Mishaps do happen

Some years ago, I described the creation of a stand-in version of a Southern Pacific postal-storage car, in two blog posts. The concluding one is here: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2014/08/modeling-sp-head-end-cars-part-7b.html . The goal was to produce something like the car shown below, photographed at Council Bluffs, in 1954 (Clark Bauer collection). This was an EP&SW 60-foot postal car, remodeled by SP into a postal-storage configuration. 

I approximated this car by cutting up an Athearn RPO model, to get the right overall appearance, although as I mentioned in showing the modeling process, the size and location of windows in my model don’t exactly match the photo above. The modeling work was described here: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2014/07/modeling-sp-head-end-cars-part-7a.html . This was the finished model: 

So why is it coming up now? A derailment in a recent operating session resulted in the floor/underframe part of the model separating into two parts. That was the mishap, seen below. Obviously it wasn’t as well glued together as I thought. So what now? 

The steel weight on the right-hand section in the photo above would have been good to remove, but it evidently is well glued to the floor section of that part of the car. Instead, I cut two lengths of 1/4 x 1/8-inch styrene (Evergreen #389) and glued them to the inside rails of the sides of both parts, across the gap, using Plastruct “Plastic Weld” cement and clamping. The two sections now appear to be quite solidly joined.

I next painted the white styrene reinforcements black. At this point, the car could be re-assembled. It is now back in service, as I show below, in a passenger train behind Class P-4 Pacific SP 2402, passing the Shumala depot on my layout. 

Accidents like derailments or other kinds of things do occur, and they just have to be dealt with. I thought it might be of interest to see my method of correcting this one.

Tony Thompson 

Another passenger upgrade, Part 2

In a recent post, I described a project to upgrade a Rivarossi streamlined postal-baggage for service on my layout as an SP car. In that preceding post, I showed the paint scheme I applied, and the addition of steel nuts for weight. (That post is at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2026/04/another-passenger-car-upgrade.html .) 

In a number of posts about SP passenger cars, I have shown various ways of dealing with the Rivarossi trucks and couplers. Either the “Talgo”-like swivel arm on the truck can be modified to accept a Kadee box and coupler,  or the coupler arm can be removed altogether, and Kadee couplers mounted on the car body. For this car, I wanted to do the latter.

The area underneath the car end on all the Rivarossi streamlined cars has a pair of ribs, with rivet detail atop them. This area is shown in the photo below. 

I have found that sanding off these rivets, and adding a mounting pad of styrene sheet pieces can create a correct-height mounting surface (see, for example, this post: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2024/06/modeling-sp-passenger-cars-part-20.html ). But different Rivarossi car types do not have identical underbodies, so each car type requires determination of the correct amount of styrene.

In the photo below, I have already drilled and tapped a hole for a 2-56 screw in the new pad. This does raise an issue with no general answer: how close to the car end should the coupler be mounted? It’s an issue because unfortunately my passenger cars from various sources have a variety of diaphragms on them, some of minimal thickness, some with more depth. This can lead to problems in coupling some cars. 

For diaphragms, the Rivarossi models have a short extension around the end doors, but no faceplate, and no stabilizer bars (here’s background: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2021/06/passenger-car-diaphragms-part-3.html ). 

Below is a detail from a Bruce Heard photo, taken at Sacramento in 1962, from one of the Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society passenger volumes; see: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2021/07/passenger-car-diaphragms-part-4.html .

Above you can clearly see the appearance of the face plate and the stabilizer bars. These face plates had a variety of shapes, and I chose a typical Pullman shape from an assortment of Coach Yard face plates, painted them dark gray, and attached them with canopy glue. Brass wire stabilizer bars were attached and painted the same way. Finally, Pan Pastels were used to add rust to the face plate.  

This completes the car work. In service on my layout, the car might either be deadheaded anywhere in a train, or, if being worked in postal service, might well be coupled to a postal storage car at its postal end, a common practice on SP’s Coast Division mail trains (a description of my storage car is here: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2014/08/modeling-sp-head-end-cars-part-7b.html ). Such a line-up is shown here at Shumala on my layout. 

