TOFC/COFC Tuesday


Caught up with a dedicated spine car train rolling through Vernon. Motive power is a single SD40-2 from ScaleTrains.
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For my convenience, draw-bars have been replaced by couplers.
 
At a show the other weekend, I picked up an Athearn Genesis Longrunner set. I was going to post this under the "Mail Call!" thread, but hey it's Tuesday. These are pretty nice. I will mention though, the screws holding the drawbar draft box on are small enough that you have to be careful not to inhale around them as you install the drawbar. The set even includes two, yes two, mini screwdrivers to do that (one screwdriver in the packaging with each flatcar).

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It always struck me as odd that Athearn chose the 40' trailer based on the 1960's PFE trailer, so the model is a foobie for just about everything else. I'm interested in late 40' TOFC era so have mostly collected the Athearn 40' Fruehauf trailers.
 
riogrande5761 said:
It always struck me as odd that Athearn chose the 40' trailer based on the 1960's PFE trailer, so the model is a foobie for just about everything else. I'm interested in late 40' TOFC era so have mostly collected the Athearn 40' Fruehauf trailers.
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I don’t understand these marketing guys they don’t do there research or leg work right I think we call that Lazy.
 
I caught this car crossing Bennett Creek on the lift out now turned duck under at the train room entrance. Excuse the pillow case stand in for a backdrop, just squint real hard and think it’s a stormy evening!

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For those living in warmer climates who may be wondering, the stripes on the tires are painted on in the winter to help drivers see that the wheels are turning and not frozen up!
 
With all your indulgence, I'm going to stretch the theme a little further. We've seen TOFC, COFC, well cars, and now: Roadrailers.

Here's an eastbound Triple Crown roadrailer behind solo NS 8713, a GE C40-8. Taken January 2006, at the CN/NS diamond in Tolono, IL.

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Moments later, a westbound auto parts train blasts by, with NS 5436 still in Conrail blue. This is just a long siding, but the dispatcher timed it perfectly as neither train had to stop for this meet.

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The flat cars leading that train are loaded with truck frames heading for the factory.

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skyliner said:
With all your indulgence, I'm going to stretch the theme a little further. We've seen TOFC, COFC, well cars, and now: Roadrailers.

Here's an eastbound Triple Crown roadrailer behind solo NS 8713, a GE C40-8. Taken January 2006, at the CN/NS diamond in Tolono, IL.

52113730484_0a98091bf9_o.jpg


Moments later, a westbound auto parts train blasts by, with NS 5436 still in Conrail blue. This is just a long siding, but the dispatcher timed it perfectly as neither train had to stop for this meet.

52113997845_3aa61fcb27_o.jpg


The flat cars leading that train are loaded with truck frames heading for the factory.

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I’ve pulled a many of these trailers thanks for the memories
 
Here are some Atlas and Walthers refrigerated containers I've been working on. The Chiquita decals are my artwork printed by PDC and applied to Atlas containers.

So far I've only weathered one container, but I used Tamiya panel line accent on the Walthers containers to bring out the detail, especially around the reefer unit in the front of the container. I only darkened the IBC receivers on the corners of the Atlas containers at this point, but I'll add some rust and scrapes along the corner posts going forward.

The clip-on gensets are my 3D drawing of a ThermoKing SG2000 3D printed, painted and decorated with another set of decals I had printed by PDC.

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If you need custom decals, Bill at PDC is great to work with. I do all the artwork in Inkscape, which is a free vector art program, and set up the exported files according to Bill's instructions. The results are outstanding.
 
RCH said:
Here are some Atlas and Walthers refrigerated containers I've been working on. The Chiquita decals are my artwork printed by PDC and applied to Atlas containers.

So far I've only weathered one container, but I used Tamiya panel line accent on the Walthers containers to bring out the detail, especially around the reefer unit in the front of the container. I only darkened the IBC receivers on the corners of the Atlas containers at this point, but I'll add some rust and scrapes along the corner posts going forward.

The clip-on gensets are my 3D drawing of a ThermoKing SG2000 3D printed, painted and decorated with another set of decals I had printed by PDC.

original.jpg



If you need custom decals, Bill at PDC is great to work with. I do all the artwork in Inkscape, which is a free vector art program, and set up the exported files according to Bill's instructions. The results are outstanding.
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Very nice models!!

I googled PDC but did not get a decal company. Could you let me know the full name so I can get some custom decals?

Thanks, Dave
 
Were the original spine car sets prone to derailing, and/or not so good tracking??
I was told this by several folks at the Timonium train show a number of years ago.

I also purchased two complete sets with trailer loads that were suppose to have been 'fine-tuned' by the seller. I've had them stored away until I could get a new layout up and running. I hope they track well.

I'll take some pics when I finally get them out.
 
beiland said:
Were the original spine car sets prone to derailing, and/or not so good tracking??
I was told this by several folks at the Timonium train show a number of years ago.

I also purchased two complete sets with trailer loads that were suppose to have been 'fine-tuned' by the seller. I've had them stored away until I could get a new layout up and running. I hope they track well.

I'll take some pics when I finally get them out.
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On my layout they track OK. I have no mainline curves less than 30" and all turnouts that I have them go through are #6 Atlas Custom Line which are already fine-tuned where needed. I also add about a half ounce of weight to the trailers, which doesn't bring the cars up to NMRA recommended weight, but is just enough to allow them to track better without upsetting the center of gravity by being so high. I don't run them often and they are always "run thru" trains and are not switched along the way. I changed all wheelsets to metal and changed all of the drawbars (where present) to individual Kadee # 148's. This makes re-railing where necessary much easier.
 
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