Fred Klein
2001, 2002, 2003
These cars are about 14% too small in all dimensions when compared with a normal 85’ N scale car. They are toy-like and are not well molded. I do not use them because they look funny in a normal consist. The custom-painted N&W diner model shown below (not available from Model Power) may have had the original mold destroyed. Does anyone have original Minitrix versions of this diner car to certify its origin?
Coach. The combination of 6 large and 5 small windows on one side looks more like a diner such as Atlantic Coast Line’s Budd diner (see Some Classic Trains page 136) than a coach.
Model Power “coach”
decorated for Santa Fe.
Observation. This is a round-end car.
Model Power “observation” decorated for Santa Fe.
Dome-lounge. The closest match of this model is to Santa Fe’s “Pleasure Dome” lounge cars made by Pullman in 1950. However, the simplicity of the molding and under size means this model fails to match the prototype for use in a model train. Prototype photos are on page 15 of ATSF color guide to freight and passenger equipment and page 61 of Zimmerman’s Domeliners.
Model Power dome-lounge
car, undecorated.
Santa Fe dome-lounge car built by Pullman in 1950 for Super
Chief service, photo from rainfan.net image archives http://abpr2.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?february10/02-24-10/ATSF500_Joliet_IL_AUG1966.jpg.
Diner. This car was made by Minitrix but is no longer available from Model Power. I have not examined one of these models.
Custom painted Norfolk and
Western car from an Ebay auction.
Rivarossi corrugated
baggage-dorm decorated for the Golden State with decals.
Baggage-dorm car made for the stillborn Golden Rocket, later
used on Southern Pacific’s and Rock Island’s Golden State. This is a Pullman Standard car of 1947. Photo from page 224 of Some
Classic Trains.
Coach. Tom Galbraith identified this car as the Pullman Standard 52-seat coach owned by the Rock Island. Four were built in 1940. See Randall’s Pullman Standard Library Vol. 8: Rock Island. The car is similar to many coaches built by Pullman Standard during the 40’s for many railroads. Coaches have slightly different window arrangements at the ends of the car. It is probably a day coach because there are 8 long windows, and because often only 44-46 leg-rest seats (for over-night use) fit in a standard car.
Except for an extra end window, longer windows, and large modeled rivets, the car is a so-so match for the AC&F 4-bedroom /2-drawing room /4-compartment 1950 sleepers built for the ATSF “Regal” series (photos on page 12 of ATSF color guide to freight and passenger equipment and page 249 of Some Classic Trains). I consider this side of this model an acceptable stand-in. The modeled letterboards extend the length of the car without corrugations, which is only true for some prototypes.
Rivarossi corrugated coach
decorated with decals for the Santa Fe “Regale Vale” 4/2/4 sleeper.
Rock Island PS 52-seat
coach of 1940. Photo from page 38 of
Randall’s Pullman Standard Library Vol. 8: Rock Island.
Pullman Standard
corrugated coach built for Frisco in 1948.
Photo from page 144 of Randall’s From Zephyr to
Amtrak. This is an example of
a similar but not exact match to the model.
Observation. Tom Galbraith
identified this car as the 2-double bedroom /1-drawing room /barber
/observation lounge car (plan 4127) built by Pullman for the Rock Island in
1948. The car was for the Golden
State. See photo on page 71 of Randall’s
Pullman Standard Library Vol. 8: Rock Island. It is similar to many sleeper/observations
with boat-shaped ends built by Pullman Standard during the 40’s for many
railroads, such as MKT, Frisco, Santa Fe, NYC and RI. Detailed window arrangements vary. It is similar but not an exact match to the
Santa Fe “Vista” series of observation sleepers from Pullman in 1948.
Rivarossi observation car
decorated (with decals) for Santa Fe’s Vista Valley.
Pullman Standard 2-double
bedroom /1-drawing room /barber /observation lounge car built for the Rock
Island in 1948 for the Golden State.
Photo from page 71 of Randall’s Pullman Standard Library Vol. 8: Rock
Island.
“Vista Valley”, the PS 4-drawing room /1-bedroom
/observation car built in 1948 for Santa Fe’s Super Chief. Four were made. Photo from page 248 of Some
Classic Trains.
These models were corrugated on the lower half, but smooth on the upper half and roof. They were made in Germany by Rowa and later imported by Con-cor. They are out of production, but occasionally show up at train shows.
