Athearn N Scale Announcements - March 22, 2019

[Missaberoad]

@Mark5 @nkalanaga

Photo is undated, but the freshly painted yellow TT F89F (the Athearn model) gives some clues.... (early 80s for the TT paints right?).

https://flic.kr/p/2fDDPji

I would say post 1974 (two panel Cots) and pre 1978 (brand new ACI label)

The yellow tt paint was introduced early 70s. (1973?)

[James Costello]

I would say post 1974 (two panel Cots) and pre 1978 (brand new ACI label)

The yellow tt paint was introduced early 70s. (1973?)

Ah...that's what I get for wandering outside my era without adequate caffeination.

[Mark5]

The yellow tt paint was introduced early 70s. (1973?)

1970
https://www.ttx.com/about/our-history/

[Missaberoad]

1970
https://www.ttx.com/about/our-history/

Thanks! I wasn't able to find a date with an admittantly short search...

Looking closer at the photo it appears to be a single panel Cots (just somewhat elongated) so the photo should date 1972-73ish

[nkalanaga]

The earliest I've seen the 2-panel COTS was Feb 74, in Pullman-Standard builders photos.  I believe it became mandatory in June or July of 74.

Looking at the list of keywords, I suspect it might be 2-73.
"ttx153552, aurora, il, flatcar, tofc, bn, burlingtonnorthern, trailertrain, f89, f89f, freightcar, republic, trailer, 273, drgw, pcl, 40, container"
I can't see any other reason for "273" in the keywords.

That is a bright yellow, isn't it?  So much for the idea that EVERYTHING has to weathered.

[Missaberoad]

The earliest I've seen the 2-panel COTS was Feb 74, in Pullman-Standard builders photos.  I believe it became mandatory in June or July of 74.

Looking at the list of keywords, I suspect it might be 2-73.
"ttx153552, aurora, il, flatcar, tofc, bn, burlingtonnorthern, trailertrain, f89, f89f, freightcar, republic, trailer, 273, drgw, pcl, 40, container"
I can't see any other reason for "273" in the keywords.

That is a bright yellow, isn't it?  So much for the idea that EVERYTHING has to weathered.

The road number on the republic trailer is 273.

Considering the car appears brand new perhaps finding the build date of the number series would shed some light... Assuming it isn't a repainted brown car.

[nkalanaga]

Ryan:  Thank you.  So much for analyzing keywords on a "page source" listing...

And it looks like this is a repainted car:
" I believe all F89F flat cars were delivered in red paint.  Trailer Train standardised on 89' 4" standard level flush deck flat cars for its intermodal, auto rack and special equipped fleets which superseded the channel side F89F and similar ACF and PS products before the change to yellow paint which was made after the introduction of standard level flush deck flat cars.  Jim Panza's handout notes from his 2017 Chicagoland RPM Conference presentation advise the change of design was agreed by Trailer Train in July 1968 after a request from Ford for "wide- body" auto racks.
Cheers,
John Gillies"
https://groups.io/g/bbfcl/topic/bethlehem_f89f_s/16929448?p=,,,20,0,0,0::recentpostdate%2Fsticky,,,20,2,0,16929448

Strange looking URL, but I copied it directly from the address line in my browser.

[garethashenden]

Ryan:  Thank you.  So much for analyzing keywords on a "page source" listing...

And it looks like this is a repainted car:
" I believe all F89F flat cars were delivered in red paint.  Trailer Train standardised on 89' 4" standard level flush deck flat cars for its intermodal, auto rack and special equipped fleets which superseded the channel side F89F and similar ACF and PS products before the change to yellow paint which was made after the introduction of standard level flush deck flat cars.  Jim Panza's handout notes from his 2017 Chicagoland RPM Conference presentation advise the change of design was agreed by Trailer Train in July 1968 after a request from Ford for "wide- body" auto racks.
Cheers,
John Gillies"
https://groups.io/g/bbfcl/topic/bethlehem_f89f_s/16929448?p=,,,20,0,0,0::recentpostdate%2Fsticky,,,20,2,0,16929448

Strange looking URL, but I copied it directly from the address line in my browser.

I find the next comment to be particularly enlightening as well:

To expand upon this a bit, Trailer Train was unique in the way they managed numbering their car fleet. From what I gather from the Jim Panza articles of twenty or more years ago, each car kept the NUMBER it was built with for life. However, TT had a multitude of different reporting marks and each mark indicated a car equipped for a specific service.. So, as they changed equipment on the car (auto rack, hitches, container pedestals, etc.) they changed the REPORTING MARK assigned to it, without changing the number. This led to the number series becoming very ragged as various members of the series jumped from mark to mark, and leaves what appears to be a lot of overlap in the series.

Dennis Storzek

[nkalanaga]

Yes, that one does explain their "random" reporting marks, and is something I've suspected for a long time.  It makes it very hard to find a proper number for a car, unless one is modeling a specific car, on a specific date.

On the other hand, I'll bet it makes their accounting much simpler, which would be more important to them.

[Mark5]

Both of the 40' Smooth side standard container runs are now in stock at MBK

This thread: http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/032219/08_N_40ft_Container_032219.pdf

June 28, 2019 announcement: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=47407.msg624317#msg624317

June 28, 2019 link: http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/062819/09_N_40ft_Container_062819.pdf

MBK link: https://www.modeltrainstuff.com/search?search_query_adv#/filter:custom_scale:N/filter:brand:Athearn

For some reason the APL containers are not showing in that search - here's a direct link to the APL version: https://www.modeltrainstuff.com/athearn-n-17701-40-smooth-side-containers-apl-3/

Mark

[jagged ben]

Both of the 40' Smooth side standard container runs are now in stock at MBK

This thread: http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/032219/08_N_40ft_Container_032219.pdf

June 28, 2019 announcement: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=47407.msg624317#msg624317

June 28, 2019 link: http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/062819/09_N_40ft_Container_062819.pdf

MBK link: https://www.modeltrainstuff.com/search?search_query_adv#/filter:custom_scale:N/filter:brand:Athearn

For some reason the APL containers are not showing in that search - here's a direct link to the APL version: https://www.modeltrainstuff.com/athearn-n-17701-40-smooth-side-containers-apl-3/

Mark

Thanks for the heads up.  Still missed out on APL, gone already,  and had to find it elsewhere.     Also Sealand is sold out at MBK already to.  (Really wish someone would do an exterior post Sealand but got some anyway.  Elsewhere.)