Review by Jason Quinn/model photos by Tony Cook
With tensions rising and the Cold War firmly in place, the U.S. Army needed to upgrade their tanks to meet potential threats. The result of this upgrade was the Patton series of tanks, starting with the M46 and progressing into the M47, M48, and M60, as well as the short-lived “heavy tank” M103. The first M46 was completed in late 1948 starting the “Patton” series of tanks service lives, which lasted into Desert Storm in 1991 with the M60 variant.
Up until 1953, the U.S. Army relied mostly on the railroads to supply flatcars for their movements. At the time, 50-ton and 70-ton cars were the mainstay of railroad fleets. With the heavier Patton-series tanks, the U.S. Army could no longer haul two tanks on one flatcar as they did with the lighter Sherman tanks of World War II. This caused a logistics issue, effectively doubling the cars needed to move tanks.
In 1953, the Army awarded the contract to produce 650 100-ton capacity six-axle flatcars numbered USAX 38016–38665 to Magor Car Corporation. While not as well known as some larger rail car producers, such as American Car & Foundry or Pullman-Standard, Magor had a long-standing relationship with the U.S. Government. Magor has previously produced cars for the Army and was a large part of military export car production (it was a principal builder of cars for Europe under the Marshall Plan). Magor is perhaps best known for its all-aluminum 100-ton covered hoppers, nicknamed “Big John,” owned by Southern Railway.
The brute-like appearance of these heavy-duty flats with their deep fish belly side sills, along with long six-axle Buckeye truck sideframes, made for a great subject matter for model train companies, as these prototypes were eye-catching and would certainly stick out in a hobby product line. In the early 1960s, this type of flatcar appeared on hobby shop shelves as an HO model sold by AHM. The car was designed and later marketed by Roco of Austria. Until Rapido Trains released this all-new replica, that now very vintage effort was about the only option to model the unique U.S. Army flatcar. That 1960s attempt suffered from the use of Talgo-style trucks and several other shortcomings.
Enter Rapido Trains, the hobby company’s release of this flatcar brings everything the discerning modeler could hope for! From the excellent, and perhaps best representation of a wood deck I’ve ever seen in plastic, down to the beautiful replication of the previously scarce Buckeye six-axle trucks, Rapido has hit a grand slam!
The details are abundant: top, bottom, ends, and sides – no area has been ignored. The bottom is where most of the artistry of detail resides, it’s a shame during normal operations it’s hidden. The non-cushion draft gear and under frame are well represented, along with all the brake rigging. The floor and sill are die-cast metal for optimal weight and performance. A feature I found of interest lies within the car side tooling. The side sills are strategically molded to have a relief area to allow full truck swing. All grab irons, coupler cut levers, stirrup steps, and air hoses are separately applied parts. Rivet detail and stake pockets faithfully represent the prototype in size and location.
Until recently, as I mentioned, the interesting Buckeye truck has been a bit elusive in the HO market. While Athearn, Roco, and Walthers have made this truck over the years, the details and accuracy of these older toolings leave much to be desired. For example, Roco’s truck is dimension-ally too small in every aspect. The brass market has decent versions, but those are mostly Buckeye trucks used under steam engine tenders, with many in that service possessing outside brake shoes… not to mention general scarcity of brass import parts of this type. Recently, Class One Model Works introduced an outside brake shoe version provided under that hobby company’s General Steel Casting depressed-center flatcar. This review’s Magor flatcar used a Buckeye truck with all internal brake shoes, and Rapido Trains has reproduced this truck sideframe well. Plain and simple, this truck sideframe tooling is great! And, in an unprecedented move, all but the late-scheme DODX and Amtrak variants come with both solid bearing and roller bearing variants. Yes, that’s correct! Every car comes with an extra set of sideframes! To be honest, I found it unbelievable that a manufacturer would include two styles of such a sought after truck… but Rapido Trains includes both…
Rapido Trains
HO-scale Magor 53′ heavy-duty flatcar
DODX (early repaint)
38457 199003A, $59.95