Russell Straw (Sugar Land, Texas) reports “The old Rowa Cars were mostly modeled after the Pullman built cars ordered by C&O after WWII. The Budd built slumber coach Rowa sold is the exception. Some of these cars ended up on a few other railroads because C&O backed away from their plans for expanding their service putting the excess cars on the market. D&RGW took some of the sleepers and some of the blunt end observation cars ended up on the B&O. Two of the coaches wound up on the SP. But C&O had some or of all of them so that would be the road to decorate them in. These cars were first imported by MRC, then Rowa sold them directly and finally Con Cor bought the line. Somehow the molds were lost and Con Cor only got a bunch of parts. CC was able to assemble enough cars to sell for a few years.”
Chuck reports “The dome matches the dome on the Pullman built dome coaches for the B&O Colombian. The window arrangement also matches. The corrugation does not. I think Rowa took the B&O dome coaches, and added corrugation, to match the other cars. I think there were only two domes of this type. I wish they had used the dome shape Pullman used for the Wabash, MoPac, and Santa Fe domes. We would have more to work with in bashing.”
Charlie Vlk adds a marketing perspective: “Note that the Pere Marquette, Nickel Plate, and other road's semi-corrugated cars look like the "C&O" Rowa cars but actually have more corrugations under the windows and so are not an exact match. The Rowa dome is simply a representation of the B&O dome with corrugations added to match the "C&O" cars. Modelers are just starting to accept product which matches the way the prototype was, not how pretty a matching set it makes (i.e., no Pennsylvania dome cars, mismatched paint schemes per the prototype, etc..). Back in 1970 it would have been unthinkable for MRC to offer a Budd dome (the only correct C&O dome) with Pullman Standard cars.”
Coach. The car is in two sections divided in the center. Fifty-nine coaches in the 1610-1668 series were delivered to the C&O by Pullman in 1950 for service on most C&O trains, including the George Washington. Eight of these cars were sold to the D&RGW. Good photographs of this car are on page 8 of Chesapeake and Ohio color guide to freight and passenger equipment. C&O removed the corrugations in 1967.
Rowa divided coach
decorated for Chesapeake & Ohio.
Chesapeake & Ohio PS divided coach of 1950. This photo is from page 60 of Chesapeake
& Ohio Streamliners volume 1.
Rowa divided coach
decorated for Chesapeake & Ohio, opposite side.
Chesapeake & Ohio Pullman Standard coach in 1969 (without skirts), from a photo on page C6 of Millard’s Chesapeake & Ohio Streamliners volume 1. A 1950 photo of this car can also be found on page 216 of The Railroads of America by Merle Armitage.
Southern
Pacific semi-corrugated coach in San Francisco Overland service in the 1960’s. It is in
C&NW yellow and green colors. The
C&O sold the coach to C&NW in 1957, which later sold it to the SP in
1961 for relief of a chair car shortage.
Paul Ludkens photo from Four Ways West Pub.,
published in the fall 1995 issue of Trainline.
Slumbercoach (24 single room/8 double room), 85’. Built by Budd for the Burlington in 1956 for the Denver Zephyr, the Northern Pacific in 1959 for the North Coast Limited, and the Baltimore and Ohio and Missouri Pacific in 1958-59 for the Texas Eagle/National Limited. The Rowa car is nearly identical to the Con-cor and Kato Budd cars, but the mold is not the same.
Sleeper, 85’. This is the Pullman 10-roomette/6-bedroom sleeper built for the C&O in 1950 in the “City of…” series, and 56 were made. Some C&O cars were used on the Pere Marquette. See photos on page 107 of Some Classic Trains, page 189 of More Classic Trains, or page 9 of Chesapeake and Ohio color guide to freight and passenger equipment. Cars were also sold to ACL, B&O, D&RGW (page 295 of MCT), and IC. The Nickel Plate also bought 13 of these 10/6 cars new in 1950 from PS, also named “City of…” (see page 415 of Some Classic Trains).
Jerry M. LaBoda reports “Judging from the built date and order numbers, they [the NKP semi-corrugated PS cars] likely shared the construction floor with the C.&O. cars, but were not a part of the C.&O. orders. They included coaches, 5 bedroom - buffet lounge cars, and 10 - 6 sleepers, most of which were later sold off before the line was taken over by the N.&W. Secondhand, A.C.L. obtained four coaches (NKP. 100-103 which became 260-263, S.C.L. 5250-5253 and then to Amtrak 5250-5253) while the I.C. obtained some or all of the 10-6 sleepers.”
Rowa 10/6 sleeper decorated for C&O’s City of Newport News.
Pullman Standard 10-roomette/6-bedroom sleeper “City of
Newport News” built for the C&O in 1950 (from page 189 of More Classic
Trains).
Pullman Standard 10-roomette/6-bedroom sleeper “City of Alderson” (opposite side) built for the C&O in 1950 (from page C8 of Chesapeake & Ohio Streamliners volume 1).
