So, as I expected, GGD has updated some of the offering reservations when they got some of their paint and lettering artwork ready to release. So I'm adding some of the screen-shots of the updates off Sunset/GGD/3rd&TownsendModels' website.
77-D-3/4 DINERS
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| GGD's 77-D-3/4 Diners announced 20250701 |
Well, this is a treat. So five paint schemes! I'm going to crop and zoom in to see what I can see for car numbers.
SP 10116 - Two-Tone Gray - This looks like the later TTG, as in the General Service TTG scheme of 1954. It has the car type "DINER" in large letters below the reporting marks and car number. These cars are interesting for SP passenger train operators because they were used in many of the remaining SP's HW passenger trains into the early 1960s which weren't converted to Hamburger-Grill service. My Painting Graphic shows that the SP 10116 was one of the interesting Diners, being painted into TTG in February, 1947 and a repaint in February, 1956, then lasting until retired in 1957. The 10116's sister, SP 10010 lasted in the TTG scheme into November, 1960!
SP 10006 - Simulated Stainless Steel - Aluminum & Red Stripe, Gray Underframe - This is the typical post-1958 General Service scheme. According to my Diner Painting Graphic, three SP 77-D-4s were repainted into this scheme in 1958 (one in April and two in August). The SP 10006 lasted until February, 1962, making it the longest lived arch-roof Diners not converted to Hamburger-Grill service!
SP 10507? or 10513 - Daylight Hamburger-Grill 1956 or 1955 - I'm sorry but I can't quite make out the lettering on this car. It could be either 10507 or 10513.
The 10507 was converted earlier, but painted TTG for about a year before being repainted to Daylight scheme in June, 1956. The SP 10507 is kind of an interesting car as it shows up in the 1957 Farewell to Steam trip over Donner Pass behind the SP 4274's last trip of an excursion behind a cab-forward. As many modelers have various manufacturers models of the 4274, this would make a nice consist to run on layouts of Donner Pass.
The 10513 was already painted in Daylight scheme as a diner since June, 1950. It was then out-shopped as H.G. in June, 1955. My research doesn't show when it was repainted into Yellow, but I'm guessing around May, 1958 when the H.G. SP 10512 was retired and it was painted Yellow at the time. The SP 10513 lasted in Yellow until November, 1961.
SP 10115 (probably) Daylight Diner 1947+ - No date or car number's clearly stated on this offering yet. I'm guessing that the second Daylight painted Diner is SP 10115 or 10117.
The SP 10115 would make since as the SPH&TS Vol.4 Dining Car book shows it was repainted Daylight in 1947, but not a specified month. I'm guessing it certainly could have been the next diner coming out of repair and getting repainted after the devastating Kingsburg wreck of February, 1947, where a gasoline truck was hit at 45 MPH in a grade-crossing collision. Amazingly the SP's two LW full diners, SP 10200/10201, weren't in the consist that day, but the SP 10150, a DOG HW Diner, a 77-D-9 clerestory protection car. However, the Coffee-Shop SP 10400 was in the train that day, and it was badly burned out in the resulting fire. I'm not sure how long the SP 10400 was out of service, while it was being repaired, but it's fair to say that the SP 10115 stayed in Daylight colors quite a while, at least through April 1953's list in SP Trainline No.116, Summer 2013, pg 44. I'm guessing, SP 10115 lasted in Daylight colors until it's conversion to Hamburger-Grill in May, 1955.
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| GGD artwork for SP 10116 Two-Tone Gray Diner |
SP 10116 - Two-Tone Gray - This looks like the later TTG, as in the General Service TTG scheme of 1954. It has the car type "DINER" in large letters below the reporting marks and car number. These cars are interesting for SP passenger train operators because they were used in many of the remaining SP's HW passenger trains into the early 1960s which weren't converted to Hamburger-Grill service. My Painting Graphic shows that the SP 10116 was one of the interesting Diners, being painted into TTG in February, 1947 and a repaint in February, 1956, then lasting until retired in 1957. The 10116's sister, SP 10010 lasted in the TTG scheme into November, 1960!
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| GGD artwork for SP 10006 Simulated Stainless Steel Diner |
SP 10006 - Simulated Stainless Steel - Aluminum & Red Stripe, Gray Underframe - This is the typical post-1958 General Service scheme. According to my Diner Painting Graphic, three SP 77-D-4s were repainted into this scheme in 1958 (one in April and two in August). The SP 10006 lasted until February, 1962, making it the longest lived arch-roof Diners not converted to Hamburger-Grill service!
