(Sorry folks... I accidentally hit the send button before I was finished... so here is the complete version) :
O.k, folks... since so few of you have apparently taken time to either visit the web page I built for this project or actually bothered to READ what I wrote on the page, I'll reproduce it here so that MAYBE everyone can see my reasoning for picking this "shorty" auto-carrier as the project car... "QUOTE" Along about the year 1954 the New York Central Railroad converted one of its 53' 6" flat cars (possibly a GSC flat car) into an open-side auto carrier capable of carrying 6 automobiles. The conversion utilized a modified version of the "Auto-Loader" rack system built by the Evans Products Co. which was typically used inside of boxcars. The main problem with the Evans rack inside box cars was the slow process of loading each boxcar individually since the ramps inside every boxcar had to be lowered and raised to get the cars onto the top row. This auto-carrier solved that problem by having open sides for drive-on loading and open ends with drop-ends that enabled ALL of the connected carriers to be loaded by lowering the ramp on only the end car in a string, much the same way it is done today with modern cars. Unfortunately, and for whatever reason, the NYC apparently wasn't sold on the idea, and only ONE of these cars was built. The Union Pacific Railroad had some similar cars, but they were not the same as the NYC car. S-Helper Service already offers a GSC 53' 6" flat car that is IDEAL (bordering on PERFECT) for a model of this car. I have not been able to verify if the NYC car that was used in this conversion was a GSC flat, but it was the exact same length and had a very similar side and overhead profile. I have talked with Don at SHS about offering their GSC flat car with this Evans rack as an add on part, but he believes there would not be enough interest in such a car to justify production of just the rack system to go with the already-existing flat car model. So I have thrown this web page together to try and determine if, indeed there is enough interest in it to see it done. Since the SHS flat would be the base model for the auto-rack, the model would be compatible with BOTH HI-RAIL and SCALE track and models. So my fellow S scalers... this is where you come in. If you would like to see a model of this car done, all you have to do is contact Don at SHS and let him know that you'd like one... or two, or five or MORE! Yes, only ONE prototype of this car was ever built, but unless you're a prototype modeler, there is no reason this should prevent us from having more than one model of the car. I am, in fact, a prototype modeler, and a SCALE ONLY modeler, but since I have decided to model a fictitious road in freelance fashion, if a model of this car gets produced, I would just pretend that my fictitious road had a fleet of them. Check out the following photos and concept/patent drawings of this car : http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoLoaderArticle(Small).jpg http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoLoader.jpg http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoRack.jpg http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoRack00.jpg http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoRack01.jpg http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoRack02.jpg http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoRack03.jpg http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoRack04.jpg http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoRack05.jpg http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoRack06.jpg http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoRack07.jpg http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoRack08.jpg http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoRack09.jpg http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoRack10.jpg http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoRack11.jpg http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoRack12.jpg http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoRack13.jpg http://www.trainweb.org/seaboard/EVANS/EvansAutoRack14.jpg So come on S scalers... lets PULL together and get us a new model to PULL around our layouts! Contact Don and lets show him how much interest there is in a model such as this! "QUOTE" That (above) is the information from the site, but I also want to add the following... An auto-carrier of this type is an IDEAL model for ALL afficianados, whether you are a toy train fan or a SCALE modeler, due to its LENGTH. The length of a model is not a concern to a scale modeler (as long as its length is correct) because scale modelers have few to no limitations on model lengths. Toy train fans, however, due to tight curves in their track work DO have limitations on model lengths, therefore shorter models are preferred. So a longer auto-carrier, although maybe preferrable to all of us, simply would NOT work for toy train fans, who would therefore not be able to support (through buying) the model if a longer version was produced. So a shorty-type model is IDEAL... and this NYC car fits both the category and the need. It also lends itself far better to S than some model from another scale that needs major surgery to be "suitable for S." But hey, its no skin off my back, folks. I can (and WILL) scratch-build myself some of these carriers, and everyone else can do without. I was just simply trying to share my findings and, HOPEFULLY, benefit everyone (instead of just myself) by getting another, new model done in S... one that has NOT been done before.S. So you can let all the nay-sayers (those who don't like this model and those who would rather see YET ANOTHER boxcar done) sway your interest away from something that the scale does NOT yet have and could really be a very nice addition to all of our collections... or you can support the scale and chip in. Either way, I'm getting mine (scratch-built or bought). Its up to you if you want one, too. John Degnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] Doin' my part to push and pull S scale into the future!!! [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! 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