MicroTrains Expands Intermodal Offerings: Husky Stack Well Car Featured at Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show

Published: 2017-02-07 - By: Jenna
Last updated on: 2021-01-05
visibility: Public
While weaving my way up and down the many aisles of the Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show a few weeks ago, I visited the MicroTrains booth. There I had the pleasure of meeting Eric Smith, President and CEO of MicroTrains. Mr. Smith and I have exchanged many an e-mail so it was nice to finally meet face to face. Mr. Smith sat me down and shared some new product news for 2017 . . . namely the introduction of 3 new n-scale toolings: N 70' Husky Stack Well Car, N 50' Box Cars and N 73' Single Window Coach.

The car I want to talk about here is the first item Mr. Smith showed me and had me hold: the metal cast N 70' Husky Stack Well Car (Trailer Train Road #56606/9). This car is bright yellow with black lettering and a red herald on ASF Ride Control trucks. For some time now, MicroTrains has manufactured an 89' TOFC modified flat car for hauling oversized loads to modern auto racks and containers. But this new well car represents a more modern intermodal freight service product offering for the company. The car's well allows for the double-stacking of modern-size 53' and 48' containers as well as smaller 20' and 40' containers. The 70' Husky Stack Well Car was introduced by Gunderson Rail Services in 1990 and was the first non-articulated well car on the market.

Mr. Smith: Thank you for taking the time to chat with TroveStar and congratulations on the company's 45th anniversary of creating N-scale rolling stock and other products in the small city of Talent in southern Oregon, USA!

There are some issues fitting 48 foot containers into the well. We suspect that Micro-Trains's measurements were extremely accurate in calculating the width of the well, but that some of the older container designs were not so accurate. Unfortunately this has resulted in some containers simply being to wide to sit in the well without filing or modification. We tested Walthers, Deluxe, Con-Cor, Micro-Trains and Kato containers. The Kato's, the MTL's and the Con-Cor containers all fit nicely. The Deluxe smooth side 48's and the Walthers rib side 48's are too wide. We also tested these same containers with the MDC-Roundhouse-Athearn GHC model as well as with the Walthers Thrall well car, and the same containers fit well in these other cars.

You can see all releases of this body style in the N-Scale database on TroveStar here:

MicroTrains N 70' Husky Stack Well Cars