This was an interesting project to complete, so that the car can be used in service along with my other upgraded Rivarossi cars. Passenger service on my SP layout main line may be limited, but this car can contribute to it.

Tony Thompson 

My 50-foot automobile car, Part 3

Last year, I showed the starting steps in a project to add a 50-foot Viking roof to an automobile car body to model a Chicago & North Western prototype (see it at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2025/06/a-simple-freight-car-kitbash.html ). 

I had on hand a pair of Cannonball Car Shops original Dreadnaught ends which I could apply to match the C&NW prototype. Shortening those ends and applying them to a Branchline 50-foot body was shown in a second post (it is here: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2025/08/freight-car-kitbash-part-2.html ). But at about that time, I discovered I already possessed such a C&NW car, that I inherited. This led to some head-scratching. What other road would have had Viking-roofed 50-foot auto cars?

The one that came to mind was the Erie, another road that evidently liked the Viking roof, so I contacted eminent Erie modeler Schuyler Larrabee to ask about prototypes. It took him a while to dig into the question, but he came back to me with the information that, yes, Erie did have some cars like that. In fact, not only is a builder photo in the 1940 Car Builders Cyclopedia (page 147) but so are the plans, confirming the Viking roof and also showing that the ends were Hutchins — and not just Hutchins, but inverse Hutchins. 

Originally these were Erie 68200–28299. Here is the Cyc photo; doors appear black on the as-delivered car.  In later repaints, the black doors were not continued, and I want to model the car in post-1947 paint, with the 6-foot Erie diamond emblem.

Turns out that Chad Boas has now produced an inverse Hutchins end, so that should enable me to convert my kitbash into an Erie automobile car. I ordered a pair, and they are shown below as I received them. They don’t have a top section, making them usable for both round-roof and peaked-roof cars, with the modeler making a top section from strip or sheet styrene to suit the model.

Previously I had applied Dreadnaught ends to my model, as described earlier, so my first step was to remove those ends. There I discovered yet another advantage of canopy glue, the adhesive used to attach the previous ends: since it doesn’t attack or bond with the styrene car body, it can be peeled off from the interface (for more about canopy glue, see: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-few-words-in-praise-of-canopy-glue.html ). 

Then I used Evergreen styrene strip, 6 scale inches thick, to make top sections by cutting and filing to fit. Once those strips were made, and ends cleaned up, they could be attached, once again with canopy glue. A rubber band made sure ends remained in correct alignment as the glue sets. Here the recessed panels in the inverse Hutchins end are evident.

Next I repeated the step of adding ladders to the car body, and returned to my extensive stash of freight car parts, much of it inherited from Richard Hendrickson. For this car, I chose some old Front Range ladders with the right width, which happened to be molded in orange, and attached them with canopy glue: 

Next steps include addition of grab irons, sill steps, and B-end brake gear. I might mention that the car kit that is the foundation for this project is a Branchline, now some years old, and most of the detail parts in the kit are now so brittle that they can’t even be removed from the sprues by a sprue cutter without breaking them. Other parts are being substituted. I will return to detailing steps in a future post.

Tony Thompson 

Another passenger car upgrade

As I have written a number of times, my layout is primarily a branch line, with limited amounts of mainline traffic passing by on the Southern Pacific’s Coast Division main line. Since my staging cannot accommodate full-length passenger trains, I usually run second sections, or deadhead extras, to include passenger cars.  

My equipment is in some cases accurately modeled SP prototypes (as a single example, see: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2023/03/modeling-sp-passenger-cars-part-12.html , or refer to my Model Railroad Hobbyist article in the issue for October 2023), but in other cases would be better described as credible stand-ins. This is especially appropriate in a deadhead extras, moving equipment from one terminal to another, as in such cases the equipment need not match any specific train. 

