Well, some progress has been made on the SP 2701 since Part 1 of the build. I will also mention that I've done some improvements to my SP HW Passenger Car Index page with new example photos and a few new car classes represented now.
Interior & Walls
Leading this update is the construction, painting, and installation of the chairs and some partitions around the toilets, and painting of the interior.
Interior added to SP 2701 - Note the dark green window shades.
I should first mention that I used dark green manila filing folder material for the dark green window shades on this model. Some SP coaches, All-Day-Lunches, and News Agent cars had this. Best to look at photos to see which cars had it, and which had a light tan shade.
Similar strips of PSC seats prepared for SP 1005.
The seats are Prescision Scale Co. 33312.1 (Chair Car) seats, they are injection molded in pairs with small legs on them. I started with the uncolored gray seats, and painted the floor strip of .400" x 0.020" strip styrene a nice shade of "Seafoam" green from StarBrand, which is actually a pretty good match for the interior color used on Athearn's Streamlined 77-C-3 chair cars.
I then masked the floor and painted the seats with a mix of Freight Car Red (FCR) also StarBrand. This again was a pretty close match for the colors used on the MTH and Athearn Genesis Daylight chair cars.
The seats were glued to the styrene strip 0.460" apart. At the front end of the car there will be a set of seats looking back, however I did not install those at this time. The lighting bar-strip was not glued in and I removed it for this part. Checking the drawings I glued the seating strips in to get a good location compared to the windows of where they line up. This is really a matter of choice, as the Model Power is missing one large window. So in the middle of the car you can either let the seats not line up with the windows and have the right number of seats, or you can have the wrong number of seats, but line up with the windows. I chose to have the right number of seats, and oh well about the windows. I might have decided to go the other route in hindsight... but it's too late now! - (More on my thoughts of changing models after the fact). At this point it's not reached a high enough mark on the "Really Annoying" Meter to worry about.
Photo from before the interior was installed - Notice the major hole... WATCH YOUR STEP!
Styrene sheet was added down the middle of the car as well to cover the major holes that were left in the Model Power body tooling. This will help hide the holes as seen in the photo below.
SP 2701 with interior mounted and partitions around the ends of the seating area.
The partitions are 0.02" sheet styrene cut 36" wide and even with the top of the carside. Notches are cut in the edge nearest the carside for the roof flange to clear. Extra scrap squares of sheet styrene are glued over the "end windows" in the car interior. I am not sure why both MDC and Model Power (copied) have these end windows into the toilets... Not kosher for 1910 certainly! Probably they did one set of tooling for the end windows in the end wall of the observation car and put them in all their models as a general endsill wall.
The left end window (bottom left in the photo above) is also is covered with non-"Magic" Scotch Tape, which causes the "fogged" look, usually associated with the toilet windows on coaches and chair cars not fitted with expensive "etched" glass or prismed windows. This can also be seen below.
Another view of the interior, also we can see a bit of the roof with the vents painted.
The soldering tabs can be seen above at the end of the LED strip. The wires from the trucks and markers will attach there.
I'll end this update with a photo of the car showing what the car looks like without installed marker lights.
Non-marker end of the SP 2701
In some ways installing the markers after the HiTech Diaphragms are installed is more of a pain, but on this model it will need to be done.
That does it for now for Part 2 of the SP 2701 build. In Part 3 I'll be showing the installed OwlMtModels marker kit and finishing the underbody frame and installing assorted detail parts.
Marker Lights, Video, and Athearn-Genesis Chair Cars
Tonight we'll be looking at a fairly easy upgrade to an Athearn Genesis 77-C-3 streamlined chair car. Athearn-Genesis has released this class of car in several runs over the last 7 or so years in multiple paint schemes.
I will also be trying a new blog feature on the installation of the OwlMtModels lit Gyralite Tailgate Marker kit, which is I'll try filming the installation on this car. I also filmed the process of installing the window shades.
I'm interested in feedback about the video. I know it's the first time I've done a video of model building. I need to get a small tripod and I'm sure all the serious video and audio people will be complaining. Most of my blogs will stay text and photos, but I might do short video clips again to show certain techniques or assembly steps that photos don't show the process well.
Class History
SP 2436 with window shades and Gyralite Marker installed.
In 1937, Southern Pacific ordered an immediate follow-on class to the first batch of single-unit chair cars for the Daylight (77-C-1) and the Sunbeam/Huster (77-C-2), which was the 15 cars of class 77-C-3. I am not going to extensive depth on all of the swapping around of each of these cars between 1937 and 1950, needless to say, SP always was short on LW chair cars and kept them hopping.
The 77-C-3 cars were ordered to start upgrading the Challenger and the Californian with "Lightweight" streamlined cars. These cars were painted in SP's Dark Olive Green, which was the SP's standard 'General Service' Color until late 1949-1950, when it was changed so these cars could also protect the 'Daylight Pool'.
The Challenger-assigned cars also received the "Challenger" script logo on the plaque at the car center. The Californian-assigned cars had a smaller plaque than the Daylight cars and only had the car's reporting marks.
SP 2438 was the first car wrecked only a year old in 1938 at the head-on wreck at Tortuga, the SP 2427 went to the T&NO in 1942, so the we'll be following the 13 remaining cars.
Paint Modifications to the SP 2436
Here you can see the missing A/C cover - will be reattached later
I was asked to do some upgrades on a Dark Olive Green 77-C-3 for a customer. The model from Athearn comes with pre-1946 "Southern Pacific Lines" lettering. The customer wants it modeled as one of the few cars that survived the war and into the June 1946 scheme, still in green paint with the new lettering scheme. This is the first change to be done on the SP 2436.
I masked off the windows and reshot the carbody with StarBrand Dark Olive Green. New decals are ThinFilm 160. I chose the SP 2436, because it was - as far as I can tell - one of the last SP General Service Green cars. SP 2433 was another.
