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FROGRAIL TRAIN GIF TUTORIALS

Correct Intermodal Sizes

Introduction

Container Templates

Platform Dimensions

References and Links
 

Introduction

An innocent question by Gregg Staley of the train_gifs@yahoogroups.com train gif artists e-mail list started quite a revolution.  Gregg was curious about the correct size for a simple container, because there seemed to be different sized drawings for objects that should have been the same size.  I was noticing a problem when trying to stack containers on top of each other, as the dimensions frequently wouldn't marry up.  As an example, a 40' container on top of two 20' containers should exactly match end to end.  They often didn't, which was not a pretty thing.  After some discussion within the group, artists began redrawing gifs to conform to the 1 pixel = 8.5" scale "invented" by Brian Clough. 

There were a few containers re-drawn, Ed Bindler drew some templates for containers (see below), Gregg Staley and Nick Wilson collaborated on a Maxi-Stack IV Gunderson well car, and within a surprisingly short time, the body of correctly scaled intermodal work has grown dramatically.  I have completely eliminated not-to-scale intermodal equipment from Frograil (and that was quite a few hundred images).

This tutorial really isn't a tutorial, per se, so much as it is an aide to help you draw correctly sized containers and intermodal equipment.  We present Ed's templates and then dimensions for the various intermodal equipment commonly seen on railroads during the past 30 years and up to the present.

Please be aware of the following:  Frograil will not accept intermodal equipment images that are not drawn to correct scale.

Container Templates

Ed Bindler, the Blu Archer, put together the following set of templates for containers.  Note that containers can be either 8.5' or 9.5' tall.  This is important to keep in mind if you intend to stack them.

8.5' and 9.5', Respectively

    Length Pixels
20' 28 x 12 or 13
28' 40 x 12 or 13
40' 56 x 12 or 13
45' 64 x 12 or 13
48' 68 x 12 or 13
53' 75 x 12 or 13

Intermodal Platform Dimensions

  • A well car with 2 9.5' containers is 29 pixels high.
  • A well car with 1 9.5' container and 1 8.5' container is 28 pixels high.
  • A well car with 2 8.5' containers is 27 pixels high.
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