Price: $27.90
Manufacturer
Micro-Trains Line Co.
351 Rogue River Pkwy.
Talent, OR 97540
www.micro-trains.com
Era: 1991 to present (2008 to present as decorated)
Comments: Micro-Trains Line’s new N scale 70-foot Husky Stack features a one-piece die-cast metal body, see-through walkways, and separately applied plastic ladders and brake gear.
Originally named the Well Runner by its developer, TTX Co., the 70-foot stand-alone well car – better known as the Husky-Stack – is a common sight on modern-day railroads. Built by Thrall and Gunderson to TTX specs, they were designed to carry 48-foot intermodal containers on jobs for which there weren’t enough containers going to the same place to warrant a three- or five-unit drawbar-connected well car.
Our review sample was smoothly and evenly painted TTX Yellow and lettered with the modern TTX logo, indicating a car repainted after 2008. All the printing on the car was crisp, clear, and legible under extreme magnification.
All the dimensions I checked on the model matched those on a diagram published in the July 1992 Railroad Model Craftsman. Markings and detail placement matched prototype photos of other cars built in the same batch.
The car weighed 0.7 ounce, just over half the National Model Railroad Association’s RP-20.1 recommendation of 1.3 ounces for a car of this length. Adding a container or two would help.
Despite its light weight, the car tracked well being pushed and pulled through the 10″ radius curves and no. 6 turnouts and crossovers of our N scale Salt Lake Route project layout. The plastic wheelsets were in gauge and the Magne-Matic couplers were body-mounted at the correct height.
The car is made to carry 48-foot containers. Though the prototype can accommodate 20-, 40-, and 53-foot containers, as well as 28- and 53-foot trailers, the model’s well is made to hold only a 48-foot container. A 40- footer or two 20-footers will fit, but they’ll slide around.
Micro-Trains Line’s new Husky-Stack well car will do a fine job toting intermodal traffic around your modern-day layout.
