Common Standard 60ft RPOs from 60-P-1,2,3,4-Series - SC&F Kits and Athearn's New Project?

So, I've had a couple requests to do an analysis on the new Athearn 60-P-series (link to PDF announcement) models announced at Trainfest in 2024.  My first impression is that these will be interesting models and I hope that they are built with good mechanical sense and proper input from historical sources.  I'll be looking at these through the lens of the SPH&TS Passenger Cars, Vol 3 - Headend Car book, with my roster data and notes pulled from that source.  I've covered some of the history of these cars in passing on my 
SP's Great RPO Shuffle of 1949-1953 blog post from June 2018.

Currently Available Resin Kits

My partly complete Southern Car & Foundry model of Storage Car SP 4404.

While I have built multiple SC&F kits on this blog in the past, including SP 5199, SP 5124, SP 5069/5070, so if you can find them, I highly recommend using their kits.  My SC&F SP 4404 isn't complete... yet, so an RTR model might be of interest, although much of my passenger train modeling has been cut back because I'm focusing most of my modeling efforts now on the SP's Jawbone Branch.

Southern Car & Foundry example of Common Standard early 60-P-1/2/3/4 series RPO.

I've been searching for a prototype photo or two of these cars to show, but lacking a prototype photo to use, for now I'm using this photo from the Southern Car & Foundry website.  The website shows that these cars are available as of Nov 2024. 

The Prototype:

So looking through the book, I know these models should represent SP and UP prototypes accurately from the first glance at the renderings of the announcement.  These are SP and UP's 60-P-1/2/3/4 class cars.

60-P-1 - Railway Post Office, 1907

CP 4097 - Built at Sacramento General Shops on 4/12/1907.

UP 1229 - Built at Omaha 6/1907, to UP 2035, to UP 1400 (no dates shown for renumberings).

These two cars were built at the same time as SP's first steel passenger coach, SP 1806, pioneering the all-metal passenger cars.

Notes: CP 4097's original steel doors were replaced with wood ones 8/13/1913, applied Class 6-T trucks 8/13/1913, then was reassigned to SPdeM 1915 and again 8/14/1928 to 10/17/1942, returned to SP 4097 10/17/1942 as "Postal".

Disposition Notes: There's no hard date for when the car was retired.  A photo on Pg.45 shows SP 4097 in Guadalajara, Mexico in Oct, 1950. The Cottier roof vents had been replaced by standard Utility-type by the date of the photo. 

This would be before the sale of the SPdeM to the Mexican owned FCP in 1951.  The painting notes show Green1 (SPL) and Green2 (SP, 1946 scheme) being appled.  So no indication that it was ever painted in SP's 1954 TTG scheme which was not applied to very many head-end cars, especially these older cars.

 Also of note in this photo is the car has no RPO lettering, and appears to be "Postal Storage", which would indicate to me that the 1942 remark above was the date of this conversion.

The plan of SP 4097 on Pg.45 shows as "60-PS-1 Postal-Storage", also suggesting that the SP had a drawing showing conversion to Postal-Storage.

60-P-2 - Railway Post Office, 1909

This class was ordered for fast mail train service on the overland route between Council Bluffs and Oakland Pier.  The UP received their cars built in June, 1909 by Pullman Standard.  While the SP received their cars in August, 1909 by Pullman Standard.

CP 4087 - to Postal-Storage SP 4087 - Grn1, Grn2, Retired (no date)

CP 4088 - to Postal-Storage 7/9/1923 SP 4088 - Grn1, Grn2, Retired (no date)

CP 4089 - to Postal-Storage 9/5/1923 SP 4089 - Grn1, Grn2, Retired 2/58, to SPMW 4504 6/17/1958

CP 4090 - to Postal-Storage 4/17/1923 SP 4090 - Grn1, Grn2, TTG3, Retired (8/1959)

CP 4091 - to Postal-Storage 3/24/1923 SP 4091 - Grn1, Grn2, Retired (12/1958)

CP 4092 - to Postal-Storage 5/12/1923 SP 4092 - Grn1, Grn2, Retired in El Paso 6/56, Scrapped EPGS 11/19/1956.

