1:20.3 car comparisons

[Paul W.]

In this latest issue of Garden Railways, Kevin S. did an article on different guages of hopper cars, and a while back someone posted pictures here of the new Porter next to the old 1:22.5 Porter.
Does anyone have side by side photos of the new Fn3 flatcar next to the other flat's that Bachmann has?
Trying to see what they would look like being coupled to existing cars.
Thanks

[Hunt]

In this latest issue of Garden Railways, Kevin S. did an article ...

FYI --- That be Kevin Strong who is a contributor on this Board. 

[Kevin Strong]

I don't have the old B'mann flat car anymore, but it's on the narrow side of things. If I recall, it scaled to around 6' 6" or so in 1:20.3, and around 25' long. That's well within reason for c. 1870/1880s equipment. Most cars of that era were retired and burnt for scrap by the late 1910s/early '20s. They would have been replaced by cars similar in size to the "new" B'mann flat car, which measures 7' 8" x 30' 2". If you model that "transition" era from 1900 to 1920, then it wouldn't be uncommon to see both sizes of cars in a train.

If you've got a collection of the old style flat cars and want to "beef them up" a wee bit, here's a link to what one fellow did with his:
http://www.musiccorner.co.uk/a305/Bachmann-Large-Scale-Flat-to-Denver-&-South-Park-RR-1/20th-Flat/article_info.html

Later,

K

[Paul W.]

Kevin,
Thanks for the link!  I like how you did the older hopper cars in GR as well with the addition of the boards on the edges, nice job!

Thanks again