MicroTrains Erie depressed center flatcar

[bbussey]

Are those MTL caboose brake stanchions and wheels on that beauty .

No.  The MTL caboose stanchions were too short, so these were fabricated from square brass rod and styrene along with real linked chain.  The Ajax brakewheels are MTL though.

[SkipGear]

Also dropped in some Neuspeed race springs

Wonder how it would look with some Koni coil overs on it?

Bryan,
 How much material are you removing to clear the wheels? What is left for a bolster pin?

[Chris333]

So a few years ago MT released this flat as a EL 7208 car, but it was painted Erie and that would be plausible as EL didn't run out and repaint everything on day one.

7208 and this new release 7210 are both from the same build group. Here is a drawing and specs:
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/frt/erie-frt-2-1.gif

But it is about 5 feet shorter than the MT car:


So I'm just being picky... but wait 

Erie also had this group of cars:
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/frt/erie-frt-2-5.gif
and this group:
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/frt/erie-frt-2-6.gif

they are an almost perfect match to the MT car, even the truck spacing away from the car ends:


So someday I will simply renumber it to 7268
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/frt/erie-f7268.jpg

[bbussey]

Bryan,
 How much material are you removing to clear the wheels? What is left for a bolster pin?

I totally removed all traces of the bolsters from the bottom of the casting, and drilled/tapped two #00-90 holes through the frame where the new "bolsters" would go.  I then removed the posts of the two bolster pins, drilled through the center from the top and inserted #00-90 screws to secure the trucks to the frame.  The 28" wheels pretty much insure the flanges won't touch the frame due to the humped bolster cross beam of the MTL trucks.  The end decks are scratchbuilt from styrene over the diecast frame to match the prototype.  The only original olastic body parts remaining on the New Haven model are the stirrups.  On the Penn Central (ex-NYC) car, the remaining original plastic parts are the stirrups, pole pockets and jack plates.

The magazine article had a step-by-step construction, but these links give the summary:

http://www.bbussey.net/ns/fNH17082.htm
http://www.bbussey.net/ns/fPC766059.htm