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

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

Sorry Everyone, this was meant to be a private question...
Jeff


- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Mutter" <jwmutter_@_comcast.net>
To: "EL Mail List" <erielack_@_lists.elhts.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2007 10:21 AM
Subject: Re: Walthers Bethlehem Flush-Deck Cars: First Impression


> 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
> >
> > The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
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> > http://www.elhts.org
> > To Unsubscribe: http://lists.elhts.org/erielackunsub.html
> >
>



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