Impressions: MTH S Scale TOFC

The MTH Railking trailer does look S Scale. As MTH finds their footing in the S Gauge world, it would be nice to see the original SHS trailer make an appearance again.

Then this would probably be the be the only case where a manufacturer's TOFC had two trailers available for it. 

Variety being the spice of life and all....

A thought after I wrote my impressions...

A quick comparison of the SHS, AM and MTH trailers:

Rusty

Just for fun, I tried out the trailer from an M2 Machines Auto Hauler and found that it is not as tall as the MTH trailer but is the same length. 

The Auto Hauler trailers seem to have a lot of Automotive related themes but they are easy to disassemble and repaint and decal if one were to wish to do so. The trailers with a tractor retail for about $ 10-16.00 and usually can be found at WalMart or from an Online retailer of 1/64 diecast.

You can see what has been issued in the past at http://www.m2machines.com/auto-haulers-p.1.html

LittleTommy

Nice review, Rusty.

As a former trucker and truck enthusiast, the MTH trailer is so wrong for that flat. No way you would find a 50' trailer on a flatcar during the 50's, 60's, or even the 70's, as I recall. (I was hauling 45' trailers behind me in the late 70's.)

Oh well... at least MTH is actually coming out with a trickle of S product!

How does the height scale out? 13' 6" is still the maximum non-permitted height.

laming posted:

Nice review, Rusty.

As a former trucker and truck enthusiast, the MTH trailer is so wrong for that flat. No way you would find a 50' trailer on a flatcar during the 50's, 60's, or even the 70's, as I recall. (I was hauling 45' trailers behind me in the late 70's.)

Oh well... at least MTH is actually coming out with a trickle of S product!

 

Plus, the 89' piggy back flat was introduced in 1961.  Pretty sure by the mid sixties, the 50' or 60' piggy back flats were removed from TOFC service.

Rusty

Well, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the MTH trailer's appearance in the S realm.

Maybe it's not so much "Godzilla" as it is "Jaws."

And, an SHS trailer for comparison...

Rusty

I'm with you Rusty: The trailer's just too big to be on such a flatcar. Later when they started cutting up boxcars for the longer trailers... then yup... the world is right. But the MTH trailer/flat combo ain't "right" to my eyes

Ah well... seeing as I wimped-out of S scale, it's a moot point for me.

Of course, it's all about perception and in my mind this is a case where perception trumps scale dimensions.

Now, the IC did have some 47' trailers of the same style.  There's a picture of one sharing a 89' Trailer Train flat in the IC Freight Cars in Color book, and it looks quite at home there.  Plus, I remember seeing them trundle by on their way to Freeport.

Doubtless, the MTH trailer would look better on an 89' flat if one was available in S.  Might even look better because if I recall correctly, the 89' TTX flats had a lower deck than the GSC 53' flat.

MTH is to be congratulated for finally getting the TOFC car out, and probably saved a couple of bucks using their RailKing trailer, but I suspect I'll pass on future TOFC offerings.

Rusty

My final thoughts on the subject.  (And the crowd goes wild...)

My second IC car arrived this week and when paired up, they don't look as top heavy as a single car does.

However, I still can't shake the feeling that sumptin' ain't quite right when other equipment is added:

Oh, well.  They are what they are and all my carping isn't going to make them any lower.  They're still nice looking cars.

Rusty

Unfortunately, an SD70ACe wouldn't be pulling a solid bearing (which were outlawed by the late 1980's) trucked 53' flat car with or without a 50's-60's decorated trailer under any conditions.  I don't think today's railroads are even equipped to maintain solid bearing trucks anymore.

I had a chance last week to page through a 1966 Carbuilders Cyclopedia.  There is a difference in deck height between a standard flat car and a purpose built trailer flat.  The trailer flat's deck is 5-1/2" lower than a standard flat.  Not much I'll admit, about 3/32" in S, but a difference none the less.

I'm not a dyed-in-the wool rivet counter.  My IC FP7's, plus the fact that I'm primarily a Freelancer (what they seem to call "Fantasy" nowadays...) will attest to that.  But, I do try to generally recreate an era (a somewhat elastic late 50's-early 60's) more by ambiance than exacting detail and these trailers wind up a little outside that bubble.  Sure, I have some SD70's and more modern freight cars, but they tend to make the occasional guest appearance rather than being a permanent part of the scene.

However, I'm gonna keep these cars because they do remind me of seeing similar trailers on various IC trains as they passed through town.

Rusty

I have just received my NASG Western Maryland convention TOFC.  What a disappointment to have an O27 Old Bay trailer plopped onto the back of a former S Helper flat car.  This is way too big, and a real bummer.  I love having another WM car, but this trailer won't be the load it will be carrying.  Wrong scale, wrong era, and wrong of MTH to be foisting this on us.

I've pretty much said my peace about the MTH TOFC's in my above posts, but rumor has it that MTH has located the SHS trailer tooling and intends (yeah, right) to produce them.

I enjoy breathing too much to hold my breath...

Rusty

banjoflyer posted:

LittleTommy posted:

Just for fun, I tried out the trailer from an M2 Machines Auto Hauler and found that it is not as tall as the MTH trailer but is the same length. 

 

 

 

Tommy, thanks for a great idea! I have one of those trailers so I had to try it myself.

Here's that car hauler with a fresh load of new 1957 Chevy's. It's riding on my modified AM MKT flat car. The side boards have to be removed for the trailers tires to fit the floor. Same thing on an SHS flatcar. With an M2 machines 1957 Chevy on top of the trailer the total height from the top of the ties on a piece of SHS track is exactly 4 inches. Now that's an exciting load for our S scale flatcars!.

Mark

Rusty,

how did you secure your M2 Machines car hauler to your flatcar? I've got an M2M hauler I'd like to put on my S Helper flat.

thanks.

phil

Never mind my last question. I used some low temp hot glue to secure the auto hauler to the flat car. It's not the most elegant solution, but it's not permanent as the glue rubs right off both the hauler and the flat car.

As long as this thread surfaced again, I gave some thought to putting the MTH TOFC's in a train rather than as individual cars.  So, today I dragged out all my scale wheeled TOFC's and took some pictures to try and put things in some kind of context.  They are purposely arranged to try to compare height:

I've never assembled all these in one train before, but have from time to time run them in other trains.

Conclusion: In a train of TOFC's, the MTH version doesn't stick out so much like a sore thumb and does "blend" better with AM's cars than SHS's.  The MTH trailer still looks a little uncomfortable on the 50' flat, though.

But, I think I'll pretty much stick with the old SHS cars in my late 50's era railroad.  When wandering the time warp that orbits in my basement occasionally slips things into the late  60's and early 70's, I'll run the AM and MTH cars.

Rusty