Trains.com

A rail railcar idea

723 views
5 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    August 2003
  • 6,434 posts
A rail railcar idea
Posted by FJ and G on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 11:59 AM

Has anyone seen or heard of a toy train rail railcar (flatcar used to haul long rails). I just purchased a resin casting kit and was thinking of making a master rail railcar and then duplicating it.

Most toy train rails are code 215 or larger and do not lend themselves to bending around tight radii so I'm thinking of using code 148. Of course the proportions would be funny compared to the rails the train is riding on; but then again, they're toys. :-)

  • Member since
    March 2005
  • From: Southwest Georgia
  • 5,028 posts
Posted by dwiemer on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 4:04 PM

Dave, I have seen one somewhere.  I don't recall if it was a scratch build or MFG.  I have seen the real ones and I agree, I think it would take a very wide turn and it would take up lots of space.  The ones I remember had stacks about 4 rails high, and were several flatcar lengths long.  they also were about 10 side by side on the cars.  It has been a long time since I last saw them.

Good Luck, you have done some spectacular work and I am sure you will come up with something nice.

dennis

TCA#09-63805

 

Charter BTTs.jpg

  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: Crystal Lake, IL
  • 8,059 posts
Posted by cnw1995 on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6:27 PM

David, I saw this at a show once - they used what were essentially Lionel traditional 027 flats - but the secret was in the rails - they were styrene or was it resin? Very light and more importantly bendable. They were brownish - so looked suitably rusty - they looked neat snaking around the curves. And I can't recall how strongly the cars were coupled but something tied them closer or stronger together...

Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Austin, TX
  • 10,096 posts
Posted by lionelsoni on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 7:53 AM
Perhaps this or something like it would work for flexible rails:  http://www.acmerubber.com/tshapes.htm CACT10.  This is a rubber extrusion about the same shape and size as our rails.

Bob Nelson

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Pisa, IT
  • 1,474 posts
Posted by RR Redneck on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 5:02 PM
Dave on a kitbash........................now this should be intresting.

Lionel collector, stuck in an N scaler's modelling space.

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • 6,434 posts
Posted by FJ and G on Thursday, May 17, 2007 10:14 AM
I downloaded some prototype photos and found that the rail racks are very different from each other, depending on the shop they came from. Thius would give you some creative leeway. The project would be pretty easy but it would be a bit more challenging to build the power unit the feeds the rails and the end car, which directs the rails downward. These are actually motorized and pretty large machines that require a flatcar of their own.

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

FREE EMAIL NEWSLETTER

Get the Classic Toy Trains newsletter delivered to your inbox twice a month