NTTX BSF50C COFC Spine Car - 5 Unit - TTX Logo Aged Paint - Square ATSF Paint-out
Specifications:
Curvature: 18” radius – 20’, 40’, 45’ any platform, but no adjacent 48’ containers
22” radius – 20’, 40’, 45’, and 48’ containers any platform, but 48’-adjacent will be nearly touching on curve
Best Recommended: 24” or above for 48’ containers
Weight (5 units): 9.8 oz empty / 15.4 oz with containers
Full car length: 34.75”
History:
In the summer of 1986, TTX (TrailerTrain) began development of new car that could efficiently transport containers of up to 48 ft in length over routes which did not have sufficient clearances for double-stack cars. Transporting single containers in heavy double-stack well cars was not fuel efficient – a lighter car design was needed. Dick Dawson was the lead in producing the design of the NTTX COFC cars. At that time, TTX was retiring F85 flatcars and wanted to reuse parts from the flatcars in the design, but their 70-ton trucks were the only parts to be of use in this project.
The car design for NTTX consisted of long center sills with transverse support arms (bolsters) at each end of the center sill, with container locks mounted on the support arms. End sills and side bearing arms were incorporated at the articulated connections. Initially, the design was to carry 48’, 45’, and 40’ containers, but TTX wanted to reach a larger number of customers, so they decided to include 20’ container capability into the final design.
Due to the requirement for accommodating 20’ containers which could weigh 52,900 lbs each, the 70 ton trucks would not be sufficient for having 20’ containers on adjoining units, and thus the final design was to have mid-unit 20’ container supports on only the #1 (B), #3 (D), and #5 (A) units for the ability to carry the 20’ containers and to avoid having to purchase new 100-ton trucks. The center supports of the B, D, and A units were equipped with rotational side guides that would be raised to properly contain 8’-0” wide containers, while the fixed outer guides were spaced for 8’-6” wide containers. The #2 (C) and #4 (E) units would not be configured to carry 20’ containers.
During the design/build period for the NTTX project, ICG had an incident where a 20’ container experienced a bottom blow-out from a super heavy load that dropped a steel coil onto the tracks, derailing the train. To prevent a similar occurrence with these center-sill style cars, new AAR requirements emerged, and a longitudinal outer rail superstructure was added to the cars to prevent bottom blow-outs from dropping to the rail, giving the cars their final “waffle” style appearance. Based on this design TTX referred to the NTTX series of cars as the first “spine” cars, as earlier truck trailer carriers such as ATSF 10-packs and Thrall Arc-5 cars were referred to as “skeleton” cars with their tire support platforms and minimal car structure.
Braking requirements for the NTTX cars, due to heavy overall loading, required ABD valves and separate air reservoirs on each of the B, D, and A units. Hand braking requirements needed to have the B, C, and D units mechanically tied together for sufficient braking levels. The hand brake was located on the B unit end sill facing outward. The NTTX cars were the first cars to use the Misner truck-mounted brake system developed by TTX.
TTX decided that a number of car builders would be engaged to build the new NTTX cars. TTX developed the performance specifications for the cars, but required the interested companies to develop their own specific design and gain AAR approval on their own. Trinity Industries and Bethlehem Steel Corporation expressed interest in providing cars. The two builders differed somewhat in their designs. Due to the need to support half the weight of 20’ containers on the A, B, and D units, a larger fishbelly design for the center sill would be required. For the C and E units, container weight would be supported near the truck at the container support arms, so a straight beam would be sufficient for those units.
BSC opted to use straight beams for their C and E units, while Trinity used fishbelly beams for all five units for the sake of common parts for all car units. The side bearing support arms at the end of each car body required adequate clearance to clear each other on track curves. Each company created their own design for this requirement leading to two completely different car looks. Trinity opted for a triangular shape protruding from the container support arms, while BSC chose a design where the arms looked like tuning forks with a smaller one inside of a larger one. Given the visual differences between car styles, it was easy to determine the car builder at a glance. A third builder, Hyundai also entered a design to TTX that closely resembled the Trinity-built cars.
