1.I just bought an Accurail open Bi-Level Autorack at a train show and compared it to prototype photos. What I found is the side sill of the Accurail flat has a more modern appearance with a contured shape while proto photos show a 'C' channel shape. Anyone know if I can put the Accurail sides on another manufacturers' flat car (are lengths/widths compatable?) for a close match? I hope to afford another dozen of these models and don't want to scratchbuild that many, but swapping the decks seems reasonable. I tend to be more of a rivet counter than a toy train guy but is this really a big difference that would ruin an otherwise accurate 1967 auto train?
2.The actual autoracks mounted on the flat cars are incorrect too, but I figure as long as they are all the same, they won't appear incorrect until comparing with a photo. I figure I could add a few more cross braces to aid the appearance without too much trouble.
3.Anyone have tricks to load these cars with autos in a way that I don't have to spend $60 or more (reasonable auto models aren't cheap!)? I figured put those nicer autos on top and put cheaper ones on the lower levels, or *gulp* casting my own, from the nicer models, and putting them on the lower levels. Is casting practical, cheap/easy? The auto contours seem tricky to cast. Anyone with experience doing this?
Thanks for any suggestions/answers!
I hate counting rivets, but sometimes I can't help myself!
http://delray1967.shutterfly.com/pictures/5
SEMI Free-Mo@groups.io
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I hear ya, I built 10 of these for retirement gifts. I work at GM in Janesville Wi, and people that hired in the 70's are leaving or left already. They hired in building 1977-79 Chevys. You could use the AMC Gremlins for Wal Mart Fresh Cherrys line too. Maybe even the Pintos and Bobcats. Watch Walthers sales as I got the Chevys for around (Gulp) $8 a piece, I only needed 150 of them. Another place that has cars sometimes cheap is Hobby Lobby.
A note on the Chevys, GM did do two tone (and still does)paint on the Police and Taxi cars. Alot of the old timers remember building taxi cars. Most of todays taxi cars are retired police cars. GM would not put the taxi or Police logos or light bars on at the factory, so on my auto rack in the picture the paint on the taxis is correct but not the logo. That being said we do ship fully painted Police and INS Tahoes out of here but they are finished at Monroe Trucks in Monroe WI.
Roger
Delray-
Your Accurail autorack is an accurate model of a rack that existed- the problem is though that the rack that Accurail chose did not debut in that fashion until 1968. The flat car that it sits on is a flush deck Bethlehem 89' flatcar- and the rack design is a Paragon II type rack. The Paragon rack was not as common as the Whitehead and Kales rack (very similar looking but it had thinner support columns and they were spaced differently too.) and the car is actually a scale six inches too wide, which was done in order for the rack to fix onto the existing flush deck flat Accurail inherited from Custom Rail which was also too wide. You can mount the rack to a different flatcar (like the Walthers channel side flat) but it will have to be narrowed first in order for it to fit. Paragons were in production starting as early as 1965 and you can easily backdate a type II to a type I- so remounting one of those racks onto a different flat wouldn't be a bad idea.
It sounds like the rack you have a photo of sits on a bowl deck flatcar instead of a flush deck flat- unfortunately unless you scratchbuild or buy brass there is no model of a bowl deck available yet. In short-the model you have is accurate to a real car- but I have no idea if the C&O ever owned any Paragon racks on flush deck flats. Accurail did release a lot of roadnames on this model that were "close enough"- so I'd guess the C&O rack is one of those models.
For automobiles on my racks I used Fresh Cherries- I model the mid-70s and my racks are outfitted with AMC Gremlins, Pacers and Hornets. All of the Wal-Mart Fresh Cherries cars are of 70s and early 80s vintage, so you won't want to use those. I'm not up on who makes good late 60s models of cars/trucks so I'm afraid I can't help much there.
Here is the listing from Jim Eager on the Modern Freight Cars List for the Accurail Auto Rack.
