[There are recent photos I took of the Queen Mary in Altoona on my
PRR page 4.]
(25 Nov 03)
PRR #470200 & #470202 4x(4-wheel) 200-ton Flat, PRR (MDC/Roundhouse, die cast):
(photo 23 May 00 and © 2000 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
{I seem not only to have never painted these die-cast antiques but also never
installed brake staffs and wheels!}
Maxon 87' 193-ton 4x(4-wheel) Depressed-Center Flat, UP/AT&SF/BN (E & P
Associates M87-2, brass):
(photo 23 May 00 and © 2000 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
Well Flat, 2x(6-wheel) Greenville (Alco Models, brass):
(photo 23 May 00 and © 2000 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
{load is a piece of 1½" brass sink trap tubing - but don't tell anyone!}
LV 56' Well Hole Flat, Lehigh Valley (Red Ball/Wabash Valley Kit #4321).
Atlas N N&W 2x(6-wheel) Depressed-Center Flat Car with transformer load:
(Photo by and © 1999 S. Berliner, III - 03 Dec 99 - all rights reserved)
(Isn't it odd that an N-scale N&W car carries a transformer that exactly matches the
trafo on Märklin's DB #55153 in HO?)
Minitrix #3297 N DB #980985 2x(6-wheel) Drop-Center Flat, Deutsches Bundesbahn,
without load.
(Photo by and © 1999 S. Berliner, III - 03 Dec 99 - all rights reserved)
Matches Märklin HO DB #55153 model; here's both together, wth the HO car's load
removed (HO 1:87.1 and N 1:160 scales):
(Photo by and © 1999 S. Berliner, III - 03 Dec 99 - all rights reserved)
I had been unable to identify the N-scale car until an Englishman sent me (08/09 Jan
2002) the information and this picture of a car, an older model, perhaps ca. '70s, that
sold in Dec 01 for 12 UK pounds (~US$17.25):
[Thumbnail image - click on photo for larger image.]
Odd; I'd noticed before, but it hadn't "clicked", that there are two sets of hand-rails
on each end of the N model, but only one on the HO one, instead of the other way
around.
Surely, someone made a model of that monster GEX 80003 2x(4-wheel + 6-wheel)
500-ton drop-center car at 154' 6" (30' longer than the PRR Queen set)
and with a 40' load platform, as shown on the main Schnabel page; if so, I want one
and will trade for it. I don't have to have every single Schnabel and big car
model made, but that particular giant sure does appeal to me!
Actually, someone has made a close simulation in HO; I'll load it in one of these days.
BIG NEWS! (Jan 2002) -
Trix, now the HO two-rail and N arm of Märklin, has just come out with the 1973
DB type Uai 839 32-axle Schnabel Transport Car {Schwerlasttransportwagen}, their
#T23994, decorated for Era IV. The length over buffers is
28-3/8"! (720mm!) and is the
largest HO freight car to date from Trix (who also just produced the Big Boy in HO
two-rail). It comes with a "trafo" load and the center wheel sets on the trucks
are sprung. The load is said to be mounted on the car with side play as in the
prototype but the car can also be used close-coupled (without the load); it was
announced as being produced in a one-time series only in 2001. And here, by
special courtesy of Märklin USA, she is:
(Photo courtesy of and © Märklin USA by special written permission 25 Jan 2002 - all rights reserved)
[That load doesn't look big enough (at ~6"/150mm or ~45'/13.25m) to justify such a
monster car!]
Märklin brought the Uai 839 out again in HO (in DB Cargo red) as their #48295:
(Photo courtesy of and © Märklin USA by special written permission 01 Feb 2005 - all rights reserved)
AND then brought out a #18820 Scheurle
type LS 250 28-axle dual road tractor set, the "Heuler" ("Howler") to carry that
same trafo load on the highway (q.v.).
(01 Mar 05)
Dick Gorman made these gems in N-scale (1:160!):
(Cropped from images by and courtesy of R. Gorman - all rights reserved.)
{higher resolution photos substituted 05 Jun 03}
To top this off, Dick sent a photo of yet another version he built on commission:
(Cropped from image by and courtesy of R. Gorman - all rights reserved.)
The smaller one is a more-or-less free-lance design and the other two are based on
the Westinghouse-Siemens KWUX 102 diagram. What beautiful work in such a
(relatively-) small scale! CEBX 800 in Z-scale next, Dick?
Dick would like plans/drawings for BBCX 1000; can anyone help him?
While we're at it, how about this Minitrix N-scale #T15184 Torpedo Ladle Car used on
the DB to carry molten crude iron? Built starting in 1967, it spans Era III and IV
and measures 212mm / 8-3/8" over
buffers. This model is being produced in a one-time series only in 2001.
Again, by special courtesy of Märklin USA, here it is:
(Photo courtesy of and © Märklin USA by special written permission 26 Jan 2002 - all rights reserved)
Actually, Märklin made this Torpedo Ladle Car in three-rail HO as a one-time series in
2001, their #48290 (also with two-rail DC wheelsets 30 4062), with a rotatable
bottle; the model measures 39cm (11-3/16"
over buffers and the prototype was rated for 380 metric tons; here (courtesy of
Märklin USA) is a photo of the HO car:
(Photo courtesy of and © Märklin USA by special written permission 26 Feb 2002 - all rights reserved)
I grew up wanting (although I never bought) the Comet Metal Products
AUTHENTICAST HO POLLOCK hot metal car and later realized there were
many other prototype slag and hot metal cars but never did collect them. They
are also called "bottle" cars or even (improperly) "ThermosTM
bottle" cars, in the U.S. Both Märklin, Trix, and Walthers now offer a variety of
these types of cars (and the mills in which to use them prototypically - but NOT
hot!). However, this one, the biggest I've ever run across, with it's array of
span-bolstered eight- and ten-wheel trucks (bogies), is truly outstanding!