Interior Modifications
The customer also wanted one of the OwlMtModels #10002 Gyralite Marker Tailgates installed for end-of-train service. SP's standard practice was to run the last car of a train with the vestibule to the rear, this was true even if the car was built to normally operate vestibule forward. (SP 2492 and 2493 were built vestibule-rear for service on the San Joaquin Daylight as rear cars.) On the SP 2436, this means that I need to change the seating for the car to operate in the other direction. On the Athearn models this is pretty easy.
End plate of car and side interface - SP 2436, Athearn Genesis 77-C-3
Open the car by gently prying the ends of the car away from the frame where they tab-lock in. Then again, carefully pry the sides and the skirts over the underframe. The Green and Daylight cars are harder to do this with, because they have full skirting. Also the SP 2436 has very fine etchings covering some of the A/C gear under the car, these are not well mounted to the car and popped of regularly with this model. - In the final assembly stages of this model, I plan to try some other adhesives to solve this issue.
Athearn-Genesis 77-C-3 Interior, Vestibule to the right in this view
The interior of the car is very well done with anti-mascara headrests, and a very nice lighting system that's not too bright. The inside of the windows and isle windows are missing several things. I find that models that have window shades, even in their up position, make the car look many times better. Also the small extra detail of the isle window safety bars also make the interior of the car "pop". The window shades for these "modern" chair cars should be of the reflectorized material. The interior side was matched to the decor of the car's interior, but the outside was always silver.
Making the new window shade's is not hard. I use either 3x5 card stock or paper, spray painted silver/aluminum. For this car I used Tamiya Gloss Aluminum spray paint. Cut the material in a saw tooth shape with the ends of each horizontal section falling at the window columns of the car side.
I mount these window shades with small pieces of Tamiya masking tape, this also allows easy changing of the shades later if desired and doesn't cause any fogging of the window glass.
The seats were easy enough to pop out of their mounting pegs and reverse. On the real cars, this was just as easy because each pair of seats was mounted on a pivot, which could be unlocked and allow the pair of seats to rotate so the passengers could look out the windows, or all the way around to face the other direction.
Installing the Marker Light - Video Instructions and Rambling
In Part 1 - Assembly (about 16 minutes), I show how to put the Pyle Gyralite together on the tailgate with the LED, soldering the dropping resistor on and some basic discussions of what should be done before installation
In Part 2 - Installation in Athearn-Genesis 77-C-3 Chair Car (About 17.5 minutes) I go though a step-by-step on how to mount the tailgate marker assembly in the chair car and hook up to the Athearn car's existing lighting system
Additional Information on Markers
Owl Mountain Models makes a detailing kit with a standard scissor safety gate on which the SP and several other railroads would hang a Pyle Gyralite housing and plug into the car's electrical system. These lights would be used in addition or instead of the old Adlake Marker Lanterns that would be mounted on the corner-post brackets. MSRP for the OwlMtModels 10002 kit is $9.95 for a pair of markers, enough for two cars. The pickups from the track on this kit is left to the modeler to work out as there are so many ways manufacturers build their cars.
These Markers began replacing the standard side-mount Adlake Lanterns, possibly as early as 1950-1951, with the changing of the SP Rulebooks over the years to provide for "Electric Markers" and also "Built-In Electric Markers" on the streamlined observation cars from as early as 1937.
One of the main reasons why I use them, even on cars slightly earlier than the photographs show, is that they can be put on any car in a passenger car consist, including cars that I might wish to operate mid-train. The light from the LED marker will be between the diaphragms, not running into anything, and hidden from all normal viewing angles. Lighting-Only decoders can also be installed in the cars if I desire to have the Gyralite strobing "Signal Light" effect working, or I could turn the marker off.
Extinguishing the electric markers was required in the rules if the marker could not be turned to display 'Green' to the rear for other trains when not on the main track. So in short, if you go into a siding, you should turn the marker light off.
OwlMtModels Gyralite and Tailgate castings painted. LEDs and 1k Ohm Dropping Resistors not shown.
The kit has a pair of injection molded sprues with the Gyralite housing and the scissor gates, two red mini-LEDs, and a pair of 1k Ohm dropping resistors for operation on 12-14V DCC/DC track power. If the modeler desires the "Gyralite" effects of the light in full operation (which was optional on the real lights) a lighting only decoder or DC lighting module can easily be added. On this car, I am only doing the light as "on".
Here's a full-size 1:1 scale Pyle Gyralite, obviously one off an SP engine in post-1958 Scarlet Red
First, I use my sprue cutters to separate the Gyralite housings half of the sprue from the tailgate section of the sprue for painting. The Gyralites will be silver on this model. I have heard from various SP employees that they were also Daylight Red (Daylight trains) or Armor Yellow (Overland route) for specific train assignments. I believe they also had Scarlett Red on them after 1958, if the particular housing was stolen from a diesel and not repainted.
The scissor gates were painted the same color as the interior of the vestibule or the end color of the car, if it was on the blind-end of the car. Because the SP 2436 will be running "backwards" with the vestibule on the rear, I should paint it the vestibule interior color... On the Athearn model this is problematic, because the floor is the Seafoam Green of the interior of the car, but the Vestibule wall is Dark Olive Green.... I had the Dark Olive Green paint out at that time, so painted it that color.
The Gyralite housing was reamed quickly with a No.50 drill to clear any flashing from the LED hole. The LED's contacts were bent back to the rear of the LED. Then the LED was slipped into the housing. I keep the small silver Cathode mark on the back of the LED on the right side of the housing, when looking at the back. I do this just so I can easily tell which way the polarity needs to be for DC operation if I want to set a car up for that. In DCC, it doesn't really matter.
