I am modeling Massey Ferguson combine harvesters being shipped from the factory in Brantford Ontario on flat cars and would like to know if anyone has any information, past MR or NMRA Mag. articles etc. to show the blocking required. I believe they were loaded without the wheels installed to reduce the height. Wheels shipped on pallettes accompanying the combine.
We ran an article by Mont Switzer titled "How to model a flatcar full of tractors" in our February 2016 issue. In it, Mont discusses blocking and bracing for tractors, and references the AAR Rules for Governing the Loading of Road Grading, Road Making and Farm Equipment Machinery on Open Top Cars. You might want to see if you can track down that resource, in addition to our article.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
This thread definitely interests me. I plan to put construction equipment on flats. I'll look up the article. Thanks DJ
This is an HOn30 flatcar SRRL 330 and 312 with a IH Farmall tractor and seed drill. I used a July 2002 MR article, "6 Farmalls on 53' flat" as a basis for blocking the tractor. The 4 row seed drill was too wide for the narrow gauge car, so the 2 outside drills had to be removed and shipped on a scratch built rack. The car is on the Boothbay Railway Village layout
Another good reference is MR JUne 2005, "Chains, Chocks and Shackles" which inclused loads for flats and gons - Cat scraper on flat, large pipe in gon, tanks on flat,
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Also worth tracking down, although it has become a valuable collector's item in a short period of time, is Vol 20 of the Railway Prototype Cyclopedia which has an extensive article on flat car loading practices, including AAR rules, illustrated with drawings and many photographs. There are extensive photos of military loads and how they are shipped and braced, which is helpful info beyond military because that includes all sorts of vehicles.
In some ways it is a more practical and easy to use guide than the actual AAR rules (which I also have circa 1950 -- pretty thick little books!).
Can't speak to M-F loads in particular, but I can say that while farm tractors and some large vehicles/implements are shipped with wheels intact, I have seen large loads from Peoria's Caterpillar plant (easily seen in nearby Galesburg from the bridge over the yard) where the wheels are detached, sometimes shipped on the same car, sometimes on an adjacent car. I suspect the wheels are removed for side clearance and vertical clearance purposes.
Mont Switzer's excellent article is about loading and bracing from a practical operating layout standpoint -- that is, the loads are meant to be removed as part of operating sessions. Full prototype loading practices, with all the bracing and blocks and chains, are a somewhat different animal. But one can visually approximate them and still have the ability to remove a load.
Dave Nelson
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/55-17/ch20.htm
http://www.mypurchasingcenter.com/files/2713/8729/7790/Loading-Blocking-Bracing-Rail-Cars--US_Army_Correpsondence_School_1970.pdf
http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2016/05/vehicle-loading-on-flat-cars.html
LCVP (WW2 navy landing craft) Flatcar Load
http://atsf-surfline.blogspot.com/2014/04/
Farm tractor loading diagram
http://themodelrailwayshow.com/cn1950s/?p=1559
Locomotive on Flatcar - see Pg 185-188
http://railroadmanuals.tpub.com/TM-55-2210-223-12/css/TM-55-2210-223-12_195.htm
A trailer on flatcar - not dated (1930's ?)
http://images.yuku.com.s3.amazonaws.com/image/jpeg/159365212fb60ebca7276504b4bcf5e41cb003d3.jpg
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
Wow, who knew all that kind of information existed -just a click away. Thanks DSchmitt Richard
The March 2005 Railroad Model Craftsman had an article called "Tractors by the Trainload," that may be useful. I also remember seeing a MR article on blocking flatcar loads (bulldozers, road graders) at about the same time, too, but I can't find it.
Gary
RichardGS I am modeling Massey Ferguson combine harvesters being shipped from the factory in Brantford Ontario on flat cars and would like to know if anyone has any information, past MR or NMRA Mag. articles etc. to show the blocking required. I believe they were loaded without the wheels installed to reduce the height. Wheels shipped on pallettes accompanying the combine.
Older Massey combines (before the late 80s rotary combines) were small enough to ship from Brantford on their wheels - they used flatcars or bulkhead flats 60'+ long. Aleks' photo below was taken in 1983:
http://www.railpictures.net/photo/289682/
The Classic Massey Combines post (link below) on the Brantford combine plant has a 1970s photo of MF760 combines ready to be loaded on 60' flats inside the enclosed loading bay - the photo is halfway down in the article and is labelled 'Assembly line'. The photographer is standing on one of the flatcars - the blocking, chains and extra parts are visible.
Ladders and cab side platforms were not attached to the combine and were placed on the flatcar deck under the combine between the wheels. Cutting heads were shipped in the middle of the flatcar between the combines if they were short enough to fit.
http://www.yellowswirl.info/414978414
The enclosed railcar loading bay is long enough to hold four or five 60' flatcars; it's the long tall structure at the back of the plant (middle of aerial photo linked below):
https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/1594866
The plant was served by CN - they assigned CN and GTW 60' flats (GTW 619000 series) with special tiedown chains for Brantford combine service but also used TTX and other roads' cars; I have a small photo of a CP 317000 series 66' bulkhead flat carrying two MF860 combines and cutting heads.
Hope this helps you!
It's been just over one year and I've been busy; there's a finished HO scale Massey Ferguson 750/760 combine to show - here are a couple photos of the assembled 3D printed model at the Copetown RPM meet (https://www.facebook.com/Copetown-RPM-286076321795416/)
https://scontent.fyto1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/87099674_905641149838927_6055330427621605376_o.jpg?_nc_cat=106&_nc_ohc=gaNoQV3XQ54AX-ZogxC&_nc_ht=scontent.fyto1-2.fna&oh=c2756ec97edb1dc660bafce40b7cb783&oe=5EF8E5E6
https://scontent.fyto1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/87137257_905641193172256_8304220839050477568_o.jpg?_nc_cat=106&_nc_ohc=dm7b_t_lIEYAX-TCR0W&_nc_ht=scontent.fyto1-2.fna&oh=feb1666782d57dc36f42c7a3d51bf05c&oe=5EF0AF5D
It's designed with a separate platform, railing, and ladder so it can be placed on a flatcar for shipping. Decals still need to be made - they will likely be coming from Black Cat Decals.
The Classic Massey Combines website is down right now - here's an Archive.org link to the page with the photo of 60' flats waiting to be loaded with MF760's:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190810141914/http://www.yellowswirl.info/414978414
Not much in the way of blocking here, but it appears that there are chains keeping them in place...
(Click on the photo for a larger view.)
Wayne