MT October - COFC question

[Mark5]

CAST was founded in 1969,  went bankrupt in 1983, and was reorganized then. CN had a big stake in it, which they ended up writing off.

[Dave Schneider]

Dave,

If you are looking for some brown TTAX cars, there are four of them in the consignment shop at N Scale Supply.

http://www.nscalesupply.com/pon/PreownedDetail.aspx?id=23939
http://www.nscalesupply.com/pon/PreownedDetail.aspx?id=23940
http://www.nscalesupply.com/pon/PreownedDetail.aspx?id=23941
http://www.nscalesupply.com/pon/PreownedDetail.aspx?id=23942

Best wishes, Dave

[ljudice]

It used to be common to see CAST containers on CR trains like the TV61 back in the late 1980's, for what it's worth...

[James Costello]

TTX only adopted the TT yellow scheme in the 70's and it's not like every car was repainted over night.

That style container is definately an early style - probably mid to late 70's.
Sealand had heaps, not sure about CAST.

[Mark5]

Yeah, I saw tons of the Sealand containers on N&W through freights back in the late 60s/early 70s.

The TT yellow was adopted in 1970.

[SD452XR]

A couple of my Nothern Pacific books have pics of these cars with CAST containers (20' Containers) on these flats,  on a few of their trains in the late 60's up to the merger in 1970. NP even had a couple flats themselves with these containers on them.

[Dave V]

Dave,

Thanks for the intel!  Those prices are a little steep considering they're used.  My dealer can beat that on a new release.

[James Costello]

Mark, best answer you'll get is to get in touch with Jim Eager via the MFCL or modelintermodal yahoogroups and ask away. I can PM you his email if you'd like.

[Glenn Poole]

...... The level of effort required to modify this to a TOFC is on par with that required to paint and decal another TOFC into this scheme.

Dave

I don't quite understand your comment.  The container  rail mounts pop right off and you then have a TOFC instead of a COFC.  The holes are already there for the trailer hook--a part which can be purchased direct from MT.  There are holes in the deck where the container rail mounts were mounted.  These didn't bother me as they are hard to see when trailers are on top, but if they bothered you, you could fill them in and paint over the top.  Am  I missing something else?

[Dave V]

...... The level of effort required to modify this to a TOFC is on par with that required to paint and decal another TOFC into this scheme.

Dave

I don't quite understand your comment.  The container  rail mounts pop right off and you then have a TOFC instead of a COFC.  The holes are already there for the trailer hook--a part which can be purchased direct from MT.  There are holes in the deck where the container rail mounts were mounted.  These didn't bother me as they are hard to see when trailers are on top, but if they bothered you, you could fill them in and paint over the top.  Am  I missing something else?

Ed K already set me straight on this; please disregard the first comment.

[GaryHinshaw]

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Cheers,
Gary

[Walkercolt]

Guys, don't get hung-up on "paint schemes" on freight cars. Railroads and leasing companies are cheap! If it doesn't need to be shopped, it doesn't stand a chance of being re-painted. Even if it is shopped, if the paint passes the shop foreman's eye, it'll be restinsled and back on the rails. Got this from an ex-Frisco/BN car man from Springfield, who'se now a conductor. I have lots of photos of Frisco re-paints into BN Green with the "wrong" size logos on the sides. Why? They didn't have the correct size stensilses or Scoth-Lites so the foreman said "use what we got!" Freight Car Brown  covered BN Hoppers? Yup. Left over Frisco paint. Never say "never". I've got way too many real "wrong" paint/lettering slides of real cars I could smell the fresh paint from. Think about it a little. A car being prepped and painted isn't making any money. A grungy rusted out-of-date paint scheme car is. Why do you run a railroad? To try and make money.

[bbussey]

Those "oddball" paint jobs are the exception, not the rule.  For an N scale model, that's fine if you want just one car.  But if you want a small fleet because it represents your home road, then "incorrect" paint schemes are not appropriate.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Those "oddball" paint jobs are the exception, not the rule.  For an N scale model, that's fine if you want just one car.  But if you want a small fleet because it represents your home road, then "incorrect" paint schemes are not appropriate.

Quoted because it bears repeating.

[Sokramiketes]

Thirded... besides, this isn't so much a question of paint scheme, but a question of an era mis-match.