ned=us&hl=en&q=DODX+flat+cars&btnmeta%3Dsearch%3Dsearch=Search+the+Web

Rich

9

LOL! Only if you’ve got boxcars full of sugar. [(-D]

Tom

10

Them! [swg]

If I remember right (from the movie Them!) the boxcar the ants got into was an outside braced wooden Santa Fe boxcar. Think there was a Santa Fe alco switcher (in zebra stripes) shown as well. All in the Los Angeles yards. Great movie. Would have been even better in color.

Now I’ll have to find some giant ants, and a sound clip of that high pitch noise they make [(-D]

11

It’s THEM!

…

Tom, have you seen an ATSF diesel switcher in zebra trim around here?

Mark

12

thanks, for the LOL and jokes also, the pic are great, but I as said, I remember the article, had different examples of farm equipment, const equipment, some bradley’s… This is a hobby not life, so i am not a nut &bolt guy, i just was more interested in what issue, as one of stated, regular loads don’t need heavy duty. I am full time army medical, and was a company commander, when it came to sending older equipment to be salvaged we loaded it on to flatbeds. Because the rail does service that base anymore… I think it adds a flavor to any modern day setting…

13

How this subject logically got sidetracked into Atomic Ants, I’ll never know. I appreciate your sense of humor, something some posters lack. Still, has the question been answered to your satisfaction?

Mark

14

Forget the ants - it’s not an Army base without mosquitos & snakes!!![:o)]

15

Here are a couple of shots of a military train passing thru Anderson IN.

16

thanks, your photos help a lot, the jokes where great,you photos help the best, I am only going to do what you see here, a couple of 5tons…being transported… it faster to do this way, then by road trust me… I had drive one of the new LMTV from one unit in maine to mass they can only go 55mph…(max) long ride…

17

I’ve got a book somewhere with a number of pics of CN flats taken over the course of several years hauling Leopard, Centurion and Chieftain MBTs.

And if I recall correctly they weren’t heavy-dut flats. I’ll have to look 'em up.

18

I’ve only seen about 3 military trains and they were up in Montana on the BNSF and this is exactly how they looked.

19

For the most part, the US military ships its equipment on normal freight cars in commercial interchange service. Flats for tanks and other heavy equipment are selected for their capacity; if an Abrams tank weighs, say, 52 tons, all you need is a flat car with a capacity of at least that amount. During WWII, you would see Shermans in pairs on 70 ton capacity cars (53 feet long) , or riding alone on a 50 ton car (41 feet long). The Sherman weighed about 32 tons. The same principal holds today. Very simple.