KASGRO 400 Ton, 16 Axle, 40′ Depressed Center, Heavy Duty Flat Car

PROTOTYPE

For the first time in the hobby, Railfan Models presents the HO scale, 400 Ton, 16 axle depressed deck flat car.  The prototype car is almost 149’ long and rides on eight 100 ton trucks with 36” wheels.  The depressed deck measures 40’ long by 9′ wide .  There are 7 cars in this series to date, with road numbers KRL 164000 through 1640006.  Manufacturing began in 2014 and wrapped up in 2019.  These cars are kept busy hauling large gas turbines and transformers.

All of the cars are painted red and owned by Kasgro with the exception of 164000, which is painted a light blue as shown below and owned by UTC Overseas.

HO SCALE MODEL

There are many long thin parts with this car, so each of the 6 span bolsters and the car body are designed with metal plates imbedded inside to provide plenty of stiffness.  Like our previous 12 axle cars, magnets are also embedded in the lower deck to hold loads securely to the deck.  Loads are sold separately near the bottom of this page.

Our model measures an impressive 20 ¾ inches between the coupler faces.  With a car this long, the overhang in curves is more pronounced than our 12 axle cars.  While this car is capable of negotiating 24” radius curves without issue, it will look much better on broader curves.  On double track curves with 3 inch spacing, the car has no issues passing cars on the adjacent track.

The model is only available as a kit at this time.  Kits are $290 and include everything you need to complete the car as shown above except paint, glue and a few hand tools.  While there are 7 cars in the series, our decal sheet could only hold 5 car numbers.  Each car has the road number on both sides of each truck, one side of each span bolster and 4 places on the body for a total of 26 decals just for the road numbers.

Kit Features

  • Strong polymer plastic body, end platforms, and span bolsters
  • Span bolsters and body have metal plate embedded
  • Body has magnets embedded to secure loads  (loads sold separately)
  • Span bolsters have limited travel to aid placing on the track
  • Brake System Details
  • Stainless Steel Grab Irons and Levers
  • Kadee “Scale” Whisker ® couplers
  • Smooth running 100 Ton Trucks
  • 36″ Semi-scale Metal Wheelsets
  • Masking templates for painting the white areas on the car
  • Fully assembled car weighs approximately 9.4 oz empty
  • Will negotiate curves down to 24 inches without derailing or losing stability with or without a load
  • Custom Micro Scale Decals with road numbers 164000 through 164004
  • Reflective tape from Smokebox Graphics
  • Kit ships in two boxes with foam inserts to store finished car in three sub-assemblies

LOADS

Two different loads are available seperately.  The first is a GE Gas Turbine that is shrink wrapped and mounted on a cradle.  GE has leased 164001 and 164002 long term for shipping some of their gas turbines.  The second load is a Royal Smit Transformer.

How to get yours?

To purchase any of our products, please send an email to info@railfanmodels.com stating the product(s) you want and provide your shipping address.  We will send you a PayPal invoice with the product(s) and shipping total.  US domestic orders will ship USPS First Class or Priority mail if over 16 oz.  For international orders, we will provide you a quote using USPS International Mail, or Fed Ex/UPS if you prefer those carriers, prior to sending the PayPal invoice.  As we tend to have a backlog of orders, we will provide you the estimated ship date at the time of your request.