(erielack) Re: Walthers Bethlehem Flush-Deck Cars: First Impression

["Jeff Mutter" <jwmutter_@_comcast.net>]

Hi Paul,

Sorry to dredge this up from the archives but I'm (finally) getting together
an order for these cars.  I appreciate your detailed and very helpful
write-up!

I do have one question, though:  you mention all but the TTX and Sou cars
have the Twin-45 modification, but I think you are also saying that by
changing the hitches that can be reversed?  If that's correct, can you give
me an idea the differences in the hitches on the two cars?  Looking at
photos of the cars I can't identify the modification -- but I don't know
what to look for.

Thanks!
Jeff Mutter


- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Brezicki" <doctorpb_@_bellsouth.net>
To: "EL Mailing List" <erielack_@_lists.elhts.org>; "Paul Tupaczewski"
<paultup_@_comcast.net>
Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 6:12 AM
Subject: (erielack) Walthers Bethlehem Flush-Deck Cars: First Impression


> My BN-modeling pal brought over his copies of these long-awaited 89'
Bethlehem cars (mine haven't arrived yet). I thought I'd share some
highlights. This car was produced beginning in 1968, and along with very
similar cars from Pullman-Standard and ACF, became the backbone of the
intermodal fleet by 1975. Therefore they're must-haves for layouts depicting
EL mainline operations in the 1970's. Note that this is a trailer-only car
with (originally) TTX reporting marks. If you want to haul containers
"on-deck" you'll have to wait for the Atlas ACF cars to be released later
this year. (For the record, "All-Purpose" cars carried TTAX reporting marks,
and the less-common TTCX was a container-only car.)
>
> Use caution when ordering this car: as far as I can tell, only 2 or 3 of
the 7 roadnames in the initial release are configured as the original car
and therefore appropriate for the EL era: 40301 TTX, and 40305 SOU. The rest
have the "Twin-45" modification of 1982 and later. However if you must have
ATSF or SP cars, don't despair, they're easily backdated as we'll see in a
moment.
>
> The good news: the car has accurate dimensions and that low-slung
appearance since it sits low on its trucks. It weighs 5oz; the recommended
weight for an 89' car is approximately 7oz , but the difference of course,
can easily be made up with the trailers. His cars made several loops around
my layout without derailing. The detail is outstanding with correctly
proprtioned stirrups and handrails and underbody brake equipment which is
almost a must on this car due to its visibility. The clever coupler
arrangement was introduced by Walthers on the bilevel autorack cars 15 years
ago and permits negotiating curves of 24" radius according to Walthers, but
of course will look fairly ridiculous on such a sharp curve.
>
> The bad news: the trailer hitches are a disappointment and not up to
"gold-line" standards. They are a press-fit into holes on the deck since you
have a choice of P-S or ACF hitches (plus I think a collapsed-hitch version
for circus-loading scenes) but it is not very secure, which is just as well
since at a scale 54" they are 6" taller than the prototype, which will give
your trailers a pronounced tilted-up-at-the-nose look. I don't know how this
happened, but it continues the long tradition of major model manufacturers
having difficulty "getting it right" with intermodal equipment. Happily,
correctly-proprtioned replacement hitches are available from Details West.
The correct hitch is the Pullman-Standard (Trinity) LP-6SA cushioned
retractable; being a trailer-only car, the hitches rather than the couplers
are cushioned. The closest DW product is the LP-3SA rigid retractable, part
#1007, which can be combined with the cushion portion of the supplied hitch
to create the LP-6!
>  SA. You may want to get on this sooner rather than later, since this will
be a popular car and once modelers catch on there will be a run on these
hitches. They also have the bridge plates, part #1017.
>
> Overall, a very nice model, and the deficiencies are easily corrected.
>
> Paul B
>
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