48’ wells?

[arbomambo]

I have 3 sets of Walthers 48’ 5 well Thrall cars, and 1 3 car (supposedly drawbar-connected but actually 3 separate cars) 48’ cars…I would still like to run them in a modern day train. But my question is are 48’ wells even being run anymore? Of course, I haven’t seen. 45’ or 48’ container in years and years, but are there still 48’ wells? I see a ton of rebuilt thrall 40’ wells, even old 40’ “twin stack” cars still in service.
Bruce

[MetroRedLine]

They are still around in the modern day, but increasingly rare. The 48' domestic container has been replaced by the 53' for two decades already. I don't think the drawbarred 48' well cars exist anymore though. The 48' articulated well cars that do exist haul 45'/40'/20' ISO containers exclusively (some of them carrying 53's on the top) and are coupled to their 40' and 53' well counterparts. 45s are still used, but not as common. They used to be the standard domestic container back in the '80s but now they're an ISO container for when a load size warrants larger than a 40'. Many container ships have dedicated locations for 45s. If you do model modern-day, make sure your 48' well cars are adequately weathered! I have one set of the Walthers 48' Thrall articulated well sets. They're nice to have to visually break up the monotony of the Gundersons. But certainly they should only represent a minority of your intermodal consist.

[samusi01]

Drawbarred 48' set of three, from this year...



...and it wasn't the only one on the train.

The trash trains seem to collect a lot of them, probably due to the uniformity of the load and schedule. This in Washington state. Beyond that... I think most have been turned into 40' wells.

[nscaler711]

I have not seen them around me, but I know a few still exist.
As far as the Walthers sets go, replace the trucks immediately, if you haven't already.
I have 5-6 of the articulated sets myself, all but one set has BLMA trucks on them, and on top of that I modified the pivot points to be about half thickness and polished them so they sit lower and pivot easier.
With the BLMA trucks they roll forever*
But most of the Thralls that Walthers made, the prototypes cut them down to 40' wells or so I've heard...


*^{ok... maybe not forever, but they do roll better than stock.} 

[jagged ben]

By roadname...
At least some of the blue APL 5 unit sets are still on the rails essentially unmodified, now belonging to AOK and patched accordingly.
The TTX cars have probably all been cut down to 40s at this point, although other 48ft TTX prototypes are out there.
The Santa Fe (SFLC) from Walthers were never quite correct, as the end wells started as 40s on the prototype.   I believe those have been cut down and also belong to AOK, in more recent maroon paint.

For either of the first two, I think they are quite plausible in a modern train with patching and a lot of weathering, and graffiti if that sits well with you.  Filled with 40ft (and some 45ft) corrugated no-logo-panel containers, of course.  (BTW you have seen 45ft containers recently if you have seen a few stack trains recently.  That's an ISO container used in international shipping.)

As samusi said a lot of the single wells including drawbar sets have ended up on trash trains, (probably because those operations don't really care about the cost difference from higher tare weight, due to shorter runs and longer term contracts).  Those are less plausible outside of those trains.

[jagged ben]

For Trailer Train or TTX, this decal sheet might come in handy.


https://www.microscale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=60-1298

[gi-depp]

I've cut down my 48 fife car unit to a 40.



I have only one 48 single car.

[cv_acr]

Pretty rare now.

I think TTX has basically rebuilt all their 48' wells into either 40' or 53' wells now.

CN and CP at least still have some groups of 48' wells and haven't rebuilt them.

[SD452XR]

They are still around. I get a couple in my trains every week or so. Their numbers are definitely down.

[arbomambo]

I guess I’m going to divest myself of my Walthers 5-well sets (2 TTX and 1 Santa Fe) and my 3 car/well TTX set…
I have a couple of Kato TTX Maxi 1s and Maxi 3s plus a number of JTC cars… sure would love some new 40’ Thrall wells and new-tool Twin Stacks!
  Oh, and sure enough, as soon as I indicate that I never see 45’ containers anywhere, I look up and see this on the Austell Virtual Railfan camera!