Hi all,

The "utterly stunned" comment in the Friends of #261 thread got me thinking. To me, stunning speaks of something out of the normal realm. Like tackling #1361 and a whole consist of a PRR name train.

Which got me to thinking, how many steam-era name trains could be assembled tip to tail in 2010. Not talking operational, just complete.

For example, you could do a CNJ Blue Comet if you did a later train set with the 4-4-2 camelback as a sub (which is prototypical), and the Reading food service car. OK, let me check that, I think one of the Reading cars exists. Can't do the other train set, as the CNJ diner is gone.

I would imagine a complete Daylight of some description would be possible.

What else is lurking out there?

Rob

In broad theory, you need to determine whether you'll settle, for example, for partial consists ("selective compression," as it's called in model railroading), and/or whether stand-ins (a Wabash or SP car painted for a nearly identical PRR car, for example) are permitted.

I believe, for example, that there are enough PRR passenger cars about to replicate a modest long-distance PRR train authentically, given, say, either doubleheaded PRR K4s's or the PRR E8 duo (and you can add in a quartet or more of other preserved PRR E8's, red or not), and/or a GG1. There may be enough ex-PRR sleepers to replicate a Broadway Limited or a post-all-Pullman-era equivalent; the blunt-end "View" observations exist as well. There's supposedly still a PRR articulated twin-unit diner about, as well as enough baggage and RPO cars for the part. There are Pennsy P70 coaches scattered hither and yon, as well as the recently-retired ex-MARC PRR stainless coaches rebuilt from sleepers.

Just how hard do you want to work at the mission?

Now, multiply this by the number of railroads out there. Burlington, for instance--start with a bunch of Burlington cars at the Gold Coast RR Museum and go from there..........

Or you could take the easy way out, and simply throw together a "dog's breakfast" and claim you're replicating Amtrak in late 1971......... >;-)

From about 1965 to 1974, the late Mack Lowry had on display at his "Railways of America" model train/prototype exhibit North of Cuyahoga Falls, OH, major parts of the 1938 Broadway Ltd. One could tour examples of a sleeper and obs car, and then have broasted chicken made by Mrs. Lowry in a Broadway dining car. Great memories for a little boy. It did lack a PRR locomotive of any type, although if you went inside to see the O-Scale display, he did have a complete Broadway Ltd. train set that often operated on the huge, multi-track mainline. A CB&Q 0-6-0 stood in front of the passenger consist.

The building still exists as a furniture store, most of the cars went to Quaker Square in downtown Akron for about 30 years, until Akron U took it over. I'm not sure what happened to many of the cars, a couple were built into the old factory building as part of a restaurant.

Now, we probably have to settle for large-scale model replicas of trains like this. The National Museum of Transportation in Lucern, Switzerland makes extensive use of around G-scale models of many famous Swiss passenger trains to fill in gaps in the collection, which is probably more complete than just about anything we could come up with in the U. S.

I'm currently hunting around for O-scale models to recreate the Cuyahoga Valley Line train of the late '70's (2010 will be the 35th anniversary of the start of the operation) - an all regional heavyweight consist (Erie, N&W, NKP, NYC). I know the consist, but some of the cars were sort of odd-ball, or rebuilt from other things (like the three Erie semi-streamlined heavyweight #1000 series coaches), and probably were never reproduced commercially in O-scale. Overland made a nice two-rail USRA Mike 20 years ago to represent GTW 4070, but that has proven to be very hard to find, and the as-built tender is not the same as the as-preserved one. Looks to be a rest-of-my-life project.

You could easly assemble a steam-era, early diesel, or late steam era version of the L&N's Pan American.

For the steam version, you could use L&N 152. Though she is a light pacific, the L&N used the same class of locomotives to pull the train from Mobile to New Orleans, on account of the many light capacity bridges on the line.

Enough heavyweight cars exist, from baggage cars (KRM), steel combine (KRM), heavyweight coaches, diner (IRM), generic heavyweight Pullmans, and a 10-section obs car (Mt. Broderick at KRM, a stand-in). Both Steamtown and the depot museum in Bowling Green, KY have nicely restored L&N heavyweight RPO cars.

For the diesel era train, you could reuse many of the cars, and add some of the remaining L&N lightweight sleepers such as Towering Pine, Green River, and Pearl River. In the diesel era, the L&N used mid-train lounge cars, like Kentucky Club.

There is one railroad museum that has had the concept of recreating complete (or representative) train consists for the various eras of railway travel. It is the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel located in Cranbrook, B.C.

It has away to go with some of the train sets and it has added some items outside of its original goals.

Here is the link to the Museum's website:
The Canadian Museum of Rail Travel For some reason the website has not had an update since November, 2007.

The best part of the site an outside review done in 2007:
2007 Up-date to the 1992 study, and recommendations for a NATIONAL COLLECTION AT RISK.

Folks,

Brian is correct ; the Canadian museum of rail travel has done some wonderful work assembling and restoring a fleet of about 32 passenger cars.

They rescued and brought to Cranbrook a couple of 1905 or so wooden passenger cars that had been used as summer cottages since the 1930s.

And they have re-created a large decorated dining room from a CPR hotel in Winnipeg, MN.

It is a place that anyone interested in passenger cars should go to.

Back here in California; the Western Pacific Railroad Museum at Portola has in the last year added a dining car the Silver Plate to their California Zypher train set. That is slowly moving ahead restoring a set of cars from that famous passenger train.

Ted Miles

The Pacific Locomotive Association has been slowly assembling the equipment to make common SP heavyweight name trains from the 20's thru the end of passenger service. The success in our efforts so far has been demonstrated by the trains pulled by the GGRM's 2472 on the PLA's Niles Canyon Railway.

We have RPO's, a baggage car, combine, multiple coaches, All Day Lunch, diner, pullman and business cars to stand in for observation cars.

They may not be the streamline cars you normally would associate with name trains and but many of them were used on the Del Monte, Owl, Senitor and pre streamline San Joaquin.

I think the UP might be able to put together a nice example. Not a railroad known for sleepers and dome cars there would be enough old Reading stuff kicking around if they had only saved a G class pacific.