For now, I don’t really model any particular road or era, I just seem to pick up what looks interesting. While perusing a LHS, I stumbled on this BB kit that looked different. I’m not even sure what’s is called - “Impack Inter” was on the box - some type of articulated piggyback carrier. So I brought it home only to realize there’s an A-B kit and a C-D-E kit. And go figure the A-B kit contains those units with the couplers. The C-D-E is for the mid section - this is the one I got so now I can’t run it.
I suppose the A-B kit will be on my scavenger hunt list for the upcoming train shows.
In the meantime, does anyone know anything about what I have? Or any clues as to where to get an A-B kit?
That would be Impack Intermodal. They were 5-car connected units and shared trucks between cars. You do need the other kit to complete set. Check ebay or other online dealers.
I’ve only seen those sold as 5 unit sets. I don’t know how your going to get the A,B set by itself. Unless it’s back on the shelf at the LHS you were at.
A word of caution. Buying what looks neat can really come back and bite you in the butt if and when you build a layout. Do some research and pick an era to collect/model. That way your not wasting money on stuff that won’t fit in on your layout. I know someone that used to do that…[:-^][2c]
Those haven’t been made for several years. I have a complete set that I picked up at a liquidation sale a couple of years ago. Check Athearn’s web site and see if they have any as repair parts.
Santa Fe’s Fuel Foilers are the early prototype and ran in 10 cars sets. Impak cars were a later version which copied the Fuel Foiler design pretty closely and were sold and ran under some private RR names and Trailer Train. There as an article about these in the late 90’s in RMJ or MRG magazine. Many of the road names were prototypical unlike the Walthers spine cars which were mostly bogus.
It looks like the “inter” on the box you have stands for “intermediate” units. There are two end units that come in a pack, and intermediate units which come in another pack. Both packs make up the 5-unit typical set. I believe some roads had sets with 8 units two. You’d have to check the prototype to see how to set up yours.
A happy ending: My faith in humanity has been restored. A fellow forum member stepped up and gave me a great deal on a couple end units so now I’m all set.