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| GGD artwork for SP 10507/10513? Daylight Hamburger-Grill |
The 10507 was converted earlier, but painted TTG for about a year before being repainted to Daylight scheme in June, 1956. The SP 10507 is kind of an interesting car as it shows up in the 1957 Farewell to Steam trip over Donner Pass behind the SP 4274's last trip of an excursion behind a cab-forward. As many modelers have various manufacturers models of the 4274, this would make a nice consist to run on layouts of Donner Pass.
The 10513 was already painted in Daylight scheme as a diner since June, 1950. It was then out-shopped as H.G. in June, 1955. My research doesn't show when it was repainted into Yellow, but I'm guessing around May, 1958 when the H.G. SP 10512 was retired and it was painted Yellow at the time. The SP 10513 lasted in Yellow until November, 1961.
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| GGD artwork for SP 10115 (?) Daylight Protection Diner |
The SP 10115 would make since as the SPH&TS Vol.4 Dining Car book shows it was repainted Daylight in 1947, but not a specified month. I'm guessing it certainly could have been the next diner coming out of repair and getting repainted after the devastating Kingsburg wreck of February, 1947, where a gasoline truck was hit at 45 MPH in a grade-crossing collision. Amazingly the SP's two LW full diners, SP 10200/10201, weren't in the consist that day, but the SP 10150, a DOG HW Diner, a 77-D-9 clerestory protection car. However, the Coffee-Shop SP 10400 was in the train that day, and it was badly burned out in the resulting fire. I'm not sure how long the SP 10400 was out of service, while it was being repaired, but it's fair to say that the SP 10115 stayed in Daylight colors quite a while, at least through April 1953's list in SP Trainline No.116, Summer 2013, pg 44. I'm guessing, SP 10115 lasted in Daylight colors until it's conversion to Hamburger-Grill in May, 1955.
The other car that could be done is SP 10117, which was painted into Daylight in June, 1950 for the San Joaquin Daylight protection service. The 10117 was in Daylight in April, 1953. The 10117 was converted to Hamburger-Grill in June, 1955 as SP 10513 (discussed above). Given that GGD has announced the SP 2929 in Daylight, I hope that the Daylight Diner is going to be the SP 10115 from 1947 as well. - On a personal note, I like this option better, as a modeler of the 1949 San Joaquin Daylight, I look forward to having the chance to get a pair of HW protection cars to model other versions of the train.
SP 10112 Overland (Yellow) Diner 1957 - This is another "late" scheme, the SP repainted four HW Diners from the 77-D-3/4 series to SP Yellow scheme for service on the Overland. A fifth car was repainted into SP Yellow to cover for one of the original four yellow diners being retired. The SP 10112 was repainted in May, 1957 and remained in yellow until it was retired in September, 1960, which I believe makes it the longest lasting of the SP Yellow Diners. A couple of the Yellow Hamburger-Grills lasted into 1961 and 1962.
SP 10107 - Dark Olive Green, 1946-1958 (General Service) - The majority of the 77-D-1/3/4 class stayed in Dark Olive Green until converted to Hamburger-Grills in 1955. The cars not converted to H.G. or retired earlier, lasted into 1956-1957 before being repainted into other special schemes (listed above). SP 10008 and 10103 actually lasted into 1959 still in DOG before being retired. SP 10107 lasted into February, 1958. Considering most of the SP's HW Diner fleet was retired in 1954, and even assignments on the remaining HW trains, such as the Owl, lost their HW food service cars by 1956, there weren't many assignments left for DOG Dining cars by that time.
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| GGD artwork for SP 10112 - Diner - Overland Yellow scheme |
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| GGD artwork for SP 10107 - Diner - DOG scheme |
SP 10107 - Dark Olive Green, 1946-1958 (General Service) - The majority of the 77-D-1/3/4 class stayed in Dark Olive Green until converted to Hamburger-Grills in 1955. The cars not converted to H.G. or retired earlier, lasted into 1956-1957 before being repainted into other special schemes (listed above). SP 10008 and 10103 actually lasted into 1959 still in DOG before being retired. SP 10107 lasted into February, 1958. Considering most of the SP's HW Diner fleet was retired in 1954, and even assignments on the remaining HW trains, such as the Owl, lost their HW food service cars by 1956, there weren't many assignments left for DOG Dining cars by that time.
