NYC Rider Coach

[Brian M]

Looks great, Mike.  I've had this one on my to-do list for many years, and it's cool to see someone else build it.

-Brian.

[thomasjmdavis]

Here’s a fun conversion for the new MTL single window coach. I needed one to carry the markers on a Flexi-Van train.

(Attachment Link)

Very nicely done, Mike.

 If I understand correctly, the middle section held some sort of heater unit- but seems like unless it was a steam generator for heating several cars, it would not need to be that big.  Did the space have some other particular use? 

Also- did they use one end for the crew and the other end for passengers?

[brokemoto]

So a string of baggage and express cars with a combine tacked on the end?  That's pretty cool.  Lots of good information here.

That is pretty much what more than a few mail trains were.  Often, the baggage section of the combine served as the "working" baggage car, as the other baggage cars were often sealed.

If you will watch the films or look at the photographs of William Price, you will see that B&O #29, #30 and #31 were among his favourite subjects.  Depending on where they were, they had some interesting consists.  Often, they carried dead head cars, as well as the baggage cars, express box, RPO and rider car. At times, they used to collect cars to go to the Cumberland Shops for repair, then pick them up in Cumberland and re-distribute them along the line.  B&O usually used T classes on them (4-8-2), although some of the Big Sixes were equipped with steam lines and signalling devices to work them, as well.  There is even a Price photograph that shows an EM-1 as it worked a section of #30.  In addition, you saw doubleheaded Pacifics and Q-4s on those trains.  In the diesel era, usually it was E-units or FPA-2s, although you did see the passenger F-3s, and occasionally even torpedo boats, as well.   

The Baltimore-Jersey City sections of the Capitol Limited were often little more than mail trains with a coach and a first class car attached.  Those, of course, disappeared after 1958.

The Penn had an interesting Baltimore-Buffalo train that was mostly mail.  It had the usual bunch of baggage and express box plus an RPO and a few coaches.  After the coaches, Penn attached special box cars followed by a caboose.  The boxcars did not have pass-through steam lines, so they had to go on the end.  In its later years, that train carried lightweight coaches.

In the west, there was SP's #96 and #97, the SF-LA Coast Mail often called "Sad Sam" by the SP men.  If you wanted an "ugly mail train", that was your train.  It carried various express box cars, baggage cars, an RPO and a combine or a coach for the passengers and crew.  Power was usually Mt classes, although in its later years the GS classes worked it.  Occasionally, the F classes (2-10-2) also worked it, as SP Santa Fe types also were fast power (as they were on the B&O) rather than drag power, as on most roads.  In the diesel era, it was usually PAs.  In fact, the funniest looking version of it had all of those beat up head end cars, a HW coach (or even Harriman "sub") but the PAs  were still in Daylight colors.  For a short SP mail train, you could do #110, the SF-SJo local Peninsula mail.  Usually, it carried a Harriman baggage/mail and a Harriman "sub" coach.

[Point353]

Many roads simply attached an older heavyweight or wood coach/combine to the train for use as a "rider car".  In fact, the Rivarossi HW combine is based on a combine that ATSF used as a rider car on some of its mail trains.

A Santa Fe rider car combine in 1964:

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I dig it!
Who's end gates are those?

[Point353]

Who's end gates are those?

Rapido would be one possibility: https://www.walthers.com/etched-metal-pullman-end-gates-unpainted-pkg-8

[Lemosteam]

Good job on that rider coach.  Protobashes are always good bashing projects. Did you re-paint and re-letter or just keep the original lettering/paint, where applicable?  If the latter, how did you get the paint to match on the blanking strip?




The railroads used rider cars for the crews of mail trains, mail and express trains,  milk trains, and other such special trains.  It was a car in which the crew of the train rode when not having actually to perform work.  If any of these trains actually carried revenue passengers, they rode in those cars, as well.  Some of the mail trains did carry a separate coach for revenue passengers and separate coach for the crew. 

There were some mail/express trains that allegedly did not accept revenue passengers, but, if the train stopped there and you were willing to pay, the agent would sell you a ticket. You rode in the rider coach.  Baltimore and Ohio trains 29, 30 and 31 were like this.  There were times when officially, those trains did accept revenue passengers, but, there were times when the official word was that they did not.  Despite that, I am aware of more than one report that if one of those trains were scheduled to stop at a given station (the elective stops varied on those trains, there were some mandatory, though) on a given day and you were willing to pay, the station agent would sell you a ticket and the crew would allow you to board.  Usually, on the B&O, the rider coach was simply an older heavyweight.

Many roads simply attached an older heavyweight or wood coach/combine to the train for use as a "rider car".  In fact, the Rivarossi HW combine is based on a combine that ATSF used as a rider car on some of its mail trains.  NYCS was one of the roads that actually modified cars for this use; not all roads did.  NYCS used them on Flexi-Van trains, in addition to mail/express trains.  Many of the corrugated side combines that NYCS bought in the late 1940s also wound up serving as rider cars, thus, did not get sold to Mexico or Canada.

Milk trains that had rider cars often used a combine, as they would accept mail and express as well as revenue passengers on most of those trains.  NYCS and Boston and Maine used the combines on their milk trains.  Usually, the baggage end faced to the back of the train, but, not always.

@Sokramiketes outstanding job on the bash!

On the PRR, this was likely accomplished with the B60b "Messenger" car which was spotted by the pentastar under the REA text (to signify that humans were in the car) and had vents on the roof.

[brokemoto]

On the PRR, this was likely accomplished with the B60b "Messenger" car which was spotted by the pentastar under the REA text (to signify that humans were in the car) and had vents on the roof.

I have seen photographs of Penn mail trains where the PBM 70 was used as a rider car.  Yup, that Lima/MP car.  I seem to recall that the Penn had only four, seven or some small number of those cars, but, I have seen more than one photograph of their being used as a rider car.  It would be a convenient use for that car:  crew rider, accommodation for a few revenue passengers, working baggage and RPO car.  One car could do the job of three or four.

[Sokramiketes]

I dig it!
Who's end gates are those?

Use the Rapido ones!  I ran out, and to keep moving just used sections of GMM chain link fence.  There are more subtleties to the collapsing gates, but it worked in a pinch.

[Lemosteam]

I have seen photographs of Penn mail trains where the PBM 70 was used as a rider car.  Yup, that Lima/MP car.  I seem to recall that the Penn had only four, seven or some small number of those cars, but, I have seen more than one photograph of their being used as a rider car.  It would be a convenient use for that car:  crew rider, accommodation for a few revenue passengers, working baggage and RPO car.  One car could do the job of three or four.

That woud of course make sense too.

[Sokramiketes]

Good job on that rider coach.  Protobashes are always good bashing projects. Did you re-paint and re-letter or just keep the original lettering/paint, where applicable?  If the latter, how did you get the paint to match on the blanking strip?

Paint and reletter on this one.  If you don't care about the car number correction, you could save a lot of the paint.

Paint is Scalecoat II with a bit of yellow added.  Old John Pitts mix for pullman green.