* Beginning in 1968 Para-Pac Type 6a racks were mounted on the new flush-deck flats introduced that year. Accurail's kit is based on these later cars: NW bilevel on TTBX 963763, a Bethelem BSH11 blt 1971 <http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=457568> SP bilevel on 515412 (515400-515449), an F-70-57 Bethlehem blt 1970 <http://www.railgoat.railfan.net/photos/sp/sp515412_brian_ehni.jpg> SP bilevel on 515372 (515350-515399), an F-70-56 Bethlehem blt 1969 <http://www.railgoat.railfan.net/photos/sp/sp515372_jim_eager.jpg> SSW bilevel on 84330 (84300-84399), an F-70-67 ACF blt 8-73 Photo in Thompson's SP Color Guide (V.1) SSW 84349, same Photo in Kinkaid's SP Color Guide V.2 SSW 84302, same Photo in the 12/01 Railmodel Journal SSW trilevel on SSW 84808 (84784-84808), a Bethlehem blt 2-69 Photo in the 4/00 Railmodel Journal ATSF bilevel on ATSF 88721 (88706- 88736), an Ft-77 ACF flush-deck blt 1972 Photo in the 4/00 Railmodel Journal B&O bilevel on TTBX 961863, a Bethlehem BSH11 blt 7-69 Photo in the 4/00 Railmodel Journal B&O bilevel on TTBX 963017, a Bethlehem BSH11 blt 1970 Photo in Bossler's B&O Color Guide CN bilevel on CN 710610, an HSC flush-deck blt 1972 <http://gelwood.railfan.net/cn/cn710601s.jpg> CN bilevel on CN 710632, same Photo in the 1974 Car & Loco Cyc PC bilevel on TTBX 962577, a Bethlehem BSH11 blt 10-69 <http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/tr_pc962577.jpg> PC bilevel on TTBX 961785, a Bethlehem BSH11 blt 7-69 Photo in the 4/00 Railmodel Journal SLSF bilevel on TTBX 961296, a Bethlehem BSH10 blt in 1968 Photo in Molo's Frisco/Katy Color Guide SOU trilevel on RTTX 963470, a Bethlehem BSH11 blt 9-70 <http://southern.railfan.net/images/archive/southern/freight/autorack/sou_tri_au\ to.html> SOU trilevel on TTRX 963485, also a Bethlehem BSH11 blt 9-70 Photo in Classic Freight Cars V.6 SOU bilevel on TTRX 962037, a Bethlehem BSH11 blt 7-69 Photo in the 12/01 Railmodel Journal SOU trilevel on TTRX 962049, same Photo in the 4/00 Railmodel Journal SOU trilevel on TTRX 962096, same Photo in Kinkaid's Southern Color Guide
Hope this is some use.
Rick
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
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I'm wondering about the weight of so many die-cast autos on one autorack. Isn't that going to be kind of heavy? Maybe you'll need to un-weight the basic car for the loaded racks, while keeping it weighted for the empties.
Paragon racks? Good tip, I'll have to research those more to see what the differences are. There is another train show in a couple of weeks (Gratiot Valley-see you there!) I will see what is there. I found that Accurail car for $5, hopefully I can find more! Great pics, thanks! Once I'm done building a few Branchline Trains kits, Kato covered hoppers are next, then on to the autoracks. Research is the cheapest aspect of the hobby, except for the time. I'm contemplating scratchbuilding the racks, I'll have to build the Accurail kit first and see...