"Truly outstanding"? So much the so that when Märklin came out with a
THIRD version in Z scale (!:220), I just HAD to get it; it came in in Jan 2005:
(16 Jan 05)
(06 Jan 05 photograph by and © 2005 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
What a gem! There is much more about this Z car on
Z-scale page 7.
Here is a pair of American hot metal cars, a "standard" 8-wheel type and a
very-large (32-wheel #207) one:
(from Railroad Work Equipment and Special Service Cars, Robert J. Wayner, NY, ca. 1989
[Thumbnail image - click on picture for larger image.]
They are otherwise not identified; I didn't recall that we even had such large
ones in the U. S.
Back to model Schnabel cars, here's Keith Gutshall's 0-scale model, styled
after a drawing in the Aug 77 NMRA Bulletin (?), shortened a little because he
couldn't find 6-wheel trucks. The model, which is made of wood and has
a large paper tube load, is 36" long.
(16 Jan 05)
(cropped from photo by, and courtesy of, K. Gutshall - all rights reserved)
Now, what is that peeking out at far right (red arrow)?
Additions to this list are always welcome.
Harvey Henkelman used to make heavy-duty rail equipment out of LEGO
bricks and many were (and may still be) shown on the
Brickshelf Gallery (as are some other things of mine). Here, as a teaser, is
his 12-wheel depressed center flat, from the side, which doesn't really give an
impression of its size, and an overhead shot, which does:
(Sep 00 photos courtesy of H. Henkelman - all rights reserved)
While not truly a scale model, there is a fantastic LEGO brick model of CEBX 800 on
Schnabel Continuation page 1; Harvey put me on to this one (thanks, Harvey!).
He's into other things these days (1:900 scale).
Here's a monster for you! It's a huge German WWII 80cm (31½")
railroad gun, sitting on 40 axles and used only against Sebastopol in a 13-day action
in which 48 shells were fired. It required a train of some 25 cars and 2,000
men for support and two curved tracks to emplace (it took up to 6 weeks) and train!
Commercial HO-Scale Model by Bodo Hockeborn, Germany
For more technical information about the gun, see my
ordnance page.
The Wehrmacht also built giant 60cm and 54cm howitzers-cum-mortars on huge
tracked carriages which were hoisted on split Schnabel cars for long-distance rail
travel; see my Ordnance Continuation Page 2 for
photos, diagrams, and the Hasegawa 1/72-scale model of the mortar, Mörser Karl.
Here's the 60cm rig on it's Schnabel cars:
(Image from Dr. N. D. P. Robinson's Railgun site.)
The same Reginan, Bill Tokaruk, who supplied some of the most fantastic pictures of
CEBX 800 in use, also made this HO model of the car:
(Cropped from photo of HO-Scale Model by W. Tokaruk - all rights reserved)
SCHNABLE and other Heavy-Duty Cars Miscellany {more to be added}
See the monster RR crane at Big Hooker on
my Big Cranes page; there's another in N scale, the
Ibertren (Spanish) #471 model of a heavy RR crane on which everything works
(at 1:160!).
And speaking of models and Schnabels and such,
Kibri in Germany makes a wide range of Scheuerle and similar giant road vehicles
in HO scale.
They also now make some Schnabel cars and hi-rail vehicles as well (Jun 01).
[Their Website is also available in
English (quaint, but English, nevertheless).]
My German RR friend, Peter Ziegler, advises (08 Oct 01) that you can find a
Polish Tragschnabelwagen and a
Czech Tragschnabelwagen.
Back ca. Sep 1988, I spotted this huge transformer {?} on a big Gerosa Trucking rig at
the LIRR's New Highway spur just northeast of Republic Airport (the track used for the
garbage container fiasco), only a few blocks from my office and grabbed three quick
shots by the fading sun of the load and rig and the drop center flat that had carried,
or was to carry, it. Being about to drive to Cleveland via Newfoundland and
Labrador (a 6,000 mile detour), I failed to record any details and, naturally, I can't
read the caboose number (the flat car is P&LE #961):
(cropped from ca. Sep 88 photos by and © 1988/2003 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
I'm NOT depressed, just feeling flat, sort of like I'm in a well,
as if my center had dropped, through, heavy,
split and loaded down - too much on my plate.
I need to shift my load and inch through, if my plate has clearance.
Only joking!
In a similar vein, if you have to haul a heavy load, here's where to dump it (from
Daniel Dawdy's "The Oddity of the
Month" on his Ribbon Rail Productions
site:
(Courtesy of, and © 2002 Daniel S. Dawdy - all rights reserved)
This is also on my Berlinerwerke Apocrypha page, under the Biffisch Schnabel coverage, where I stated, "The tow-bar is probably thermally variable, lengthening drastically with rising temperature, and those cans presumably carry additional water for flushing (oh, yeah!)." :o)
If it gets hot and really smelly, the UP could always do it this way (Berlinerwerke
modification):
[Berlinerwerke version of image © 2002 Daniel S. Dawdy - all rights reserved (but to whom?)]
BE SPECIFIC; SHIT UNION PACIFIC! - ???
Look also at the main schnabel page, et seq.
THUMBS UP!
THUMBS UP! - Support your local police, fire, and emergency personnel!
S. Berliner, III
To contact S. Berliner, III, please click here.
of this series of Schnabel Railroad Car pages.
© Copyright S. Berliner, III -
1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
2005
- All rights reserved.
Return to Top of Page
times since the counter was installed.
