I've been tinkering with my intermodal equipment and have had no luck finding appropriately sized pup trailers to put a pair of them on a 53' SHS/MTH flatcar. Adding another 5th wheel isn't a problem as American Models sells them and they are identical (I believe) to those found on SHS/MTH flats. But the maximum length trailer would be 26' or thereabouts and most pups are 28' long. So I went to my local Walmart to see what if anything was available to use on my flatcars instead of 2 pups.
I found 2 new offerings from M2 Machines...1950's vintage Coca Cola Tractor Trailers.
They are appropriately sized for S scale as M2 Machines are 1:64 scale. Both sell for $20.00 but that's not too bad a price as you get the tractor/trailer and an additional auto inside the trailer. American Models trailers are $14.95 each and you'll have to add shipping to that. The free auto from M2 is one of their entry level offerings w/o opening doors or hoods but being as how one of them is a 1957 Chevy (my favorite) I couldn't pass it up.
The first one is a 1957 Dodge COE (cab over engine) with a "Pick up 24" logo on the trailer. The free car is a 1966 Dodge Charger 383.
The second is a 1958 Chevrolet Spartan LCF with a "Refresh" logo on the trailer. The free car is a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.
The trailers are nicely made with opening rear doors. I'm not too sure about the "scale" size of the trailers as they scale out to 8'9" W X 42'6"L X 12'6" H. There were some 42' trailers back in the day so I'll call these "good enough".
When compared to my other TOFC trailers they fill a gap in scale sizes.
So if you want to add something new to your trailer roster check out Walmart's toy aisle.
My train world frequently experiences time warps and you'll see a wide mix of different generations of rail equipment on the same train. Here's two examples of the new Coca Cola trailers on a train containing modern power, older TOFC cars, modern container well cars and of course my obligatory caboose at the end of every train...
Mark