The LED protrudes slightly from the back of the tailgate and there is a pocket on the tailgate to accept the back of the LED. The contacts on the back of the LED slide through the tailgate and either into the carbody or into the vestibule on a car, depending which end of the car the marker is being mounted.
With the tailgate assembled, the resistor and LED were tinned and the resistor is soldered to one of the LED contacts. Again, the LED only works with the polarity one way, and as a diode it blocks electric current from flowing backwards through the LED. In my experience with these LEDs, there is not enough potential across the LED to cause it to fail because of the back current. In other words, it's safe without using a diode bridge to rectify the DCC (AC) current.
Very Important - Always use a "dropping" resistor of at least 600 Ohms to limit the voltage and amps across the LED. I would suggest if using a lighting-only decoder on DCC to possibly go as low as 600 Ohms for a more intense "Pop" at the high cycle of the Gyralite effect. For normal "Only On" operation, the provided 1k Ohm dropping resistors are fine. I have tested the LEDs with as high as 5-6k Ohm resistors, and they still light with a dull red glow. The 1k Ohm seems to be a very happy medium and looks good in layout operation as well.
Interior of the 77-C-3, stock Athearn-Genesis painted - the power pickup wipers can be seen at the far light green bulkhead.
I removed the car end (easily done, as it's press-fit only), so that I can more easily work on installing the tailgate and marker. I soldered some TCS #1219 32-gage wire to the resistor and the other LED contact to connect to the Athearn-Genesis roof lighting strip. The truck power comes up through two metal contact wipers at each end of the car. Actually the inboard interior wall of the men's and women's "dressing rooms" right to the ends of the main seating area's light strip. I removed the lighting strip by unscrewing two Phillip head screws, so that I could more easily solder everything together.
The vertical side strips of the gate were modified to fit the Athearn Genesis 77-C-3 and were removed to narrow the gate. Once the gate can fit into the opening at the end of the car, I glued it in place with Tamiya liquid plastic glue.
As the roof lighting strip contacts will be full track Voltage, I soldered into the light strip at that point, keeping the wiring up in the roof. I reinstalled the car end and the lighting strip with the two mounting screws and pressed the car end back in place on the body shell.
Clip-leading to my power supply, simulating track power, I tested the LED marker to be sure it was working.
Closing Thoughts on V-Blogging
OwlMtModels Marker kit installed on a Cascade TTG 77-C-3, by Athearn Genesis
I'm going to wrap up SP 2436, Part 1, here.
Comment what you think about the videos, if they're helpful, etc. I know I didn't use the best camera or have the greatest setup either. I'm not sure how much, if any, more video footage I will use on this blog in the future. The uploading and editing these two less-than 20 minute videos took over two days. I might consider it for special projects, where still photos don't really get across what I'm doing.
I do have some footage of the window shades going into the SP 2436 for a Part 3 video, if there's interest in the community. That will be in SP 2436 (Part 2) when it's ready.
In this series of posts, I'm working on some Soho 60-C-5 coaches. The first two are both the same class, yet quite different cars as examples of what happened to SP and T&NO's large fleet of 60 foot coaches over the years. Both the SP 1005 and the T&NO 777 are based on the Soho model of a 60-C-10.
SP 1005, 60-C-5 Chair
SP 1005 with window shades and replaced roof vents.
SP 1005 started life as Northwestern Pacific (NWP) 401 and was fitted as a "smoker" coach with a partition mid-car. The NWP 401 spend her early carrier working north of San Fransisco Bay until 1935, when it was transferred to the SP and renumbered 1005. Like all 60-C-5s it was built with transom windows of colored glass and end windows.
Here's the SP 1005, before I changed the roof vents. The end-window can be made out in this photo as well.
In 1940, the SP was short of cabooses, so SP 1005 was reassigned and numbered into the caboose series as SP 998. Mid-war it was decided that the SP needed more coaches to deal with the crush of the troop movements and was short passenger capacity. SP regained her status as a revenue passenger car in 1943 by having 60-seats worth of second hand chair seats installed. Only a handful of the SP 60ft coaches were equipped as chair cars instead of coaches, but didn't go all the way and get air conditioning.
SP 1005 lasted through the war and was one of the few cars that still retained its gas lighting in 1945. I've not really tracked down any more data on the 1005 as it kicked around between various unknown assignments until it was photographed in Oakland in 1947 by E.R. Mohr, Pg 120 in SP Passenger Cars Vol1., by the SPH&TS. The green glass of the transom windows were still intact in the photo, by 1950 most SP coaches and chair cars had these plated over. The last being covered in 1952. This was mostly because of problems with leaking in the transom windows. The 1947 photo was only 6 months to a year after the SP changed to "Southern Pacific" lettering above the windows, so it's very understandable that this car wasn't a priority to repaint.
In 1952, the SP 1005 was retired. A year later, it was reactivated as a caboose for the second time as SP 953. Another car had taken over the Caboose SP 998 number. By 1954 the 953 was retired again and what happened after that is unknown, it was probably scrapped at that point.
Modeling the SP 1005
Here's a Soho 60-C Coach in similar starting point to where the SP 1005 started
I started this project with a Soho 60-C-10 with transom windows. My problem is by 1948-1952, when I model most of my equipment, these transom windows were becoming VERY rare. I chose the 1005 because of it's somewhat unique history. It would also fit well into my Tehachapi Mail (Nos.55/56) consist to mix up the regular 60-C-coaches, or in other mixed assignments typical of the "wandering" SP non-A/C coach after WW2.
Soho SP 1005, 60-C-5 in-process - Note the green glass in the transom windows.
