Hello everyone. I’ve gotten some great help here in the past, and so I wanted to try again. I have been stopped cold in my searches of the internet for information on WWI German flat cars for transporting tanks. I’ve got a few very bad, grainy, black and white photos, but I can’t find line drawings and other information. The one I want to model seems to me to be a 40’ flat car for carrying an A7V or Mk IV tank. I say it is AROUND 40’ because the A7V tank was 20’ (minus gun), and the car looks to be about double the length. I have found that the wheels were spoked, and the buffers look about the same as in use in WWII. Can anyone help with information or point me to good books or websites?
http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/pol/A7V2.jpg This is one of the 20 German-made German tanks. They captured hundreds of Mk IV tanks from the British and used those, too, since their own were poor, and they couldn’t manufacture them fast enough. French tanks were captured but not used. Same with Whippet British Medium tanks. Captured, tested, not used. But I’ll take info on the German flat car that transported the British tanks. Did the Germans buy rail stock from other countries? Is there a chance that the same company made the flat cars for Germany and say, France or Austria?
Coming back to your original question on which flat cars were used to transport tanks in Germany during WW I, the answer is not given easily. The German railway system in those days consisted out of different, state owned railways, i.e.
Royal Prussian Railway Administration (KPEV)
Royal Wurttemberg Railway (K.W.St.E.)
Royal Bavarian State Railway (K.B.St.E.)
Royal Saxonian State Railway (K.Saechs…St.E.)
Badenian State Railway and numerous smaller systems. I should not forget:
Imperial and Royal Austrian State Railway (k.k.St.B.)
Each of these railways had their own design, also for flat cars.
During WW I, I guess that they just used the flat cars they had on hand, mainly two-axle cars not really designed for heavy loads, including those captured from “enemy” railways, like France and Belgium, which could have been built by German railway car manufacturers as well.
If you want to model that in your layout, you can take any two-axle flat car made by Marklin, Roco, Fleischmann, Piko, Liliput. The best would be to really mix them.
I’m going to build this in 1/72 scale, and I don’t know of any cars in that scale. I want to use an Airfix OO kit for the basics (trucks, frame, etc), but I’ll need measurements.
As to the railways that could have made/owned the stock, I can’t see enough info to figure out who owned it.
