N Scale Kits Gunderson 5-Unit 40' Rebuilt Well Car Set Length?

[pmpexpress]

Needing to determine the anticipated rail car capacity of a container terminal diorama that is currently in the design stage.

Measured from the ends of the Micro Trains couplers, can anyone tell me what the overall length of an assembled N Scale Kits NS020-40 Gunderson 5-Unit 40 Foot Rebuilt Double Stack Well Car Set is?

[GaryHinshaw]

I get 20 5/16" = 270.8 scale feet coupler to coupler.  These kits are 3/16" shorter than a Kato Maxi-I set, which I measure as 20.5" = 273.3 scale feet coupler to coupler.

[pmpexpress]

I get 20 5/16" = 270.8 scale feet coupler to coupler.  These kits are 3/16" shorter than a Kato Maxi-I set, which I measure as 20.5" = 273.3 scale feet coupler to coupler.

Gary,

Thanks for taking the time to measure and compare the N Scale Kits Maxi-III and Kato Maxi-I car sets.

Attempting to figure out what concrete embedded track (Fairview Terminal has six such tracks) length is needed for approximately 150 - 210 cars (i.e., 30 - 42 5-unit drawbar car sets).

The comparison photos of the rebuilt 40' and 48 'Gunderson kit build-ups that are currently posted on the N Scale Kits website gives me the impression that the 48' variation is approximately three quarters of a car length longer than the 40'.

[ns737]

if you look at the cross members. you can see where how they shorten the cars.

[GaryHinshaw]

Neville, are you planning to use a lot of 48' well sets in your terminal?  A 5-unit Maxi-III well set (5 48' wells) is about 310 scale feet over the couplers, while the 40' version is about 270 (as noted above).  If you were to go with 42 sets of 48' wells you would need 13,020 scale feet of track or 6 tracks @ 13.6 actual feet each.  If you only use 40' wells, it's more like 11.8 feet each.

[pmpexpress]

Neville, are you planning to use a lot of 48' well sets in your terminal?  A 5-unit Maxi-III well set (5 48' wells) is about 310 scale feet over the couplers, while the 40' version is about 270 (as noted above).  If you were to go with 42 sets of 48' wells you would need 13,020 scale feet of track or 6 tracks @ 13.6 actual feet each.  If you only use 40' wells, it's more like 11.8 feet each.

Gary,

As I am probably going to unload all of my Athearn, MDC/Roundhouse, and Micro-Trains 48' single cars and acquire 30 - 42 sets of 5-unit 40' draw bar wells to add to the Atlas rebuilt 40' singles that are already on hand, established by the size of the components that are packaged in the Kato 23-142 and 23-143 UNITRAM Freight Depot Sets, been contemplating six 12.19 foot embedded concrete track lengths.

[pmpexpress]

FYI

Peter Harris has graciously taken the time to measure an assembled model that he has at the office.

In his correspondence, he stated "The 5 car 40’ consist is 19.84” long, coupler end to coupler end."

According to Peter, users no longer need to purchase Microscale 60-792 TTX Maxi III 5-unit Double Stack Car decals as the NS020-40 kits are now packaged with N Scale Kits' own decal sets, which have both the black and white and the new red TTX logos on them.

Already reasonably priced, adding the factory supplied decals for the models is a really nice touch.

Kudos to Peter for all of his assistance.