MTL posted some Heavyweight pix

[bbussey]

The next series is not set in stone yet, but I do have my preferences...Single window Commuter coach, Business car with or without a deck...still noodling around that one.  A full size Baggage car or some sort of combine and a fourth yet to be established.  I think we are good with the sleepers...possibly a diner car?  Good to see the positive reception, makes selling new tooling to management a lot easier.  I have been working on my SP consist for a few weeks now, hopefully I can post some shots soon.  The further we get into this series the easier it will be to start mixing and matching tooling to fill in the gaps in prototypes.

A diner and observation are needed ahead of a full baggage, combine, and certainly a business car.  Business cars can be built from observations.  Long baggage cars are more rare than the 60' cars already available.  There never has been a good heavyweight diner available with all of the appropriate roof and underfloor hardware.   The commuter coach is a good choice.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The next series is not set in stone yet, but I do have my preferences...Single window Commuter coach, Business car with or without a deck...still noodling around that one.  A full size Baggage car or some sort of combine and a fourth yet to be established.  I think we are good with the sleepers...possibly a diner car?  Good to see the positive reception, makes selling new tooling to management a lot easier.  I have been working on my SP consist for a few weeks now, hopefully I can post some shots soon.  The further we get into this series the easier it will be to start mixing and matching tooling to fill in the gaps in prototypes.

A diner and observation are needed ahead of a full baggage, combine, and certainly a business car. 

As a prototype modeler, I agree, but business cars seem to have a disproportional amount of mass market consumer appeal, and I think it'd probably be a good money maker (especially if they did one in the CR OCS scheme, or as Strasburg's Marion, I'm just sayin...)

[bbussey]

An alternate interior and a more modern truck can be designed for a heavyweight observation model to turn it into a mid-20th century business car.  Any car with more modern refurbishments can be kitbashed from that model.  It's easier to turn an obs into a business car than the reverse, and most RTR modelers wouldn't question an obs decorated/marketed as a business car.

Modeling specific business cars, such as for the Conrail OCS, would require some kitbashing regardless of the model.

[Mark5]

For the roads I'm familiar with (short list), by the 1950s and later most of the HW based business cars had been heavily modified, in many cases the sides were re-done to better match smooth side cars.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

An alternate interior and a more modern truck can be designed for a heavyweight observation model to turn it into a mid-20th century business car.  Any car with more modern refurbishments can be kitbashed from that model.  It's easier to turn an obs into a business car than the reverse, and most RTR modelers wouldn't question an obs decorated/marketed as a business car.

Modeling specific business cars, such as for the Conrail OCS, would require some kitbashing regardless of the model.

Absolutely. I just bet that 80% of the purchasers wouldn't know, and that another 10% wouldn't care (possibly including me).

I think it'd be a good way for them to "sex up" the line, and probably get some more buzz in the middle of cranking out legions of rather plain looking olive and tuscan cars (which they'll be doing, right Joe??), because, after all, silver sells.

[Puddington]

I'm still not sold on a diner being the number one priority. Beside the fact that diners were really limited to longer range trains (as a rule; and that's ok with me as I am modeling trans con's) the range of different diner configurations like windows ( 30, 36, 40 seat - which affects the number of windows) kitchen door positions, and kitchen window and appliances (roof and floor) makes it difficult to perhaps find a model that will keep people happy; diners being a unique spotting feature on some trains.

I so think that the single window coach would be more universally attractive. Besides commuter service, 78' single window coaches served across North America and the single window coach could be a great starting place for various custom parlor cars and larger (and smaller) coaches.

I still think that a few more common sleeping cars would be a very popular addition; there were literally dozens of class 1's and some 2's that had 8-1-2, 14 sections and 6-3's....

But, don't think I'm against a dining car; I've spent way too much time custom making dining cars.....





and I'm frankly tired of it.............nevermind..make a diner

[SkipGear]

A diner is not high my list of needs either. The current generic versions don't sell well in N or HO (heavy or smooth). People want baggage, coaches, pullmans and something to end the train. Diners would only be used on long distance trains, and even then could be replaced by a lounge/parlor car. Again, I'll put a vote in for the Solarium. An observation with a porch has been done by RR and (sort of) Model Power. The Kato business cars are still available from distributors. A solarium would be something new. I would be quite happy with a copy of the car Walthers produced in the same roads.

[2-8-8-0]

I would like a combine. Seems that in the back out-of-the-way places on the C&O, a "passenger" train was a combine tacked to the end of the local or mine shifter.

Id rather see MT do a nice big run of C&O notched end hoppers...or at least some undecs...

*ducks and hides*

[jmlaboda - RIP]

"Long baggage cars are more rare than the 60' cars already available."

