Freight Car Snapshot #1

 Here’s the first in what will hopefully be a series of discussions about interesting freight cars I’ve seen in my railfan travels. Maybe even a modeling project at some point, too.

Redstreak Rail flatcar QUAX 88920 is seen at London, ON 9/18/2011. Note the toolbox for chain storage, the movable bolster at left, and the fixed bolster at the far end of the car. The car was eastbound en route to the US at the time after bringing a damaged PROX tank car (wrecked on the BNSF in Texas) to the Procor Sarnia shop for repairs.

I thought I’d do something unusual for the first subject: QUAX 88920. This is an 89’ flatcar belonging to Redstreak Rail, a company out of Colorado that supplies specialized flatcars for moving damaged cars, or other cars not capable of moving on their own wheels. The unique feature of Redstreaks’ cars is the tie-down system that was added to the car when they acquired it secondhand. This system consists of a set of rails running the length of the car that are used to position a truck bolster; it, and another (fixed) bolster are used to land the damaged car onto, after which it can be chained down. This provides a secure and reliable method to prevent further damage to a car while in transit. Additionally, it speeds up the process of moving a damaged car since there is no need for blocking to support the car, and the time to select a suitable car (commonly supplied by TTX or the damaging road) is reduced.  A set of chains and tie-down lugs are also incorporated into the modifications to this car, as well as chocks for locating the car’s trucks (since they usually accompany the car, and it cannot ride on them). Restreak’s cars are commonly used for tank cars or hopper cars, as they often require home shop for repairs rather than being able to be moved on own wheels to a railroad-owned repair shop.

Redstreak Website 

This would be a relatively easy car to model, as 89’ flatcars are available from Atlas, Athearn, and Walthers, and little modification would be required ( the QUAX cars have several minor differences among them that could favour using one model or another as a starting point). Strip styrene could be used to create the rails (if model does not already have them), bolster supports and toolbox, and truck bolsters could be sourced from the parts box (e.g. an Intermountain kit would be ideal since their trucks are in three main pieces just like the prototype). Similarly, the paint is one colour and would be an easy repaint from factory paint. The decals could be sourced from an alphabet set along with freight car data sets from either Microscale or other decal suppliers.

'Til next time,

Cheers,

Peter.