Thanks. Will get a couple of flats but probably about 8 to 10 of the trailers. Been waiting for these for a while.
So it sounds like for a mid 90's modeller the flats are probably out of era (whew, Mr. Wallet breathes a big sigh of relief), but the trailers? It seems like they were around in the mid '90's - correct or no?
Hi Jerry, We are planning (and hoping) to make it to Hershey. See you there! Dave, I have two photos taken in 1999, and three photos taken in 2000 of the 40-foot UPS drop frame trailers in TOFC service. They are on 89-foot flats or spine cars. The red or yellow vertical stripes are gone on all five trailers, but two of the three trailers in the 2000 photos have the red and white conspicuity stripes along their sides. Carter
I want a 12 car TOFC for my PC Mohawk division. Have the BLMA set on order. These will add some variety. However I need brown. I emailed Microscale to see if they will bring back the decals for the brown cars. They have it under consideration. Will get a few trailers, as these are distinctive. Trainworx will probably do the brown ones eventually. Frank
Lee, I don't mind at all. I uploaded both of them to my Rail Images album, but if you need the full sized scanned photos, I can email them to you. And, I apologize for the quality of the images. My scanner is at least 10 years old. Carter
Thanks for the photos Carter. I found this on http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/james_hurley_ups.htm The date of the photo is May 1994, and the caption says 'the red stripe indicates that trailer is for rail use'. So for the mid '90's (my era) it looks like the red stripes were still around. Does Microscale make conspicuity stripe decals?
Us modellers/railfans should be happy that there are 'trailerfans' and 'UPSfans' out there to document this stuff for us . Interesting website.
Carter, Thanks those shots are perfect, I wanted to see the placement and style of the conspicuity stripe. Thanks Again, Lee
Dave, Good find, that helps me decide which other trailers to get besides the plain. Microscale has a conspicuity stripe set, Trailer Safety Stripes 60-4122. Lee
I found another photo in my collection that extends the confirmed TOFC service life of the UPS 40-foot drop frame trailers well into 2001. This photo was taken in Nampa, ID on September 8, 2001. Carter
Thanks for the update, Carter. The intermodal market is getting better served every day - although it is cutting down our possible 'to do' list! Peter Peter Harris N Scale Kits N Scale Kits
Speaking of 'to do' list. Any progress on those Flexi-vans? I could use a few in intermodal and passenger service. Frank
Hi Peter, You are very welcome! I am just glad that some of the many photos I have taken over the years can be useful. Carter
I explored Hanks truck site a bit, but I can't seem to find much in the way of older pics of these UPS drop trailers, so I'm gonna assume the Trainworx model is too new for late 70s ... Mark
Saw bunches of these on the EL and early CR. EL had a dedicated UPS train (CX-99 west and 2nd NY-100 east) usually about 100 trailers. It continued on the old EL for some time after CR formed. As of 1976, mostly drop bottom. Frank
The patterns of the FlexiVans flatcars are complete. The patterns for the Vans are also complete - but as we do not produce in plastic, we are looking for a small manufacturer to produce the trailers so that we can release the trailers and flatcars simultaneously [or as close as we can get to that]. We will be manufacturing the pre-production flat cars in June, ready for the release in the Fall. I will let everyone know first on TrainBoard. Peter Peter Harris N Scale Kits N Scale Kits
