InterMountain - NSE INT 13-07 - Flatcar, 53 Foot AAR - Santa Fe - 91500, 91559, 91592, 91624, 91645, 91683

Specific Item Information: N Scale Enthusiast. ATSF FT-V. NSE INT13-07(01+02+03+04+05+06). AAR 70 Ton Flatcar

Model Information: The AAR designed 53-foot flatcar was an extremely successful product as a prototype. Prior to the release of this tooling from InterMountain, the only model of this car was a few small runs of the GHQ/deLuxe Innovations with their 50 ton flatcar. The InterMountain model is the first large production model of this prototype. InterMountain offers three versions of the car: a 50-ton a 70-ton and a bulkhead car. The car features blackened metal wheels and body-mounted couplers. The couplers, however, are unfortunately not MTL models. The underframe is detailed and accurate and grab irons are separately applied detail parts (wire I suspect). The brake wheel is mounted on a wire pole for added durability (though on my sample car, the wheel had broken off the pole...) The stirrups are molded on, but nice and thin. The deck planks and rivet detail all show nicely. The print quality is high quality (as we have come to expect from most post-1990 models).

Prototype History: General Service 53'-6" flat cars were constructed with a welded fish-belly frame. The fish-belly frame provided an optimal distribution of tension and compression forces from the center of the car to the bolsters. In addition, fabricating a welded frame was less labor intensive than an equivalent riveted frame. The welded frame proved extremely durable holding up to really rugged service where the wood deck or the nail-able wood-steel deck would need to be replace couple of times during the life of most cars. These flats commonly found it's way into maintenance-of-way service because they were still in good shape beyond the AAR interchange car-age limit.

A number of builders constructed these flat cars such as the Pacific Car & Foundry (P.C. & F.), Marine Industries (Canada), Pullman-Standard, Bethelehem Steel, and including individual railroad car shops such as the Milwaukee Road and the Southern Pacific.

They were designated as FM by the AAR mechanical people. They carried anything bulky that can't be placed in box cars from tractors to finished lumber.

Road Name History: The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (reporting mark ATSF), often abbreviated as Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. Chartered in February 1859, the railroad reached the Kansas-Colorado border in 1873 and Pueblo, Colorado, in 1876. To create a demand for its services, the railroad set up real estate offices and sold farm land from the land grants that it was awarded by Congress. Despite the name, its main line never served Santa Fe, New Mexico, as the terrain was too difficult; the town ultimately was reached by a branch line from Lamy.

The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport, an enterprise that (at one time or another) included a tugboat fleet and an airline (the short-lived Santa Fe Skyway). Its bus line extended passenger transportation to areas not accessible by rail, and ferryboats on the San Francisco Bay allowed travelers to complete their westward journeys to the Pacific Ocean. The ATSF was the subject of a popular song, Harry Warren & Johnny Mercer's "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", written for the film, The Harvey Girls (1946).

The railroad officially ceased operations on December 31, 1996, when it merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad to form the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway.

Read more on Wikipedia.

Brand/Importer Information: InterMountain was founded in 1985 by Fred Brummet. They got started in the model railroad business by producing O-Scale model kits. They got started in the N Scale business almost a decade later when in 1994 they introduced the 40-23 reefer car in kit form. Later, in 1998, they started producing RTR (Ready-to-Run) models. By the early 2000s, InterMountain phased out kit production in favor of the RTR models.

The InterMountain Railway company is located at 1224 Boston Ave in Longmont, CO. They are a manufacturer of HO, N and Z scale model trains. They have produced kits as well as RTR (Ready-To-Run) models. Their N Scale products include locomotives as well as rolling stock. Their rolling stock lineup includes Boxcars, Hoppers, Tank Cars, Reefers, Gondolas, Stock Cars and Flatcars.

Their locomotive releases have primarily been diesel units, with the one major exception being their series of AC-12 Cab Forward steam locos. Their diesel lineup includes F3's, F7's, F9's, SD40's, SD45's and FT units. They are known for quality and detail. They also release their rolling stock in larger varieties of road numbers than most of the other manufacturers.

Commissioner Information: Prototype N Scale Models, by George Hollwedel
2108 Buffalo Tundra Dr, Austin, TX 78754-5960
512-796-6883
proto.nscale@yahoo.com