Flat Car Loads

Here in KC a lot of modelers like open loads, especially flat car loads. The challenge is to make them look believeable. It's pretty easy to glue a load on but it never really looks right.

I have some retired railroad friends who have coached me on the chocking and tie-down requirements for open loads so I thought I would show you the results.

The photo shows a regular Proto 2000 M&StL 50' flat with a load of Farmall tractors. I made the chocks out of scale 2x8 lumber and the cable tie-downs are a single strand of wire from some speaker cable. It is not 100% accurate but pretty close. I have another car with the exact same reporting marks that I will run empty and will put a few damaged chocks on it and some cabling attached to the stake pockets. The tractors are the Life-Like tractors that are still available.

What kind of open loads do you run on your railroad?

Frisco Faster Freight!

Rick

 

Here's a July 1908 photograph of some steam-powered farm equipment on SL&SF flatcar 93924 at the Aldrich, Mo. team track. The wheel chocks are visible, even if this second-generation copy is not exactly crystal clear.

 

Unfortunately, I don't have anything close to an original print. The copy I scanned is a photocopy taken from a booklet found in a local historical society. The caption reads:

Postcard written 7-1-1908 to: newlywed Mrs. Clara Lawrence. "Will Eastridge rig at Aldrich." from: your hubby.

There appears to be some kind of 1908-vintage chalk graffiti on the car, but the car number is discernible if you squint hard at the full-size scanned image. The first two digits are admittedly obscured, but appear to be either "93" or "98".

I checked a 1911 Official Railway Equipment Register (recently scanned and published on CD-ROM by Al Westerfield), and the number 93924 is consistent with a series of 43-foot, 40-ton capacity steel flatcars, numbered 93750-93999, that the Frisco owned in 1911.

98924 is in a number range that was unused by the Frisco in 1911, eliminating it as a likely possibility.

I think it would make a great model someday, if I could ever find a steam engine-and-thresher(?) set in HO. It might be especially interesting if one supposed that the "Will Eastridge" who owned it was a freelance jobber who moved his "rig" between several different towns, hiring out to different farmers as the harvest season progressed. Could make for some interesting local freight movements, especially if there were speed and handling restrictions on such an awkward load.

Like the originator of this thread, I'd love to see other examples of unusual and interesting flatcar loads on the Frisco.

 

Great flatcar load, Rick. Is this for your 1950's session or for both the seventies and fifities?

I do like the idea of the same number car (which is easy to buy two of the same) with no load and the cabling and wood chocks remains.

Nick

 

Awesome model, Rick.
You must now be x-eyed after building those chocks.
They are really good.

 

Ribbon Rail

For the out of the ordinary flat car load, a ribbon-rail train might pose an interesting challenge. A quarter-mile-long train would overwhelm a model railroad layout. Perhaps a ten-car train would fit the bill. Someplace, I have read about someone's attempt to model this type of train. The real challenge would be to come up with "rail" that would bend sufficiently to negotiate model curves.

 

Thanks for the compliments on the tractor load.

To answer Nick's question, this is a load of tractors for the 1950 session. I have a second car with 1970s tractors (need to show you the photo) and a third flat that I run empty. All three cars have identical reporting marks. The beautiful thing about these P2K flats is that they were built in the mid 1940s and ran through the 1970s. They must have been some tough cars because you know they suffered a lot of abuse.

To answer Chris's question, these are Farmall tractors. I have some decals to put on them but have been too lazy to get that done lately. These are the inexpensive Lifelike tractors that are packaged in sets of three.

Regarding military loads, I have been researching the types of vehicles, armored and otherwise, that comprise a tank company in 1975. Roco tanks and support vehicles have already been purchased for these loads, just need to get the duplicate cars. I also have some Shermans, jeeps and other WW II vehicles to do the same for the 1950 sessions.

This is just too much fun.

Ship IT on the Frisco!

Rick