I went to the somewhat local hobby shop the other day and I managed to find a couple pairs of “T section” freight trucks. They were old stock of Walther’s manufacture. I then checked the Walther’s catalog and I don’t see them as currently available items from either Walther’s or Kadee. Is anyone else making them now? Thanks!!
Kadee and Walthers do make them. You need to search for “T-section Bettendorf trucks” or something similar. Walthers steam-era former Train Miniature freight cars came with T-section Walthers plastic trucks back in the 1980’s - 1990’s. Originally they were sprung trucks, later they were one piece. At the time, you could buy the trucks separately from Walthers, not sure how long ago they quit making them.
https://www.walthers.com/sprung-trucks-w-33-quot-metal-wheels-axles-t-section-bettendorf-1-pair
Thanks! That’s what I was looking for.
Some more info on trucks…the Andrews cast-steel sideframe was introduced in 1898, and one of its features was that it was designed to accept journal boxes from the older archbar-type built-up trucks.
I’m not certain, but the Kadee Andrews-style trucks under this gondola, scratchbuilt onto a Tichy flatcar, appear to have T-section members. Lettering is from Black Cat… (all photos will enlarge if clicked-upon)
This all-metal Ulrich drop-bottom gondola came with all-metal sprung Bettendorf-style trucks (I don’t know if Ulrich made them or bought them from another company), but they eventually fell apart, possibly due to zincpest. Lettering is from C-D-S…
I replaced them with one Train Miniature T-section unsprung truck under the B-end, and an older Kadee sprung T-section truck under the A-end.
I have modified all of my Kadee sprung trucks to eliminate the see-through appearance by adding a black styrene view-block behind the spring package opening.
These four Train Miniature boxcars are all fitted with what I would guess to be Walthers one-piece T-section sideframes. I have quite a few TM cars with sprung TM Andrews or Bettendorf-style trucks, but haven’t yet located any with sprung T-section trucks.
This first boxcar is a standard TM doublesheathed car, but I’ve modifed the original sidesills to created a taller car, then added new scratchbuilt sidesills. The fishbelly underframe is from Accurail, and the car was built to match a photo of its prototype. Lettering is from C-D-S…
…this one got Kadee wheelsets due to the not-all-that-round ones which