As my Baldwin DT-6-6-20 is nearing completion I have started on another long awaited (for me) project. I've been wanting to create a small fleet (6) of Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee "ferry truck" flat cars with trailers.
I had been hung up on this project by not having the measurements for the trailers (a proprietary North Shore design in 1926), but as of last Trainfest, I got the numbers from Laura Hedien, who runs northshoreline.com. She had brought in her brass collection and allowed me to take measurements off some of her stuff.
Armed with these measurements, I bought and stripped an Athearn 40' flat car and started building the trailers (17-1/2' X 8 high X 7 wide). I'm fudging a lot of the detail as the only photos of the trailers themselves that I have seen are taken largely from the sides with the underframe in shadow.
The trucks have 42" (O.D.) tires that seem by their thickness to be hard rubber and not pneumatic. Is there an HO truck model I could use that would be a reasonable facsimile for the wheels/tires? Does anyone have a simple method of carving out in 3-D (without CNC) a wheel hub? These trailers had just two wheels, so I could sacrifice a modern trailer if need be.
Once this project is completed I plan on extending a 40' flat to 60' (or finding a 60' flat) and building the NSL later generation ferry truck flats that could handle twin 28' trailers of the 1930s/40s. Does anyone make a 60' flat? I thought MDC/Roundhouse did, but I can't find a kit in town.
Jay CNS&M North Shore Line - "First and fastest"