Author Topic: Aurora/Roco depressed center flatcars  (Read 710 times)

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nickelplate759

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Aurora/Roco depressed center flatcars
« on: February 10, 2026, 05:06:43 PM »
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whilst going through my stash of really old trains, I came upon these 6-axle depressed center flatcars with cable reel:

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These are "Aurora Postage Stamp" - made by Roco.
Anyone have any info on what the prototype might be?  Spookshow has a very vague guess of circa 1950s ACF build...I'm hoping for an actual prototype I could dress these up to convincingly resemble.
George
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I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

Kentuckian

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Re: Aurora/Roco depressed center flatcars
« Reply #1 on: February 11, 2026, 10:25:58 AM »
+2
This may help some. https://www.talesfromtheriver.net/flat-cars-special. Keep scrolling down.
Modeling the C&O in Kentucky.

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Doug G.

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Re: Aurora/Roco depressed center flatcars
« Reply #2 on: February 11, 2026, 10:52:03 PM »
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I don't think there is a specific prototype. RoCo just made a generic car.

Doug
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cjm413

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Re: Aurora/Roco depressed center flatcars
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2026, 07:35:53 PM »
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It appears that Roco used the same trucks as the model that they made for Atlas (based on US Army cars with adjustable gauge trucks for service in Europe), but the car itself is not the same.

nickelplate759

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Re: Aurora/Roco depressed center flatcars
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2026, 07:50:29 PM »
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It appears that Roco used the same trucks as the model that they made for Atlas (based on US Army cars with adjustable gauge trucks for service in Europe), but the car itself is not the same.

So that's what those odd trucks are.  Always wondered.
George
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I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

cjm413

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Re: Aurora/Roco depressed center flatcars
« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2026, 08:06:24 PM »
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So that's what those odd trucks are.  Always wondered.

Prototype photo (Atlas/Roco and Bachmann models)

thomasjmdavis

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Re: Aurora/Roco depressed center flatcars
« Reply #6 on: February 16, 2026, 02:06:35 PM »
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The few vaguely similar cars that ATSF had were all GSC castings- some listed as built by GSC, and others as built by ATSF- I guess depending on which shop put the trucks under them and installed brakes.

What does the car length scale out to? That would help to ID the prototype, if any.

I used to think many of the Roco cars of various types had no prototype, but... I've found a lot of "very close" over the years, so I suspect most do have prototypes, its just that the details on the cars are often oversized, or they cheated a little here and there- door types, number of ribs in car ends, that sort of thing- to keep tooling costs down.
Tom D.

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cjm413

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Re: Aurora/Roco depressed center flatcars
« Reply #7 on: February 17, 2026, 08:17:30 PM »
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The few vaguely similar cars that ATSF had were all GSC castings- some listed as built by GSC, and others as built by ATSF- I guess depending on which shop put the trucks under them and installed brakes.

What does the car length scale out to? That would help to ID the prototype, if any.

I used to think many of the Roco cars of various types had no prototype, but... I've found a lot of "very close" over the years, so I suspect most do have prototypes, its just that the details on the cars are often oversized, or they cheated a little here and there- door types, number of ribs in car ends, that sort of thing- to keep tooling costs down.

Good point - if the model they exported for Atlas came out first, it's possible they tweaked it just enough to make it look different for Aurora/Minitrix...

Doug G.

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Re: Aurora/Roco depressed center flatcars
« Reply #8 on: February 17, 2026, 09:00:24 PM »
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There were always minor differences between similar cars RoCo made for Atlas and made for Trix or other US importers. Very close but different.

Doug
Atlas First Generation Motive Power and Treble-O-Lectric. Click on the link:
www.irwinsjournal.com/a1g/a1glocos/