MTL August newsletter is up

[sundowner]

I think I now have a TBOX addiction   

I need some brown TBOX’s

[MRLX1020]

The Missouri Pacific Lines 5 car set was well worth the wait! [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[squirrelhunter]

The Missouri Pacific Lines 5 car set was well worth the wait!

Except for the fact I'm 95% sure no MP sleepers carried numbers instead of names. Nevermind, see my post below. The Missouri Pacific Historical Society has a whole list of car names published on their website.

AND there are no sources for MP passenger decals.

AND the baggage car is a total foob.

[squirrelhunter]

Actually, looking more closely at the photos, these cars are alo lettered as "Thift-T-Sleeepers". Which were 8-1-2 sleepers used on the Colorado Eagle to compete with Slumbercoachrs on the Denver Zephyr. So they are correctly painted and should not have names.

But I don't think those cars were ever used on any other train besides the Colorado Eagle and even then only for a period from sometime after 1956 until 1964 at the latest.

[nscalbitz]

... besides the Colorado Eagle and even then only for a period from sometime after 1956 until 1964 at the latest.

8 years is a pretty good spread for passenger compared to some and if you model Colorado/ CS/ Denver then a welcome addition. Don't forget they were headed by a D&RGW 'Fx' of some kind going to Denver. More Colorado love 
d

[squirrelhunter]

8 years is a pretty good spread for passenger compared to some and if you model Colorado/ CS/ Denver then a welcome addition. Don't forget they were headed by a D&RGW 'Fx' of some kind going to Denver. More Colorado love 
d

Not to rain on your parade, but I checked my MPHS Eagle archives and Greg Stout's Route of the Eagles, and the 8-1-3 heavyweight sleepers were only used from 1958 to 1960. After 1960 they used 6-6-4's in the service.

So these cars are good for 2 years in their assigned servce and then maybe another 2 to 4 years in pullman pool service, by 1962 MP had enough lighweight sleeprs to replace heavyweight sleepers on all the assigned trains.

My frustration stems from the fact that MP started painting 10-1-2's and 12-1's in Eagle colors in 1948 and they ran until the early 1960's. I'd be ok with stand in cars for MP's 8-5's, which were some of the last heavyweight sleepers to show up in timetables in the early 1960's.

But if you model anything but the Colorado Eagle from 1958-60, you need to have custom decals made and remove the car number and Thrift T Sleeper lettering on the sides.

[bbussey]

If there are MP Eagle prototypes for specific MTL models in the scheme being done, I would let MTL know and provide documentation. It makes far more sense business-wise to produce not only a prototypically-accurate model but one that had a longer operating timespan in the scheme being done. They’ve previously changed pre-production plans on heavyweight passenger runner-packs and train sets when more accurate information was provided to them. The ACL and GM&O sets are the two most recent examples where the final deco plans were altered from the original artwork published in Micro News.

[MRLX1020]

I'm just hopeful that MTL will follow up with a 5 car expansion pack in GM&O and MP like they did with the Illinois Central.  The MP and GM&O look really nice with the BLI Mikados and Pacifics...

I'll be in real trouble if BLI and MTL conspire to make a Missouri Kansas Texas Pacific and Heavyweights!

[thomasjmdavis]

The "Thrift-T" sleepers found some use after 1962.  Here is one (from the collection of Jerry Laboda), sans most of its skirting, but in Eagle paint in Denver in 1963 on the D&RGW .
http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3492887

I'm just hopeful that MTL will follow up with a 5 car expansion pack in GM&O and MP like they did with the Illinois Central.  The MP and GM&O look really nice with the BLI Mikados and Pacifics...

I'll be in real trouble if BLI and MTL conspire to make a Missouri Kansas Texas Pacific and Heavyweights!

I, for one, wish they would follow up with individual cars rather than more 5 car sets. My needs tend to be for one or two cars on a connecting through route (ACL car in a C&EI train, for instance) rather than whole trains....Unless, of course, they want to do a 5 car set in Erie 2-tone green.

[johnb]

Am I the only one to notice the see thru PS-1 roofwalks? Other than that the ATSF and CB&Q boxes are tempting, but nothing is screaming 'must have'.

same here