the MRH Forum

railroad-owned TOFC flat cars of the 1950s Locos and rolling stock
Reply
Regular poster 439 posts mark_h_charles Regular poster 439 posts
mark_h_charles

In the mid-1950s, many railroads wanted to implement Plan 2 TOFC, but were cautious about investing funds in new rolling stock. Several adapted existing flat cars. A few were more creative, using underframes from boxcars or hoppers.

Here are two slightly-different cars created by the DL&W, from Flags, Diamonds and Statues, the magazine of the Anthracite Railroads Historical Society:

 

 

lats-FDS.jpg 

Mark Charles
Reply 0
mark_h_charles Regular poster 439 posts
mark_h_charles

NKP design TOFC flats (2000 and 2100 series)

I've been told that the Nickel Plate built their own TOFC flat cars. These were in the 2000 and 2100 number series. Does anyone have photos?

 

Mark Charles
Reply 0
smadanek Frequent poster 700 posts
smadanek

Early 1950's SP TOFC Flats

SP Historical & Technical Society still has kits for the 1956 SP TOFC cars  https://sphts.myshopify.com/products/1956-f-70-10-piggyback-flat-car-kit.  Unfortunately they are sold out of the 1953 F-70-7 version.  The kits are highly detailed injection moldings that take a lot of work to build. They were, I believe originally made by Intermountain for the SPH&TS.  The "70" in the SP car classification system referred to capacity weight (70 tons) not length. These were 53 foot long cars.  The kits have all the trailer mounting gear and plates for ramp end loading down a string of cars. 

I am unsure how free roaming in interchange these SP TOFC flats were in the early 1950's. A lot of western railroad's equipment could not go east of Chicago/East St. Louis due to clearance problems on the older restrictive tunnels and bridges of the eastern roads. TOFC traffic would have to be offloaded and travel east on highways or be reloaded onto low flats that met eastern clearance requirements.
Ken Adams
Walnut Creek, California
Getting too old to  remember all this stuff.... Now Officially a COG (and I've forgotten what that means too...)
Reply 0
JWhite Regular poster 263 posts
JWhite

The IC built TOFC cars out of

The IC built TOFC cars out of 40 and 50 foot boxcars at their Centralia Car Shops.

Jeff White

Alma, IL
Reply 0
rdj6737 New member 13 posts
rdj6737

NKP 2263 Flat 47' Piggyback TOFC

Here is a smaller version of a scan of a slide that eBay.com seller first-out was selling. This NKP 2263 flat 47' piggyback looks home shops built. The load is XTRA 276133 semi-trailer, that appears to be about 40'.

Reynold

Puyallup, Wash

img.png 
Reply 0
tcrofton Regular poster 154 posts
tcrofton

brake wheel

I am researching conversions of flats and box cars to early TOFC flats. I have been wondering how the brake wheel gets modified to allow the trailer to pass over. Some models don't even deal with this.

I also am interested in scratch building some clejan style cars. I have a few good pictures but don't see a brake wheel detail on them either.
Reply 0
ATLANTIC CENTRAL New member 1 post
ATLANTIC CENTRAL

Actually, most flat car brake

Actually, most flat car brake wheels were designed to drop down for end loading even before piggyback came along. So it was not really an issue.

Sheldon
Reply 0
Andy Hobbs New member 7 posts
Andy Hobbs

Ordering SP Flatcar

Hi All,

I have just ordered an SP kit from their website - most efficient!

Andy H. (deranged British modeler)
Reply 0
Reply