Dome car, 84’. The model car may not exactly correspond to a prototype, but it is close. The lower window arrangement matches that of dome cars built by Pullman for the Wabash, Missouri Pacific and Baltimore & Ohio, but the prototypes did not have side corrugations like the model. Pullman built a dome parlor-lounge car for the Wabash in 1952 for the Blue Bird (pictures on page 181 of From Zephyr to Amtrak by David Randall, page 130 of Dorin’s The Domeliners, and page 63 of Zimmerman’s Domeliners). The car was later sold to the Central of Georgia and then to the Southern. Missouri Pacific received four (and T&P got one) dome coaches from PS in 1952 for service on the Texas Eagle (photos in Domeliners: page 122 of Dorin’s edition and pages 62 and 65 of Zimmerman’s book). They were sold to Illinois Central in 1967. The MP and Wabash also had Budd dome cars.
Now there is a twist to the story. Budd built six dome cars (3 coach-lounge-observations and 3 sleepers) in 1948 for C&O’s stillborn Chessie streamliner. The Chessie cars were corrugated on their lower sides. Most of the Chessie cars including the domes were sold to other railroads, including the dome sleepers to B&O in 1950 (picture on page 32 of From Zephyr to Amtrak and pages 83-84 of Dorin’s The Domeliners) and the dome coaches were sold to D&RGW. These corrugated Budd domes have inclined dome ribs and do not match the dome or windows of the Rowa model, but the PS domes do match the model. B&O also bought two dome coaches (like those of the MP) from Pullman in 1949 for the Columbian (picture on page 85 of Dorin’s The Domeliners). The 1949 PS dome coaches saw service on the Columbian from 1949, after 1958 when it was combined with the Capitol Limited, in 1968-69 on the Cincinnatian, and on the Shenandoah in 1970-71. Like the MP and Wabash, the Rowa model is a close match to this PS car. The Rowa dome is an exact match to the dome on the PS B&O cars. I believe Rowa was unconcerned by the two kinds of B&O dome cars and merged the two by adding the lower side corrugations from the Budd car to the otherwise accurately modeled PS car.
The model dome is similar to but not as high as the dome on the Santa Fe “pleasure” dome lounge car. The model’s side-windows are not a good match to the Santa Fe car (built by Pullman in 1950 for the Super Chief), and the prototype Santa Fe car is corrugated on both the upper and lower half.
Chuck (Chipeta?) reports: “The dome part of the B&O Colombian dome is not like the PS domes used by Wabash, MP or ATSF. The body of all are similar, but the difference is in the dome itself. The C&O Budd domes were low profile, unlike the later Budd domes on the CB&Q, CP and CZ. The dome used by Rowa was the B&O Colombian dome with body to match their other cars. Dome shapes are Budd low(C&O), Budd regular(CB&Q), PS low(Columbian), PS higher(Train of tomorrow, ATSF, Wabash, MP), and the Kato UP domes. Body are a separate issue. In N scale there isn't a dome that can be used for the Super Chief (not counting Model Power) Train of Tomorrow (later UP) or others.”
Rowa semi-corrugated dome
car decorated for C&O’s Chessie.
Wabash dome parlor-lounge built by Pullman Standard
in 1952 for the Blue Bird (picture from page 181 of From Zephyr to Amtrak).
Rowa
semi-corrugated dome car, opposite side.
Pullman Standard dome-coach built for the Texas Eagle
streamliner (Texas & Pacific) in 1952.
Photo from Zimmerman’s Domeliners page 62.
Observation (blunt end), 85’. Built as a 5 double bedroom-observation-buffet-lounge by Pullman in 1950 for the C&O. I don’t believe this car was ever intended for the never-to-run Chessie Streamliner. Eight cars were built in the “Club” series and used on several trains by the C&O. Some of the C&O cars were modified for mid-train operation (see page 107 of Some Classic Trains). Some were later sold to the B&O, who used them on the Capitol Limited (see photos on page 42 of Classic American Streamliners by Mike Schafer and pages 104 and 106 of Some Classic Trains).
Larry Shankles adds some additional information: “This is a model of a Pullman 5 double bedroom, buffet, 26-seat lounge, blunt end observation car, floor plan 4165. Eight cars were built for the Chesapeake & Ohio. The C&O cars had diaphragms on the observation end. The four cars that were sold to the B&O were given running lights and a taillight mounted on the roof and the observation end diaphragm was removed. This is the exterior that Rowa actually modeled. The Chesapeake & Ohio modified cars #2500, #2503, and #2506 to be crew dormitory (3 Bedroom), 28-seat diners in 1961-1962. The two bedrooms closest to the buffet became the kitchen, the buffet became the pantry and the lounge became the dining room. The windows of the two bedrooms, which became the kitchen, were filled in. Rowa modeled this revised interior configuration. Thus the car is a hybrid, which needs to be modified to accurately represent any of the real C&O or B&O cars. The following is a list of these cars and their secondhand owners, if any.
