I am assembling the GHQ depressed center flat car; there are two cars in a package. I was going to use the standard MT couplers, but they seemed too high. Here is the car with MT 1025 couplers body mounted. I actually had to shim the trucks (hence pizza cutter wheel sets) to get the correct body mounted coupler height. I have a Kato modern diesel that uses the MT 2004 coupler and has the higher offset coupler shank. I added that to the car on the left instead of the MT 1025s and the car was much lower. I am not sure what type of trucks I have on the left. They do have metal wheels and I think they are the 100 ton trucks. The MT trucks simulate the 70 ton trucks. It's a lot better meaning "lower." My question is: What are the MT 2004 offset shank couplers, exactly? I have some old MT 2000 which were used on the Kato E8s. They are also off set couplers. Would these work in a MT 1015 coupler box? In other words, is this MT offset coupler used in several applications in different coupler conversion numbers? Thanks for the help. Has anyone assembled these GHQ flat cars before and used another method to achieve a more prototypical height? Finally, talk about high! Here is a photo of the MT depressed center flat car that I have already lowered. It is still much too high. I am going to change these Buckeye trucks for MT2004s and body mounts. Maybe FVM wheel sets, too. Didn't someone write a magazine article on lowering the MT depressed center flat car? Thanks in advance for the info on the MT 2004 couplers.
Flash the MTL 2000 should be the same as 2004. Just check the coupler shank length. I like the look of it lowered. You should try the BLMA 100 ton trucks, since it is a 90Ton car.
In MR August 2001 there is an article on the GHQ flat. I just happened to have it out as I have a couple of the GHQ ones headed my way. Talks about lowering and building a load for them. There is an article in N Scale Railroaing Nov/Dec 2004 dealing with the Microtrains model. I've not seen that one but you can see the models by the author at his website at http://www.bbussey.net/
Thanks I purchased the BLMA trucks. I also needed some metal wheelsets, so InterMountain was the only type available at this time. It will be a week or more before I get back to this project. Brian Bussey. I remember him. Nice article. I will get that one out to read on my trip. Thanks for the info, you guys. :thumbs_up:
Flash, the BLMA trucks have metal wheels. I have a pair of 70ton right know for a project I'm working on.
Flash, Use the 2004 knuckles in the 1015 coupler box to achieve the look you want on the GHQ car without a massive amount of work. You also can use FVM 28" wheels to help lower the car. The kitbashes I did on the MTL car are extensive, but the visuals are night and day when compared to the stock model. I've since swapped the NWSL 28" wheels out for FVM 28" wheels, which look and roll better.
This might help it gives the dimensions of MT's various couplers and boxes. Also gives a part number to many? (all?) of the actual coupler shanks that are used in the various conversion sets. http://www.micro-trains.com/Coupler diagrams.pdf
Thanks for all the help. My parts did finally arrive and I put things together last night. For the couplers, the MT 2004 is the correct version. I used this coupler on both the GHQ cars and the MT depressed center flat car. I had to shim the MT car even after lowering the car body; the ends were too high for body mounts. I used a .030 inch thick styrene shim. Here are pictures for comparison. Before: After: Hope you can tell the difference even though the cars are not complere. There is a significant difference. Here is a photo of the three cars as I am using them for idler cars in switching. I thought that would allow me to tell if there are any problems before I complete the models.
In the center photo above, you may be able to tell that the six axle trucks have been relocated towards the end of the car. As mentioned above, our bbussey member here first demonstrated this in his N Scale railroading article on modifying these cars. I read the article and I was amazed at how easy it was to do! I had thought it would be a major hassle, but it was no problem at all. It is just an 00-90 screw fitted through the bolster pin. The new "bolster" is created by a drill and tap a new hole in the car frame. Here is the finished product for the six axle Buckeye truck. The original couplers have been removed. I used BLMA 100 ton trucks on one of the GHQ cars. It was a lot of cutting to get the proper truck-frame clearance for operations. I installed the truck using the bbussey method again. This should be a useful tool in future kitbashes. Thanks again to Brian Bussey for the idea. BTW, the axles in the Buckeye trucks are Intermountain as the BLMA axles were not available at the time.
Here are final photos, The first is after the car had been lowered with talgo couplers. After lowering with body mount, bottom shank couplers. It is lower but not too apparent in this photo. I do like the position of the trucks closer to the end of the car.
I've been looking for a way to lower the MT depressed center flat car. Those look great! Is the article available online or can you give a description of how you lowered them and located the trucks?