I'm modeling the SP 1005 after its 1943 conversion to a 60-seat Chair Car, this means I do have to make some modifications to the "early" Soho Coach. The car is painted Dark Olive Green and my standard mix of off-black gray for the roof and underframe. "SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES" decals are used on the car to show another car that hasn't been repainted since 1946. Also, remember this car is pretty clearly not in the best condition. It's been retired once already, and but for the needs of WW2, it would have stayed as a caboose.
Here's a photo to show off the Tamiya Clear Green painted glass transom windows
Windows were installed using clear sheets of styrene. I masked off everything except the top 18" of the windows. This leaves what will be the transom windows exposed. I used Tamiya Clear Green to tint the upper glass a lovely green color. Be sure to tint the inside of the windows! This will help prevent scratches to the tint and also keep the mounting glue from de-bonding the tint as well. Once dry, I installed the window sets with Testors Canopy Cement. Be extremely careful to have the green glass and clear glass change fall behind the narrow header of the main windows.
The diaphragms are again from HiTech.
Underframe
Basic Underframe
John Ruehle made me a new underframe for the car. John used a piece of 0.040" sheet for the main floor. Then C-channel 0.185"x 0.150" was used for the main centersill. Crossbeams of .070"x 0.050" I-beam were glued on to represent the floor supports. This underframe doesn't have any of the diagonal bracing that the 69-BP-30 (SP 5199) or the rest of the SC&F kits have.
John mounted passenger brake "UC" type gear on the bottom of the car.
Electrical Generator was already fitted to the underframe
Looking at the SP 1005, with its "rare" gas lighting by 1947, certainly rare by 1952, I will be adding the gas tanks. However, I will probably add a battery box, because I'll be adding the OwlMtModels 10002 Gyralite Marker Light.
Styrene shims added to bolster of Walthers 920-2124 on SP 1005.
I shimmed the bolsters and installed a sheet of 0.02" styrene across the top bolster of the Walthers 8ft Pullman 4-wheel trucks to result in the right coupler height. I plan to fit the car (in Part 2) with my standard LED lighting strip and OwlMtModels Pyle Gyralite marker and tailgate kit for end-of-train service.
Window Shades
Completed window shades installed in the SP 1005
Window shades for the 1005 are made from manila card stock file folders. One folder will do about 30-50 sets of window shades. I don't use normal 3-5lb paper because, unless painted, it is too translucent for use with the LED lighting installed, even at lower settings.
Cut a strip of card stock a scale 24"x 50'6" and make pencil markers where the window columns are across the full shade. I then mark where I want the window shades to be cut off at. This will be on average, make the shade 12" high, however I like to make somewhat random cross cuts with a Xacto to show passengers using the shades and moving them to where they want to be. These horizontal cuts are then connected with small vertical cuts to make a prepared window shade.
Abbreviated shades to keep the green transom windows clear. Tamiya tape used to mount the shades.
Remember that cars freshly out of the coach yard should have all their shades nicely trimmed 1-3" below the top edge of the window, or whatever the railroad considered "standard dress" starting position. A car ending its trip will be all over the map, some shades high, some low, some in the middle, some unused if the seats were empty the whole trip.
Once trimmed to length (This time I was also making standard longer ones for my SP 1050's window shades) I used 1/16" wide by about 1/4-3/8" long strips of Tamiya Masking Tape to hold the shades in place. The tinting on the windows was actually thick enough, once the mask was removed to make a nice stopping ledge for the shade material to catch on. The tape was then applied with the end of a knife blade vertically where the window columns are.
Bathroom window covered with Scotch Tape
The toilet annexes will have etched glass or prism glass, I use standard Scotch Tape (not the magic clear stuff), so that when I apply it to the clear plastic windows it will remain foggy.
"Globe" Roof Vents
Here's the 1005 with new MDC "Globe" vents
I removed the Soho stock Utility Vents over the main seating area. I still need to remove the vents over the car ends. There was a slight mishap and I scratched the roof paint pretty badly there in the center of the car. When I do the additional end vents I'll touch up any other scratches. The square holes left from the old vents were roughly in the right place on the roof, so I used my ~0.085" drill bit in a pin vise. As always drilling through brass sheet, be careful when 'breaking through' with the tip as the drill will tend to catch.
The MDC vent pieces were easily glued into the holes with ACC. Make sure not to put the car floor back on for a day or so after gluing. This will allow the glue to "gas-off" and not fog the windows.
Interior
Here's the SP 1005 with the seating strips of PSC 33312.2 Chair Seats
Because the SP 1005 was pulled back into service as a chair car, she lost her original 72-seat coach configuration. Instead a 60-seat chair plan was used, probably from second hand chairs from other 60-CC-1s upgraded in 1941-42. Trying to find exactly the right seats is a bit challenging. For this car I'm using Precision Scale Co. #33312.2 chair seats were used and mounted to a strip of 0.03"x 0.188" strip styrene was used to space the seat pairs apart. The inside of the car sides have flanges, which add strength, however they do make the installation of interiors a bit tricky. Once glued up, these strips of seats will be able to be easily mounted to the inner ledge of the car side.
The 15 rows of seats are evenly spaced every 3.28 ft over the 50'4" length of windows. In laying this out I come to find out that the car is about 2 feet too short, all in the toilet windows section of the car. That doesn't really effect the modeling of the interior though, just interesting to note. The last pair of seats are showing in the floor plan reversed. These would have been the walk-over type seats, possibly from the A/C'd 60-CC-1s, which new seats in 1942. SP had a way of reusing second hand seats on older cars.
The center isle will be purposely left open for access to the lighting strip in the roof.
LED Lighting
An example of a car I installed this type of lighting in
I don't plan to mount the interior seats strips until I have the LED strip installed and lead wires for the trucks and marker light are installed. As a sneak peek, here's the light strips that I make myself. I use 0.100" x 0.250" styrene strips as a backing support for the LED light strip. The leads are easily soldered onto the ends of each 3" section of LED strip.