75-CS HW LOUNGES
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| GGD's 75-CS Lounges announced 20250701 |
Ok, this is the other group of cars that I've been very interested to see.
SP 2931 San Francisco Lounge 5/1937 - An interesting choice. Some of the 75-CS Lounges when out-shopped in 1937 were assigned to the SF Overland with special lettering for the assignment.
SP 2933 Golden State 1947-1953 - This is one of the more famous premier train protection assignments for the 75-CS Lounges. It certainly is one of the most striking paint schemes with the whole upper part of the car painted Daylight Red to match the 1947 Golden State scheme. The SP 2933 would be used when one of the SP's LW Golden State 83ft Lounge cars was in the shops. Sadly this scheme only lasted into 1953 before the powers that be in SP Passenger Dept, a.k.a. Russell, pushed for a simpler scheme with better longevity and consolidation of the protection equipment between the Budd Sunset Limited and the Golden State Limited trains.
SP 2938 Dark Olive Green - 1946-1958 - This is the general service scheme for the era. Most of the SP's HW Lounges were in this scheme. A number of these cars were still painted in this scheme when the cars were retired still wearing the DOG scheme. This scheme is one of my favorites for DOG cars, with the larger "LOUNGE" lettering directly below the car's reporting marks on the car side.
SP 2940 Two-Tone Gray - 8/1954 - And this is the replacement general scheme for all SP HW cars in 1954. Some of the 75-CS Lounges were repainted before they were retired. From photos, it looks like the SP stopped putting the "LOUNGE" car type lettering under the car number and put the smaller "LOUNGE" at the ends of the letterboards.
72-O-1 SMOKER-OBSERVATIONS
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| GGD's 72-O-1 Observations announced 20250701 |
Oh, I like this version of the announcement with notes of what cars are planned.
O-WRR&N 1590 - this is the last scheme that the Oregon - Washington Railroad & Navigation Company observation wore before it was converted into a coach in 1943. I wish I knew a bit more about O-WRR&N and how they used this car. It would also be interesting to know more about what happened to the O-WRR&N's passenger trains relating to the curtailment of the lounge and observation cars and also the discontinuance of many secondary passenger trains in January 1942 due to the war.
SP 2804 & CP 2902 1913-1917 - the early SP lettering scheme with the car number only over the trucks. I'm not sure how many modelers will be surprised how elements of this lettering plan resurfaced in the SP's June 1946 scheme, but with the reporting marks centered on the car-side.
SPL 2807 & (SPL) CP 2903 1917-1924 - the later SPL lettering scheme with reporting marks over each truck, this would be the scheme before these cars were rebuilt to 77-D-2s between 1921-1924. This is the pre-1928 version, which has the subsidiary's reporting marks. After 1928 the SP consolidated the whole of the Pacific Lines under the SP's reporting marks.
SP 2901 TTG 1946 - interesting, looks like this is marked as "Fict" so GGD is recognizing that this is a fantasy scheme. The model looks good for anyone really wanting to have a TTG observation car. Prototypically, the SP really only had the post-1930 observation cars, which were clerestory cars, that lasted into the TTG era, which started by reusing the numbering series at SP 2902. So, I can see how an offering of the SP 2901 would work to try to shoe-horn this fantasy car into the rest of the SP's numbering system.
IN CLOSING
As not everything on the GGD website's drop-down ordering menu is shown in these announcement artworks, I'm guessing there's still more on the way... (?) If there are, I'll come back to this blog-post and break down the artwork that is announced.
Jason Hill
Jason Hill
Related Articles:
SP Passenger Car Statistics - (Part 1) Dining Cars (1930s-1950s) - More in-depth car-by-car research on the SP's HW Dining Cars (data-roster info from SPHTS Passenger Cars Vol.4 book), with extra assignment data from various sources.
SP Passenger Car Statistics - (Part 2) Lounge Cars (1930s-1950s) - More in-depth car-by-car research on the SP's HW 'Full' Lounge Cars (data-roster info from SPHTS Passenger Cars Vol.5 book), with extra assignment data from various sources.
I'll do a Part 3 of the SP Passenger Car Statistics blog series on the prototype history when I see a bit more on the GGD 72-C-1 series coaches.
SP Diners 1937-1960 Timeline Graphic of SP Paint Schemes - A chart for a more visual formatting of the SPH&TS Passenger Car Vol.4 Dining Car data.