Modeling SP passenger cars — Pt. 4: sleeper interiors

In previous posts on the topic of SP heavyweight sleeping cars, I have described modeling the outside of the cars. The most recent post (at this link: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2014/08/modeling-sp-passenger-cars-sleepers.html ) showed my continuing work on a 10-1-1 car (10 sections, 1 drawing room, 1 compartment).
     In this post, I discuss interiors for these cars, since they have windows permitting some view of the interior. There are several approaches, since various vendors have offered passenger car interior components at various times. But since my Rivarossi (imported by AHM) Pullman cars mostly came with a molding simulating the car’s interior, I pursued my interiors in those terms.

     Here is a view of that Rivarossi interior molding, which is intended for the 12-1 models (12 sections, 1 drawing room) as originally supplied.

As you see the molding here, the B end of the car is at left. The large enclosed area at the right end is the men’s dressing room and toilet. At the left end are the women’s dressing room and toilet, nearest the end, and adjoining it, the drawing room of a 12-1. Here is where Pullman’s interior modularity comes into play. The 10-1-1 car essentially just removed one section of the 12-1 floor plan, and inserted a compartment between the drawing room and the women’s dressing room. I can do the same, by cutting out the leftmost Pullman section in the photo above, cutting just beyond the drawing room and moving the drawing room over, then inserting a mockup of a compartment. For more on these interior arrangements, see Volume 2 in the SPH&TS series, Southern Pacific Passenger Cars (Pasadena, 2005).

     Here is the cut-up molding, which you can compare to what is shown above (it is rotated 180 degrees for clarity), with parts repositioned for use in the 10-1-1. One section was removed just at the far right of the section area, for the five instead of six pairs of sections in this car. I will use the removed section seats to make the daytime seats in the compartment, which goes where there is a gap in the length.

     With these cuts made, I simply used 0.040-inch styrene sheet to make two walls, one to divide the drawing room from the compartment, the other to separate the compartment from the aisle. I supported the corner between the two new walls with a piece of 1/8-inch square styrene, in the location where there was a closet on some Pullman compartments. Here are the new parts, not yet painted so they would be visible in this photo, shown looking toward the B end of the car, where the room accommodations were located. The seats in the compartment have been added, and you can see the crosswise cut, just at the left end of the aisle segment, where one section was removed.

Below is an overall view of the entire interior as modified, in this case with the B end toward the camera, where the men’s lounge and toilet was located (at right). You can count the five pairs of sections.

     After painting and assembling the interior parts, here is how the car looks, with the interior walls also repainted from their primer gray.

    I usually add some passengers in these cars, as you can see in one of the 12-1 interiors shown below. In this photo, you can see I also trimmed the seat arms with a contrasting color of paint, but this (along with tinting the seat cushions) is truly invisible from outside the car. Some of the passengers you see are commercially available seated figures, but a few of these were standing figures, simply cut off at an appropriate height for viewing through a window. If you like, you can click on the image to enlarge it.

The net result of the installation of these interiors is that even a glimpse in a passing train shows something inside, as it should.
     This completes my discussion of construction of SP’s heavyweight sleepers. All that remains is a few last details, and final paint and lettering.
Tony Thompson