LED lighting components
In the center of the LED coil, is a 3" strip for the SP 5199 project I'm working on, and above that are two 6" strips for the 60 and 70 foot coaches I'm working on at the same time.
Beauty shot in closing here
That does it for this part of the SP 1005 Build. In SP 60-C-5s, Part 2 T&NO 777 I cover building a car without the green transom glass windows and more detail of the underframe construction. Please follow to be notified when I post the next blog update!
Jason Hill
Related Links:
Of some interest is Sunset Import's new announcement of plastic 60-C-5s coming to HO, follow this link to my blog post with my thoughts on it. GoldenGateModels Harriman Cars in HO
Let's look at the 1946-1950 consists of the Southern Pacific's Owl between Oakland and Los Angeles (No.57 & 58). Most of my information comes from the SP Trainline (SPH&TS Magazine) and from the research that the Operations Dept at La Mesa Model Railroad Club has dug up over the years. I'm also cross checking this data against that provided in SPH&TS's five fabulous volumes of SP Passenger Car books.
No.58 lead by SP 4255 slips by in the night towards Los Angeles with a long string of varnish.
The Owl traveled the flat San Joaquin Valley from Oakland, north around the San Fransisco Bay to Fresno via the Mococo Line, then south to Bakersfield. In Bakersfield the smaller engine used from Oakland would be changed out for usually at least a big AC-class, cab forward, and usually a point helper of some type, often the point engine was another AC-class engine. Heavy 16 car Owl consists required big engines to move it over the 4000ft Tehachapi Summit and then over the Mojave Desert to Vincent Summit, south of Palmdale.
After the arrival of dual-service EMD F-unit sets in around 1952, the run between Bakersfield and Los Angeles was dieselized. Steam lasted in the Valley, north of Bakersfield, until about 1956, when pairs of dual-service F-units took over that run as well.
In this first part, we will focus our look at the consists changes over the years between 1946 and 1950. The post-1950 and dieselization will come in following posts.
1946 - Consist of No.57
Coaches, like this 60-C-9, were common on the SP passenger trains until replaced by chair cars.
Older coaches like this 60-C-4, made up most of the coach-class cars on the post-war Owls until A/C Chair cars took over.
BP Oak-Fresno (Probably 30ft Apartment) - to 2nd 60 at Fresno (Possibly entrained between the baggages and the coaches)
Baggage/Express Oak-Fresno
B/E Oak-LA
B/E Oak-LA
Partition Coach
Coach (News Agent)
Coach
Coach Pullman Tourist Car (STD 16-Section) Pullman Tourist Car (STD 16-Section)
Diner
Pullman STD 6-2-Lounge ("Mission Dolores" and "Mission Santa Ynez")
Pullman STD 12-1
Pullman STD 10-Sect Lounge-Observation
March 10, 1947 - Consist of No.57
An option for modeling a Postal Storage Car, ex-RPO SP 4261, now a Storage Car.
This is the standard consist planned for the Owl after March 10th, 1947.
SP 4228 (AC-10 class engine) working as "road engine" between Bakersfield and LA on No.58 Eastward at Saugus after point helper was cut off, probably at Vincent after going over the Tehachapi mountains and over the Mojave desert.
An example of a MDC 60-B-9 & -10 baggage-express cars like SP 6043 in the consist below, note the large left door.
SP 6114 Storage Mail (60-B, ex-60-P-4)
SP 6043 Baggage-Express (60-B-9)
SP 6320 Baggage-Express (60-B-1) (hard to read the last number)
SP 6336 Baggage-Express (60-B-2) (Very hard to read number)
SP 5076 RPO-Baggage (69-BP-30-2) (working RPO - Apartment to rear)
Pullman Tourist Car 2281 (ex-Schuykill, STD 12-1 non-A/C Sleeper) - Acting as Dormitory Car (Might be PC TC 2381, ex-Pennell) - Not shown in regular consist
SP 2165 Partitioned Coach (60-C-9 Ice A/C floor)
SP 2500 News Agent Coach (Ex-ADL-Coach "CHAIR" 60-CC-1)
SP 1365? Coach (60-C-5,6,7,8,9,10 Ice A/C'd) - Number doesn't match up with historical data
SP 2306 Coach (60-C-5 Ice A/C roof end)
SP 10107 Diner (77-D-4 with A/C) Pullman Tourist Car 4000-4200-series STD 16-Section Sleeper Tourist - usually US Military personnel returning from WW2.
Pullman "Mission Dolores" STD 6-2-Lounge - After 1948 to SP ownership regular on Owl until 1956
Pullman "Palouse Falls" STD 10-1-1 Sleeper - Regular with Prior Lake (10-1-1) on the Owl until 1954 or so.
Pullman "Overdale" STD 14-Section Sleeper
SP 2701, a stand-in model for a non-A/C'd 60-CC-1, like SP 2512.
The consist was pretty much the same when the Owl derailed at Lerdo (in the San Joaquin Valley) on June 17th 1947. Records of wrecks always include the involved cars.
SP 4376 (MT-5) - working between Bakersfield and Oakland
Old Walthers metal 10-Section Lounge-Observation, Similar to the Pullman Co.'s Mt. Breckenridge in the Owl consist above
It looks like on that ill-fated run the train was running the extra 10-Section Lounge-Obs, but no RPO or dormitory car listed.
February 27, 1950 - Consist of No.58
SP 2312, a 72-C-2, rebuilt with A/C and plated over transom windows as it would have appeared in 1947.
Note the changes in the consist as the chair cars replace the coaches. These Chair cars were most likely arch-roofed 72-C, clerestory roofed 73-C, or 74-CC Heavyweight A/C'd "Deluxe" Chair cars after this time. Also note the now standard Tourist sleepers behind the Diner.
