1860's Steam engine axlilery log car I was wondering on how long these log cars are. I want to put one behind my steam loco to stimulate the late 1800's eara. I can't seem to find any info on it. I do know that if anyone has seen back to the future 3 they have one with the train because it burns wood instead of coal. Any help would be appreciated. thanks kenny.
I can only assume that your referring to something like an auxillary tender behind the regular tender to carry extra cordwood. Most flat cars of that era did exceed 30-34 feet, but there were some shorter stuff between 20 and 30 feet.
do they make n scale flatcars that long? I do know they carried logs on a flat car on there long trips.
The Bmann oldtimer series cars are 34 footers for the flats and gons. The other cars such as the water car or gondola are only the flat with either removeable sides or wood water tanks. Also the Bmann small four wheel bobber caboose might make a small flat. You could craft a small deck of styrene and use the caboose body for a yard bldg. Then again you may want to go to the website that carries all the N and Nn3 stuff since they also have a number of small short flat kits some I believe at around 28 feet. The Bmann flats all have solid metal underframes and old Rapido coupler trucks. I generally use MT trucks with couplers on mine with the center mounting pin hole on the truck reamed out some to fit over the Bmann mounting peg and resecured with the same screw. Using the MT truck adaption I can update the cars or backdate depending on which MT truck I use.
N Scale Kits makes some nice white metal 35' & 25' flat cars. (click on the product list, and then look under "Logging") [please pardon the big hole in the middle where the cannery will eventually go] At the top of the photo are the 25' flats, while the 35' flats are down left. The kits come with parts to make them logging cars (the cross supports & pylons on the upper 35' car) if you want. I installed MT 1015 N couplers on all except the top right 25' flat: that has MT 905 Nn3/Z couplers. I'm going to go back & put the 905's on all of them at some point. Model Tech Studios also makes some shorter logging cars that include a wood car (single truck) And RS Laser Kits has 24' and 40' flatcars that can also be low-side gondolas (which might be more of what you're looking for). Hope this helps.
I found that N Scale Kits listed above had the best all around flats for my usage. I went with the 35 footers because the 25's just seemed too small. I like the RS kits for up close photography. I wish they made a 35 footer. Jim
Are those 35 ft cars from n scale kits easy to put together and do they come with trucks and couplers? also how well do they run around on the track? thanks kenny
The 25' cars are just the bodies (plus the brackets for the wood pylons), while the 35' cars have two trusses underneath that you CA on (plus the brackets for the wood pylons). You need to get the MT905 body-mount couplers and the archbar trucks (no couplers) separately. Very easy kits. Paint. Attach couplers & trucks. Weather. Done.
Great & yes. The white metal provides good weight & in the above picture only one of the 25' has the Nn3/Z 905s & works fine with the N couplers on the other cars.
Jim, All you have to do is ask. I can make them any size you like just takes a little longer to get one. It is one nice thing about doing my own drawings and cutting I can change them if needed. In fact am redoing the bolsters in the next week or so so they are easier to build ( one piece ). Drawings about done but it's the direction changes I hate rich www.rslaserkits.com
would anyone know what the color scheme was for the 1880"s caboose? this is going to go with th drgw passenger set. thanks kenny
Uh..... what you're seeing at least described here on the forum is log cars. As you can imagine, there's no way to handle or cut a full-length (typcally 24' or longer) log in a steam locomotive. Log cars carry logs, not fuel. And logging railroads didn't really get going until about 1885 when the logging locomotive was invented. That being said, if you're carrying or hauling additional wood fuel, it's going to be short pieces, cut and stacked, and short enough to be handled by one person. Think home firewood, and usually not much longer than 36". The early transcontinentals had an enormous problem with wood-burning engines in places where there wasn't wood, and that's why coal came into the picture fairly early. They employed large gangs of contractors to cut wood and bring it to railhead loading facilities where 'wooding up' was typical. While I've seen many historic shots of the 1860's-1870's 4-4-0's completely overloaded with stacked wood on the tender (higher than the cars behind) I've got to admit that passing the wood from another car futher behind while the train is in motion is more than likely confined to the movies. If there's good news, I have some very nice shots of classic high-wheel 4-4-0's handling real logging trains, with the 25-footers, on the logging railroads south of Flagstaff, AZ. They actually were used in logging.
I have 25 or 30 N-scale cars. no trucks ,no couplers. one pc. kit, holes for trucks in one pc kit metal Can pull 10-15 up 3 grade no p. tracks well
Thanks for the kind words! Folks say that they do track well too - but I have not found any YouTube video of the 35' cars in action. If you know one let me know - otherwise it will have to be my layout. Both the 25' and 35' cars are available. Peter Peter Harris N Scale Kits www.nscalekits.com