I would respectfully disagree.  Many roads had 70' baggage and express cars and most of them also had baggage and express cars ranging in the 79' to 84' range that were rebuilt Pullman cars.  Tracing down the heritage of the cars aren't always that easy but you can often tell by the photos whether a car was a rebuilt Pullman or not... the trucks and their bolsters are set further in from the ends than a typical head-end car.

At least one railroad, the SP&S, even went so far as to build a baggage - mail or two out of Pullmans and the Wabash also had one car that probably was rebuilt from a Pullman as well.  Between the 70' purpose-built cars and the rebuilt Pullmans you are probably looking at more cars than any 60's on most major railroads.

As far as dining cars go, even fairly short runs had them back in the day if the train was running during breakfast, lunch or dinner times, while some roads (Southern and N&W quickly come to mind) would add and subtract dining cars on various trains so that they could get more use out of the dining car and its crew.

The N&W train from Roanoke, VA. to Hagerstown, MD. ran with an assortment of head-end cars, one coach, one interline sleeper and a heavyweight dining car that went north to around half the route's length in the evening and returned on the southbound side back to Roanoke.  Some of the head-end cars and the interline sleeper continued on the PRR for points north.

As far as a lounge - parlor subbing for a dining car... it just wouldn't have happened.  Lounge - parlor types were not all that common in the steam era and practically non-existant in the streamline era (GN did have two cafe - parlor cars that were modernized with a streamline appearance but these were later converted to cafe - coaches and later assigned to MofW service).  More appropriately would have been a diner - coach or cafe - coach or a sleeper car with a buffet - lounge to handle the small number of patrons on lesser runs and routes... if any food service at all was offered (depends on the time of day the runs were made).  Diner - lounge cars and cafe - lounge cars did exist in both eras but they were used on well patronized lesser trains.

An interesting aside... Southern rebuilt four Pullmans into beautiful diner - coaches but the cars had one drawback... they were too profitable.  Their history was documented a number of years ago in Southern Railway Historical Association's Ties magazine and the reason for their withdrawl was because on the lesser runs that they were assigned to they made money for the railroad, to the chagrin of management of the time who were looking for reasons to declare losses on trains they wanted to discontinue.  Replaced by full dining cars with full staffing the management got their wish, a train loosing money and eventually a train off order.

Baltimore and Ohio was another one that had interesting diner - coaches.  Their cars were largely rebuilt from coaches with a small kitchen and dining room on one end, used on lesser runs to a great extent, providing for the trains' patrons a decent meal while traveling.  If there was enough time to go through my extensive diagram collection I likely would be able to find a number of other lines that also had some sort of diner - coach types.  This would be the type of food service cars my road will use if I am ever able to start work on such cars.

Combines... they would be great for those running branchline service or even mainline service in the segregated South, and I would welcome one myself.  But even if just a baggage and a coach were offered that would be a way of gaining a combine with "a reasonable amount of work."  (I know... these words run chills down the spines of the RTR folks.)

All I can say is that I am anxious to see the MT models come out and I would suspect that MT yet may not be the only one to be doing so, especially so if the cars prove to be the smash that some believe that they will be.

Here's to hoping that there will be many more yet to be offered, by MT and others... making passenger trains in the steam era and lesser runs in the streamline era easier to model!!!

[Bob Bufkin]

Some good suggestions on cars that should be made.  My list of head end cars would include the horse express and scenery cars that the major railroads used in abundence up until the early 70's. 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Some good suggestions on cars that should be made.  My list of head end cars would include the horse express and scenery cars that the major railroads used in abundence up until the early 70's. 

I don't know, I've only seen the ones owned by 5th tier railroads... lol

[Bob Bufkin]

Very funny Ed.  Considering that the AT&SF has a bunch of horse express cars and they are considered 1st tier by a few manufacturers, you would think they would sell.  Us 5th tier PRR, NYC, NH fans  etc will just have to suffer.

[jmlaboda - RIP]

You wanna horse car?  PRR used B60b baggage - express as horse cars, models available from Hells Gate Models, though you will have to find your own way of lettering cars for a specific owner of the horses since they all had specific assignments.

M&R Models offers etched brass car sides for an ATSF horse car but it might be possible to kitbash some of JnJ Trains "Harriman" (well, not really "Harriman" cars) baggage car sides to create one.  Have wanted to try out kitbashing some of these sides but haven't got to it yet.  Wouldn't mind trying my hand at making some NKP and Soo Line heavyweight coaches from what is available coach wise.

[Mark5]

What's this Pennsy car?

[Bob Bufkin]

I have several of the Hellgate B60's running and I did know that they sometimes handled horses and even prize cattle.  I'm talking about the B74a and b class cars.  The latest issue of The Keystone has a terrific article on these cars.  The decals provided by Hellgate have the names for some of these cars. As for the photo of the other PRR car, I believe that's one rebuilt during WWII to handle the overflow of troops and local passengers.