UP 1217 - to UP 2030, to UP 1406

UP 1218 - to UP 2031, to UP 1407

UP 1219 - to UP 2032, to UP 1408

UP 1220 - to UP 2033, to UP 1409

UP 1221 - to UP 2034, to UP 1410

60-PD-1 - Paper Distributing, 1909

This class was ordered to the same specifications as the previous class, with minor changes to the arrangement of the interiors for "paper distributing to avoid the transfer of mail at Ogden" (pg.49, SPHTS Psgr Cars Vol 3.)  The letter sorting racks and sorting tables were removed, rearranged bag racks and minimal sorting tables were fitted instead (pg50 drawings and notes).

CP 4093 - Converted to postal-storage 8/18, reclassified 60-PS-1, to SP 4093, Grn1, Grn2 retired 8/58 to SPMW 4507.

CP 4094 - Converted to postal-storage 10/19, reclassified 60-PS-1, to SP 4094, Grn1, Grn2, Retired (no date)

CP 4095 - Converted to postal-storage 10/19, reclassified 60-PS-1, to SP 4095,  Grn1, Grn2, TTG3 , Retired (no date, 1954+ if TTG3 applied.)

CP 4096 - Converted to postal-storage 8/18, reclassified 60-PS-1, to SP 4096,  Grn1, Grn2, retired 1/59 - sold for scrap 6/59

Notes: SP 4096 had axle light and lights reinstalled 8/26/1954.

Pg.51, Photo of SP 4096 at Sacramento in 1961, so it wasn't immediately cut up for scrap.

60-P-3 - Railway Post Office, 1910

UP cars built by Pullman in 9/1910, SP cars built in 10/1910 to the same design as 60-P-2 with slight changes to lighting and electrical fittings.  Eight additional cars were ordered in 1909, but were cancelled.

CP 4098 - sold to H&TC 100 in 1919, to T&NO 100 in 1931. 4-wheel trucks applied & postal-storage 1941. to TNOMW 3499 8/10/1956, Retired (no date)

CP 4099 - to SP 4099, converted P-S 7/14/1936

CP 4100 - sold to H&TC 101 in 1919, to T&NO 101 in 1931. 4-wheel trucks applied & postal-storage 1941.

CP 4101 - to SP 4101, converted P-S 11/19/1935

CP 4102 - sold to H&TC 102 in 1919, to T&NO 102 in 1931. 4-wheel trucks applied & postal-storage 1941.

SP 4249 - Originally assigned to and lettered for Oregon & Washington, converted to Postal Storage

OSL 325 - to OSL 2108, to baggage OSL 1891

OSL 326 - to OSL 2109, to baggage OSL 1892

OSL 327 - to OSL 2110, to baggage OSL 1893

OSL 328 - to OSL 2111, to baggage OSL 1894

OSL 329 - to OSL 2112, to baggage OSL 1895

OSL 330 - to OSL 2113, to baggage OSL 1896

SPLA&SL 88 - to LA&SL 4654 to LA&SL 4554, to LA&SL 1485

SPLA&SL 89 - to LA&SL 4655 to LA&SL 4555, to LA&SL 1486

Painting Notes: All SP cars Green1, Green2, except 4099 received TTG3 (probably around 1954).

Two additional cars were built in Dec, 1910, and classified as 60-P-3 (why they're not in the same list in the SPHTS book, I don't know)

SP 4250 - Originally assigned to and lettered for Oregon & Washington, relettered SP 2/8/1911, replaced steel doors with wood 9/9/1916, converted to Postal Storage SPdeM 1911 5/28/1927, leased to SPdeM 5/28/1927-12/21/51, to SP 4250 4/10/43, sold to SPdeM 12/21/51.

SP 4251 - Originally assigned to and lettered for Oregon & Washington, relettered SP 2/8/1911, replaced steel doors with wood 9/9/1916, converted to Postal Storage SPdeM 1912 5/28/1927, leased to SPdeM 5/28/1927-12/21/51, to SP 4251 4/10/43, sold to SPdeM 12/21/51.

Note: The next table in the book shows them back to SP 4250 and SP 4251 as of 9/30/51, instead of 1943... strange.

60-P-4 - Railway Post Office, 1911

This was a large group of 35 cars.

CP 4103 - to SP 4103 12/10/31, to PS 8/26/36, Grn1, Grn2, TTG3 3/25/55, retired 10/58, to SPMW 4627 4/59.

