Is MTH railking aquarium car "scale" ?

Tiffany

Um......

The term "scale model" indicates that a model is a precisely proportioned replica of something that really exists in the real world.

As far as I know there are no real world prototypes for the Lionel or MTH aquarium cars. 

Therefore an aquarium  car, regardless of size, would embody the definition of "toy".

Enjoy it however you like.  You can pull it with a Santa Fe 5000 if you like.  Or you could pull the new Atlas CZ cars with a Lionel Phantom locomotive if you enjoy it.  But questions about phantoms or aquarium cars are outside the scope of a discussion of scale models.

mount the aquarium car on a 50' scale flat car?

hello overlandflyer....

Now that is a interesting idea !!!!!!!!!! .

the woman who loves the S.F.5011,623

Tiffany

All RailKing boxcars in the 40-ish foot length are intended to approximate the size of Lionel postwar boxcars. If the car measures less than 2.5" in width, then it's going to look "off" in any consist of scale-proportioned freight cars, whether or not it looks like anything that ever actually existed. Even the wildly varying roof heights of mid-20th century boxcar consists the cars themselves were of a consistent width.

Generally with the RailKing line, the larger the prototype being modeled, the more the RK version is compressed from accurate dimensions. 

---PCJ

Chicago's Shedd Aquarium railcar "Nautilus."  There is a prototype for everything, sorta...

Rusty

sorta is correct... rather than just containing fish tanks lining the walls internally, if you were to fill a boxcar with water (10' x 10' x 40'), it would weigh in at about 120 tons.

Hello guys and gals.........

That's like 240,000 pounds and its weight, about the same as a EMD NW-2 switcher .

The NW-2 weight is 248,000 pounds or tiny bit more !!!

the woman who loves the S.F.5011,623

Tiffany

Get your scale ruler out, I always keep one handy

I don't worry about scale, I place it next to a group of car and see if it is close enough in size.

I do not run scale as I love the Big steam and Scale versions of those look odd on my curves.

With enough imagination, anything can be a scale model.

Well, technically....

You wouldn't have to fill the whole car with water... you could put 1' by 10' tanks along each side, thereby reducing the weight to about 24 tons.  There is no evidence to support the idea that the typical aquarium car is full of water.  When you look at a typical aquarium car, you can't see through it! 

Ed

Well, some milk cars were essentially boxcars with internal tanks, so hauling around liquids in this manner wasn't really a problem.  Of course, they didn't have windows cut into the sides. 

IRM ran a GPEX Pflaudler Milk car as a canteen car with 1630 for decades.  Both tanks in the car were usually over 3/4 full with water. 

Still, the Lionel and MTH aquarium cars are fun cars, no matter what the "scale voice" in the back of my head is shouting.  I'm actually hoping one or both make an aquarium car in S Scale.

Rusty