New York Central Train Layout: Freight Car Spotlight #6-2022 / Upgrading T.O.F.C Service

Greetings All,

As reported in prior blog posts one of my favorite types of railroad rolling stock is the Trailer or Container on Flatcar known as TOFC or COFC.

Photo by Gary Lee Todd, PHD. Courtesy of Creative Commons

When I decided to attend a used merchandise sale at my local hobby shop, Trainmaster Models, my top priority was to look for tractors, trailers and single trailer flatcars. When I got the box of train goodies home I believe I achieved my goals to upgrade my TOFC traffic and rolling stock. Let's take a look.

Tractors & Trailers

My big train store haul from June 3rd, 2022 included four tractors and eleven trailers for increased TOFC traffic. All of the models are Athearn BB and are in kit form. The green tractors are lettered "Time-DC" and the yellow tractors are lettered for "Hertz".

Athearn BB Trailer Kits

Here is the basic Athearn BB Piggy-Back Trailer kit that includes a refrigeration unit. The kits are simple and easy to put together with standard hobby tools.

The DC trailers are Denver-Chicago Trucking. The two green tractors painted and lettered for Time-DC after Denver-Chicago merged with the Time System in 1973 will be perfect for these trailers and fit the Penn Central era.

A builders note on these older style trailer wheels in these kits. Pressing the axles together all the way will make the trailer wheels too tight for use on the all purpose TOFC Flatcars

The newer style wheels shown below don't have this problem.

After test fitting on the new Walthers TOFC flats and the Athearn BB flats in my fleet most of the older style trailer axles were cemented in place as seen below.

The trailers will now fit both the Walthers, Athearn and McKean TOFC Flats.

Athearn Tractor Kits

The Athearn BB kit is based on the cab over White Freightliner Highway Tractors introduced in 1953.

Here's a photo of the Hertz BB tractor kits.

The four tractors are built and make for good flatcar loads. Note the tractors come in both six wheel and ten wheel versions. I glued some gray construction paper inside the rear of the cabs to eliminate the see thru look.

A Hertz six wheel tractor delivers a Sea-Land Trailer to Ralph's Grocery Warehouse.

A Time-DC tractor pulls a DC trailer from the Terminal Yard TOFC track. Note that a driver has been placed in the cab.

On the layout the BUD of California trailer looks good delivering fresh produce from California to Empire Produce.

TOFC 89' Flatcars

A pair of Walthers 89' flatcars were part of the great train store haul of June 3rd, 2022. I took a chance that these cars would be able to negotiate the 24" radius curves on the layout.

Proto Information from Walthers

The introduction of the 89' flat car in 1960 opened the door for a new generation of piggyback service. Equipped with a pair of collapsible hitches these new cars could easily handle the older 35' and/or the newer 40' trailers then entering service.

The universal hitches eliminated the time consuming need for complex tie downs. New trailer handling equipment streamlined the loading process.

The 1980s marked another turning point in TOFC technology as 45' trailers became the standard. But many railroads and TTX found themselves with fleets on 89' flats that could only carry one of these larger trailers. By 1982 Trailer Train, Santa Fe and Southern Pacific began a modernization program, developing the "Twin 45" flat car.

By moving the hitches and allowing for a slight overhang a pair of 45' trailers could be carried.

Below is an ATSF 89' TOFC Flatcar (Flush Deck) - Twin 45 version.

Two 45' ATSF trailers on the "Twin 45".

Walthers New Orleans Public Belt 89' TOFC flat car (flush deck).

The NOPB TOFC flat car is carrying a C&NW 45' trailer and an EBRR 40'er. This car comes with additional hitches and diagrams to convert it to carry two 45'ers and single 53' and 48' trailers.

McKean Models 50' TOFC Conversion Flatcars

Prototype Information from McKean Models

Three major factors, the large increase in TOFC/COFC business, the increasing length of trailers of up to 48' making it difficult to work with railroad cars long enough to take two trailers of this length and the decrease in boxcar loadings have caused some railroads to to convert some of their excess boxcar fleet into 50' TOFC Flatcars.

The original prototype for these models was converted from a 50' boxcar for the Southern Railway by Ortner Freight Car of Cincinnati in response to a need for a car that could handle a trailer 48' long.

There was an additional benefit to this program, new life for old boxcars.

Photo by Gary Lee Todd PH.D. Courtesy of Creative Commons

Building the McKean Models 50'TOFC Conversion Flats

The McKean TOFC Flatcars presented several building challenges that made the process go slowly. What I envisioned as Athearn type shake the box kits was not the case. The tooling left a lot to be desired with the parts needing a copious amount of drilling, filing trimming and CA.

Here are the two CP Rail flats with weights painted and secured with clear silicon. The ill fitting frame is secured to the car body with CA and clamped in place so the car will ride level.

Finished UP TOFC Conversion Flats with UP trailers are ready for service.

A close up of UP TOFC Flatcar #13861 and UP Trailer #UPZ 20579. The UP flats have a build date of 11/1974.

The CP Rail TOFC Flats are built and ready for service.

A close up of CP Rail TOFC Flat #505971 and BUD of California Trailer #BUDZ 503058

The CN TOFC Flats are built and ready for service.

A close up of CN TOFC Flatcar #686130 and Sea Land Trailer #40136. This TOFC flat has a rebuild date of 4-79.

All of the McKean TOFC flat cars received metal wheelsets from either Intermountain or Walthers. The McKean wheelsets were terrible and I'm not sure they were even round. #5 or #22 Kadee couplers were added as coupler heights dictated.

Newly purchased Conrail MP15DC gets the call to deliver TOFC traffic between Terminal Yard and the REA Ramp in Empire City.