The NMRA standard for HO is one ounce of inital weight plus 1/2 ounce for each inch of car length, about 7 ounces for a 12" autorack. Good idea stripping off as much weight as possible. I'm a member of a modular group, Ford Model Railroad Club, and can run long trains on our layout (no grades). The layout I'm planning has a steep grade in it, (around 3% I think) so I'm working on a mock-up to see if my RSD-7 can pull a long, heavy train up and out of the Canada/Detroit tunnel. Although in the planning stages, I'm trying to forsee all problems before I get to the bench work phase. The more responses I get, the more I think weight will be a problem. Maybe I'll leave off the underbody weight of the loaded cars, letting the autos be the weight. Center of gravity may be a problem. It may take a while, but I will give updates on my progress.
delray1967 wrote:3.Anyone have tricks to load these cars with autos in a way that I don't have to spend $60 or more (reasonable auto models aren't cheap!)? I figured put those nicer autos on top and put cheaper ones on the lower levels, or *gulp* casting my own, from the nicer models, and putting them on the lower levels. Is casting practical, cheap/easy? The auto contours seem tricky to cast. Anyone with experience doing this?Thanks for any suggestions/answers!I hate counting rivets, but sometimes I can't help myself!
I loaded my autorack with molded plastic sedans that came in a three pack from LifeLike. At a train show these were only $2 a three pack. You can improve the looks of the cars by making bottoms for them out of black construction paper. The bottom blocks the view of the autorack deck thru the sedan windshield which is a big improvement.
Or, check Walmart for $2 1:87 scale toy cars. The ordinary Hotwheels toys are too big to fit, but the 1:87 cars can be very nice. Might be a tad heavy, but you can't have everything. I have a '53 Caddy convertable and type 356 Porche waiting for my layout to get to the scenicking stage.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
Atlas will be getting the Main Street Motors cars pretty soon. These are injection-molded plastic cars that fit just fine on the Accurail Bi-Level and Tri-Level auto racks. They retail for $8.95 each, but I have seen them discounted to just over $7.00 at places like Burbank's House of Hobbies. They include a 1968 Plymouth Fury sedan that will be offered in six colors. The '68 Fury was introduced in the fall of 1967, so it should make the cut for your period.
You might still be able get some of the late 1960s Pontiac GTOs from the first release of the Reel Rides. They're around $2.00 or so at Wally World.
The problem I found with some of the Fresh Cherries is that they are too tall to fit on the middle and bottom racks of my Accurail Tri-Level cars. Others were okay, but all of them are too late for your late 1960s time frame.
Bill C.
The problem with a bunch of the Malibu models is that they are convertibles, which would have been shipped with the top up. The Reel Rides GTO is a hardtop. As I understand it, the GTO will eventually migrate to the Malibu line and be offered in different colors.
If you want to fudge the year just a little bit, get some of the 69 Oldsmobile 442s from Model Power. Not only are they super-nice models, they fit on the auto racks very nicely and come in three colors. They retail for about $5.49 but you should be able to find them discounted from various sources.
I have a recollection of a Model Railroad Craftsman article on kitbashing an open autorack that different from the Accurail model. Or may memory might be playing tricks and it might have been in the old NMRA Bulletin, now Scale Rails.
The problem with putting the very nicest model cars on the top deck, where they can be seen, and cheaper cars on the lower decks, is that the nice cars tend to be the heaviest and the cheap autos the lightest. Total weight of the car may be close to NMRA standards but if the car is top heavy, and your curves are sharp ... potential problems.
Dave Nelson
For some decent-looking, yet inexpensive plastic models, go to http://www.promotex.ca/provisioner/catalogue/index.php?ProductLine=12&CategoryID=56&page=0
The Herpa Magic cars are $7.75 for a 2-pack making them less than $4.00 each. They are injection-molded plastic with very nice tooling. They are easily disassembled for painting so you can have a variety of colors. Yes, they are European prototypes, but many of them are based on cars sold in the U.S. from the early 1960s to the 1970s and they will look just fine on a moving auto rack. (Let's face it, if you're talking about using Cadillac convertibles from the early 1950s, which were out of production years before the auto rack came into use, you might as well consider cars that were at least prototypically correct for the era.)
Sadly, the one car that's missing is the VW Beetle, which was sold in huge numbers in the U.S. in the 1960s and early 1970s and was shipped by auto rack.