Vulcan Steel Truck on "EBT 2 Bay Hopper"- Request availabity for Scratch Models

[Class C 3T]

The Vulcan Cast Steel Truck which is standard on the Bachmann 1:20.3 "EBT 2 Bay Hopper" model (product numbers 88995 thru 88997) was widely used on several other narrow gauge railroads - Examples include the East Broad Top on a wide variety of their cars (Coal Hoppers, Box Cars, Flatcars), the Sumpter Valley Railway in Oregon on flatcars and the long #1600 series of Boxcars, the White Pass & Yukon in Alaska, B.C., and Yukon Territory on flatcars and some work cars, etc.  Because of the scarcity (actually lack of) of cast steel trucks (either the Vulcan or the Bettendorf "T" type) for 1:20.3 gauge rolling stock, I would suggest that if Bachmann made the Vulcan Type truck available in "2-Packs" there would be a ready market for such a cast steel truck frame model product among 1:20.3 / "G" Gauge modelers. I know of several existing "Mass-Production" G-Gauge railroad freight cars including tank cars that could readily be upgraded by the addition of cast steel frame trucks.

Comments from anticipated users requested.

Class C 3T


   

[Wade Colyer]

Hi:

For your information, Bachmann makes two Vulcan trucks. The hopper has coil springs while the caboose has leaf springs. I switched the trucks from a painted, unlettered 8 wheel caboose with the tender trucks from my E.B.T. Annie as the E.B.T.'s have the leaf spring Vulcan's.

Wade

[Kevin Strong]

To clarify, the trucks Wade mentions that are under the old 1:22.5 3-bay hopper and center-cupola caboose are woefully undersized for their prototypes (even in 1:22.5). The trucks under the Spectrum 1:20.3 caboose are the proper scale for the trucks which were under that particular car. However, they are smaller than the Vulcan trucks that are under the lion's share of EBT equipment. The trucks under the 1:20.3 hopper are a 4' 2" wheelbase truck. The EBT ordered 10 pair of those trucks to go under some 2nd-hand wood hoppers they had bought and were modernizing. When they wore out and the EBT built the 2-bay steel hopper upon which the B'mann hopper is based, they scrapped the wood cars and used the short trucks under the new steel cars.

The "standard" EBT Vulcan truck was a 4' 8" wheelbase truck. These are what sit beneath the 3-bay hoppers, flats, box cars, and caboose (which uses leaf springs instead of coils, as Wade points out). If/when Accucraft releaes their 3-bay hopper, it will have 4' 8" wheelbase trucks.

I don't know what the wheelbase of the trucks on the other railroads mentioned might have been, so I'll leave it to the modeler to figure out which truck would be a better representation of the prototype. The EBT trucks were specifically unique to the EBT (having "EBTRR" on the casting), though the style is very similar to other cast trucks.

The "better" option would be the Bettendorf trucks that are under the frameless tank car. They're a longer wheelbase (4' 10" according to an on-line source, I don't have any here to measure) and are probably much closer to the trucks which other railroads used.

I'd love to see Bachmann offer their trucks as individual parts, too.

(I'd also love to see them offer the stupid journal lids as individual parts so we can replace the ones which get pulled off the trucks by the plants in the garden! )

Later,

K