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J.B. Hunt Equipment
Santa Fe and J.B. Hunt joined forces in 1989, resulting in strings of J.B. Hunt trailers and containers moving across the Santa Fe on a daily basis. Here is a selection of J.B. Hunt
equipment I've upgraded and weathered for my hotshot Santa Fe intermodal trains.
Santa Fe and J.B. Hunt joined forces in 1989, resulting in strings of J.B. Hunt trailers and containers moving across the Santa Fe on a daily basis. Here is a selection of J.B. Hunt
equipment I've upgraded and weathered for my hotshot Santa Fe intermodal trains.
To deliver new container chassis or equalize equipment stocks among facilities, J.B. Hunt used these
interesting racks that rode on a container chassis and carried up to four additional stacked container
chassis. Below is a prototype photo of JBHU 900002 riding a spine car, which inspired my model.
chassis. Below is a prototype photo of JBHU 900002 riding a spine car, which inspired my model.
Below: My CSU model is "ad-hoc" - not exactly prototypically correct, but when loaded up with chassis it looks just fine. I started with two
spare 53' container floors with their "inside" surfaces glued together face-to-face. The idea was to get the chassis channels on both the top
and bottom sides, so the rack would fit onto its carrying chassis and the stacked chassis would fit onto the rack's top side. I removed the
outer portions of the combined floors, but left protrusions under the white vertical finger guides and at the front end. At the rear I used strip
styrene to fashion a bumper. I used styrene sheet, carefully shaped, for the finger guide outer plates. The fingers themselves are styrene
H-beams. I painted the whole thing orange and didn't bother to put any markings on it, though I could go back someday and add them.
spare 53' container floors with their "inside" surfaces glued together face-to-face. The idea was to get the chassis channels on both the top
and bottom sides, so the rack would fit onto its carrying chassis and the stacked chassis would fit onto the rack's top side. I removed the
outer portions of the combined floors, but left protrusions under the white vertical finger guides and at the front end. At the rear I used strip
styrene to fashion a bumper. I used styrene sheet, carefully shaped, for the finger guide outer plates. The fingers themselves are styrene
H-beams. I painted the whole thing orange and didn't bother to put any markings on it, though I could go back someday and add them.
Below: The carrying chassis is a stock Athearn 53' model. The four stacked chassis are also Athearn 53' units that I've shortened to 48'.
The prototype chassis were adjustable length and for transport on a CSU they were set to 48' length. The chassis are stacked in an
alternating up-side-down / right-side-up pattern, with the bottom-most unit up-side-down so it fits down into the rack's chassis channel.
This stacking pattern allows the chassis to nestle tightly together, ensuring the whole thing does not exceed height restrictions.
The prototype chassis were adjustable length and for transport on a CSU they were set to 48' length. The chassis are stacked in an
alternating up-side-down / right-side-up pattern, with the bottom-most unit up-side-down so it fits down into the rack's chassis channel.
This stacking pattern allows the chassis to nestle tightly together, ensuring the whole thing does not exceed height restrictions.
I have several of these that I use to load up my TTEX Long Runner piggyback cars. The containers are Athearn brand with various
amounts of road grime, wheel rust, and tractor exhaust weathering. A few of the chassis are stock 53' Athearn models, but several are
kitbashes. I had a 5-unit set of 53' containers, but I could not find matching Athearn 53' chassis at a reasonable price (they'd been out
of production for several years). But I found some 48' chassis on sale, so I cut them apart and spliced them back together at 53' lengths.
amounts of road grime, wheel rust, and tractor exhaust weathering. A few of the chassis are stock 53' Athearn models, but several are
kitbashes. I had a 5-unit set of 53' containers, but I could not find matching Athearn 53' chassis at a reasonable price (they'd been out
of production for several years). But I found some 48' chassis on sale, so I cut them apart and spliced them back together at 53' lengths.
I have a handful of J.B. Hunt trailers of various types from assorted makers (Athearn, Walthers, A-Line).
They're weathered to varying degrees with a few minor upgrades, including handles for the landing gear, mud
flaps, and painting the wheel rim holes and hubs which adds tremendously to the look of a trailer or chassis.
They're weathered to varying degrees with a few minor upgrades, including handles for the landing gear, mud
flaps, and painting the wheel rim holes and hubs which adds tremendously to the look of a trailer or chassis.