This post is about upgrading one such car, a Rivarossi baggage-postal car. This is only broadly like an SP car of the same type, but could pass muster in one of my deadhead extras. The model does resemble some 1950s cars built by Pullman -Standard, such as SP Class 80-BP-60-1 (meaning baggage-postal, 60-foot postal apartment). Shown below is the “north” side of one of these cars, painted for assignment to the City of San Francisco (Pullman photo, CSRM). Note the full-width diaphragms and full skirting.

 I point out that this is the “north” side because the other side was different, with five windows in the postal apartment. Below is a photo of the “south” side, seen in COSF service at Laramie, Wyo. in August 1966 (Don Munger collection). Here skirts are almost all removed, and full-width diaphragms are gone Both prototype photos are from the essential  SPH&TS book, Southern Pacific Passenger Cars, Vol. 3: Head-end Equipment (Pasadena, 2007).

The Rivarossi car has all these general features, so I decided I could use it, even though it’s 73 feet long, not 80 feet. I began by stripping its original paint, masking and painting two-tone gray in the typical SP “pool scheme” arrangement of the mid-1950s, that is, with no train name or emblem, and lettering it with postal-baggage SP decals. 

The car number I chose to use is SP 5156. This corresponds to SP Class 70-BP-1-3, built by Standard Steel Car in 1924, a round-roof car class fairly different from the Rivarossi model. But many cars in this class were converted to regular baggage cars after World War II, including 5156, so by my modeling year of 1953, 5156 was a non-existent SP 5000-series number. My stand-in model, shown below, could use it.

Evident in this photo is that the model needed replacement of the Rivarossi horn-hook coupler arrangement, which is a kind of “Talgo” attachment to the truck. I will install Kadee couplers on the body instead. It also should have diaphragms, and like all stock Rivarossi passenger cars, has far too little weight for dependable operation. I added a pair of 5/8-11 steel nuts with canopy glue; these can be seen below before painting them black. This is the “north” side of the car.  

Next, diaphragms need to be added, and couplers installed. That and a few other tweaks will be covered in a future post.

Tony Thompson 

Night trains on Southern Pacific’s Coast Route

The title of this blog post may remind some readers of an excellent book of some years ago with a very similar title. That’s on purpose, though I will touch on only a tiny fraction of the information in that book. Its actual title was Southern Pacific Passenger Trains: Night Trains on the Coast Route, by Dennis Ryan and Joseph Shine (Four Ways West Publications, La Mirada, CA, 1986). This post draws heavily on the extensive information in that book. 

Below is an image of its dust jacket, featuring a painting by Ernie Towler. Based on a John Illman photo, it depicts the Lark in the morning near Burlingame, inbound  to San Francisco, passing the outbound Daylight, train 98. Certainly the most famous night train on the Coast was the all-Pullman streamlined  Larkn and its two-tone gray paint scheme. In this painting, the Lark’s last two sleepers and the buffet-observation car have been cut off at San Jose to form the Oakland Lark.

But almost from the beginning of passenger trains on this route, there was a companion night train on the Coast Route, intended as a less-expensive alternative to the Lark. From 1901 to 1915, it was called the SF & LA Passenger; from 1915 to 1925, the Seashore Express, equipped with both chair cars and tourist sleepers. This became trains 69 and 70 in 1926 and took the name Coaster (previously the name of a daytime train on the Coast). 

In the immediate postwar period, SP began to re-structure its passenger services on the Coast Line. The pre-war Noon Daylight trains were re-established, joining the Morning Daylight. The pair of overnight trains, the all-Pullman streamlined Lark and the heavyweight Coaster, continued, with the Coaster still perceived as the economy service.

Southern Pacific did its best to publicize the Coaster after the war, always emphasizing its relatively economical prices, both for fares and for on-board meals, as shown in this poster that appeared in depots and other public places.

Below is an image of the inbound Coaster rounding Sierra Point, just south of Bayshore Yard in the fall of 1946, with Mountain 4309 on the point (SP photo, Steve Peery collection). It’s a 13-car train today, with three baggage cars on the head end (some in use as postal storage cars). Night Trains on the Coast Route contains a typical 1946 consist: three baggage cars, five coaches, three 16-section tourist Pullmans, a 10-1-2 Pullman, and a 10 section-lounge observation (which you can see below). That open-platform observation was soon discontinued.