“Lot 6863 ordered 11/1946 delivered 8/1950:
C&O 2500-Blue Ridge club, 1923-Blue Ridge club in 1961, AMT 8200-Blue Ridge club.
C&O 2501-Shenandoah Club, B&O 7502-Dana in 1951, AMT 3251-Dana in 1971.
C&O 2502-Tidewater Club, B&O 7500-Nappanee in 1951, LI 2000-Amagansett in 1968.
C&O 2503-Allegheny Club, 1925-Allegheny Club in 1961, AMT 8202-Allegheny Club.
C&O 2504-New River Club, 29 (Business Car) in 1951.
C&O 2505-Ohio River Club, B&O 7503-Metcalf in 1951, AMT 3252-Metcalf in 1971.
C&O 2506-Bluegrass Club, 1924-Bluegrass Club in 1961, AMT 8201-Bluegrass Club.
C&O 2507-Wolverine Club, B&O 7501-Wawaseee in 1951, AMT 3250-Wawaseee in 1971, Genesse and Wyoming RR ?, Montana Rockies Rail Tours Monterey”
Rowa semi-corrugated
observation-sleeper-lounge decorated for C&O’s Allegheny Club.
Observation sleeper lounge of Baltimore & Ohio’s
Capital Limited, which was purchased from the C&O. Photo from page 42 of Classic
American Streamliners.
Opposite
side of Rowa semi-corrugated observation sleeper lounge.
Chesapeake & Ohio’s Allegheny Club observation
sleeper lounge with a rear door for mid-train operation (photo on page 33 of
Randall’s From Zephyr to Amtrak).
These fit over 85’ Con-cor, Rivarossi or American Model Builders cars. While prototypically accurate, I have found the sides often do not include roadnames or other useful information. At present I only list the sides I have bought for Santa Fe cars, but I would like to get contributions to complete the list. Several corrugated sides are available for Southern Pacific cars, but these are properly identified on the packaging and need no mention here.
Harriman RPO 60’, part 344-0050. Fits over 60’ Bachman passenger cars. I have found several prototypes for this car: New Haven and New York Central had 4-window versions of the car like the JnJ brass side, and other roads had 3-, 5- and 6-window versions. Jerry LaBoda reports “the JnJ RPO side is quite correct for New Haven and B&M RPO cars”.
Southern Pacific ran a similar 5-window RPO on the Lark from 1941-1965 numbered 4117 (see photo on page 65 of Southern Pacific passenger trains volume 1: Night trains of the coast route). Walthers Passenger Car Plans (Wm. K. Walthers, revised second edition, 1973) provides several drawings for the 5- and 6-window versions of this RPO. Roads listed as operating this RPO with Harriman roofs are Southern Pacific (5-window; car series 4239-4241), Lackawana and Norfolk and Western. Roads listed as using clerestory roofs are B&O, C&O, C&EI, Burlington, CGW, Chicago and Northwestern, Frisco (5-window; cars 2041-2059), GM&O, Lackawana, L&N, Missouri Pacific (5-window; cars 2131-2142), MKT, PRR, SAL, Southern, T&P and Wabash.
Santa Fe used some very similar 60’ RPOs in the Pullman-built 57-79 series of 1924-1928 that had 6 windows instead of the four windows in the brass car side (see drawing on page 21 and photos on pages 22-23 of Head end cars, Santa Fe railway passenger car reference series volume 1). Central of Georgia had 60’ Harriman-style Pullman Standard RPO-baggage cars built in 1916 with three RPO windows that is not a bad match to this car. It seems you could run this car on almost any railroad.
JnJ “Harriman” brass car
side of 60’ RPO, attached to a Bachmann passenger car, decorated for Santa
Fe.
Drawing of 60’ New Haven
RPO with clerestory roof from Walthers Passenger Car Plans, page 24 (Wm.
K. Walthers, revised second edition, 1973).
Drawing of 63’ Southern
Pacific RPO with Harriman roof from Walthers Passenger Car Plans, page
75.
Santa Fe 60’ RPO #59, built by Pullman in 1928, it was
converted into a tool car in 1971. Photo from page 22 of Head end cars, Santa Fe railway passenger
car reference series volume 1.
