Freight Car Spotlight #4 - 2023 / General American G-85 85' Flatcars

 Greetings All,

Welcome to Freight Car Spotlight #4 - 2023

Todays spotlight will shine on the General American 85' flatcars that were introduced in 1959. I wrote extensively about TOFC in 2022 (links below) and today we'll focus on the General American G-85 and the HO scale Walthers models. Lets take a look at the prototype and models.

Trailer on Flatcar Recap

Trailer on Flatcar freight traffic known in more recent times as TOFC  and intermodal traffic had its origins from the beginning of the railroads as farmers loaded their wagons full of crops for transport to towns and cities to be sold.

Current TOFC traffic is basically a detachable trailer riding on a flatcar secured with a fifth wheel trailer hitch as seen below. A circus trailer from days gone by could also be considered a trailer on flatcar. Note car #8 below has a combination of Trailer and Container on Flatcar traffic.

"8 Photos of 4 Trains at the California and Arizona Border" by railfan 44 is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.

New York Central RR, Fruehauf and 

the General American G-85 Flatcar

In 1955 the New York Central RR working with the Strick Division of Fruehauf worked together to design a freight car capable of carrying sealed containers suitable for rail and truck transport now called intermodal traffic. The NYC would settle on what became known as the Flexi-Van that carried two containers on a spine car that with the addition of "bogeys" could travel as trailers behind a suitable tractor.

"P8219379@" by Groch1 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse.

"P7049061@" by Groch1 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse.

While testing various container loading on flatcars for the NYC and Sea-Land Fruehauf standardized their containers at 35' then 20' and 40' for travel by sea and rail and also built chassis for these containers to travel by truck.

Keith Tantlinger, Fruehauf's vice president of engineering is credited with developing the modern intermodal container with the twist lock system. The first 35' containers entered service in 1956 and other than the 35' size no longer in use the containers remain relatively the same sixty plus years later.

Fruehauf's freight car of choice for their container was the General American 85' flatcar as it was built exclusively for trailer and container transport.

General American G-85

The General American G-85 Flatcar introduced in 1959 as a replacement for Clejan flatcars used in TOFC service featured a raised center sill and decking lower than the sill to allow trailers to meet Plate C height requirements without using 28" wheels.

The G-85 is easily identified by the raised center and lack of side sills like this Walthers HO Scale ATSF model.

Trailer hitches are located in the center sill and when collapsed sit below the sill. Storage space for container pedestals are are also located in the center sill making this an all purpose car.

General American would eventually build about five thousand G-85, G-85A and G89 flatcars. About half of this total ended up with Trailer Train. Other buyers were ATSF, Pacific Fruit Express, Railway Express Agency and New Haven RR among others. The NH's fifty cars (#16000 - #16049) would be conveyed to Penn Central on 01-01-1969.

Railway Express Agency G-85s

The Railway Express Agency purchased 55 General American G-85s with steam and signal lines for container on flatcar(COFC) use in passenger trains.

To trim its passenger train losses NYC president Alfred E. Perlman pulled the NYC out of the REA consortium in 1959. In a Time magazine article, (The Red Ink Express) president Perlman said that handling REA package shipments amounts to eleven million of the fifty two million dollar annual NYC passenger train deficit.

In an effort to curtail losses the REA turned to containerized freight.

 

To load and unload the four Unit-Haul 20' containers on the REA G85s these cars used a Steadman hydraulic system. This was the one and only use of this system.  

The Models

Here are four recently purchased Walthers G85s for Trailer On Flatcar and Container on Flatcar use new in the box and waiting for their unboxing.

ATSF G-85 #89798 was part of a 50 car order in the early 1960s. The ATSF would purchase 350 G-85s and 300 G-89s

The Northern Pacific RR purchased 75 G-85s (#65500 - #65574) in 1960. The NP fleet would be conveyed to Burlington Northern in 1970 after the merger with CB&Q, GN, and SP&S.

Soo Line #5623 was part of a 20 car order(odd numbers only #5623 - #5661) that may have been second hand purchases. The Soo later added 15 G-89s (odd numbers only #5663 - #5691) to their fleet.

Two additional SOO Line G-85s came in my second order of G-85s.

Railway Express Agency G-85s

The Railway Express COFC models come equipped with metal wheels, Walthers metal Kadee clone knuckle couplers and are  distinctive cars that fit right into the 1960s.  

Four REA Unit Haul containers ride on the G-85. The containers are from Walthers Scene Master Series and fit the cars nicely. I added a 1/2 ounce of weight inside of each container. 

Putting the G-85s into Service

Initial testing of the models both loaded and empty revealed that they are well weighted and tracked very well whether empty or loaded.

The Walthers G-85s come with metal wheelsets and their brand of Kadee clone metal knuckle couplers.

The G-85 couplers however did not line up with the Kadee height gauge with most couplers being too high. Now this won't cause derailments but it will reduce reliability if used with the rest of my fleet that is tuned to the height gauge, especially on long cars operating on grades. 

At the end of the testing and corrections all cars had their couplers adjusted using the tried and true Kadee washers. On the left the coupler cover had to be removed to align that coupler. Most of the cars needed a combination of one #209 and two #208 washers and lost their coupler covers in the process. To me reliability was more important that under the car cosmetics.

Much better!!!

My two REA Express G-85 COFC cars photographed with newly arrived Unit Haul containers and a set of 35' REA trailers.

A NYC E8A leads a passenger train past RA Tower with mail and express traffic on the head end.

A Penn Central E7A brings an intercity train towards Empire City Station. Unfortunately the PC, the long distance passenger train and the Railway Express Agency were each on a downward spiral losing millions and millions of dollars each year. 

A short video of several trains containing some of the new G85s TOFC and COFC cars.

Additional Reading, Resources and Links

Freight Car Spotlight #3-2022

Freight Car Spotlight #8-2022

Early single container NYC Flexi-Van spine car.

Mark III Flexi Van spine car.

Mark IV Flexi Van spine car.

Flexi Van trailer on the road.

Fruehauf COFC car.

Central Artery: An excellent post about the G-85s.

Railroad Prototype Modelers G-85 handout by Jim Panza 09/2019.

Steadman Container System. Go to Page 115.

Who Really Invented the Shipping Container?

VP Tantlinger and the modern container.

GTTX G-85 at Sen Bernardino, CA in 1977. I have those trailers!

Railway Express Agency

The Red Ink Express

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See you soon!!!