0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Beginning in 2004, to match the decline in 48’ trailer traffic and the increases in 53’ equipment, TTX began rebuiling sets of the Trinity built 48’ AP spine cars to handle 53’ trailers. These rebuilt cars feature a very distinctive wheel tray at the extension (TTAX 555500 – 556999), as well as an extension of the A and B platforms of the cars. The original scope of the program was to encompass 1,500 spine car sets, but due to the cost of the required modifications, as well as the reduction of TOFC volumes during the financial downturn late in the program, the full extent of the program was never realized and rebuilt cars are found scattered throughout the series limits. The majority of the un-rebuilt 48’ spine cars were repurposed into windmill blade service, were stored, or have been scrapped.
If you mean these beauties Doug, I believe @GaryHinshaw has put the most thought into the kitbash in N.I'll need to dig out some other books for the 48AP quantities in 05/06. Hope this helps mate.
[HoboTim] was starting to learn white metal casting and produced a few test shots of 53' spines. It was just the centerbeam and some supports, but I have a set and will eventually try to add styrene details. If it wasn't so hard to add weight, they would be a quick styrene build in Z scale, at least to the level of detail we need. I'm looking forward to seeing how your kitbash goes. I have one extra set of the 48'AP cars, but not two.
As to whether any 48' sets survived beyond 2005: yes. And they can even carry 53' trailers.
Well, I'm no expert on the 48' spine fleet, and I'm not really sure what your question is. But judging from the photos above, it looks like the prototype for the model is the Thrall cars which seem to share design features with the Trinity RAF33/53 fleet, so I would go with your plan to splice them to 53' sets.My starting point is to be the N Scale Kits 48' set, which is based (I think) on a Freight Car America design. The prototype units were converted to 53' sets ~10 years ago. I don't know if the Thrall sets were, but it looks like you should be able to get a pretty good rendition of the as-built 53' sets anyway.
I gather from your photos that you're planning two splices per car by harvesting several platform pieces from a single donor and using those on the rest of the units. That's a lot of careful splicing! In my case, I was able to buy an extra set of spines and platforms from NSK at a discount, so I'm just going to use 2 full 48' sets to make 1 53' set @ 1 splice per car.
For reference, here is a shot of the underside of a RAF33 model... <snip> ...I'd remove the pedestal housing since they are visible from above, and then manage the underside supports as best as I could.
I've been thinking about this a bit more <snip>A simpler mod would be to extend the spine and the front of the platform by 5' and call it a day. If it were me, I would be tempted to just scratch build the extension rather than trying to splice a section out of an existing car (that way you don't have to sacrifice any sets). You could cut the spine anywhere away from the platform, drill two holes in the cut ends and join them with heavy gauge solid wire, leaving a 5' gap. I think you could use 0.125" x 0.125" styrene stock to make the core of the spine extension (drill a clearance hole through it longitudinally and thread it over your splice wire before you glue it all together. Then you can face the top and bottom of the spine with some thin styrene to get the top & bottom flanges. The wheel platform extensions could be easily made from styrene as well (since the stock platforms probably lack any detail). You could glue the extra rib directly to the bottom of the platform extension. P.S. When I get around to doing this with my kits, I'm going to 3-d print new wheel platforms with the proper side detail. The stock platforms lack detail and they are separate parts to start with, so it's no great hardship.
-BLMA spoiled us. I know they aren't perfect and you've made mods, but man I remember the blood pumping fast when those showed up.
-Not sure I love the idea of the styrene extension, but I'm definitely considering it.
-Probably the thing that bothers me the most is the inverted supports on the articulated ends, and--while I have the jewelers' saw out--that should be a relatively easy fix. (note they same a little narrower, so even if I lose a little
-One other thing on my to-do is maybe some level of 3D printed detail...at very least the hitches.