CP 4104 - replaced steel doors with wood 6/6/14, SP 4104, to PS 11/13/35, retired 11/58 to SPMW 4628 11/1/59. - only Grn1, Grn2. 

CP 4105 - replaced steel doors with wood 6/10/14, SP 4105 10/29/31, to P-S 12/2/36, retired 4/57 S/S 5/31/57. - only Grn1, Grn2.

CP 4106 - replaced steel doors with wood 1/31/14, SP 4106 100/31/33, to Baggage-Express SP 6112 12/16/41. - only Grn1, Grn2.

CP 4107 - replaced steel doors with wood 4/12/13, SP 4107, 8/31/31, wrecked Crystal Lake, Calif 9/12/32, scrapped 12/32 - only Grn1.

CP 4108 - replaced steel doors with wood 7/29/14, SP 4108, to P-S 8/19/49, retired 6/59 Sold for Scrap - Grn1, Grn2, TTG3 4/13/55.

CP 4109 - replaced steel doors with wood 4/30/13, to PS CP 4109, reclassifed 60-PS-4 11/7/1918, 8/18 to P-S SP4109 10/23/35, retired 9/56 to SPMW 3485 10/31/56. - only Grn1, Grn2.

CP 4110 - replaced steel doors with wood 10/18/13, SP 4110, to PS 8/18/49, applied ply-metal doors 1/20/55, retired 6/59. - Grn1, Grn2, TTG3 1/20/55 - same time as ply-metal doors.

CP 4111 - replaced steel doors with wood 2/28/13, to P-S CP 4111 8/3/18 reclassifed 60-PS-4, SP 4111 3/27/36, retired 7/59. - Grn1, Grn2, TTG3 (no date)

CP 4112 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/12/13, to Postal SP 4112 11/25/53,  to P-S SP 4112 

reclassifed 60-PS-4 9/8/49, retired 1/60, Sold scrap. - Grn1, Grn2, TTG3 9/20/55

CP 4113 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/25/13, Postal Storage SP 4113, rebuilt to Baggage-Express  and renumbered 6113 3/3/42. - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4252 - replaced steel doors with wood 4/30/13, to Postal-Storage SP 5205 3/11/25, - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4253 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/24/13, to Postal-Storage SP 5203 10/11/25

, - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4254 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/24/13, to Postal-Storage SP 5206 4/8/25, - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4255 - replaced steel doors with wood 8/21/13, to Postal-Storage SP 5204 12/13/24, - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4256 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/3/13, to Baggage-Express SP 6439 12/20/20, - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4257 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/21/13, to Postal-Baggage SP 5202 5/16/24, - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4258 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/31/17, to Postal-Baggage SP 5207 6/27/25, - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4259 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/13/13, to Postal SPdeM 1913 6/9/27, leased to SPdeM 6/17/27-12/21/51, sold to SPdeM 12/21/51. - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4260 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/13/13, to Postal SPdeM 1914 6/9/27, leased to SPdeM 6/17/27-12/21/51, to postal SP 4260 8/4/43, sold to SPdeM 12/21/51. - only Grn1, Grn2.

O&C 4402 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/8/13, to Postal SP 4402 6/5/28, to Baggage-Express SP 6114 12/13/41. - only Grn1, Grn2.

O&C 4403 - to Postal SP 4403 5/2/29, to Postal-Storage SP4403, reclassified 60-PS-4, 9/16/36, retired 2/60, sold for scrap. - only Grn1, Grn2.

O&C 4404 - replaced steel doors with wood 6/20/14, to Postal SP 4404 5/13/29, to Postal-Storage SP4404, reclassified 60-PS-4, 11/22/35, retired 6/59, sold for scrap, - Grn1, Grn2, TTG3 (no date, but probably 2/15/54)

O&C 4405 - replaced steel doors with wood 10/25/15, to Postal SP 4405 9/1/28, to Postal-Storage SP 4405, reclassed to 60-PS-4 11/22/35, retired 4/60, sold for scrap, - only Grn1, Grn2.

