Lowest Lionel Flatcar?

It looks like the height of the Lionel PS4 is about 15/16” above the rails, close to 4 scale feet.

The Lionel PS-4's are about the best flatcars out there.  The die-cast bodies make them track very well, and the real wood decks look great and can be easily weathered if you wish to go that route.  A guy in my club runs a long military train with flats from Weaver, MTH, Lionel and Menards, and the Lionel ones look the best, IMHO.

Go to Lionel's web site and search "PS-4 Flatcar with Stakes" (added "with stakes" to get the ones without the loads) and you will get a fairly good picture of how they look.  Any time I find these at a train show at a good price, I buy them.

Andy

what's the diff between the $69 and the $45 one?   They look the same to me?

I would think you would want to find a flatcar that looks something like this.  Didn't Lionel make one in the postwar era that was nearly scale?

So I was hoping to find 4 flatcars and 4 "depressed" flatcars.   I had hoped someone here already knew the lowest profile flatcar.   Apparently this ps-4 is it.  I'm guessing the "depressed" version is slightly lower.   I want to load up tanks, guns, etc. and still clear under a 6" bridge, it's gonna be tight.   Yes, I want about 4 of each, I just need to figure out what I"m looking for.   I haven't found an Army green one yet that isn't 'toyish'.   So, I'll probably look for black and just stencil on US ARMY, or repair OD Green.

Does anyone have some of these cars we can measure so I can figure out the lowest one?  I'm sure this can be useful information I can't be the only one concerned about vertical clearance.

Hp289,

    When I built my Military Train I used 5 different brands of flatcars, I will put them in the order of which ones I liked the most although all preformed the same function and none were not acceptable.

    Lionel PS4 50’ Flatcar - die cast body and real wood deck

    Lionel 40’ Flatcar - die cast body and real wood deck (both come with stakes)

    Atlas Trainman 52’ Flatcar (with pipes, gave my pipes away)

    MTH Premier 50’ Flatcar (some come with wood painted decks)

    K Line scale flat cars (come with tie down accessories)

The ranking also represents the cost of each of the flat cars. If you hunt the train shows you can find some good, I found a guy at York who had a bin of MTH flatcars for $10 each. The decks needed to be painted wood color but no big deal doing that.

JohnB

@Hp289 posted:

what's the diff between the $69 and the $45 one?   They look the same to me?

They are the same.  The $45 ones were made a long time ago, and the $69 ones are more recent.  Inflation.

Andy

I know that you specified Lionel, but check out Menard's flatcars. They are decent and priced way below Lionel's.

I just finished weather the deck of a Lionel 40’ flatcar; the wood deck and detail make it look nice. Pretty low, too.

thanks!

-Mario

I am looking at Menards, Lionel and MTH.   And yes, the price difference makes me think.   Yes, a 50' car is nicer than a 40'.  Yes, the 'depressed' cars may be lower and I need to know by how much.  I'm trying to figure out the lowest profiles.  (deck height)  Not the most accurate, not the smoothest rolling, the lowest deck height as stated at the start of this thread.   I want to put various equipment on them and I want to start as low as possible due to a bridge passover.    Does anyone know how they all (incl depressed) rank in deck height???   John, can you help a brother out?

Don’t forget Weaver. Theirs might be even lower than Lionel if you put kadee couplers on them. Even with the claws they are close to as low as Lionel PS4s and likely half the price.
MTH 50 footers are higher than Lionel but can be lowered easily.

https://ogrforum.com/...45#57038617559564945

Pete

I checked again, using an accurate metal scale rule, and the Lionel PS4 is exactly 4 scale feet from the railhead, or 1 inch, which makes sense, as I would assume the real cars are. In contrast, the Lionel all plastic flats are 4 1/2 scale feet off the railhead.

Artie, thank you for measuring your PS-4 for me.   1" is a great starting point.  If anyone can measure the deck height of their MTH premiere, Atlas, Menards, and even the depressed car, I would be grateful.   Thank you.

I know these pix aren't the greatest, but they do give a reasonable comparison:

First, the Lionel.  This roughly confirms Artie's measurement.

Next is Menards.  Slightly higher than Lionel.

And here are a couple of shots of a K-Line / K-Line by Lionel depressed center flatcar.  The depressed flat area is about 4.25" long.

Andy