Ztrack Intermodal is excited to announce Thrall 48' three car unit sets. The cars are permanently connected by draw-bars. The cars are produced for Ztrack by TNT'Z aka Tim! They are all brass construction with Micro-Trains trucks and couplers. The roadnumber is DTTX 25037 A, B, C. Ztrack is now taking orders for this set. It is a made to order special set. Please allow 2-4 weeks for delivery. The set it item #ZT-02-001. Price is $157.50 each plus shipping and handling. To order your set, please visit: http://www.ztrack.com/intermodal/index.html Rob Kluz
Hey Rob and Tim, I just saw what looked like this type of well car this morning on the UP tracks here in San Jose. The had what looked like a long refridgeratd very low profile container the full length. Sat in the well, no more than 3 ft above the well top.
Drawbar Thrall History! In 1991, Thrall started connecting their very popular 48' Stand-Alone well car into units of 3 and 4 well cars. The railroads found that using drawbars eliminated alot of slack in the couplers thereby preventing damage to the cargo. The drawbars were so successful that Gunderson also made units of 3 and 4. In attaching 3 Thrall 48' Stand-Alone well cars together, Thrall removed the brakewheel stand from the middle car. If a drawbar Thrall needs to be separated into three single well cars, the process would take approximately one day to complete. All of the bolt holes and hardware is present to easily convert the unit back into single well cars. Since TTX is the only company to ever have purchased the Thrall 48' Stand-Alone well cars they alloted a roadnumber for each well car purchased. In the event a drawbar is removed, the well cars will go from one roadnumber to three individual roadnumbers. But........ From every source I have read, the drawbar units are so popluar that none have ever been separated due to a lack of Single well cars. This is a good thing! Since their creation in 1991, a handful have been taken out of service due to accidents only! In 1991 Thrall assembled fifty (50) 3 drawbar and eighteen (18) 4 drawbar units. 1992 they assembled one hundred fifty (150) 3 drawbar and sixty (60) 4 drawbar units. And, in 1993, Thrall assembled one hundred (100) 3 drawbar and another sixty (60) 4 drawbar units. Those were the only years Thrall assembled their 48' Stand-Alone well cars with drawbars. How many are left on the rails? Good questions. Only data I can find shows that in 1995 two hundred ninety nine (299) 3 drawbar and one hundred thirty seven (137) 4 drawbar units were still in operation. 1998 is the last known statistic I have found and it appears accidents have taken a few more. 1998 had two hundred ninety five (295) 3 drawbar and one hundred thirty (130) 4 drawbar units. I have not found any other data. It has been over ten years since these numbers were gathered. Who knows how many are left! I do know this, when I first assembled the 3 drawbar unit shown in the photos above, I fell in love with it! Didn't think the Thrall could shock me, but it did! You are guaranteed to see a few of these in my Intermodal Yard. Hobo Tim
