DECALS, 50' TOFC FLAT CARS 60045 to 60057

TOFC flat cars 60045 to 60057, 13 cars, 52-0 long of 140,000-pound capacity were built in 1945 as plain flat cars 66000 to 66249 with straight side sills and fish belly center sills. Cars 60050 to 60057 were converted to TOFC service in 1954 and cars 60045 to 60049 were converted in 1955, both lots by adding tie down chains and rub rails on the flat car deck attached to the original stake pockets. All were equipped with friction bearing trucks and were set up to handle two 24 foot single axle trailers or one dual axle 40 foot trailer. 

These 140,000-pound capacity cars were in demand as flat cars and their 140,000-pound carrying capacity was wasted in TOFC service. They were removed from TOFC service and returned to service as plain flat cars between 1959 and 1965.

The good thing about the nominal 50 foot cars is that they were a low cost, low risk way to enter the TOFC business. The bad thing was that the tare weight was very high for the loads they were intended to carry.

All other GN nominal 50' TOFC cars were converted from cars built by Pacific Car & Foundry. The PC&F cars had fish belly side sills.  We have decals for these cars in the store as separate items.

The ACF retractable hitch was introduced in 1955, which saved much labor in loading and unloading TOFC cars. We know that these particular cars were returned to plain flat cars, probably between 1960 and 1961. We can not determine when the GN adopted the ACF hitch for retrofit of existing TOFC cars. We do not know if these specific cars ever got the ACF hitch, but suspect they returned to plain flats without ever being equipped with the ACF hitch. 

Body color of these cars was mineral red. 

Use Chad Boas 66000 series car as starting point to kitbash these cars.

See:

RS 76 Great Northern 52ft. flat cars series 66000.

RS 81 Great Northern Piggyback Operations, 1954-1970.

Cars GN 60045 to 60057, 1957 Freight Car Diagram Book

Cars GN 60060 to 60299, 1968 Freight Car Diagram Book

Scott R. Thompson, Great Northern Equipment Color Pictorial Book 2 pages 114-115.