Trussrod Flatcars


         

These are the first two on30" cars I built in 1990-91.  
Both are made of basswood, are 22' long.
The lettering is CDS HO. 
Pictures are poor quality as they are slightly enlarged.

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This is the third car I built.
The length was increased to 24'.
Bettendorf trucks were added to show that the car was retro fitted. 
Later I converted it to a tie car and 
added the Code 100 rail under the sidesill to give the impression
that the car was old and the sill was getting weak.

This car is one of six that I built in an assembly line fashion, 
based on the first two cars above. 
They never did have the charm of the originals.
The decals were made for me by Rail Graphics.

Three cars were built in this series- 
a variation of the six cars above. 
MDC HO fox trucks were used with Kadee replacement wheels. 
Evergreen Hill styrene channel was used to make the stake pockets 
and only three were installed per side.

 

  

This car was kitbashed from an On3' craftsman kit.

Hercules was built from a single piece of 1/4" basswood,
and all of the details were glued onto this core.
The trucks are Athearn or MDC passenger trucks
with Kadee replacement wheels. 
The bolster is one strip of basswood 
running the entire length of the car.
No prototype was followed.
The point of the project was to design a freeform car 
and to experiment with fast assembly techniques.