Oregon-Washington Railroad River & Navigation (UP) 

O-WRR&N 6 - (ordered as O&W 1), to O-WRR&N 2151. to O-WRR&N 1470

O-WRR&N 7 - (ordered as O&W 2), to O-WRR&N 2152. to O-WRR&N 1471

O-WRR&N 8 - (ordered as O&W 3), to O-WRR&N 2153. wrecked on O-WRR&N 12/21

O-WRR&N 9 - (ordered as O&W 4), to O-WRR&N 2154. to O-WRR&N 1472

O-WRR&N 10 - (ordered as O&W 5), to O-WRR&N 2155. to O-WRR&N 1947

O-WRR&N 11 - (ordered as O&W 6), to O-WRR&N 2156. to O-WRR&N 1948

Oregon Short Line (UP) 

OSL 331 - to OSL 2114, to Baggage OSL 1897

OSL 332 - to OSL 2115, Wrecked 12/24/1939

OSL 333 - to OSL 2116, to Baggage OSL 1460

OSL 334 - to OSL 2117, to Baggage OSL 1851

OSL 335 - to OSL 2118, Wrecked 12/24/1939

Additional 60ft RPO cars for other 'foreign' railroads

Union Pacific

UP 1238-1257 - Railway Post Office, 1911 20-cars

These cars were renumbered into the 2036-2055 series, and then the later 19 cars to 1411-1428 series. 
The UP 2036 was wrecked on the SP 2/26/1937.

Illinois Central

Looks like the IC had cars numbered between 73-88, built 3/11 by Pullman Standard.  As originally built, these cars do appear to match the Athearn announcement.

Similar to the rebuilt IC cars, SP 60-P rebuilt class of modernized 60ft "full" RPO, for 1941 Lark, plus 3 spares.

There's a photo of IC 85, photographed around 1960, showing it heavily rebuilt and modified window and door arrangement much more like the later SP rebuilt 60-P series cars for Lark and three spare cars.

Central of Georgia

Two cars were built 711 & 712, built in March, 1911. - The drawings for these cars show extra windows in the letter-sorting end of the car, so not identical to the more common 60ft Common Standard/Pullman Standard RPO cars.

The Athearn Announcement

News release from Athearn at Trainfest 2024.

Let's look a little closer at the proposed offering from Athearn's announcement.  <- Link to PDF announcement.

Video released by Athearn on Nov 29, one day after I posted this blog.

These are in the same order as the announcement sheet was... I'll comment below.

UP "Early" Green

UP 1251 (single)

UP 1252 & 1224 (pair)

SP "Early" - (SPL, minus the LINES, because of space - which is correct for this class)

SP 4254 (single)

SP 4255 & 4257 (pair)

Illinois Centeral (Green)

IC 80 (single)

IC 81 & 82 (pair)

Green Unlettered

Unlettered (single)

Unlettered (pair)

SP - Post 1946 - "SOUTHERN PACIFIC" extended version

SP 4404 (single) as Postal Storage Car

UP (Yellow)

UP 1314 (single)

MOW (yellow, delettered, with basic black lettering)MOW 111277(single) 

MOW 111279 & 111280 (pair)

Seems this is a UP MW car, but the lettering and advertisement seems to be a more generic.

Comments:

Most of my knowledge is aimed at the SP modeler, but I'll comment what info I've found on the other railroads, but my info is much more limited on what their prototypes did and what era they cover.

Southern Pacificc

Let's have a look at the SP number and lettering choices, some of the conceptual choices Athearn is putting forward here are a bit odd.

The "Early" SP version is shown as "Era 1913", which is fine, but if true then Athearn will have chosen numbers for cars that were converted to other types of cars in the mid-1920s.  This would eliminate modelers from the 1925-era until post-WWII with their stock lettering, which the single car and 2-pack offerings are for.

My partly complete Southern Car & Foundry model of Storage Car SP 4404.

The "Late" SP, which I think tries to claim "Era" 1940s, is really more post-1946, with the extended lettering, but only Postal Storage Car 4404 is offered as a single car number without mail catching arms, so the model can't be turned into a working RPO car.  While the Postal Storage car version is probably the most useful car for general HO-scale 1925-1960 era passenger train modelers, who could certainly use a ready-made SP Storage Mail Car for all the contracts that "foreign" railroads had with SP on the Overland, Sunset, Golden State, and Shasta, plus intercity trains within California.  It seems a bit unfortunate for SP modelers, who still don't have a good accurate model of an SP RPO car in plastic.

It seems that Athearn's not planning to do any of the handful of Two Tone Gray RPO or Storage Cars for post-1954 era repainted cars.  Modelers wanting the TTG cars would probably need to start with the unlettered version and repaint them as a starting point.

