Heavy Duty Depressed Flat Car for 1:8 Scale

During the 1950’s, the need for railroads to haul heavier and larger loads was ever increasing. While flatcars typically carried these loads, larger solutions were needed and what was produced were depressed flat cars. The version created by Pacific Design Shops with collaboration from Pike River Shops is a 58’, 3-Axle (Buckeye truck) depressed flat car produced by General Steel Castings during the early 1950’s. This car was used by many major railroads until late into the 1980’s hauling all sorts of loads such as large steel pipes, power plant equipment and transformers.

Measuring in at almost 8’ long and weighing over 250 lbs with Tom Bee Buckeye trucks, this is a heavy duty & detailed car for your railroad. The kit comes complete with over 50 CNC cut and bent parts that incorporate tab and slot construction to ease assembly. 11 gauge steel is used throughout the car for structural members and 16 gauge steel is used for the detailed parts. As with all the kits from Pacific Design Shops, a detailed set of step-by-step instructions are included. The cars come standard with steel end decks but can be upgraded to wooden end decks. The design of the car allows the user to change from steel to wood later down the roads with no additional modifications required. The keyhole slots on the steel deck ends are sized to fit 5/16” Link Chain from Precision Steel Car.

As neat as the Buckeye version looks, we know that the length and weight of the car may be too much to handle for some, so we went off the prototype path and created a 2-Axle version of the same car for those that want a detailed and unique depressed flat car. The length of this car is ~6.5’ over the couplers and weighs ~160 lbs.