But a few years after the war, in late 1949, SP replaced the overnight Coaster on the Coast Line with a new all-coach train, the Starlight. The Coaster had featured heavyweight sleeping cars, many of them mostly section accommodations, and those were rapidly becoming unpopular with the traveling public. Coach travel was a little cheaper, and by using older equipment from the first Daylight trains, a much more modern train with more comfortable seating could replace the Coaster. 

On October 1, 1949, the Noon Daylight was discontinued, and the next day the Coaster was also discontinued. Starting that day day, October 2, the replacement was the Starlight, much of its equipment coming from the former Noon Daylight. Here’s a poster publicizing the new train. Fare is a little higher than that for the Coaster shown in the poster above. As noted below, the schedule left after dinner and arrived before breakfast, thus no dining car was needed (though both a coffee shop and a tavern-lounge were included).

On my own layout, set in 1953, it’s obvious that the night train other than the Lark should be the Starlight. But I have a soft spot for heavyweight equipment, especially Pullmans, and occasionally a time warp occurs and a late-running Coaster may venture across the Guadalupe Subdivision.

I have always been intrigued by the ways corporations, including railroads, choose to present themselves to the public. Posters in depots, including the two shown here, are certainly interesting examples.  

Tony Thompson 

Passenger trains on my branch line

My layout is very freight-car oriented; nearly all car movements on my fictitious branch line to Santa Rosalia, and most mainline action, are exclusively freight. When passenger equipment is operated, it is ordinarily on the main line, often a “deadhead” move balancing passenger equipment between Los Angeles and Sank Francisco. I’ve discussed this several times (for an example, see: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2021/05/mainline-passenger-cars-on-small-layout.html ). 

But there are exceptions. Regular passenger service on a branch like this would have been abandoned in the 1930s. But a passenger movement that happens occasionally on my layout is the operation of a passenger extra train, presumably an excursion and perhaps a  railfan event (though such trains were still rare in my modeling year of 1953). An example of this kind of passenger extra is the train that ran up and down the length of several branch lines, allowing fans to “collect miles,” as it was called. 

Such an excursion might operate, for example, from Los Angeles or Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo, along the way running the length of the Lompoc Branch and return, and, why not, the Santa Rosalia Branch, before connecting with passenger schedules at San Luis for the passengers to return home northward or southward.

Approaching Shumala, then, from the south, the train might make a station stop at the Shumala depot, as you see below in a train using a former RPO as a baggage car (see: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2023/06/small-project-old-brass-sp-baggage-car.html ), trailed by a 60-foot coach. Power here is Southern Pacific Ten-wheeler 2344. 

The train has stopped with its consist clear of Chamisal Road at right, because the locomotive will cut off and run around the train on the siding. Below we see the run-around in progress, as 2344 backs down the siding past the depot. 

Then with 2344 behind the consist, the train is ready to be pushed up the branch to its destination. When it’s time to return, the locomotive would then be leading, though tender-first. The 60-foot coach here is Golden Gate Depot’s SP 1972, Class 60-C-5.

But railroaders usually preferred to have the locomotive leading the train at all times if possible. If the passenger excursion heads up the Santa Rosalia Branch with the locomotive at the front of the train, there will then have to be a run-around somewhere up on the branch, given the lack of locomotive turning facilities on the branch.

The photo below shows 2344 starting its run-around in front of the Santa Rosalia depot. In this instance, the train is coach SP 1581 (a kit-bashed Roundhouse model), Class 60-C-4, and postal storage car SP 4263, pressed into service as a baggage car for the excursion (modeling SP 4263 was described in a blot post: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2014/07/modeling-sp-head-end-cars-part-7a.html ). 

In one instance, the excursion train had two coaches, and only ran as far as the Ballard depot, as you see below, before performing the run-around and returning to the main line at Shumala. Power again is Ten-wheeler 2344 (Precision Scale brass). 

