Piggyback trailer question

[alton6]

Lionel began making these TOFCs back in the postwar era.  Has there been a tractor produced to mate with them?

[rlplionel]

In the 1960's, Lionel provided a truck tractor for use with some special trailers. The tractor was die-cast red metal and manufactured by the Midge Toy Company. The inscription on the underside of the tractor reads "Midge Toy Rockford, Ill. U.S.A. Patent 2775847". The trailers that came with the tractor had a special hole drilled into the bottom to hook up with the truck tractor.

[alton6]

Robert,

Thanks.  Do you know if the size of the Midge tractor fit well with the Lionel trailers that came with the flatcars?  I have a later model Santa Fe tractor trailer--1999 or so--with the longer trailer.  This is a more modern vintage.  It strikes me as a little unusual that Lionel didn't promote early intermodel items more back then (not that trucks were all that popular with train folks, of course).

 Carl

[rlplionel]

I think the size of the tractor goes well with the trailers, Carl. While not exactly to scale, it's certainly passable for a toy train layout. I suspect Lionel didn't promote intermodal because it wasn't as popular with the railroads then as it was later on.

 

 

[alton6]

The tractor looks to be a good fit.  The design appears rather rudimentary, though.  I wonder if these sold very well.

 Intermodal traffic certainly is popular with the railroads now!

 Carl

[cbq9911a]

The 6431 flat car with trailers and tractor didn't sell very well.  The tractor is a somewhat crude COE model of 1960's vintage.  I've still got my 6431 that I got in 1966.

[rlplionel]

I would agree the tractor design is rudimentary. I've never seen a truck tractor that had a streamlined body that covered the wheels.

I suspect the tractor trailer sets were not big sellers, which is why the Midge tractor is somewhat difficult to find today. I recall seeing a set for sale at a hobby shop, new in the box, back in the 1970's. The hobby shop owner was trying to sell it to several people in the shop by saying it had just been placed on some sort of collectibles list. However, no one ended up purchasing the set while I was there.

[Andrew Falconer]

In the photo, the die-cast metal tractor looks like a Yard Tractor, not a Highway Tractor. It is not a typical design.

Andrew

[alton6]

I think it was supposed to be a Ford.  Perhaps someone of similar vintage will remember the particular model.  Definitely a 60's period piece.

Pretty clunky even for my toy train taste.  My die cast Structo trucks were much better done, albeit in a much larger scale.  This must have been a low budget piece.

Actually, it is kind of quaint in a Plasticville kind of way.

Carl

[Garfield]

I think the truck in question is a 60's era Ford C-Series Cab over

Neat trucks make them from the 50's into the 90's with only minor changes.  Athearn makes some nice 1:50 scale versions like this one: 

[IRONHORSE77]

I think that model Ford C cab came out in 1957

Chuck

[iguanaman3]

'I have a later model Santa Fe tractor trailer--1999 or so--with the longer trailer."

Lionel sold tractor/trailer combos for the longer trailers. I believe they were 1/64 scale Macks.

Neil 

 

 

[alton6]

That Athearn model tractor looks like it might be just the thing for the short bodied trailers. That is, if the fifth wheel isn't too high.  It certainly seems to be of the right period.

There are quite a number of Kenworth (?) type tractors for the more contemporary long single trailers.  I think they might appear a bit odd coupled to the shorter trailers, though.  They might look a bit overpowering.  And, maybe too flashy.

Does/did Athearn make a hitch/wheelset--or whatever it is called--for coupling two trailers in tamdem behind a tractor?

Carl

[alton6]

Now that I think about it, I can't remember whether that type of Ford truck was able to pull two trailers in those days.  Does anyone recall if they actually were powerful enough?

Carl

 

[cheech]

try this site

http://www.markstoybox.4mg.com/

great looking trucks/trailers that go well with most layouts. they are 1:64 so some of the big boys from mth over power them, but otherwise they are great companions to intermodal yards

ralph

[rlplionel]

try this site

http://www.markstoybox.4mg.com/

 

Thanks for the link. I've never seen a truck layout before!

 

[jefelectric]

A little off topic, but the Lionel 2007 Volume 1 catalog has some nice flats with trailers that are standard O so they should be scale.  The Athern tractor should go well with these trailers.  I read somewhere that the railroads lost this business when the interstates were built in the late 50s and 60s.