Athearn F89F flats

[unittrain]

Just picked up 3 of the yellow TT F89Fs will be getting a couple red too when they come out. Overall nice car but will have to file the bolster as it rides a little high.

[ai5629]

I have been eyeing these up.  Could BLMA 70 ton trucks be substituted for the Athearn trucks and lower them without filing the bolsters?  I may pass on these if not.  Thanks.

Jeff

[unittrain]

I'm sure you could use Blma trucks, there's plenty of wheel clearance so lowering will be no problem they even have recesses in the bottom of the car above the wheels. Don't know why they have them riding high.

[wcfn100]

A more frugal option is to shave the truck down.  The truck bolster is a bit tricky as it has a metal post.



The car could go down more but without an under slung coupler, you can only thin out the top of the coupler box so much.  My TSC conversion doesn't even has a top, it just pushes the coupler as high as possible within the existing box.

Jason

[unittrain]

Wow that lowered it quite a bit, so I just file down the truck about 1/16"? Looks a lot better lowered.

[wcfn100]

Wow that lowered it quite a bit, so I just file down the truck about 1/16"? Looks a lot better lowered.

I just measured and it looks like I removed ~.0185".


Jason

[Wardie]

Has anyone else had trouble with these not staying coupled? I recently got 6 of them and they won’t stay coupled to each other on straight level unitrack, much less other couplers or curves.

[jagged ben]

Has anyone else had trouble with these not staying coupled? I recently got 6 of them and they won’t stay coupled to each other on straight level unitrack, much less other couplers or curves.

McHenry's suck.  I replace mine with Accumates when I have the time.  Even those are better than McHenry's. 

[chicken45]

So...F89 flat car. A question on the name. 

I know the PRR named flats the same way, starting the number system with the F21 more or less. I think the highest numbered PRR flat was a F49. Did these numbers advance sequentially through the post Pennsy years to get to F89?

[garethashenden]

So...F89 flat car. A question on the name. 

I know the PRR named flats the same way, starting the number system with the F21 more or less. I think the highest numbered PRR flat was a F49. Did these numbers advance sequentially through the post Pennsy years to get to F89?

I kind always assumed without anything to backup the assumption that the 89 part of the number was a reference to the length of the car.

[nkalanaga]

I think Trailer Train did use the length as the number, with the first "F" meaning "Flat", and the second being a subgroup, usually indicating type or manufacturer.  The 85 ft cars I've seen were F85-something, and 60 ft cars were F60s.

[Wardie]

The coupler box on these is a very short box, does the accumate slide right in?

[Mark5]

The coupler box on these is a very short box, does the accurate slide right in?

Accumates are a direct swap.