Smooth side baggage with skirts, part 344-0010. Santa Fe bought 25 cars from ACF in 1955 (series 3660-3684) and 50 cars from PS in 1956 (series 3700-3749). Santa Fe also built more than 100 smooth side baggage cars in its own shops in the late 50s, and ordered 150 more from PS between 1960 and 1965. Baggage cars acquired in the 50s and 60s were primarily smooth side. The 1955 ACF cars were 73’ and did not have skirts (see photo on page 5 of ATSF Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment by Lloyd Stagner). The brass side is 85’ to fit a full size car.
JnJ brass car side
smoothside baggage decorated for Santa Fe. This should be regarded as a
“generic” baggage car because there is no side or rivet detail.
72’ smooth side baggage car ATSF 3681 built for the Santa Fe
by AC&F in 1955. Photo
from http://www.hebners.net/amtrak/amtBAG/amt1168.jpg.
Corrugated side baggage with skirts, part 344-0020. 18 were built in 1947 by AC&F for Santa Fe in the 3409-3426 series. Most prototype baggage cars were about 70-74’ even though the brass sides are 85’. Some baggage cars did not have skirts, or they were removed (see photo on page 4 of ATSF Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment).
JnJ brass car side 85’
corrugated baggage decorated for Santa Fe.
This corrugated side baggage car was built for the Santa Fe
by AC&F in 1950. Photo
from http://rr-fallenflags.org/atsf/atsf-x3463aeg.jpg.
Corrugated side dining lounge with skirts, part 344-0030. This is the 32-seat diner 14-seat lounge combination built by Budd for Rock Island’s Rockets in 1939 (see pages 218 and 223 of Some Classic Trains). Budd also built cars for the Seaboard Air Line in 1939 and Atlantic Coast Line in 1947 (page 230 of More Classic Trains). Unlike this scan, a model should have Budd’s corrugated roof. The car is also a close match (give or take a skirt or two) for the full diner built by Pullman for the Santa Fe in 1950 (page 248 of Some Classic Trains). The SF diners were numbered 600-606 from Pullman-Standard Lot 6851, Plan 7625.
JnJ
diner brass car sides on Con-cor diner, decorated for Santa Fe.
Santa Fe Pullman Standard diner of 1950, photo from
page 248 of Some Classic Trains.
JnJ
brass car side of PS 1947 10-roomette /3-bedroom /2-compartment sleeper,
decorated for Santa Fe. The streaks are from the scanner lamp. I removed the skirts to match the prototype.
Pullman’s 1947 10-roomette
/3-bedroom /2-compartment sleeper, one of 19 owned by the Santa Fe. This is the “Blue Flag”. Photo from page 8 of From
Zephyr to Amtrak.
Corrugated Pullman Standard 44-seat coach with skirts, part 334-0045. Santa Fe bought 51 of these “chair cars” in 1947 (2861-2911 series) and 34 in 1950 (2912-2945). Some did not have skirts (photo on page 9 of ATSF Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment).
JnJ brass car side of PS
44-seat chair car, decorated for Santa Fe.
Apparently this is the 1947 Santa Fe PS car, which is very similar but
not identical to the 1950 PS 44-seat coaches.
The streaks are from the scanner lamp.
Santa Fe 44-seat chair car (coach) built by Pullman
Standard in 1950, one of 34 cars.
Photo from Arizona railway museum http://www.azrymuseum.org/roster/2870.jpg.
Corrugated Pullman Standard 24-duplex roomette with skirts, part 334-0046. Twelve of these sleepers were built for the Santa Fe in 1948 for the “Indian” series.
JnJ brass car side of PS
24-duplex roomette car, decorated for Santa Fe.
The streaks are from the scanner lamp.
Corrugated Pullman Standard lunch counter diner with skirts, part 334-0047. This is the lunch counter diner #1507 from Pullman Standard that Santa Fe acquired in 1940. Although PS supplied only one car in the 40s, two came from Budd in 1941 (#1503-1504) and 16 more from Budd in 1948 (#1550-1565). A photo of the 1940 PS car is on page 5 of From Zephyr to Amtrak. The Budd lunch counter diners are very similar, but have two square kitchen windows near the door instead of the three windows on the PS car. A photo of the 1948 Budd car is on page 17 of ATSF Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment. Twelve more lunch counter diners arrived from PS in 1950, but these have a different window pattern than the JnJ sides.
JnJ brass car side of PS
lunch counter diner car, decorated for Santa Fe. The streaks are from the scanner lamp.
Pullman Standard lunch counter diner car of 1940,
sold to Santa Fe. Photo from page 5 of From Zephyr to Amtrak.
For a list of the books referred to, see part 1.