RPO - Oak-Fresno (30ft Apartment)
Postal Storage - Oak-Fresno
Baggage-Express - Oak-Fresno
Baggage-Express - Oak-LA (ex-Tuesday, Storage Mail & Magazines)
Baggage-Express - Oak-LA (ex-Sunday)
Chair (probably a News Agent Car)
Chair
Chair
Chair
Diner Pullman STD - Tourist 16-Section Sleeper - For US Military personnel Pullman STD - Tourist 16-Section Sleeper - For US Military personnel
SP "Mission-series" STD 6-2-Lounge
SP "Night-series" STD 14-Single Bedroom ("Night Fern" and "Night Mantle" - later rebuilt into Baggage Dorms SP 3500 & SP 3501)
SP STD 10-1-1 "Prior Lake" & "Palouse Falls" regularly assigned
SP STD 12-1 - SP Pool 12-1s no specific cars assigned.
Sept 24, 1950 - Consist of No.58
SP 2337, a 73-C-1, is another example of a 48-seat "Deluxe Chair" car used on the Owl.
Note the movement of the RPO to stay with the train now. No Fresno setout car now. Also the last consist showing 16-Section Tourist Cars regularly assigned.
Postal Storage Oak-LA
Baggage-Express Oak-LA
Baggage-Express Oak-LA
RPO Oak-LA (30ft Apartment)
Chair (probably a News Agent Car)
Chair
Chair
Chair
Diner
Pullman STD - Tourist 16-Section Sleeper - For US Military personnel
Pullman STD - Tourist 16-Section Sleeper - For US Military personnel
SP "Mission-series" STD 6-2-Lounge
SP "Night-series" STD 14-Single Bedroom ("Night Fern" and "Night Mantle")
SP STD 10-1-1 "Prior Lake" & "Palouse Falls" regularly assigned
SP STD 12-1 - SP Pool 12-1s no specific cars assigned.
Feb 15, 1951 - Consist of No.58
This consist changes in a number of ways: 1. RPO car is now through LA-Oakland. 2. Pullman 16-Section Tourists replaced with standard 12-1s, possibly Pullman Pool cars. 3. Introduction of first regular Streamlined car to train, STD 6-6-4 sleeper, alternating with HW 8-5 "Clover"-series car.
Baggage-Express Oakland-Bakersfield
Baggage-Express Oak-LA
Baggage-Express Oak-LA
Postal Storage Oak-LA
RPO Oak-LA (30ft Apartment)
Chair (probably a News Agent Car)
Chair
Chair
Chair
Diner
SP STD 12-1 - PC/SP Pool 12-1s no specific cars assigned.
SP STD 12-1 - PC/SP Pool 12-1s no specific cars assigned.
SP "Mission-series" STD 6-2-Lounge
SP STD 6-6-4 "SP 9150-series" or STD 8-5 "Clover-series" on alternating consists
SP "Night-series" STD 14-Single Bedroom ("Night Fern" and "Night Mantle")
SP STD 10-1-1 "Prior Lake" & "Palouse Falls" regularly assigned
SP STD 12-1 - SP Pool 12-1s no specific cars assigned.
SP 12-1 "Los Angeles" brings up the rear of a very late running No.58 at Caliente.
That pretty much does it for Modeling the Owl (Part 1), stay tuned or follow to be notified when the next update is posted.
Before we get into more complicated SP passenger train consists, let's look at a "simple" one.
Inspiration - 29 Years Ago
In 1987, Andy Sperandeo write a lovely article for Model Railroader on "Pike-size Steam Passenger Trains" in which he covered five small 3-6 car passenger trains that would fit on a smaller layout. Here's a pdf of the Pike-Size articles from MR. Maybe not 4x8 because of the curves, but at least a 1-car garage layout should be able to handle these. I very much enjoyed reading about the weird little passenger trains that once were as common in the US as mini-vans are driving around one's neighborhood today! Ok, maybe not minivans but certainly regional transport mini-buses.
The concept of the Shasta (Nos. 327/328) as an easily modeled train was a good one in 1987, but I feel that it's time to look at it again and see what's changed in the last 29 years!
My recreated shot of the Shasta from the MR article
Using a Sunset MT, Walthers ACF Baggage, Soho Chair 72-C, Kitbashed Cafe-Lounge, and Walthers 10-1-2 Pullman.
To quickly recap the article, for those that don't want to take the time to follow the link above or pull their old MR out of the bookshelf. The train in the prototype photo from 1949 shows SP MT-1 pulling 4 cars; a 70ft clerestory baggage car, a 72ft arch roof chair car, a clerestory Cafe-Lounge - likely the 10904, and a HW 10-1-2 Pullman (article called it a 8-1-2) - by 1949 it would have been SP owned but possibly not repainted as such yet.
The suggestions for 1987 were the following; Bowser USRA Heavy 4-8-2 (out of production), a Rivarossi HW 66ft baggage car, an Eastern Car Works 1121 coach (not even sure what that was now), a Rivarossi HW Diner (ATSF prototype, but somewhat stand-in for SP HW car), and "Rivarossi 12-1 Pullman any roadname." Basically the whole train would have had to be painted. The Rivarossi models could be had in SP Lines lettering if I recall correctly, trying to match that color for the coach would have been a pain.
Today's Options
Let's see what my suggestions are for 2016. I also want to provide an option for a "condensed" or "shorty" train covering the same services, but with shorter cars for smaller layouts or shorter station/yards of many small layouts. Many of these suggested models I either have built or am in the processes of working on now, which will be the focus of their own blog-build posts in the future.
Basic Consist
Let's first look at the SP Equipment Circular Passenger Train Consist - June 2, 1946 to May 6, 1954 for the basic consist.
Here's a photo of the engine working No.327, Mike 3249. Eddie Sims Collection, date unknown.
