Lima container flats

[martyn]

@crewearpley40;

I used to be at sea in the Merchant Navy, and within my employer's group, I carried containers for Shaw Savill and PSNC; also on one run, Bank Line. The group was a shareholder in OCL, though I didn't sail on the Bay boats.

Later after being taken over by CY Tung group, it included Manchester Liners (remember the Triang Hornby model?), Dart Line, OOCL, CP (Joint service with them), CMB, and SLCS (St Laurence co-ordinated service). I don't model the 70s, but Dart and CP did get done by Farish. I've one of each for old times sake.

That's without the hired in boxes; and I couldn't get away from containers when home on leave, as my local port is Harwich Parkeston Quay, which at the time handled all sorts of lines via the Freightliner services; and over the river is Felixstowe......

I later moved into port management, and that's when I got closely involved with Felixstowe and to a lesser extent traffic to and from the Thames and Medway.

Hence my own interest in containers, even though they are after my modelling period.

Martyn

[crewearpley40]

Thanks martyn. I remember all of the above. I have CP, DART line, OOCL , Freightliner old on my layout plus zanussi, hanjin, Maersk and thanks for memories I used to see on the WCML. Chris

[njee20]

Thanks was only pointing out the containers in the photo to suit the era not suggesting gavin goes that route. Good links that idid not realise.  Yes . Flickr can be a wealth of info

Yes, but as I said I'm not sure they are appropriate for Gavin's era, they're more 2015ish.

What's interesting about crewearpley40's link is how much the shipping industry has changed since the release of these containers as models.

Hanjin went bust before the release of the models.
China Shipping, OOCL, and COSCO, are now the same group (COSCO), and are changing to those colours.
'K' line, Hyundai, Hapag Lloyd and Yang Ming are now trading as THE Alliance and ONE consortium.
Maersk and MSC are trading independently, but run a number of joint services.

Martyn

THE alliance is just that though, an alliance. The companies within still trade indeopently. ONE was the merger of NYK, Mitsui OSK and K Line, which was a corporate merger, that's a different thing. As you say Maersk and MSC also have a cooperative relationship, and IIRC there's another 'alliance' between Evergreen, CMA CGM and COSCO.

Hamburg Sud is still preserved as a brand name too IIRC, they're just a wholly owned part of Maersk.

I'd also say it takes a really long time for defunct brands to disappear! Repainting containers is not exactly high on the agenda for shipping companies! Maersk have somewhere in the region of 10 million containers too. Madness!

[Trainfish]

.................Hence my own interest in containers, even though they are after my modelling period.
Martyn

Not sure where my fascination with containers comes from but I still have quite a few including those in the out of focus video below and lots lots more. I do also use the odd one which isn't 1:148 as I seem to remember some being slightly different in 1:1 too:

[njee20]

Yes they vary in height quite a lot, which is nice to try and recreate. The issue I have with 1:160 ones is the width, you get extra wagon hanging out of the sides!

I've got over 100 containers in my "spares" box, as well as 4 reasonable rakes, it's certainly an affliction!

[guest311]

did PM Gavin and offer him some 20' and 40' Farish containers from the stash, but never heard anything back.

[crewearpley40]

did PM Gavin and offer him some 20' and 40' Farish containers from the stash, but never heard anything back.

Alan. He maybe at work ( NHS) I think he maybe along later . Pretty kind of you to offer some containers. I'm sure like me we are after the wagons as well.

[guest311]

it was on the 3rd, and he has posted since, though I think he may have said something about card containers, so perhaps he's sorted.
pity, as I might have been able to help with his requirement for blue/grey carriages as well, as long as he didn't want mk.2s.

[gavin_t]

@class37025 thanks. I haven't read it yet as for some reason it doesn't open on the works computer. NHS budgets and all that....
I will have a look this evening and get back to you 

In the meantime these ripple lane workings from my era show what I am trying to achieve





Also I still see these tank style containers on the modern London gateway trains today. Any idea if anything like that is available in N. As shown in this 90s ripple lane shot.





Any how lunch is over so back to work 

[crewearpley40]

I was just thinking of those rectangular steel ? Frames carrying container tanks. Over to ..... @njee20 Nick any ideas ?

[njee20]

Tanktainers - Revolution and C-Rail did 4 variants, Revolution are out of stock, but C-Rail still have Nichicon, can't tell you when they're prototypical for though.

C-Rail do kits too, or N Scale Notes who I think has posted on this thread does 3D prints.

[crewearpley40]

Nick. I was thinking https://realtrackmodels.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=95  do these look ok ?  These are pricey   https://www.dckits-devideos.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=177_236_238

[Trainfish]

Those are Revolution tanktainers as can be seen on the video below from about 1 minute in:

EDIT: A better view of them here

[njee20]

Yep, that's the ones! I didn't think to check Realtrack.

[martyn]

At least some early containers were 8' high; later standard 8' 6"; later still 'high cube' 9' 6". The 8' high boxes included the 'blown' reefer boxes as used by OCL  (and ACT?) for NZ and Australian meat, and for the South African fruit trade; mostly through Tilbury/Northfleet (or Southampton).

Standard lengths are 20' or 40' long, but now include other lengths, usually for specific trades or companies.

I think the Ford containers as seen at Dagenham were strictly non-ISO at 30' long (two per container flat).

Google ISO standard containers, loads of info.

Manchester liners, and possibly others, also had open topped 'half heights', 20' long but only 4'or 4' 3" high; these were for very dense loads such as refined metals or metal ores.

There have been alliances and joint services, in number of forms, since the early days of 'deep sea' containers.

As an aside, the blue Cunard container offered as a download on the N Gauge society webpage, is not, i think, correct, at least according to ex Cunard staff; they were red, and Colin will be altering them at some stage.

martyn