Since ordinarily the Santa Rosalia Local freight train is alone on the branch, any such passenger train requires a whole bunch of train orders to arrange a meet at either Ballard or Santa Rosalia, and for the excursion train to return to Shumala.  

Whether the operation of such an excursion train requires turning back at Ballard, or at Santa Rosalia, the important point is the lack of turning facilities. That in turn means that turning back involves the locomotive running around the train and pulling it back to Shumala with the tender leading. This has been an interesting complication for the normally unhindered local freight train operating in the same territory. Usually that increases the fun of an operating session.

Tony Thompson 

Operating SP passenger trains

I’ve posted on related topics to this one several times, mostly about individual passenger cars. One informative post is about fitting cars to trains (see it at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2021/05/mainline-passenger-cars-on-small-layout.html ) I also posted about an alternative to the trains mentioned below, namely the coast mail train, nos. 71 and 72, shown in this post: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2012/10/choosing-model-sp-passenger-cars.html .  

The two distinctive passenger trains of the Coast Route, on which my layout is located, were the Daylight and the overnight Lark, all-Pullman in my 1953 modeling year. As I have often commented, my layout’s staging is too short to host a 12- to 15-car version of either train, which is the size they ran in my era. That leaves two options: operate the layout during a period of the day or night when neither train would operate, or operate a conjectural second section of either train.

In 1953, both trains were normally pulled by Daylight-painted GS-4 or -5 steam engines. I have a Key brass locomotive model that represents SP GS-5 no. 4458. It’s shown here as an eastward train passing the depot at Shumala on my layout, trailed by one of the distinctive Daylight combines, SP 3302 (Soho) and a coach (SP 2401, Athearn). This is necessarily a short train, usually six cars, and would be operated as second 98. 

This combine was painted by me, including striping by my mask and spray technique (see: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2023/09/modeling-sp-passenger-cars-part-17.html ). I have repeatedly found this far easier than decal stripes, as described in the post just cited.

The other distinctive Daylight cars were the boat-tail observations, of which I have another Soho model, which I painted and lettered as SP 2952. (That would make it a Class 79-PRO-1, whereas it’s really a model of the earlier 77-PRO-1 cars.) It’s shown below on a westward train, second 99, just leaving Shumala. 

Though these Soho cars are not very detailed or exactly accurate, they certain capture the look of the SP cars. For more about these cars, see Jeff Cauthen and Don Munger’s book about Lounge, Dome and Parlor Cars, Vol. 5 in the series, Southern Pacific Passenger Cars (SP Historical & Technical Society, Upland, CA, 2012). 

The other distinctive train, as mentioned, was the Lark, and again, I can operate a short train of Lark equipment as a second section. Here too, normal power was a GS class. Below is a westward train, second 75, just crossing Chamisal Road in Shumala. This is a Coach Yard model of SP’s modernized RPOs for Lark service, trailed by Lark sleepers.

Finally,  the Lark operated for some years with boat-tail observations too. The original two cars built for the Lark were both destroyed in wrecks by the end of 1942, and thereafter SP used Pullman-operated sleeper-buffet-lounge-observation cars, numbers SP 9500 and 9501. Shown below is my model representing 9500, though it is a Balboa 77-foot observation. It’s shown on an eastward second 76, just passing the engine terminal and caboose track in Shumala.  

Occasionally the railroad president’s car operated on the Coast Division. That car for many years was named Sunset, no. 140, and was the standard Dark Olive Green color. Coach Yard offered this car in brass a few years ago. This model would be anomalous on my 1953 layout, however, because the prototype was repainted from green to Two-Tone Gray in February of 1952. The more famous Sunset was the stainless steel no. 150, built in 1955, after which no. 140 was renamed Stanford. For more on the subject, see Munger and Cauthen’s Southern Pacific Official Cars (SP H&TS, Upland, CA, 2015). The model’s shown below on an eastward train. 

These various second section versions of famous trains are fun to include in an operating session, and within limits I have the rolling stock to do it. As noted above, most of them involve compromises in accuracy of the cars, but they serve the purpose.

