Hi all,
I have a quick question about the Walthers Extendable Container Chassis in HO scale.
I am planning to put together a piggyback flatcar using the chassis with containers from China, on top of a WalthersProto 89' Bethlehem Flush Deck Flatcar. The flatcar has trailer hitches.
Is the chassis compatible with the hitches? Since they are both made Walthers it probably is, but I don't know for sure. Thanks in advance.
"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow." -Lin Yutang
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I don't have those specific items, but my inclination is to say that they are compatible. Even years ago when things were mostly TOFC, the kingpin on Walthers trailers and hitches on the railcars fit each other. I'd see no reason why that would change that and lots of reasons for them to stay that way.
Rarely, where I have had the same situation but with different brands mixed so that things didn't fit, then using a properly sized drill carefully by hand and running it through the opening on the hitch plate will open things up just enough that everything fits.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Unless they changed the tooling from the mid-90s, they do have compatible hitches. Back in my younger days, I had a Walthers Twin 45 89' footer with a pair of 40 foot containers on the Walthers chassis struggling around my 4x8.
For my TOFC equipment I drill the "5th wheel" with a #50 drill bit and replace the "kingpin" with a longer piece of 0.047" brass wire.
The longer wire holds the trailer in place better, and cannot be seen when the equipment is on the flat car.
That way, everything is compatible.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
A quick update: I finished with one of the chassis a last night and installed the containers. The container chassis kingpin fits right into the trailer hitches. Thanks everyone.
That is great glad you got it figured out. Now lets see some pics of this.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
Alright, here is a completed trailer on the flatcar. The containers are attached using Glue-Dots. Two 20' foot containers on the chassis.
Nice work there, L.
Container service is something relatively new on my narrowgauge. It didn't happen in real life here, but if policy and regulations had favored continuing operation of the narrowgauge in Colorado, then containerization would have happened there like everywhere else, in fact, _becausse_ of it happening everywhere else. Containerization would have largely taken away the economic negatives of operating the transfer operations between the two gauges.