I’ve been collecting flat cars and will have to come up with some loads for them. I have a few loaded already. I have a small collection of piggy back trailers (My era is about 1960) and a couple of electical transformers on depressed centre cars, plus three car loads of John Deer Tractors.
I’d love to see creative, reasonably proto-typical loads, unusual is great, martian space ships is not quite what I have in mind.
Here an old steam has been pulled out from the back of the round house and the company CEO finally relented and gave into the Steamers Restoration Association and donated the rusty old tankside shunter rather than turn it into scrap metal.
Here is a closer shot of that same flatcar with its load. It orginally came with a coil and two workmen riding on the deck (OH&S would put a quick end to that).
In this case, what do you do with the wheel falls off your grader?
This car I’ve had a few decades, it is actually a european style car with bumpers, but I love the way the articulated swing works; very smooth operator.
So, lets see your flats.
I’m also interested in how you secured them to you the railcar. I used fine wire to tie down the old engine, the grader is also tied down with very fine wire. (Unrolled from a tiny motor).
Surprisingly, I only own three flat cars. One of them remains flat - as in empty. Here are the other two:
Both loads are secured with grey Stren “Firewire” fishing line. It’s plastic-like and doesn’t fray or stretch like thread, or kink like wire. Good stuff.
The first load was made from an article in an old MR. I think that was a Tichy flat painted and decaled for the NP.
This car was made after I warped the hopper while trying to dry it after adding COTS label decals. It was done a while ago and I can see a lot of inconsistancies that wouldn’t pass inspection today. (Those trucks are way too clean for friction bearing trucks, they should be black and oily, not rust colored, among other things.) I used a P2K 52’6" flat car with a Modelers Choice laser cut deck and semi-scale wheels.
Neutrino, I am impressed with your flat cars, I had to look twice to make sure you were actually taking pics of a model. Good Work, one question, where did you get the chains? Mike
I only own 2 HO flats, One is destined to become a CNW transfer caboose. The other will stay empty. My N scale flats are 2 40’s that carry an I beam and a Depressed Center flat car with a transformer. My gondolas are another story. the 2 I have in HO have panel track loads in them, and Since I don’t have a gondola long enough I also have a prebuilt switch in one of the clubs Athearn 65 footer. It looks Nice I’ll try to get some pictures tomorrow
Not unusual but I came up with this method of log loads myself. I think. 45 years of reading MRs has fogged the memory. The logs are filbert suckers. The chain is from Model Shipways. The logs are hot glued together and the simply ride on the bunks under them. Prototypical speeds prevent flyoffs.[IMG]http://i56.photobucket
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