The American Models flat car that will carry a semi-trailer has side rails at
one end only - the opposite end from the trailer hitch. The web site picture -
http://www.americanmodels.com/rolling.stock/46.foot.flat.html - suggests the
trailers would be side-loaded. Enquiry on the Intermodal Yahoo list reveals
that was rarely, if ever done.
The flat car American Models makes is well suited to TOFC service, but it needs
full lenghth side rails and bridge plates, neither of which would be hard to
make. And probably for more modern applications, lifting off and on by
piggy-packer or gantry crane can be assumed and the bridge plates omitted.
A reasonable TOCF train, or block of a train, could be simulated by a mix of AM
and SHS TOFC cars. It could be implied that the cars are circus-loaded, though
to create a circus-loading scene, you'd need to collapse the hitches so they
can be driven over. Both the SHS and AM hitches represent collapsible hitches,
but neither will collapse the way they should. The AM hitch is one piece, the
SHS four pieces that can be disassembled, but still won't represent a
collapsed hitch. The AM hitch with those side-rails can be bought separately
to retrofit any AM flat car. The AM hitch can be glued to any flat car, but
side rails for other brands would have to be made.
And remember that only in the world of toy trains does an AM car have to carry
only an AM trailer, &c. Trailers up to 45 feet can be easily carried on both
AM and SHS flat cars.
Tom Hawley -- Lansing Michigan
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