Note 1913 SP version, for the 4200-series "RPO" car will have gas tanks and "old" underframe, where as the only SP model with modernized battery boxes and brake parts is the SP 4404 Storage Mail Car.  I think that Athearn missed it with this choice, neglecting completely the working RPO car for 1940-1950's for the SP.  Too bad.

Texas & New Orleans

Three of the SP's cars were transferred to the H&TC as their 100-102, and then they went to T&NO reporting marks in the 1930s, and finally to TNOMW service after their revenue careers finished in the 1950s.  These cars would have to be modeled with the SP or Unlettered version, with changing of the reporting marks or custom decalling the car to match the reporting marks for the Texas Lines cars.

Illinois Central

Looks like the IC had cars between 73-88, built 3/11 by Pullman Standard.  The Athearn announcement is for the as-delivered scheme, not the later scheme with the road name on the letterboard.  The 85 is photographed around 1960, showing it heavily rebuilt and modified window and door arrangement.

So prototypes of the IC cars suggest that Athearn's models should work well for the pre-rebuilt IC cars, but depending on the era, some lettering changes may be needed.  I don't know enough about the IC's lettering eras to nail anything down specificially.

Union Pacific

The UP models should be pretty correct, per my listing of the roster above.

UP "as-built" Green

UP 1251 (single)

UP 1252 & 1224 (pair)

UP - "rebuilt/repainted" circa 1952, Armour Yellow & Gray

UP 1314

I've done Baggage Car models of the UP Armour Yellow & Gray, and in Two Tone Gray before, so I'm pretty sure that UP would have had cars painted in both of these later schemes, but I've not dug very far into any information on them.

Unlettered Green

Depending on how accurate lettering you want to have and what other railroad you might want before Athearn may someday get around to, probably the best option is to get the unlettered version and apply your own decals to match photos.

Maintenance-of-Way

I'm not sure what to make of these models, they seem to have UP's MW numbering system listed for them, and yellow makes since for that.  Southern Pacific's MW pre-1958 would have been Freight Car Red... but possibly staying green for a time, with only the service stenciling blanked out.  After 1958, the SPMW cars would be light gray with black lettering.

In Conclusion

That about sums up the options for these cars.  Much of my passenger train modeling has been cut back because I'm focusing most of my modeling efforts now on the SP's Jawbone Branch.  So I am not sure I'll be in the market for any of these models, although another storage mail car R-T-R or at least very close to out-of-the-box ready would be kinda handy if I took my model of the Owl to a friend's layout to run.  If I was going to run on a layout modeling Donner or one of the other routes where these 60ft RPOs were common, I would probably pick up one of these cars as a working RPO.

Probably the best way to get some of both types of SP RPO/Storage Mail car, would be to buy the one of the pre-war RPO painted models and the storage car 4404.  For my own modeling, I'd have to consider if I want to renumber my SC&F kit before I finish it or the Athearn model.  The problem with the pre-war SP RPOs is that those car numbers were the cars that were rebuilt and didn't survive into my modeling era (1946-1954), so I'd have to renumber them anyway into a series of cars that did last into my era.

Thoughts on SP Two-Tone Gray cars; While the SP certainly did repaint a few cars into the 1954+ TTG standard, most stayed in SP Dark Olive until the end of their service lives.  If you "have to" get a TTG car, then you'll be dealing with custom painting it yourself, as it appears Athearn won't even be offering the UP TTG scheme as a starting point.  Personally, I cutoff my era before 1954, but even if I didn't, the chances of seeing a TTG car was probably less than 1/3 or 1/4 of the surviving cars into 1958, and it's possible that the TTG cars were all assigned to something like the SF Overland, which would make them fit in more with the TTG and UP Yellow cars of that train.

Edit 2024-11-30:  After watching the YT video on this, I want to add the following thoughts.  The 1913 SP version, for the 4200-series "RPO" car will have gas tanks and "old" underframe, where as the only SP model with modernized battery boxes and brake parts is the SP 4404 Storage Mail Car.  I think that Athearn missed it with this choice, neglecting completely the working RPO car for 1940-1950's for the SP.  Too bad.


Jason Hill

Related Articles:

SP's Great RPO Shuffle of 1949-1953

Southern Car & Foundry website, 60-P-1/2/3/4 page.