MTL 60' RPO looks great

[Robbman]

(I reserve that for friends here that I've hung out with in person and who will take it the right way.) 

Oh... so I'm a friend now... douchebag

[Chulvis]

If you can stand the heat, welcome to the kitchen.

This is a community kitchen. Please bear that in mind.

[oakcreekco]

If you can stand the heat, welcome to the kitchen.

This is a community kitchen. Please bear that in mind.

Careful Chuck............................some(one) may "debate" that statement

[up1950s]

If you can stand the heat, welcome to the kitchen.

This is a community kitchen. Please bear that in mind.

Yup on that Chuck , hmmm Chuck Wagon comes to mind . What I intended to say is you are correct about the kitchen thing , as somebody usually will volunteer to stir the pot .

Entrees include but are not limited to ( Add your own )
 
Insult Burger
Humble Pie
Crow
Deep Dish O Crapola

[wm3798]

The passenger car that Chris posted is very close to the WM's steel coaches.  Many of these survived as MOW cars, and there are still a few kicking around to this very day.  I believe it's 836 that's down in Belington, WV.  It's owned by the WMRHS, and I'm sure some gentle prodding would get you all the measurements and photographs you need.  I'm not sure if it's 78', but it is definitely a single window design.  This would also work at least as a stand in for CNJ, Reading and bunch of other eastern commuter cars (Erie and EL f'rinstance).  And here's the baggage car that I'll pay top dollar for...

Here it is in color
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/wm/wm911922amh.jpg

So you could release it in both its original WM passenger garb, as well as in the oxide red as a perfect companion to your outstanding kitchen and camp cars (the silver one notwithstanding!)

I'm not sure if this one is still around, but there's a WM RPO at New Oxford, PA that is also in the public domain.
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/wm/wm-rpo-xxn.jpg

And talk about a big selling paint scheme... how about this?

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/wm/wm914140ags.jpg

This combine also went through several iterations, original passenger colors, conversion to a steam generator car in the early 1960's in pullman green (to accompany the business car), and finally this handsome application of the Circus scheme, used in excursion service in the late '60's and early 70's.  I believe it also served in the Chessie Steam Special train wearing yellow with the orange stripe and everyone's favorite sleeping kitten taped to the side.  Not lettering, but an actual cat.  This was one of the earlier applications of Velcro outside of the space program.

Here's another interesting variation to think about with your modular tooling...
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/wm/wm951635ads.jpg

This started out as an instruction car on the WM, wearing the same red/white/black as the combine above, but with all the windows plated over.  The green you see here is the post 1973 or 4 iteration.  I'm not sure if it wore any earlier or later schemes, but I could probably learn the current disposition of the car in a hurry.



Little known fact.

Anyway, the single window heavyweight coach would be a highly welcome addition to the fleet.  Now, since we've become your primary source for prototype research, as well as industrial and technical advice from Skibbe (who incidentally isn't here to learn... who needs learning when you already know everything? ;D)  Do we all get free samples?

Lee

[bbussey]

... Heck, every time Bryan walks by our booth I stop breathing   ;D  ...

That's the same thing Eric said after I had inspected the RPO for about 20 minutes on Friday. 

Looked at it six ways to Sunday.  Nice car.

[Puddington]

If you can stand the heat, welcome to the kitchen.

This is a community kitchen. Please bear that in mind.

With many cooks; not all of who are in agreement with the way in which some people express what may or may not be a valid opinion..... there's 1000's of constructive ways to say things - maybe these should be the first choice....

[JoeD]

With all these cooks and new technical advisers, I may have to run the presses all night )   Actually in the past I've sent out samples to run on different layouts to make sure things work.  I have a smallish test track in house that the tooling guys grouse about (it's so rough!!...that's the point) but it's always nice to know it runs on track that's put down by pro's as well. 

Like the idea of the single window coach.  Early on in my tenure at MTL I worked on doing a series of Harriman cars.  Always loved the look of those (thank goodness Wheels of Time took that project on) and they reminded me of my commute days on the SP in San Francisco and weekend trips to Monterey to stay with my Girlfriend.  The commute coaches were throwbacks to the early days of Passenger service and were the only cars I had ever been on with chandelier type lights hanging from the roof.  http://w3.the-kgb.com/dante/rail/ggrm02.jpg Added a fancy touch to a rather mind numbing trip day in and day out.  Plenty of head room too!  Anyway, the single window coach would go a long way to help scratch build a fleet of these  ;D  Checked out the link Chris included and was wondering how many of those schemes were prototypical?...or close enough.  Pretty soon we'll have the other 3 tools finished and it's about time to start making my wish list.  An observation car and a baggage car top that so far.  When things get closer I'd like some input.

[chessie system fan]

Well, here's C&O and SAL which are pretty close.

http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1014917

http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/spottswood/sp02209.jpg

Here's the place to look: http://trainweb.org/passengercars/

[wm3798]

Posted recently to the Alphabet Route website...  WM Passenger Car data sheets.
http://www.alphabetroute.com/wm/pd.php

Joe, I'll expect the full line to be done by next fall.  Thanks for your help!

Lee

[Mark5]

M-T pre-prod:

IIRC, due perhaps to lower mail traffic on N&W routes it was more common on the N&W for the RPO to only take up part of the car.

Some N&W cars similar in length to the Microtrains RPO:
Class BMF Baggage & Mail 1203 (This car looks closer to 70'+):

It seems that cars of this length rarely had six wheel trucks on N&W ...
Class M-1:

Class BMG #11


All pix from: http://imagebase.lib.vt.edu/index.php
I haven't had a chance to pour through my books on this yet though - hopefully this week.

Mark

[bbussey]

Are those Pennsy 2D-P5 trucks on N&W 11?

[Mark5]

Are those Pennsy 2D-P5 trucks on N&W 11?

I believe so. N&W raided Pennsy's specs where it made sense for them. This BEK is obviously built to B60 plans (different doors though):

[FrankCampagna]

IIRC, due perhaps to lower mail traffic on N&W routes it was more common on the N&W for the RPO to only take up part of the car.

Probably true of most cars. The Post Office had specific rules for mail routes. They would pay for 15', 30', or full 60' sections of space, depending upon the volume of traffic. I suspect only routes with major cities qualified for the full 60'. Most lines made due with a combo RPO/baggage/express car. It shouldn't be hard to convert one end of this car to an express/baggage section. I have a Wheels of time RPO, so might even ditch the cast on mail hook and model one with an open door. A lot of train photos and videos show passenger trains leaving with a lot of the crew visible in the vestibules and open doors.

Frank

[Dave V]

Are those Pennsy 2D-P5 trucks on N&W 11?

I believe so. N&W raided Pennsy's specs where it made sense for them. This BEK is obviously built to B60 plans (different doors though):

The B60bs originally did have those doors.  Pennsy added the porthole doors later on, IIRC.  So I bet they were identical at first.