Tony Thompson 

The SP articulated triple-unit diners

A famous part of Southern Pacific food service after 1939 was the articulated triple-unit dining cars, comprising a coffee shop and a dining car with a kitchen car between to serve both adjoining cars. Designed by SP and built by Pullman-Standard, there were initially two triple-units, assigned to the Daylight. A thorough history of these cars is provided in Volume 4 of the series, Southern Pacific Passenger Cars, covering Dining Service Cars (SP Historical & Technical Society, Upland, CA, 2010).

In 1941, SP would purchase two more of these triple units, and in 1949 another two, making  a fleet of six of these 3-car sets, normally used in Daylight, San Joaquin Daylight, and Shasta Daylight service, with occasional relief service  in the City of San Francisco. All cars were classified into Class AD (articulated diner).

Shown below is a Bruce Heard photo of the kitchen-passageway side of the second triple unit, SP 10253–10254–10255, in the San Joaquin Daylight. From left, the cars are the diner, the kitchen, and the coffee shop. Note that one of SP’s full-length dome cars is coupled at the left of the photo. The full-width diaphragms between cars of the triple-unit are  evident. 

The second pair of triple units built was quite similar to the first pair. Here is a builder view of the first of the two sets built in 1941, AP 10256–257–258, classes 70-AD-3, 57-AD-2, and 70-AD-4. Again, this is the kitchen-passageway side, with the high windows on the kitchen car.

These cars are iconic equipment for anyone interested in SP passenger service modeling in the transition era.  Awhile back, Broadway Limited produced a triple-unit model, which they chose from the second pair of these units, the 1949 ones shown above. Broadway  modeled SP 10259–269–261, which were classes 70-AD-3, 57-AD-2, and 70-AD-4.

Here they are on my layout with the coffee shop at right, coupled to an Athearn 77-C coach at right, and the new Rapido full-length dome car at left (I’ve posted about this new dome car: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-new-rapido-sp-dome-car.html ). 

Usual practice was to run the coffee shop forward in train consists, thus the implication that this train is moving to the right in the photo. But as I’ve mentioned several times, my layout’s staging is limited in length, preventing operation of prototypical-length passenger trains, so instead I operate the occasional deadhead move to balance passenger equipment between Los Angeles and San Francisco. In that sort of move, the triple unit could operate in either orientation, and the train shown above may be moving either direction.

 The Broadway Limited model is very nicely done, with effective design of the articulations between cars, including nicely-designed adjustments to the between-car diaphragms to permit operation on model-size curves. I have enjoyed including it from time to time in my operating sessions.

Tony Thompson 

The new Rapido SP dome car

Among SP modelers, there had been a buzz for some time about the forthcoming HO scale model of the Sacramento-built full-length dome cars from Rapido Trains. During 1954 and 1955, SP shop forces used some pre-war Daylight cars for underframe and some body parts, and the dome structure was purchased from Budd as a kit. The rest of the car was essentially new construction. There was one prototype built first, then six production cars. 

For a full background on these cars, see Volume 5 of Southern Pacific Passenger Cars (Lounge, Dome & Parlor Cars), by Jeff Cauthen and Don Munger, SPH&TS, Upland, CA, 2012).

Here’s an example of a car in service on the San Joaquin Daylight (SP photo), taken just above Caliente in 1955. It was usual to operate the car with the short roof to the rear, as here, so that dome seats faced forward. The bar-lounge on the lower level was relatively small, and SP provided beverage service to the lounge end (nearest the bar) of the upper level. The cars operated rarely on the Coast Daylight  until later years, because adding it to the consist, along with the usual tavern car,  would require removal of a coach, with corresponding revenue loss.

The reason Rapido has produced it, no doubt, is because one of the cars survived long enough to be purchased by Canadian Pacific and rebuilt by them for their Heritage Fleet, operating as the car “Selkirk.” But they offered the model in both full Daylight paint (red and orange), and in SP’s post-1958 simulated stainless steel with red letterboard.

