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6xl trx / depressed-ctr flats

I'm looking at an N-scale model I have (actually, one that my son has) of a six-axle depressed-center flat car. In point of fact, it's one of the Bachmann ones with the USAF rocket load, but I don't think that affects the question at hand, except that it might indicate era.

Another indication of era is that the brakewheel is horizontally mounted on an shaft sticking straight up from the deck. My impression has been that this was an older practice, and that more modern cars mount the brakewheel vertically on a bracket sticking up from the edge of the deck or frame.

So my question is, are the actual trucks that are found on this car appropriate to this car? Or, alternatively, are they just some relatively random 6-axle trucks that Bachmann made/makes a lot of and stuck on there?

I saw a similar question in another forum, about one of the MTL 6xl dep-ctr flats, and the answer was that they were *close*, but IRL they are (of course) roller-bearing whereas the MTL trucks (for some reason) are not.

Comments? Questions? Expressions of astonishment?

Reply to
MangroveRoot
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On 1/18/2009 8:19 PM MangroveRoot spake thus:

Could you describe the trucks (or post a picture of them somewhere) for those of us who don't know exactly what trucks are on this car and who can't read your mind?

Reply to
David Nebenzahl

MangroveRoot wrote: [...]

[...]

The trucks are a reasonable version of a heavy-duty 6-wheel freight truck, and are appropriate to this car, which was designed to handle net loads of 100-150 tons (gross load of 150-200 tone - very heavy for a freight car of any era.) AFAICT, it's actually a 6-wheel tender truck, but freight cars with 6-wheel trucks were rare, and trucks for them were usually adaptations of tender trucks anyhow. Most 6-wheel trucks were made for passenger cars.

The rocket load however is a fantasy. A rocket would be cradled in a wooden crate or framework, and lie horzontally on the car, not aimed at some distant target. But if your son likes it the way it, let it be. ;-)

HTH

Wolf K.

Reply to
Wolf K

Wolf K Replied:

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I use 'em to protect the residents from a flying saucer invasion. There's one with a silver warhead on the rocket for use against werewolves and vampires. Can't take any chances!

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:

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Reply to
Bill

Good info! Thank you!

Well, yeah. No reason he can't run it if he wants to, IMHO. The club might object, but that's a different story. At home, he can choose what cars he wants to run.

I *do* have a kit for one of those WW2 "railroad guns", although I blush to admit that I have forgotten which one it is, and am too lazy to run downstairs and find out. I just look at it as depressed-center flatcar -- or maybe Schnable car -- that's gotten *way* out of control. ;-)

Reply to
MangroveRoot

There ya go!

Actually, they're not *quite* a *complete* fantasy. Some of the WW2 railroad guns used ammunition that had "boosters" or whatever that would cut in when the ballistic momentum (is that even a valid phrase?) began to flag. Trouble was, the result was that while they extended the range by a considerable amount, they also reduced the accuracy by a considerable amount. Notwithstanding, they did use them, off and on, so in my admittedly limited understanding of such things, they would count as a railcar-mounted launcher of rocket-powered projectiles.

Of course, our basement layout is not set during WW2, nor in Europe. :-/

Maybe I should stage a flying-saucer invasion some night, and see if the commander of the town's armed forces has the wit to call in the rocket-launching car?

Reply to
MangroveRoot

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