BLMA: 89' Flatcar!!!!

[bicknell]

If my UPS delivery person looked like that I would be ordering a lot more cars from Chuck, with instructions to ship ONE every day. 

[amato1969]

Whew!  My wallet dodged a bullet with this release, but bring on the F89F and G classes for my Apollo pig trains.

  Frank

[Packer]

The earlier schemes had "TT" and the words "TrailerTrain" spelled out.  The "TTX" logo shown dates from some time well after 1980 (1991?), if I'm not mistaken.

Thanks!

So if they come out in the brown or earlier yellow scheme (or the GN and ATSF schemes, or anything from 75-85), my wallet will be hurting.

[ednadolski]

And yes, I know how to party...  Getting in my 'birthday suit' now...   ;D

Ack! Too much info!

[James Costello]

Jim Eager posted this info and links on the MFCL list for you pre-TTX folk:

Built by ACF in 1967-68 as TTX 600910-602536.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1707905
http://gelwood.railfan.net/ttx/ttx601276akg.jpg
http://gelwood.railfan.net/ttx/ttx601395wba.jpg
http://gelwood.railfan.net/ttx/ttx602436wba.jpg

What I would like to know, is have these been engineered to allow the underframe etc to be reused on other F89 class flats for future releases - such as a (more common) channel side flat?

[Robbman]

Completely different underframe... heck... it's a completely different car from a flush-deck or a channel-side, for good reason.  Athearn is doing a channel-side in HO, the Bethlehem built F89F, which is the same car that Walthers did in HO (just MUCH better done, and in a LOT more variations)... Atlas has the later ACF flush-deck in HO, in multiple versions now... since it's a good possibility both the Athearn and Atlas will come to N eventually (and the Atlas car is the same as the Micro-Trains car), we focused on this car...

[Craig Martyn]

Happy Valentine's Day people!   

[asarge]

Completely different underframe... heck... it's a completely different car from a flush-deck or a channel-side, for good reason.  Athearn is doing a channel-side in HO, the Bethlehem built F89F,

My question is this. Will Athearn of the car in N or is this just an HO car. They have displayed a knack for not offering multiple scale model's of the same project. Granted it hasn't happened for the last couple of offerings but that doesn't mean they won't return to old habits.

Another question, will the body mounted couplers be articulated similar to the Bluford Boxcars. It would be nice if these cars could be run on 11" radius to attract a bigger market.

[ljudice]

Don't forget to do the versions that carry pipes, etc...

[unittrain]

This is absolutley awesome I'll definatley been in for the early red TTX scheme and the early yellow scheme atleast a half dozen!
I may even get more to do some early partially enclosed autoracks I think these were used for those also.

[Robbman]

I may even get more to do some early partially enclosed autoracks I think these were used for those also.

Unfortunately no.  One of the unique factors of this design is that it's a standard deck height car, with the draft gear below the deck, and it's the only standard height car ACF did of this design, as it was strictly built for TOFC service (that's been strecthed a bit with the current JTTX, PTTX and MTTX conversions though).

ACF did build flats of similar design (i.e, outside support stakes, sheet metal bowl deck))for autoracks, but they were all low-deck cars, with the draft gear sitting almost in the middle of the deck (the ends had ramps to get over the draft gear). 

[rswinnerton]

Pre ordered mine today. Damn wifes gonna kill me.

[Chulvis]

Pre ordered mine today. Damn wifes gonna kill me.

Yeah, but she won't like kill you for good or nothing, so don't worry. She'll just frown and make a snide remark, maybe even raise her voice a little. Now is the time to start taking notes on her own spendthrift tendencies. You have a lot of time to record some good ammo as these will not be released until the fall at the earliest.

Tune in next week for the next Chulvis tip on "How to survive your next model railroad purchase"   

[davidone]

Happy Valentine's Day people!   

Hey Craig, is that your girl friend?   Btw buddy your costing me more money, these cars are great. Can't wait for the spine cars.

Dave

[asarge]

Yeah, but she won't like kill you for good or nothing, so don't worry. She'll just frown and make a snide remark, maybe even raise her voice a little. Now is the time to start taking notes on her own spendthrift tendencies. You have a lot of time to record some good ammo as these will not be released until the fall at the earliest.

Tune in next week for the next Chulvis tip on "How to survive your next model railroad purchase"

Thanks Chuck! I get so tired of hearing that comment at the shop, but the funny thing is most wives I know might do what you say, but most don;t mind too much. Probably because the fine art of give and take is alive and well. She gives in to your hobby and you take her to the mall or .............