In later years all the cars had their fluted sides replaced with flat stainless panels, and some cars operated in yellow paint to match the City of San Francisco. A few cars survived to operate in Amtrak paint (Phase 1). All these schemes were offered by Rapido, along with CP deep maroon. But every single scheme is now shown on the Rapido site as “out of stock” (see: https://rapidotrains.com/ho-scale/passenger-car/sp-dome-lounge-cars.html ). The strong response to these models may well cause them to be re-run at some point.

These models are really beautiful. The full interior is readily viewed through the expansive dome windows, including the lower-level lounge with its fully equipped and detailed bar.  

I was glad to see that a quite accurate diaphragm is on the car end, along with other often-omitted details like the pair of grab iron steps on the side skirt at the corner. The underbody is also well done, showing all of what should be visible from the side of the model.

Since I model 1953, and the first car was built in 1954 (and used for the rest of that year in test service around the system), with the additional six cars built in 1955, it might seem that I have no use for this model. But of course the traditional modeler’s license contains a provision for small time warps, and I plan to include the car in an occasional deadhead move of passenger equipment, such as shown below at Shumala, sandwiched between a couple of Lark sleepers.

Another view from above the model, posed on the layout, allows at least an impression of the superb interior. Luckily, since I will only be deadheading the car, not operating it in a regular train, I don’t have the challenge of filling the seats with passengers. 

All in all, this is really a nice model of a distinctive SP prototype, very well executed. Rapido Trains and its people are very much to be congratulated.

Tony Thompson 

Some thoughts on contest modeling

Recently I had an on-line conversation with a modeling friend, and the age-old topic of layout modeling vs. contest modeling came up. We pretty much agreed on this topic, both of us understanding that contest modeling is quite a distinct activity of its own. I used as my illustrative example a model I built some years ago, specifically for NMRA regional and national contests when I lived in Pittsburgh, thus in Mid-Central Region (MCR). 

The model I decided to build was a kit passenger car with enough added detail that it could compete for a Merit Award, and indeed it succeeded, at a time when model contests were quite competitive in MCR (and likely still are). Below is an overall view of the car. The removable roof is covered with strips of Kleenex soaked in paint to represent canvas. On this one side, I modeled the baggage door partly open, with a baggageman at the door.

At the time, my layout had been designed to represent a fictitious short line, the Lompoc & Cuyama, extending inland from the Pacific shore near Lompoc, up the Santa Rita Valley, then overland to Cuyama on the Santa Maria River. One town along the imagined route was the actual town of Santa Ynez, and I named the car “Santa Ynez” accordingly. 

The kit for this model was a La Belle HO scale wood combine, and I assembled the body according to kit directions. This involved about 100 wood parts which had to be fitted and glued into a car body. But I discarded almost all the kit detail parts, thinking I could do better. All handrails and grab irons were fabricated with brass wire of various sizes, as was piping on the underbody.

The underbody was a point of emphasis, because it’s often neglected on model passenger cars. I consulted drawings in the 1925 and 1931 Car Builders’ Cyclopedia to develop the information I needed, and once it was modeled, I drew the various systems on the LaBelle kit drawing of the underframe to illustrate what I’d done, for the benefit of contest judges. It shows the air brake system, the Pintsch gas lighting components, and the pressurized water system. Pipe sizes are shown for each system.

The model underbody following the drawing above is shown below. The passenger brake gear is Cal-Scale; essentially everything else (except trucks and couplers and queenposts) is scratch-built. You can click on the image to enlarge it if you wish. 

In addition to this underframe work, my goal was to add a fairly complete and detailed interior. This meant a full set of seats and a moderate number of passengers, along with details in the baggage compartment. In the passenger compartment, I added baseboard heater covers, a complete toilet including paper dispenser, luggage shelves at one end instead of overhead racks, and seats with commercial figures. 

The baggage compartment has a water pump on a pallet, a bicycle, crates, boxes, sacks and parcels, most with tags, plus suitcases and a trunk. A toilet, locker, and a desk with pigeonholes are provided for the baggageman, along with a calendar and fire extinguisher.

