Laes TA378 Gefco car transporter Roco

Brand - Reference

Roco 66544

Type

Laes - TA378 3-axle car transporter

UIC number	Revision date
23 87 427 3 125-6 P	18.7.94

Weight

155 g (NEM: 122 to 159 g). 213 g with load.

Comments

Era Va.

Well proportioned. It is difficult to reproduce thin metal sheets in plastic (walls, floors) and it is visible.

The wheels are too small, but good diameter wheels rub on the brake blocks.

Different topics on the Loco-Revue forum:

• Car transport in general;
• Wagon porte autos STVA & GEFCO ROCO;
• GEFCO, STVA, chargement, miniature et réel;
• gamos81.altervista.org for the list of car transporter models issued.

Modifications

• Ladders removed on the wheel brake side. Second brake wheel removed. Small gangways mounted. Central brake blocks milled. ⌀ 9.6 Luck wheels mounted.
• Nine Peugeot 504 Brekina and one 304 Atlas installed, stuck with Patafix (= Blu Tack). Note: at the beginning, I had loaded DS Citroen, which did not fit with the time. When I replaced them by the Peugeot, six years later, I could see that the Patafix had not attacked at all neither the chassis of the cars, nor the floor of the wagon.

History

According to Pierre Barbe, the TA378 are distinguished externally from TA370 essentially by two holes at the bottom of the central uprights.

Note: the name TA378 means Transport of Automobiles (3 axles), built in 1978.

Documents

• SNCF 1972 booklet (see description here), p. 28, from which is extracted the photo above. We can see a wagon loaded with Peugeot cars: two 404 saloon, one 204 saloon, two 204 estate and five 304 saloon.
• Loco-Revue Forum, post from Denis78, for lived experiences of loading in the 1970s.
• Advertising film on YouTube, where we see, in the 26th second, TA3xx marked Transports Citroën, loaded among others with GS, so after 1970.