Photo: Reading Depressed Center Flat Car 99048 With Gun Barrel


Bob Chaparro
 

Photo: Reading Depressed Center Flat Car 99048 With Gun Barrel

A photo from the WarshipPorn [sic] Website:

https://www.reddit.com/r/WarshipPorn/comments/kyy5is/1500x_1070_battleship_gun_in_bethlehem/

Click on the photo twice to enlarge it to maximum.

Bob Chaparro

Hemet, CA


G.J. Irwin
 

Reviving this thread as Micro-Trains has among its December 2022 releases an N Scale rendition of this very car, Reading 99048, and with a battleship gun barrel load included (assembly and painting required). 

https://micro-trains.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=63_64&product_id=4690

Sometimes the groups.io search works perfectly, as this citation came right up.  It's probably the first time I've seen Micro-Trains use a photo on Reddit as a reference, but say, ideas can come from anywhere.  Bob, thanks much for posting this.

Now, to try to find some information on Reading 9241, a fifty foot flat car that Micro-Trains is also offering this month as a companion "buffer car."  It's a Reading Class FMc flat built in 1937, looks like part of the series 9200 to 9249 according to the January 1940 ORER.  The image on Reddit does indeed show a flat car coupled to the 99048 but the lettering isn't visible. The fact that "Reading" is a common verb as well as a railroad name should make searches interesting...

George Irwin
Rochester, NY
The Unofficial Micro-Trains Release Report


Tim O'Connor
 

George

A gun barrel would not have been carried by that car. It would be mounted on two flat deck cars with a pivot
on each car for a really long barrel like a 16" naval barrel. AMB made a laser kit for these mounts for application to
the short PRR (F22) and MILW flats built for this purpose.



On 12/3/2022 2:18 PM, G.J. Irwin wrote:

Reviving this thread as Micro-Trains has among its December 2022 releases an N Scale rendition of this very car, Reading 99048, and with a battleship gun barrel load included (assembly and painting required). 

https://micro-trains.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=63_64&product_id=4690

Sometimes the groups.io search works perfectly, as this citation came right up.  It's probably the first time I've seen Micro-Trains use a photo on Reddit as a reference, but say, ideas can come from anywhere.  Bob, thanks much for posting this.

Now, to try to find some information on Reading 9241, a fifty foot flat car that Micro-Trains is also offering this month as a companion "buffer car."  It's a Reading Class FMc flat built in 1937, looks like part of the series 9200 to 9249 according to the January 1940 ORER.  The image on Reddit does indeed show a flat car coupled to the 99048 but the lettering isn't visible. The fact that "Reading" is a common verb as well as a railroad name should make searches interesting...

George Irwin

--
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts


Claus Schlund \(HGM\)
 

Hi Tim, George, and List Members,


Tim, while the load COULD CONCEIVABLY have been shipped in the manner you described, I do thing George knew what he was talking about.


See attached image...


Claus Schlund



On 03-Dec-22 15:43, Tim O'Connor wrote:

George

A gun barrel would not have been carried by that car. It would be mounted on two flat deck cars with a pivot
on each car for a really long barrel like a 16" naval barrel. AMB made a laser kit for these mounts for application to
the short PRR (F22) and MILW flats built for this purpose.



On 12/3/2022 2:18 PM, G.J. Irwin wrote:
Reviving this thread as Micro-Trains has among its December 2022 releases an N Scale rendition of this very car, Reading 99048, and with a battleship gun barrel load included (assembly and painting required). 

https://micro-trains.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=63_64&product_id=4690

Sometimes the groups.io search works perfectly, as this citation came right up.  It's probably the first time I've seen Micro-Trains use a photo on Reddit as a reference, but say, ideas can come from anywhere.  Bob, thanks much for posting this.

Now, to try to find some information on Reading 9241, a fifty foot flat car that Micro-Trains is also offering this month as a companion "buffer car."  It's a Reading Class FMc flat built in 1937, looks like part of the series 9200 to 9249 according to the January 1940 ORER.  The image on Reddit does indeed show a flat car coupled to the 99048 but the lettering isn't visible. The fact that "Reading" is a common verb as well as a railroad name should make searches interesting...

George Irwin

--
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts


spsalso
 
Edited

The barrel in the photo of the Reading car has the same profile as a 16" 50 caliber Mark 7 barrel.  The barrel weighed about 240,000 pounds.  That's within the car's capacity.

The support structure is clearly not meant for only in-house use.

And I note that there's still one rod that has to be installed--just laying there!






Ed

Edward Sutorik


Bruce Smith
 

Ed,

I noticed that you deleted the part of this post commenting that the PRR F22 did not have the capacity to handle 240,000 lbs. I'm guessing you realize that the PRR cars were built as 75 ton cars and upgraded by WWII to 95 ton cars, making each car's capacity 190,000 lbs and a doublet capable of handling 380,000 lbs. I think, for other folks reading, it is also important to realize that the capacity (CAPY) is not the important number, but rather the load limit (LD LMT) is the number that matters. On each F22 gun flat, that was in the area of  207,000 lbs, and a couplet (pair) would be at capacity at just over 400,000 lbs. Also of critical importance, is that the structure of the F22 gun flat allowed the entire load to be carried in the middle of the span, an unusual feature for a flat car. So yeah, when I see a model of a pair of PRR FM (50 ton) cars with a 16" 50 cal mark VII barrel, I cringe!

Regards,
Bruce
Bruce Smith
Auburn, AL


From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io> on behalf of spsalso via groups.io <Edwardsutorik@...>
Sent: Saturday, December 3, 2022 4:44 PM
To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io>
Subject: [EXT] Re: [RealSTMFC] Photo: Reading Depressed Center Flat Car 99048 With Gun Barrel
 
CAUTION: Email Originated Outside of Auburn.

[Edited Message Follows]
[Reason: misread capy on PRR cars--removed comment]

The barrel in the photo of the Reading car has the same profile as a 16" 50 caliber Mark 7 barrel.  The barrel weighed about 240,000 pounds.  That's within the car's capacity.

The support structure is clearly not meant for only in-house use.

And I note that there's still one rod that has to be installed--just laying there!






Ed

Edward Sutorik


spsalso
 

Bruce,

I am flattered that you have such a high opinion of my abilities/knowledge.  Actually, I misread the 190,000 as 100,000.  Which then comes in WAY below 240,000.  I then had a "you moron" moment, and consequently tried to do a correction.

I DID find out that the earlier 14" barrels weigh only 140,000 pounds, and would have likely done nicely on two 100,000 flats.  Subject, as you note, to loading at the car center.  The 18" guns on the Yamato class ships, incidentally, weighed about 320,000 pounds--don't know if that includes the breech block.  There might be a story or two about handling THOSE barrels in Japan.


Ed

Edward Sutorik


G.J. Irwin
 

Well, I can't take credit for knowing what I'm talking about, since it's Bob Chaparro who cited the original photo of the gun barrel on RDG 99048 (and thanks again, Bob!).

I can take credit for a "you moron" moment of my own, as the fifty foot flat car that Micro-Trains has also released as a "buffer car" to accompany the DC flat with gun barrel is painted as a Reading FMe class car, not a FMc class car.

--George Irwin


William Dale
 

Group, 
      FWIW, this particular car is being worked on in a 3D for us HO scale guys. It’s supposed to include trucks, but from the images the old Eastern Car Works trucks look much nicer.

 Billy