Multiple Unit Well Cars

[beiland]

Multiple unit cars

Each unit of a double-stack car is constructed with a single well, but are often constructed with multiple units of three to five units, connected by articulated connectors. Articulated connectors are supported by the centerplate of a single truck, (often a 125-short-ton, 112-long-ton or 113-tonne capacity truck but sometimes a 150-short-ton, 134-long-ton or 136-tonne capacity one).
Also, in a number of cases, multiple single-well cars (usually 3 or 5) are connected by drawbars and share a single reporting mark.
On both types of multiple-unit cars, the units are typically distinguished by letters, with the unit on one end being the "A" unit, and the unit on the other end being the "B" unit. Middle units are labeled starting with "C", and going up to "E" for five-unit cars starting from the "A" unit and increasing towards the "B" unit.
Wikipedia

Is there a more specific name for these 'groups' of well cars that are joined by articulation and a single truck shared between units??

Can all of the 5 unit sets (HO models) be run as 3 unit sets?


Generally how long (overall length) is a 5 unit set,...HO scale??
(I'm looking to find out for my container yard design)

 

[santafewillie]

Can all of the 5 unit sets (HO models) be run as 3 unit sets?

Leave out the D and E units and you have a three unit set.

Generally how long (overall length) is a 5 unit set,...HO scale??

That depends. I would have to go out to the train shed and measure some. 5 unit sets from different manufacturers (the real guys like Gunderson, Thrall etc) can differ by over 25' depending on the design. Example - 5 unit sets designed for 53' containers are longer than 5 unit sets for 48' containers. Pull some sets out and measure them. Should be in the neighborhood of 41"- 43"

 

[beiland]

I was hoping to avoid having to pull those cars out of their new packaging at this time,...and I'm not so sure I have a representative model of each of those sizes. That was why I was trying to find a site on the internet where a modeler had played around with these dimensions.

I did just recently find this site that gives some prototype dimensions for various combinations of 53' cars,..
https://www.gbrx.com/manufacturing/north-america-rail/intermodal-units/
I'm not even sure if I have any 53 footers,...perhaps just 48's

I have two container yards on my layout, one on the top level, one on the bottom. Naturally they need to be 'condensed' in size (length), and the reason I am looking for the overall length of these 5 unit combinations.

 

[kjd]

The Walthers 5 platform well cars say 305 ft on the box. They have 48 ft wells.

 

[beiland]

From another forum we arrived at this,..

So it appears that a 5 car set of the 40 foot cars is 36.5", and the 5 car set of 48 footers is about 41".


Thanks very much guys, I'll provide a few photos of why I asked in the next day or so.

 

[santafewillie]

Most of what I measured in the train shed the other day was pretty much between 40" and 45". On many of mine I removed the drawbar and substituted couplers for easier handling and maintenance. I still keep the sets intact.

 

[CambriaArea51]

Most of what I measured in the train shed the other day was pretty much between 40" and 45". On many of mine I removed the drawbar and substituted couplers for easier handling and maintenance. I still keep the sets intact.

I did the same,the drawbar units got couplers. Easier to take back and forth to the club.