# Flat cars



## ftauss (Sep 18, 2012)

I happen to also build scale models of various kinds, well collect them anyway. There is an overlap in the hobbies as virtually all armor and military vehicles were shipped by rail from plant to camps to ports of departureduring WWII. I have some marvelous pictures of long lines of flats hauling Stuarts, Shermans, Priests, 6x6s, jeeps, half tracks et al. 

Looking at Tandem associates and postwarlionel.com I find 3 flat cars 1877 which I would classify as light and unsuitable for armored vehicles, 6424 and 6511 which are indistuinguishable to me and the depressed center car which might be good for tanks if the center portion is long enough (somewhere I think I have a picture of Grants loaded on these). Most of these I believe were privately owned and marked, with military railroads generally for use on military reservations or destined for overseas use.

So I'm guessing any of these would be more or less accurate (within the bounds of Lionel accuracy). Are the more modern (recently made) ones based on these or did they make more modern ones based on contemporary designs?


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## njrailer93 (Nov 28, 2011)

mth sells flat cars with sherman tanks on them.


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## BigAl56 (Dec 14, 2011)

Excellent question, you have me thinking. Most military cars made in recent years have been reissues of 1950s era weaponry. I'm trying to think of any 21st century armaments that have been placed on a flatcar. The only one that comes to mind is the Lionel cruise missile car from the mid 90's.

I vaguely remember a space shuttle car but that does not seem possible. Parents today seem to be more peace and love conscious than into war so maybe Lionel has deliberately avoided modern war cars to avoid conflicting with our baby boomer 'make love not war' roots.


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## eljefe (Jun 11, 2011)

I've been accumulating armored vehicles (tanks, howitzers, halftracks) and flatcars to carry them for use on my military-themed layout. I was surprised that tanks have traditionally been transported on what at first glance appear to be standard flat cars, although they must be structurally reinforced to carry heavier weights. The cars also often have 6 axles instead of 4. Here are photos from WW2 to today...

This is the only one I've found using a depressed flat car. The caption is "Medium M3 tanks in an Ordinance Depot in England."










This next one is "Medium tanks ready for shipment from Marseilles to combat areas, 10 February 1945."










Here is an undated photo of an M60 tank on an Army flat car.










The rest show modern M1 tanks.




























I've been accumulating flat cars too, but I'm not picky. I'll put my tanks on whatever cars I can get! I've been able to get lots of the 1970's era Lionel "short" flat cars pretty cheap. Even though they really don't look right hauling a tank around, it's good enough for now!


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## broox (Apr 13, 2012)

eljefe said:


> Here are photos from WW2 to today...
> 
> This is the only one I've found using a depressed flat car. The caption is "Medium M3 tanks in an Ordinance Depot in England."


It may have been to do with low clearance, or just what rolling stock was available, but I would have thought flats would have been easier to come by... So I'm tipping clearance issues... They're chunky monkeys.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

A lot of firepower on that M1A2 train.


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## eljefe (Jun 11, 2011)

Can never have too much firepower!


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