Rivet Counter N Scale BSC F68BH Finger Rack Flatcar, Trailer Train/Oxide Red/TTJX

For nearly five decades, the Bethlehem Steel Co. (BSC) F68-series of flatcars has served Trailer Train Co., crisscrossing the U.S., Canada, and Mexico hauling a staggering variety of loads. Introduced in 1969, the F68-series of 100-ton, 68’ foot long (over end sills) flats represented a new generation of high capacity flats. Extremely versatile, the basic design could be equipped from the factory with a variety of appliances… end bulkheads, “finger racks”, and wood or steel plain decks… to handle different loadings on Trailer Train’s member railroads.

The first production version to be built, the F68AH, was initially equipped with 10’, 11” tall end bulkheads with wood facing, wood deck with integral tie-down channels, and steel deck risers. These 100-ton cars came equipped with 36” wheels, trucks equipped with hydraulic snubbers (at opposite corners of the car), and 15” EOCC to improve ride quality, and reduce dangerous shifting loads. The first group, TTPX 80001-80245, were built by BSC between July and December 1969. These hulking cars were striking in appearance compared to smaller flatcars built only a few years prior. They proved to be successful, with additional groups of cars being built in additional lots up through the year 1974.

Well over 1,100 F68AH bulkhead flats were built before production of the design ceased in August 1974. And as with almost any rolling stock design with a lengthy production span, subtle changes crept into the basic design. While early builds featured an “H” shaped fabricated jacking pad at the bolsters, during the final two years of production, this changed to a fabricated box with an integral roping eye. And while all were built with transverse steel risers in the deck, this feature would start to be removed from the fleet after a few years of service.

While most cars featured a bulkhead face to face distance (inside length) of 62’, some cars were equipped with added bulkhead faces over the originals, reducing the inside length to 60’, 6”. And in order to accommodate Trailer Train’s new block “TT” logo, cars built from 1971 onward would feature a logo panel extension on their sides, with many cars still retaining this detail even after it was painted over in deference to the new stylized “TTX” speed logo, introduced in 1991. 

In 2007, TTX would revise their branding yet again, introducing a new maroon and black stylized “TTX” logo, as a nod to the Pennsylvania Railroad, from which TTX traces its origins. As with previous logo changes, the new logo is being applied to cars as they visit major TTX shops for repairs or repainting, with previous branding and/or logos “patched” over, with the new logo applied.

While many examples have been noted in service in recent years, including some re-badged with the latest TTX Corp. PRR Heritage logo, the sun is beginning to set on this venerable class of cars, with mandatory 50-year-old retirements looming for the oldest cars of the series. While the oldest examples may be disappearing soon, with over 1,100 built over several years, there may be one more chapter yet to be written in the F68AH bulkhead flatcar story.