Some modelers might react to the interior detail shown above, and think, “Why do all this work that can’t be seen, except with the roof unrealistically off?” The answer, as any contest modeler knows, is to maximize points for construction, detailing, and scratchbuilding. It’s a contest model, that’s all.

This was a lot of fun to imagine, design and build, and it did well in several contests, enough to earn a Merit Award, later used as part of my qualification for the NMRA Achievement Award as Master Car Builder. But this kind of contest modeling is simply not compatible with the time needed to build and maintain and operate a layout.

I’ve often told the story of a time in a regional contest room, when a group of us regular entrants were chatting, and one person said, “I’m starting my layout,” and someone else said, “Guess we won’t be seeing you in the contest room any more.” Of course the new layout builder protested, but most of us knew the comment was right.

Tony Thompson 

Another foreign-road Pullman car model

As part of my deadhead passenger equipment movements in operating sessions, I have enjoyed including an occasional sleeping car from a foreign railroad, that is, other than the home road. I’ve written about this before (see the prior post at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2024/08/operating-off-line-passenger-cars.html ). Now I am  including one more example. 

I’ve always found it interesting that some railroads painted a few of their passenger cars in the paint schemes of other railroads in order to participate in those railroads’ trains. One striking example is the Pennsylvania Railroad, which painted a number of its cars in that way. Naturally my primary interest is cars of the PRR which might show up on the Southern Pacific. Among them was the subject of the present post.

In the fall of 1950, the Pennsylvania took delivery of 14 new sleeping cars from American Car & Foundry, all of them of the 10-6 floor plan (10 roomettes, 6 double bedrooms). These were in the Pullman Rapids name series, and two of them were painted in Two-Tone Gray for service in the San Francisco Overland train between Chicago and San Francisco. One was named Blue Rapids, and is shown below (AC&F photo, Blardone collection). The car remained in this paint until 1956.

The Rivarossi streamlined sleeping car, which models the 10-6 floor plan which was very popular after World War II, is a fine starting point for modeling cars like this. But it does have a number of shortcomings, most of which are simple modeling projects to correct. I’ve posted about that before: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2024/06/modeling-sp-passenger-cars-part-20.html . 

As it happens, Rivarossi at one point did produce this model in the exact scheme shown in the AC&F photo above, the PRR Blue Rapids car. I couldn’t resist picking one up when I saw it for sale. I promptly started work on it, as outlined in the post just cited. My first step was view blocks, since it should be impossible to see through this all-room car.

The colored view block is the wall of the aisle alongside the double bedrooms. The color is Star Brand “Sea Foam Green” (STR-08). The dark gray view block covers the roomettes, which should be dark and not seen through from either side.  The aisle view block is dark gray on the other side.

Next I turned to installing couplers and trucks (see the post cited above for details). First, I attached the styrene pads as in the previous post, then drilled holes and tapped for 2-56 screws.

With that completed, I could install Kadee no. 158 couplers in their own boxes, and the same Central Valley no. 139 metal trucks (rebuilt with Northwest Short Line wheelsets) as described previously (see post linked previously: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2024/06/modeling-sp-passenger-cars-part-20.html ). 

Once those underbody components were added, the car could rest on its own wheels, and I installed the car weights, a pair of 5/8-11 steel nuts, attached with canopy glue, in the vicinity of the truck locations. The nuts had been painted the same dark gray as the view blocks, prior to installation.

Then I could turn to a representation of diaphragms and stabilizer bars (see my post at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2021/06/passenger-car-diaphragms-part-3.html ). I used 0.030-inch brass wire for the bars, then added diaphragm face plates. Here is a view of one end of the car, with its nut weight evident also. The nuts naturally are far less visible when the roof is in place.

Finally, I could install the roof/glazing part, and add a little rust to the diaphragm face plate. This is the aisle side of the car.

The car is now ready to join one of my Coast Line deadhead passenger movements, a long-time feature of my layout operating sessions, since I don’t have sufficient staging length for a realistic complete passenger train.

Tony Thompson