Another truck/trailer question, sorry.

Strogey, I don't even think that a 65' trailer is legal in Texas INTRA-STATE service without special permits. For unrestricted Inter-state Highway service the legal length limit is 53' without special over-size permits, and even at that there are secondary highways that do not allow 53' trailers.

 For standard steel deliveries, I think most are in the 45' neighborhood, steel will scale out, long before you need a 53' trailer.

 I don't have any Steel/Flatbed experience, but I do have almost 25 years/2,000,000+ miles experience in Reefers and dry vans, and have seen plenty of steel on the hwys.

Doug

I forgot to mention, YES, there are plenty of Pup size flatbeds out there too.

Doug

Hi Ken, I just took a look at the Texas DOT website, even Texas intra-state limit is 59' maximum trailer length. the 8"x1.75" trailer is a foot narrow, but at 8" that would be 32' long. 27-28' is typical "Doubles" length, I believe a lot of the "Maxi" doubles are 36' leading a 32' trailer, but don't quote me on that, we just occasoinally run standard doubles. Proper "Rocky Mountain" doubles I believe are a 48'/28' combo, and here in Oregon what we often refer to as Rocky Mtn doubles are a 40'/20'combo. Turnpike doubles are typically a 48'/48' combo IIRC. So you could see a trailer of almost any length from 20'-53' Coast to Coast and up to 59' in Texas, so whatever looks good to you, just do it. BTW, now days 8'6"(102") wide is pretty standard width, but there are still a lot 8' wide trailers still in use(and I think that my company has most of them)

Doug

Doug

You may what to try some Corgi flat beds  most are 1/50 scale which fit  better than the Lionel  trucks    they have  various lengths  , I have pups, some that represent 40 or 45 ft units and  other more modern which would be about 53 footers ..   most of what I got was off E Bay     if you are patient you can get just the trailer units as they appear alone in  a lot of offerings    Berkshire is 1/43  scale  which I found a bit large for some of my tractors but thier flatbed unit is real nice

Strogey

The berkshire valley flatbed trailers are not that difficult to assemble and very easy to paint.

You don't even need fancy decals because there is no sides for them to go.

Ken   here are some pictures of my flatbeds there is a good mixture of makes

I have  made out  this conversion list  so you can get a hold of the dimensions represented by the  trucks

some of the  older Corgi are detailed very nicely, mine are missing the mirrors as I have not  quite unpack all my stuff from my last move 

The last Blue unit in the list is a newer Corgi  it is  quite detail  however  it is also much more expensive  than most of my trucks  ( I spoiled myself on this one) 

There are other trucks scaled 1/53  sorry cannot remember the name off hand  but in that lot you might be able to obtain an extendable flat bed that would represent the 65 foot long trailer unit you would be looking for    ...     

I do hope this helps you some

Good data!!!! Thank you.  This is very useful.

Sorry  Len  I had tor re down load Flash so that i could post the  photos  and I  had one heck of a time 

but in the end 

so  this should help 

Bob....Wow, this is great! Tahnks for taking to time to put this visual comparisson together! What I find really ironic is that based on your pictures and the models that you show, I cannot visually see the difference between these models other than the height when viewed head on. And even with that, if you were to line then up according to height they would be close enought to each other to not notice. Funny how much emphasis gets put on the scale when in reality as long as one does their homework and asks suppliers what the actual dimensions are, they will all work together. I saw a truck advertised as 1:50 the other day and the width was allmost 3". I even emailed the vendor asking them to verify.

Thanks a bunch for "showing me the light!"

Ken

I sure like what I think is an L series Mack, the white Corgi.  Haven't seen it with a flatbed and would use a couple in my logging operatilons...

The white Mack had a log load  on it  but i took them off to use as examples for log loads on my  flat train cars,  once i get all my logs right i will most likely put the original logs back on the truck it self     that one I took off E Bay  ,,, i had seen several like it  since I bought mine

I seem to remember seeing a Mack B tractor w/ a log load back a year or two at York.  Strogey, are you hauling coils on these trailers?  If so, you'll want 1-2 per trailer and strapped down (possibly tarped).  I got two of those Mack B/trailer combinations specifically for that purpose.  I have to repaint them into Weir-Cove colors (orange & black).  But that project is so far down the list, it's ridiculous.

George

New Ray makes a 1:43-ish size '53 Mack that is offered with at least four trailers (box, cattle, flat, etc.,).  A log load is on Amazon now at $24.  I have a number of these.  The cab is particularly good to bash to 'Streets tractor trailers I make.

I missed something ,

Mr. Willis,  were you at Fletcher,   past w/ed ???

just a thought !!

That's the one!  Thanks Lee!

George

New Ray Mack    Buy at Diecast Direct $14.95

ELguy....would you please email me? Is this 1:50?

OK...so a week or so ago I found a Corgi 1:50 Flatbed trailer on eBay and for whatever reason recieved a second chance offer on it after I lost the auction. Yesterday it arrived and I am very happy with it. BUT it also proved to me that I am worrying about this scale thing for no reason. I base this off my own comparrison between it and a Lionel Steel tractor trailer. Here are some pictures that prove my point. First up is 2 pictures that show that the height of these 2 trailers is about as close to the same as one can get:

Next is a picture comparing the height from the front of the trailers:

Next is a picture comparing the width:

And finally a couple pics with the Corgi trailer and the Lionel tractor:

So at this point other than getting a couple of Spec Cast period correct tractors I am going to quit fretting over this!

That is a nice tractor trailer.  The last two pictures make it clear to me that company names notwithstanding, this is the same cab I buy under various no-name brands and use when I bashbuild 'Streets 18-wheelers.  It has a very handsome look to it and whatever scale, it works out well on my layout.

I think you are right to not be concerned to much about scale: if it looks good, it is the right scale.

Lee....In my mind the bottom line is this. A person can go out and pay a higher price for a 1:50 scale tractor trailer combo or search the train shows or even eBay for the Lionel tractor trailer combos and most times pick them up for less than $20.00 and literally have the same size vehicles. I like the Corgi trailer because it is shorter but knowing what I know now, I can just shorten the Lionel trailers if I want "shorties".