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Class One Model Works - HO Scale - General Steel Castings (GSC) Heavy Duty Flatcar - Erie Lackawanna (EL) #EL 7260 - No Jacking Pads - Wood Deck - Black With White Lettering - Black Trucks (SKU 1007-FC00209)

Available On: December 1, 2022

 

Classic One Model Works

 

HO Scale

 

 

Beginning in the 1940s, (some maybe earlier) General Steel Castings Corporation began production of heavy-duty depressed center flatcar castings, having a carrying capacity of 125 tons. These were used to build cars for transporting oversized, high-tonnage loads such as transformers, large castings, and various pieces of machinery or machinery components. The center decks were lowered to just above rail height to provide railroads with the ability to accommodate taller loads while providing high loading ratings. These cars were single-piece castings that were sold as “kits,” along with GSC “Commonwealth” standard 3-axle trucks, to customer railroads to assemble and outfit as they required. Some railroads opted to supply F36 Buckeye trucks for use on their cars. Due to the nature of the extreme loading of these cars, dual braking systems were required with the main control valve on the B end of the car and an auxiliary control valve on the A end of the car. All of the braking hardware was installed inside the frame of the car, with exterior piping along the sides of the car for the main airline, and for the piping tying both brake systems together. Both ends of the car were fitted with an air reservoir and a hand brake, and the system provided brake shoes on all twelve wheels of the car. Based on customer orders, the cars came with a varied number and location of jacking pad styles. Some cars had “square” pads located over the trucks, while others had “A” style pads located at the upper deck’s end where the interior deck curvature began. Some had no jacking pads at all, yet others had square jacking pads in the same location as the “A” style pads. Most all railroads initially provided wooden planking, usually oak, to cover the two upper decks of the cars, but over time, as planking aged and deteriorated, some roads chose to remove it altogether and to cover the access holes in the top deck of the casting with metal grating or plates welded over the holes. The railroads, over time, also added different tie-down gear, and load abutments to the car decks, creating many one-of-a-kind variations to this versatile heavy hauler. While the original trucks were equipped with solid friction bearings, by the 1960s, most railroads began changing them out for roller bearings. Some railroads owned only one car, while others had larger fleets of cars, depending on which customers they served and the frequency with which loads were generated by those customers. Considering the many railroad mergers over the years, a large number of these cars were renumbered numerous times and wore a variety of paint liveries. Given the longevity of these cars from the 1940s through the turn of the century, and the number of specific changes each railroad made to load restraint accouterments as loads changed and requirements varied, there is an endless variety of railroad-specific variants that existed. At ClassOneModelWorks.com we have chosen to produce the 58’-4” version of this car with a 21’ long lower deck, the most common size, while also producing a car that will provide the appropriate body style, jacking pads, and decking variations used by each railroad, to serve as a highly-detailed car that can stand alone, or be upgraded by the modeler for the small specific details they would like to incorporate, given the timeframe of their chosen era. Our first run of cars will be equipped with GSC trucks that have been upgraded to roller bearings. Future runs will provide cars with friction bearings, Buckeye trucks, and other added details as we work through the list of GSC car owners. We hope that you will enjoy your cars that have been made to the exacting standards of ClassOneModelWorks.com.

 

DETAILING THE DIFFERENCES

Complete Interior and Exterior Brake Systems

Unique to these cars is the installation of the dual-end baking system components fully sandwiched within the frame of the car casting with the exception of the hand brakes, the main air line and the brake system balancing lines which were required to run exterior to the lower deck.  These details will be highly visible, especially on the cars with etched metal grating on the upper decks.

 

UNSURPASSED VISUAL PRESENTATION

Sharp And Accurate Paint And Lettering

Classonemodelworks.com provides accurate paint and lettering taken from photographs of the prototype, and numbering that matches the class numbers for each railroad.  Our cars come with colors matched to the prototype from actual paint chips, drift cards, and historical society-provided information.  Lettering matches that photographed on prototype cars, even for re-paints.

 

Engineering for quality

Accurately Dimensioned

These cars have been accurately reproduced from original blueprints of the actual cars, and from data/dimensions provided by historical societies right down to every visible detail and even the brake system within the car body.  Classonemodelorks.com stands for accuracy and we strive to provide that with every model we produce.

 

Realism realized in scale

Railroad-Specific Body and Deck Treatment

Classonemodelworks.com believes in providing models that accurately depict the prototype equipment.  Keeping that as our core, we are proud to provide multiple body styles that are accurate for each road’s style and placement of jacking pads, as well as to provide both wood-covered upper decks, and open upper decks with grating filling the casting holes.

 

 

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$71.49 US