I always wanted some brand new tractors loaded on flatcars but I never got around to it. The biggest problem was always a lack of appropriate models. Then two things happened: Walthers released their OTTX flatcars and I discovered the Universal Hobbies Case-IH Axial Flow combine. I first saw the production samples of the Walthers flatcars at the Oklahoma City train show in December 2017. There were HTTX and OTTX versions along with a VTTX container version. These were a heavy die-cast design with a crisp plastic veneer covering the different variations. Walthers kind of kludged the HTTX and OTTX versions by combining some features of the different models (these are limited to the tie-down anchors and troughs along the car sides from what I understand), but the problems aren't enough to bother me. Loading flatcars with tractors is kind of like loading autoracks with cars or trucks. There are no shipments of vintage equipment only shipments of new equipment, so whatever body style or year vehicles you're moving sets the time period. This has long been a problem for me modeling the late 80s. Not a huge selection of appropriate vehicles out there but it can be done. When I first saw the Universal Hobbies Case-IH Axial Flow combine it was in a display case indicating it was a 1989 model year tractor. Close enough for me. I bought two of them thinking I could load a pair onto an old MDC Roundhouse flatcar I had. The models came with grain heads that were pretty narrow but they still had to be removed. I drilled out a rivet and removed the grain head and set it aside. After searching high and low for photos of how the grain heads are loaded I discovered a couple photos showing them paired back to back and stored upright. The two grain heads I had weren't enough to justify an entire flatcar so I decided I needed four more combines. Right around this time I was able to round up several of the Walthers flatcars and put the MDC Roundhouse flatcars out to pasture. Weathering the flatcars started with the decks. To create the worn wood effect I dabbed on white, raw umber and burnt umber artists oils straight from the tube without thinning. Then I used a soft brush to work the dabs along the grain of the wood to blend them and approximate the weathered wood look. I used a cotton swab to clean the oils off the "metal" parts of the car and limit the colors to the "wood" deck. After the oils had dried about a week I used Tamiya panel line accent to darken the tie-down troughs and Bragdon powders to weather the rest of the model including toning down the wood deck in places. Years ago a friend gave me an Ertl John Deere 9510 combine. I think these are a little late for my era but I like the look of them so I found one on ebay to match so I could pair them on a flatcar. Unfortunately the heads that come with these Ertl combines have poor detail so I chose not to ship the heads with these combines. I spent a lot of time looking for photos of loaded combines, especially in my era. Not easy to find. I noticed some combines were parked on thick plywood squares and others were just parked directly on the flatcar deck. I used sheets of manilla paper laminated together to make plywood and cut it into squares. When I was happy with where the combines would be loaded on the flatcars I drilled holes through the deck and used bead wire to tie the axles down to the deck securing the ends of the wire underneath with CA. The etched brass tie-down chains from Alkem Scale Models are not functional and are glued onto the cars after the combines were tied down with bead wire.
I like your point on only the newest vehicles being transported by rail. I might need to get a 9510 or two, those started production in 1997, and I think Ertl makes some other John Deere vehicles that would fit my 2001 time frame. Scaletrains is making the F68DH flatcar with the lengthwise rails, which would be a cool model too. None of my flatcars have the right deck hardware for vehicle loading.
Maybe for farm equipment, but old construction equipment is often shipped by rail. When I was working in Alaska we had a pair of CAT D8L bulldozers shipped off a job in New Jersey to our Prudhoe Bay shops, of course they only went by rail to Fairbanks, it was by truck to Prudhoe. Rick Jesionowski