Trinity built their prototype cars in late 1986 and early 1987, while BSC delivered their prototypes in April 1987. Hyundai provided their prototype test car in September 1987. Trinity-built cars were designated RSF50 and they delivered 144 cars between March of 1987 and April of 1989 numbered NTTX 66000-66139 (and 110025-110028). BSC delivered 201 cars designated BSF50 through BSF50D from August 1987 to December 1988 numbered 67000-67199 (and 110029). Hyundai produced 11 cars designated YSF50 between April and June of 1988 numbered NTTX 68000-68009 (and 110030). Prototype car numbers are shown in parentheses.
NTTX cars were fairly trouble-free. The cars came equipped with anti-pilferage devices which could be flipped up into position to prevent container doors from being opened. These were located at either end of each car section, with a set each for 40’ containers, 45’containers, and fixed vertical plates for 48’ containers that were welded to the car deck. These devices sustained damage if left raised while a longer container was being loaded, so they were eventually removed.
Even though these cars performed as specified, they could not compete with double-stacks on a cost basis or for the number of containers per given train length. As railroads began to increase their tunnel clearances, either by notching tunnels or lowering rail height in the tunnels, the NTTX cars became less useful. The replacement of 48’ containers by 53’ containers for most all domestic intermodal traffic was the final blow for the NTTX cars. Retirement of the cars began in 2007 and all cars were gone by 2014.
Classonemodelworks.com is offering this model of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation series of NTTX cars in the 67000-67199 series. These cars represent the BSC design of fishbelly sills on the A, B and D units and straight beams on the C and E units. These cars are packed with an incredible amount of detail and are engineered to recreate these cars in HO scale in exacting detail, right down to the channel structure of the blow-out racks, all of the anti-pilferage devices, and all of the intricate braking system with air piping and mechanical hand brake and levers. The main bodies of each unit are cast from metal to provide excellent weight and tracking, along with metal wheelsets. The anti-pilferage devices are molded in the down position, as are the A, B and D unit middle guide blocks, and do not operate due to the fragile nature of the parts.
The cars will come with interchangeable inserts for the container bolster arms. The cars are designed to fit most every container manufacturer’s pin set-up. They will be delivered with the set that has mounting holes for container bottom pins, but they will have supplied, in the box, a bagged set of corresponding inserts that have the container lock detail if the car is going to be run empty for any of the units. The inserts are set up for left and right mounting, and for car end (A and B Units) and intermediate container bolsters. The cars are equipped with a cup and pin connection system that mimics the look of the actual car connectors, provides positive unit coupling, and allows for ease of connection.
The cars will be offered in 14 different paint combinations to provide decoration choices for the range of dates that the modeler is considering. There are as-delivered versions for all five styles, BSF50, BSF50A, BSF50B, BSF50C and BSF50D, as well as offerings in aged paint ready for weathering. There will also be available cars in the 67090-67169 series (BSF50C and BSF50D) that were originally delivered with Santa Fe circle-cross stickers for ATSF service. After the ICC ruled that TTX could not designate “pool cars” to a single railroad, the stickers were either removed or painted out. There will be cars offered in aged paint denoting the paint-outs for the ATSF stickers and for the change from TrailerTrain logos to TTX logos. The ATSF sticker paint-outs will be provided as circle paint-outs (or removals) and square paint-outs per the prototype car. Multiple car numbers will be available for nearly every style/color variation.
These cars represent a prototype that was a common sight on intermodal trains during the late 80s, 90s, and early 2000s and will be a welcome addition to intermodal modelers of that era. Classonemodelworks.com will also be offering a variety of 20’ and 40’ CIMC corrugated sea containers with paint schemes common to that era and some other more modern schemes from which to choose. These containers will be offered separately, in conjunction with the NTTX release.
