Freightliner container flats

[PenrithBeacon]

From time to time I do a spot of observation beside a railway line and I'm struck by the variety of freight liner container flats.

 

I get the impression that there isn't a lot of availability of 4mm models either RTR or kit, but can anyone recommend a reference book?

 

Regards

[Fat Controller]

'Life and Times of Freightliner' by Michael J Collins gives an overview into the late 1980s/ early 1990s. After that, there's ' Rail freight since 1968- Containers, cars and special traffics' by Paul Shannon, and some bits of 'BR air-braked wagons in colour' by David Ratcliffe.

On the net, Paul Barlett's site has some photos, as does this one:-

http://ukrailwaypics.smugmug.com/UKRailRollingstock

[PenrithBeacon]

Thank you for that, most appreciated

 

Regards

[PenrithBeacon]

See

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords='Life%20and%20Times%20of%20Freightliner'%20by%20Michael%20J%20Collins%20

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Rail+freight+since+1968-+Containers%2C+cars+and+special+traffics'+by+Paul+Shannon&rh=n%3A266239%2Ck%3ARail+freight+since+1968-+Containers%5Cc+cars+and+special+traffics'+by+Paul+Shannon

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords='BR+air-braked+wagons+in+colour'+by+David+Ratcliffe.&rh=n%3A266239%2Ck%3A'BR+air-braked+wagons+in+colour'+by+David+Ratcliffe.

 

All are on order, but second hand!

 

Thanks again

[Fat Controller]

See

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords='Life%20and%20Times%20of%20Freightliner'%20by%20Michael%20J%20Collins%20

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Rail+freight+since+1968-+Containers%2C+cars+and+special+traffics'+by+Paul+Shannon&rh=n%3A266239%2Ck%3ARail+freight+since+1968-+Containers%5Cc+cars+and+special+traffics'+by+Paul+Shannon

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords='BR+air-braked+wagons+in+colour'+by+David+Ratcliffe.&rh=n%3A266239%2Ck%3A'BR+air-braked+wagons+in+colour'+by+David+Ratcliffe.

 

All are on order, but second hand!

 

Thanks again

Money well spent....

That said, there are a wide range of prices there; £13.38 over the cover price of the Ratcliffe book, even though it's only recently been published, and is presumably still available from bookshops!

[Glorious NSE]

They are all good books, but i'm not sure that many will give you the lowdown on current fleets, which change all the time.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wagon-Recognition-Carkinds-Martin-Buck/dp/0955827507/ref=pd_sim_b_1/276-5359904-9620157?ie=UTF8&refRID=034EVS2X7ZK7RWQ861NS
is probably a better bet from that point of view, but you need to keep in mind that no printed book can keep up with the real thing (and that one's already over half a decade out of date itself!) - In terms of intermodal wagons, anything dealing with BR days is likely to be either too general in outlook or focussed too far back to help with current wagon types. 

In (4mm) model terms, things aren't as bad as they were a few years ago:

 

Hornby - KFA 60' flat (Tiphook/GE private owner, used by Freightliner and DBS)
Dapol - FEA-B paired 60' spines (Used by Freightliner, GBRF and DBS <ex Fastline wagons>)
Dapol - IKA 'Megafret' (Low platform private owner twin sets used by DBS, DRS, Freightliner and GBRF)
Dapol - KTA 'Pocket' well wagon (Used by Freightliner)
Realtrack - FLA 'Low liner' paired low platform wagon (Used by Freightliner)
Bachmann - FIA/IFA 'Multifret' twin flats (FIA used by DBS)

Bachmann have also announced the BR era Freightliner flats, but that's not a lot of use to the modern Intermodal modeller (though there are a few in infrastructure use...)