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Open autoracks and cargo therefore

I have the Accurail triple autorack kit. The open sided job used in the early days before vandalism forced adoption of the closed cars used today. Naturally such a car needs a load. I found a closeout on HO scale pickup trucks $0.66 each. They are a little shabby, but a good coat of paint will help them out. Unfortunately, they are too tall to fit under the decks. So I have several avenues to go. The Accurail kit can be built as a double decker. giving more clearance. Trouble is; all the auto racks I ever saw were triple deckers and three decks is cooler and neater than two. Or I could lower all the pickup trucks a scale foot and wedge them in. Did some measurements, but the pickups look to be about the right height now, 6 scale feet from ground to top of cab, and might look like refugees from George Barris's custom car shop if I lowered them a foot. Or I could look for some sedan and station wagon cargo, but I don't want to go broke doing it. It needs about 12 vehicles to make the autorack look full, at $4.95 each, that's nearly $60 for a load to a $11.95 kit. The pickup trucks are the first vehicles in HO scale that I have seen for a long time. Any thoughts?

David J. Starr

Reply to
David J. Starr
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Dave,

Much of the auto rack loads that come out of the St Paul Ford plant are double deck ones - this is a light truck assembly plant(I think it still is). I remember 30 years ago(when open auto racks were in vogue) that the pickup trucks were taller and were loaded in the double deck cars. With the enclosed racks, it is hard to tell if it is a double or triple....

Jim Bernier

"David J. Starr" wrote:

Reply to
Jim Bernier

Autos are shipped on triple deck racks. Pickups, SUV's & vans go on double deck racks.

Steve

Reply to
Stevert

Pickup trucks go on double decks...

Get a scale auto, and make copies using resin casting. You could fill the top with the good ones, and the lower decks with copies, saving you about $35 per car.

Jeff Sc. Rouge River, Ga.

Don't bother to reply via email...I've been JoeJobbed.

Reply to
Jeff Sc.

"David J. Starr" tickled the keyboard:

$5 doesn't sound too bad for decent quality car models. Regardless, that brings up again the topic of the dearth of HO models of mid-70's "regular" cars. There seems to be a lot of 50's and late 20th century models but not much available for those of us that need to populate open autoracks. I guess the other solution is to only run trains in the direction of the source of the new cars .

Reply to
Jeff Finch

Yep, $4.95 is on the low end for HO vehicles at Charles Ro. I keep looking for a child's toy in HO scale. Unfortunately the Hotwheels stuff is closer to S scale than HO. You could maybe fake it on the landscape and get away with it, but stuffing them into an HO autorack is going to look bad even if they would fit, which they won't.

And yes, they really have to be big old '70's barges. Fifties is too early, and by the '90's the open racks were all closed in.

Reply to
David J. Starr

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