Walthers is coming out with a variety of Piggyback Service Mainline, Cornerstone and SceneMaster products. These include everything needed to add or increase Piggyback Service on 1950's-1980's era layouts. Walthers also has some Walthers Exclusive Preiser figure sets to go with these releases.

Piggyback trailer service was developed in the 1950's to offer faster movement of goods to market and to counter the growing over the road trucking industry. With many of the original developments made by the Pennsylvania Railroad, including the formation of the Trailer Train Company, which would later become TTX.

The idea was simple, load trailers on flatcars. It was more complicated than that and many developments and improvements were made over the years. In the early days, trailers were driven, or towed into place on the flatcars. Many flatcars had bridge plates that were lowered into place during loading allowing trailers to be moved up loading ramps and across multiple flatcars to their assigned spots.

Eventually, as container use increased, piggyback trailer transport was surpassed. However it still remains an important part of freight movement today.

Many major shippers use Piggyback, or as they are more widely known today, Trailer On Flat Car (TOFC) transport to get their goods to regional or local transfer points for last mile truck delivery. Examples include UPS and FedEx.

53 ft Piggyback Service Flatcars

This type of flatcar was used for Piggyback Service from 1955 into the 1960's. They carried 32, 35 and 40 foot trailers.

This release includes six schemes with two road numbers available for each.

Features:

• Fully assembled and ready to run
• Sharp painting and printing 
• Factory installed original style trailer hitch, rub rails & bridge plates
  
• Detailed body & deck
  
• Hidden weight for great looks & performance 
  
• Correct 33" turned metal wheelsets
• Proto MAX metal knuckle couplers

Express Motor Freight Lines Kit

This detailed kit can be added to your layout to add a new point of interest. It can be used in a variety of ways such as a new industry or to support piggyback intermodal operations. It can be used on layouts from the early diesel era forward.

Features:

• Molded in five colors and clear plastic
  
• Complete trucking facility in one kit
  
• Fits late steam- and early diesel-era layouts
  
• Great go-with industrial building for vintage piggyback service
  
• Detailed "brick" main office
  
• Concrete block" garage - build with overhead doors open or closed
  
• Vintage gas pumps and oil drums
  
• Colorful printed signs for tanks & gas pumps
  
• Office: 4-7/8 x 4-1/4 x 2-3/8" 12.3 x 10.7 x 6cm
• Garage: 7-1/8 x 4-1/16 x 2-1/2" 18 x 10.3 x 6.3cm

Truck & Truck Loading Crew Figures

These sets made exclusively for Walthers can be used with the Walthers Cornerstone kits included in this announcement.

Figure set includes:

• Six ready to use figures in each set
  
• Realistic poses
• Hand painted in authentic colors
• Ready to install