Shortening of Flat cars

[canpac]

Hello....Looking for plans, methods that have worked and or suggestions from people who have successfully shortened the Bachmann On30 standard flat car. Any and all replies appreciated. Thanks

[richg]

From a Google search for, shorten bachmann On30 standard flat car. Not very difficult.

http://www.finetrains.com/On30%2018%20Foot%20Tank%20Car.htm

There are more links for shorten Bachmann On30 stuff.

Rich

[Skarloey Railway]

This may be a dumb question, but given the number of kits for short and dinky freight cars, why would someone want to shorten a Bachmann car? I can't imagine the skill needed is much different.

[richg]

This may be a dumb question, but given the number of kits for short and dinky freight cars, why would someone want to shorten a Bachmann car? I can't imagine the skill needed is much different.

Simple answer. It's his railroad.

Rich

[railtwister]

Unless you already have a bunch of Bachmann On30 flat cars sitting around, or can find them super cheap at a train show, it's probably just as easy and likely faster & cheaper to scratch build some yourself using Evergreen styrene strips, and NBW castings, Queenposts, and stake pocket castings from Grandt line's On3 parts catalog. For couplers and trucks you can use HO Kadee #5 or #48, HO, Grandt On30 SRRL (if you can find them), or Bachmann On30 trucks.

Bill in FtL

[RGimble]

  Maybe Bachmann will suprise us someday and offer some 18 ft. rolling stock! Maybe they will finally release the long awaited Heisler! I paid for mine last November.

  R. Gimble

[railtwister]

  Maybe Bachmann will surprise us someday and offer some 18 ft. rolling stock! Maybe they will finally release the long awaited Heisler! I paid for mine last November.

  R. Gimble

SURPRISE!

Check the announcement: <http://www.bachmanntrains.com/NMRA_2012.pdf> . Looks like scratchbuilding will be cheaper, though!

Bill in FtL

[RGimble]

Bill in Fl:

  I wasn't surprised as I knew about the new cars coming out since Feb. as I heard a rumor about them at a large train show. I didn't want to say anything about it in case it was just a rumor.
  The cars look nice but I doubt that I will be purchasing any as I feel that the price is way too high. Even the street prices for them which I will guess be about half is still too high. Besides I believe that the cars will only 6' wide and I prefer 6 1/2' - 7' wide.
  I am going to pass on the 2-4-4-2 also as I perfer smaller locos like the porters, the 4-4-0 and my U.S. Hobbies 13 ton shay last year  which was narrowed to On30 from On3. It first has PFM sound in it but I had Soundtrax DCC & sound installed. I also have had the new heisler on order since November of last year.
  Sometime ago I built a freight car jig and so far have about 40 underframes made up. These cars are 7' wide and 20' long and a few 16' long frames which is perfect for my small logging line. Cars are easy to build if you first make yourself a frame jig. I will build the cars 10 at a time. I think that the basswood for these 40 cars was less that $20 (I order my stripwood through a local dollhouse shop). About the only parts that one needs to buy other than the trucks and couplers is a brakewheel and pawl. I make my own truss rod pads from styrene shapes and if I decide to use a brake cylinder I will cast them using my spin caster and maybe even duplicate the brakewheels and pawls using the spin caster too. I made up my log bunks useing styrene strips so I might just spin cast them too which will really keep the costs of the freight cars low.
  Even though I have 16 prs. of Backwoods Miniatures disconnect log cars I wouldn't mind seeing what Bachmann could come up with too.

  R. Gimble

[railtwister]

Hi RGimble,

I totally agree with you about the 18' cars. I think the only ones I could find useful would be the flats or maybe the gons, but they all look a bit too cutesy and toy like to suit me, and even at half price would be more than would want to pay. As for the 2-4-4-2, I would have probably preferred it over the 2-6-6-2, which I bought recently at a very attractive price. The 2-4-4-2 (w/o sound) is considerably more expensive that the the 2-6-6-2 was with sound, and adding the sound package makes the comparison even worse. I really would like to see photos of the two articulateds side by side before I make any decisions. I will say that the 2-6-6-2 tracks very well, much better than I would have expected, so much so that it has become a favorite. I can't imagine the 2-4-4-2 could track as well, but I could be surprised again. I had decided that one articulated loco was enough (unless a Garrett came along), but now I'm wondering if I couldn't use a 2-4-4-2 as well. Maybe if the street prices come down later to a reasonable level, I'll give it a second thought.

As for flat cars, when Bachmann released the lower profile frames and low arch bar trucks, I bought a buch to convert some of the cars I already had. This resulted in me having a surplus of the older style frames and the original arch bar trucks, so I got some strip styrene to beef up the sills, ripped some basswood planks for the floor, and added Grandt line NBW, stake pockets, and brake wheel castings, and now have a bunch of low cost flat cars with a minimum amount of work invested. Even though they ride at the old taller height, I'm pretty fond of them. I still have enough old frames left to make at least six more cars, so I can stay busy for a while, at least.

Bill in FtL

[canpac]

Thanks for all the replies. I appreciate them all. I didn't know about the new shorter cars until this weekend. I just may wait until November when they are supposed to be on the market and then make my decision to go with the 18 footers or try something else.

[BigElmore]

From a Google search for, shorten bachmann On30 standard flat car. Not very difficult.

http://www.finetrains.com/On30%2018%20Foot%20Tank%20Car.htm

There are more links for shorten Bachmann On30 stuff.

Rich

I always wondered why Forums exist when it seems like many legitimate questions, that may or may not have been asked before, are answered with the standard "use the search" or "just Google it" reply. Nope. it's not very difficult, but the reason to be a part of community (forum) is to ask like-minded, hopefully helpful, people for their own experiences. Ever think that the guy that started the thread already had searched, and now he is asking you?

Lighten up some! Answer the question (if you have the experience) or just ignore it. Forums are for discussions. That's why most people are here.

Just my .02

[richg]

That is a way to find an answer a lot quicker much of the time and the side benefit is you find so much more useful info. Many are not aware of how much info is available on the Internet, plus you get links you can store in the Browser.
I have mentioned before, starting a discussion is ok also. Some like to gab. The subject is not important.
Plus, once you find an answer, you can post it in a forum. I have done that a lot and people were not  asking about what I had found. A few others have done that here at times.

Rich