327
Mail Apt (Assumed to be a 30ft RPO apartment/baggage)
Baggage-Express (70ft car usually)
STD 10-1-2 Sleeper (Portland-Grants Pass on No.330 Rogue River, then on No.327 Shasta to Dunsmuir, then on No.19 Klamath to Oakland)
Cafe-Lounge
Chair
328
Mail Apt (Assumed to be a 30ft RPO apartment/baggage)
Baggage-Express (70ft car usually)
Chair
Cafe-Lounge
STD Sleeper 10-1-2 Sleeper (Oakland-Dunsmuir on No.20 Klamath then No.328 Shasta between Grants Pass to No.329Rogue River to Portland)
Notice that they basically turned the train by moving the Baggage and RPO to the other end of the consist. - Also the photo from 1949 in Andy's article doesn't have the Mail Apartment car in the train.
1949 Shasta
The Engine:
SP MT-4 4351 with 160-C-class tender (Balboa Engine & Tender) - Ath/Gen has offered this version in plastic.
SP MT-4 4351 with 120-C-6 tender (Athearn-Genesis tender placed as example) - Ath/Gen offered this version in plastic.
Balboa SP 3266 with Athearn-Genesis 120-C-6 tender.
Athearn-Genesis MT-series 4-8-2, with skyline casing and either 120-C-6 tender, or 160-C tender to fit what photos you have. Alternately brass MT-series or Balboa Mk-5/6s could be easily used if you want to use budget brass instead of the Athearn-Genesis models. Here's a links to the TSG Multimedia review of the "San Joaquin Daylight" version of the Genesis MT-4 with 160-C tender. They also compared a Genesis 4-8-2 vs. brass MT 4-8-2 model in this Video. There is also this older review of the black MT-4 4349 with 120-C-6 tender.
Baggage Car
Ex-EPSW 70ft Clerestory Baggage car:
Walthers AC&F 70ft baggage repainted as SP 6515 in 1946 Lettering
Walthers ACF HW 70ft baggage car is a very good model and is quite close to the ex-EPSW car in the photo. I have modeled one of these cars already and finished it as the SP 6515 in Dark Olive Green. While not the usual "Harriman" Arch-Roof type of baggage car, the 10 ex-EPSW all-steel baggage cars that were transferred to the SP create a unique contrast.
Walther's had produced the ACF baggage in SP Two-Tone Gray (TTG) for modelers that want to fudge a few years. The Shasta was discontinued in 1952, two years before TTG became the standard general service scheme. In theory TTG replacing the SP Dark Olive Green, but many SP cars lasted most of another decade and were scrapped in green paint.
Another option of course is a 70-B-series arch roof baggage.
SP 70-B-series Baggage car, this is a painted Soho model.
Southern Car & Foundry makes very nice and surprisingly easy one-piece bodied resin kits for the cars. Soho has made these baggage cars as well. One option for the hard-core kitbashes out there is kitbashing them from Athearn/MDC "Harriman" 60-B-9/10 Baggages (as seen in their unkitbashed form below).
My old 6490, before it was repainted and decalled. It is a kitbashed MDC baggage car. I did not add the side windows, as some cars had them plated over by the early 1950s.
For a "Shorty" train, I would use an Athearn/MDC 60ft "Harriman" arch-roof baggage car, which are correct for SP's 60-B-9 and -10 cars.
Athearn-MDC "Harriman" 60ft Baggage car with rebuilt underframe, but still with Athearn Express Trucks.
They are available in SP Green, but it's a little off of the SP Dark Olive color I prefer.
Repainted Athearn-MDC "Harriman" 60-B-9/10 baggage car with replacement Walthers Trucks
Weathering could hide some of this. While the Athearn Express Reefer trucks are close to the right ones, I prefer the look of the Walthers 8ft Pullman 4-wheel trucks and moving the bolsters farther towards the car ends to be more prototypical.
Coach or Chair Car
SP 72-C-1/2/3/4 series "Harriman" Arch-Roof Chair Car:
Soho "Transom Window" 72-C-1/2/3/4, I've been modernizing this car with A/C and other parts. I have painted-over the transom window glass. Ideally you can find one of the ones with solid metal plates over the transom openings.
The best starting point for one of these cars is a brass Soho Modernized 72ft SP coach/chair car. These are reasonably easy to get your hands on at least one in the $75-150 range. I usually spend more time on these cars to upgrade the underframes, etc. Custom painting and decalling is usually needed to fix the problem of Floquil Pullman Green paint color that I covered in my previous blog post about my original SP 1051.
My SP 1050, a Walthers Paired-Window coach.
Alternate cars that could have been seen in the same grade of service would have been either ex-EPSW 70ft coach/chair cars, such as the SP 1050, or sister cars.
My model of SP 2337 as a stand-in for 73-C-1 class cars.
SP 73-C-1 cars can be modified with some new windows from the same Walthers Paired Window Coach as the ex-EPSW cars. Walthers has released their Paired Window Coach in SP TTG, for modelers after the change in 1954.
For a "Shorty" train I would use the Athearn/MDC "Harriman" coach or Model Power 67ft coach.
SP 2701 "CHAIR" car, I think by the photo of this car in about 1952 it was considered a coach!
The ModelPower 67ft car is actually a bit more accurate I would say, still has some major shortcomings, but it at least is the right length. The class I feel they are closest to is the 60-CC-1 chair cars. I built a model of the SP 2701 as it appeared around 1950, still lettered as a "CHAIR" and wearing the pre-1946 "SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES" on the letter board. - If you want more train length, a second 60ft coach would be a nice option.
The Model Power cars are not available in SP, but the 7 foot and one large window shorter MDC cars are available in the Athearn/MDC Green.
