I have a heavy-load flatcar, ShiKi60, something like railphotog,s but with four trucks. Can't really call it depressed center, since the floor is at normal flatcar height. It's actually 1960's issue Japanese 1:80 tinplate - genuine galvanized steel carbody, with lead center sills on the truck bolsters.
Instead of a single, permanent load I have several possible loads, each with its own waybill, that snap to the steel deck with the assistance of refrigerator magnet bases. That way I don't see the same car+load combination too often.
One interesting (non)feature of this car. I had several places where I could temporarily place Kadee between-the-rails magnets on through tracks, with steel plates under the ties to hold them down. My other steel cars didn't have any problem with them, but the low-riding girders under the deck of ShiKi60 would pick them up and carry them away. All have now been replaced with hinge-mounted undertrack magnets.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Sir Madog Don´t you think the title of your thread is slightly misleading? I was expecting some philosophical views on our hobby, but what did I get? Pictures of depressed center flatcars with various loads! Not that they are not nicely done, but a little more precision in the title about the objective of your thread helps people select what they want to read, res. see!
Don´t you think the title of your thread is slightly misleading?
I was expecting some philosophical views on our hobby, but what did I get? Pictures of depressed center flatcars with various loads!
Not that they are not nicely done, but a little more precision in the title about the objective of your thread helps people select what they want to read, res. see!
Yeah, I thought so too after I hit the submit button. Sometimes my thoughts get a little too philosophical !
I decided to change the title of my post to better reflect what my intention was.
RailphotogI scratched this HO scale CN depressed center flat car decades ago:
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Wow, that is the best model railroad photograph I have ever seen.
I dare say it looks so good I thought you "Photo-shopped" Kadee couplers and big flanges onto a photo of a prototype car. BEAUTIFUL! I rarely need to look so close to convince myself it is really a model.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I think depressed center flatcars (and well cars) are among the most interesting, particularly when loaded of course. The Roco cars are, if memory serves, DoD prototypes. I have a few which I bought cheap. I like the fact that the decks are removable and thus can be weathered without having to mask or protect the car sides and ends.
The metal wheels in the Buckeye trucks are, in common with many European makes of American freight cars, smaller than our standard 33" or 36" sizes. But after body mounting the couplers and replacing the small steel weight with a similar size of lead sheet for greater heft (still lower than NMRA standards), when I replaced the wheels with more accurate sized ones, now the car sat too high so I kept the smaller wheels rather than play around with bolsters and such.
Since I had more than one of these Roco cars, I decided to craft a special wheel painting jig for the smaller wheels using styrene and was pleased to see an ordinary hole punch for paper cut holes of the correct size for the smaller wheels (28 or 30").
The Roco paint job is OK, assuming you are not fussy about paint and lettering schemes on cars which are not precise prototypes, but all Roco has is a road name and number: they leave out dimensional data and such so now I am searching for decals or dry transfers with at least marginally plausible data for such a heavy duty car. Any ideas?
Dave Nelson
I scratched this HO scale CN depressed center flat car decades ago:
Bob Boudreau
CANADA
Visit my model railroad photography website: http://sites.google.com/site/railphotog/
RR_Mel Sorry for cloging up the topic. Mel
Nothing to apologize for, you are not clogging up anything. I think this is exactly what Sir Ulrich was on about. But, if you do get this thing to work, maybe you should start another thread specifically for miniature videos.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
ROBERT PETRICK Hey Mel- If that pan feature works, it would be a big step up in model railroading videos from cab viewpoints. That dead, fixed one-eye focus of all cab videos up to this point is kinda dull and not really realistic because that is not how humans see things. Keep up the good work. Robert
Hey Mel-
If that pan feature works, it would be a big step up in model railroading videos from cab viewpoints. That dead, fixed one-eye focus of all cab videos up to this point is kinda dull and not really realistic because that is not how humans see things.
Keep up the good work.
RR_Mel I have one depressed center flat car, it’s not a heavy load it’s a specialty car. It is still under construction and coming along pretty good even though Murphy is keeping track of every move I make. The camera has 180° Bluetooth controlled pan and everything is working but the camera.
Sir MadogDon´t you think the title of your thread is slightly misleading?
I thought so too. This might have been better in "Show Me Something" rather than a new thread.
However, I love depressed center flat cars and custom made loads, so I am enjoying it.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
I only have one depressed center flatcar. I do not use it for a heavy haul. I modeled an extra height load that needs the depressed center for clearance.
I would post a picture, but the model is packed away right now.
I don't have such a car yet, but I plan to fabricate a few flat cars that transport wind turbine blades. Those things are about 120 feet long and span two specially cradled cars. I see a lot of BNSF trains hauling them around here. I have a few RC airplane props I got from my brother. They seem pretty close to N scale.
JOHN C TARANTOIn our basements, spare bedrooms, attics and garages. We recreate, in minature, what we have experienced in our childhoods, our lives,
I agree John. BTW nice models and photos, especially the shot with the town in the background. I find specialty flat cars with heavy loads very interesting and looking forward to modeling one someday.
Thanks and regards, Peter
The Summer 2017 issue of Classic Trains magazine features a story about hauling a huge transformer on a depressed-center flatcar across country. Seeing the photo on pages 76-77, I thought, hey, I've got one of those!
Now, my model dosen't feature the 6+4-4+6 wheel truck setup that is shown in Classic Trains, but I'm mighty proud of it. Car is a Roco model, the transformer is Walthers.
Do you have any specialty flat cars with heavy hauls? Let's see 'em.