Sleeper #2465

The 10-roomette, 6-double-bedroom sleeping car was at one time ubiquitous on the long- distance trains run by many railroads. Different versions of this basic car type were built by Budd, Pullman and ACF in the late 1940s and early 1950s. When Amtrak inherited these cars in 1971, they eventually chose to keep only certain groups of Budd-built sleepers.

One small group of 10-6s came from the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and although they looked very similar to the more common Pine-series cars that came from the Santa Fe, they did in fact have a few styling differences. After the conversion to head-end power, these cars retained their original names in the Silver series, and although none are in service for Amtrak anymore, one or two were leased by VIA Rail and still operate on their long-distance trains.

A very good model of an ex-ATSF Pine-series car is available from Walthers, and only a few minor changes are necessary to represent a CB&Q car. First, I lengthened the side nameplate by adding two strips of .005" styrene at each end. Make sure to use a non-solvent cement, since otherwise the thin styrene may deform over the fluting. I also cut two .005" strips to the same size as the small nameplates found above the windows, since CB&Q cars had these at both ends. After carefully sanding the lower half of the vestibule door smooth, I added an overlay of more .005" styrene to make a smooth instead of ribbed door. Finally, I added a drip rail above the doorways using .010" x .020" styrene strips. I also drilled holes for 24" straight grab irons instead of the drop style included with the model.

Because I had started with a car decorated in Phase III paint, I simply masked the window panels and airbrushed Floquil Old Silver wherever touch-up was needed. It might have been better to repaint the entire side except for the window panel, since the luster of the Old Silver is slightly different than that of the factory paint, but if you feather and blend the paint it should not be noticeable. I added custom-printed number and name decals, using pieces of spare blue decal stripes on the nameplate, then sealed the decals with Dullcote.

One other change that makes a difference in the appearance of the car is the substition of a standard 10-6 roof in place of the Pine-series roof with its large air vent over the vestibule door. However, it's not always easy to get spare parts from Walthers, so unless you have a scrap 10-6 sitting around, you'll have to live with the large vent. These cars also rode on 41-ND trucks, which I plan to convert from the available IHC 41-N trucks, but Walthers should eventually be selling their own 41-N trucks and Train Station Products now sells 41-ND trucks that could be adapted to fit. Also, at some point I will have to modify the underbody components following the different arrangement of the prototype appliances.

Click photos to enlarge	Description	Date
	Sleeper #2465 Silver Meadow rolls along North Creek on the NEB&W club layout at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.	4/26/05
	The car passes by the steep rock faces near Willsboro bay on the layout.	4/26/05
	Side view of the car at the same location.	4/26/05