A 60-C-5, SP 1005 "CHAIR" car as it appeared in 1952. Still with its green transom glass intact and not painted-over.
Another 60-C-5 coach, SP 2310, "Moderized" by plating over green glass transoms and end windows.
Soho also makes "budget brass" models of 60-C-9/10s which can easily be back dated to as early as 60-C-5. These models should run about $75-150 if you wait for them. I usually spend more time on these cars to upgrade the underframes, etc.
Cafe-Lounge Car
SP 10904, an ex-72-O Cafe-Lounge (converted from an old 72-O observation):
Cafe-Lounges were a unique mix of cars. On routes that couldn't justify a full 36 or 48-seat dining car and a full 30-36 seat lounge car. The 10904 seating 18 in the cafe (dining) section and 16 in the lounge section, the Cafe-Lounge was the perfect answer! The kitchen and pantry areas were correspondingly smaller than a full dining car.
On a train like the Shasta with only one Pullman's worth of passengers and possibly a few coach/chair passengers that want to pay for the sit-down food. Many trains featured a News Agent (basically a snack and magazine vendor setup in the coach or chair car) selling a sandwich for 10-15 cents.
Unfortunately the SP 10904 is a rather weird car when you look at possible kitbash starting points for it. One would be an ACF Diner by Bachmann Spectrum with lots of cutting.
My heavily kit-bashed model of SP 10913 from MDC parts.
Another option is to simply choose another car that's similar and claim they're using a different car. Another photo of the ShastaSP Passenger Cars Vol.4, (SPH&TS, 2010) pg 366 show SP 10913, an ex-72-D-2 arch-roof diner converted to a Cafe-Lounge, working on the train in early 1952. I have started on a second body of one of these arch-roof Cafe-Lounges shown here. While it's a lot of cutting, if you want to put the effort into a single car for a unique train, I would say a Cafe-Lounge would be the car to do it on! I will cover modeling one of these cars in more detail in a later post.
A future project of mine, kitbashing ex-EPSW diner SP 10123-10125 from a Bachmann Diner
For "Shorty" train, I would probably still use something in the 80ft range, probably the Bachmann car would be the easiest stand-in. SP had 3 such diners built by ACF for the EPSW. The were renumbed when built to SP 10123, SP 10124, and SP 10125 and were painted in SP Dark Olive. In 1940 they were modernized with A/C. All were converted to Hamburger Grill cars in 1955. I will post more about modeling one of these ex-EPSW diner in a later post.
Athearn-MDC makes a 60ft "Harriman" diner, which is a much compressed caricature of some sort of arch-roof diner-loungeish ... thing. I usually immediately cut up the MDC Diners to get parts to do other things! If you have no choice but do a sub-70ft car you might have to use that car, but I'd sooner think about using an old Athearn BB 72ft heavyweight diner.
Pullman HW Standard 10-1-2 Sleeper:
Pullman STD 10-1-2 Lake Cary - Room Side
This is one of the biggest changes in the hobby since 1987, both Branchline (now Atlas) and Walthers have produced an entire line of heavyweight Pullman sleeping cars. Branchline offered HW 10-1-2s in SP TTG for post-1954 painted cars. Again these are too late for the Shasta, as it was discontinued in 1952. Branchline offered some kits in plain Pullman Green "Pool" service lettering.
Walthers has offered the car in the same TTG for SP, and also in Pullman Green "Pool" service lettering. The model photo here is of a Standard 12-1 painted in the Green "Pool" scheme with the car name "Coronado" is made from cutting up letters and applying them.
SP's post-1948 repainted STD 12-1 "Los Angeles" in SP Dark Olive Green bringing up the marker on No.57.
My other 12-1s are post-1948 when the SP painted their name spelled out on the letter board, replacing the "PULLMAN" lettering. As the photo of this train's consist was taken in 1949, there's a good chance that the painting crews have not had a chance to repaint the car in your train, if you decide to model 1949's consist.
1952 Shasta
SP 3249, a regular on the Shasta. Eddie Sims collection
SP Mk-5/6 with 120-SC-tender similar to photo of SP 3265 with No.328 in 1952.
The consist is a SP 6236 60-B-9/10 baggage car, SP 10913 Cafe-Lounge, and a 72-C-5 chair car.
SP 60-B-9/10 class baggage car, Athearn-MDC with Walthers Trucks and rebuilt underframe
Left side of SP 10913, ex-72-D-2 diner converted to Cafe-Lounge.
SP 2313, 72-C-2 rebuilt with A/C and painted-over transom windows.
The Pullman is missing from the consist on that day. The cars in this train are discussed above in greater detail, but it is interesting to see what the train looked like at a different time. This is one reason why I'm offering suggestions of other more easily modeled cars that the SP very easily could have used in place of the "regular" cars. One interesting point made in the caption of the 1952 Shasta photo is that the train's consist was not turned on a wye at the end of the run. Instead each car was uncoupled and swapped around to switch the order of the cars for the return trip. This resulted in the Cafe-Lounge being "backwards" half of the time! This was also likely true for the West Coast after 1949 when being 'turned' at Sacramento.
Closing Thoughts
No.327 with a very strange single coach consist. - Martin Hansen collection
I should add that the Shasta's last day of operations was on February 26, 1952. However, it appears from this photo from Martin Hansen collection, that they may have run the train until the new Employe Timetable was put out.
A closing thought on the "Shorty" car consist for the Shasta. I should mention that all of these commercially available models currently have provision for "swing" coupler boxes, allowing operations on tighter curves. While I build my models for at least 36" radius curves, I hope modelers that have tighter curves will be able to model some fun passenger trains that will be able to fit their railroad
That pretty well wraps up this post about modeling the Shasta with fairly easy to find models and also at fairly affordable prices as well. I'm planning to do several more articles like this on modeling other SP trains from the 1940-1955 era.
