Why Research and Model Passenger Trains?

by James VanBokkelen

Mostly because it takes considerable effort to do a good job. I have been interested in modeling specific prototypes and eras since I first got into HO scale in 1968 (one of the reasons I changed from O tinplate was that it was just about impossible to find a Lionel Budd RDC at that time). As my skills and knowlege evolved, I watched the early work towards accurate freight equipment and operations modeling in the 1980s. Because freight equipment was built in large lots, and ran nationwide until it wore out, each project article, each new accurate-to-prototype kit made things easier for modelers of many different areas and eras. It was clear that I was going to be able to place a relatively accurate freight train in most of the post-WWII scenes I was interested in.

Nothing comparable was happening in the passenger area. First, the problem was difficult: Passenger service was in serious decline long before most organized rail historical activity began in the US, and much information perished when routes were discontinued and flags fell. Second, where information was available and an author or manufacturer made use of it, it usually benefitted only a small segment of the modeling community: most passenger equipment was quite specific to a particular railroad. Common basic designs were rare, with small orders of one-off equipment the rule. And aside from baggage and express cars, 99 out of 100 passenger trains carried only home-road equipment. Furthermore, the underlying reason there was so much variation in the equipment was that it was often purchased with particular trains or services in mind. Train 83 on the X,Y&Z might draw a predictable consist for 10 or 15 years, only to be completely re-equipped with new cars or hand-me-downs from another service.

On the B&M, the early 1950s represented a startlingly diverse modeling era: Moguls and wood open-platform coaches built a half-century earlier shared the rails with brand-new road-switchers and streamlined passenger trains. Most lines still had passenger service, and the main routes supported the traditional mix of limiteds, secondary trains and mail/express locals. This diversity was not really illustrated anywhere except in contemporary photography - while a few individual classes of B&M cars had been drawn and documented, there was no overview or general history, and information on consists was non-existent. It was clear that in order to accurately model this, I was going to need a lot of data, and I couldn't really expect someone else to compile it - the B&M served a small region, and hasn't attracted the commercial attention that a Santa Fe or Pennsy has.

20 years down the line, I know what I want to do, and where the data is - my modeling plans are now only time- and space-limited. Most of what I've done is unleash my pack-rat and trivia-mining streaks, and collect and compile the work of others. My main motivation in writing about B&M and New England passenger operations and publishing it on the web is that many of the original researchers have passed away, and much of what they published is only available in archives. Helping other people who share my interests, but don't have access to the original sources is one way I can give back to the community that made it possible for me to attain my goals in the first place.

Major New England single-line passenger routings:

• New York, New Haven & Hartford
  • Grand Central - Boston
  • Grand Central - Springfield
  • Grand Central commuter and regional
  • South Station commuter and regional (incl. Cape Cod)
• Boston & Albany (New York Central):
  • Boston - Albany - Buffalo - {Cleveland, Detroit} - Chicago
  • Boston commuter
• Boston & Maine
  • Boston - Greenfield - Troy (through sleepers to Chicago)
  • Boston commuter and regional

Interline services:

What I know about New England inter-line equipment and operations is on the web: http://jbvb.ex.com/rr/run_thru.html

Railway Mail Service in New England:

What I know about RPO routes is also on the web: http://jbvb.ex.com/rr/ne_mail.html

Appropriate passenger equipment models:

This summarizes what I know about appropriate passenger equipment for New England, and I don't by any means know everything. In particular, I know B&M and NH best, and have decent references for PRR, CN and BAR. I study MEC, CPR and CV equipment in photos, but I haven't put much effort into NYC.

I've limited this list to HO scale commercial products which are either in current production or relatively easy to obtain by looking at train shows, asking around etc. My Unofficial B&M Web Site has more information on out-of-production kits and brass imports.

HO scale Ready To Run Equipment

• Athearn "Genesis":
  • B&M F-2 A/B set (dual-service)
• Bachmann "Spectrum":
  • PRR monitor roof coach (P-70)
  • PRR monitor roof combine (PB-70)
  • PRR monitor roof diner
• LifeLike "Proto 2000":
  • NH PA-1 (green scheme 1950-55, McGinnis scheme to 1964).
  • B&M E-7 (Minuteman 1946 - 1960)
  • MEC E-7 (green 1952 - 1963)
  • NYC E-7, E-8, PA-1
• LifeLike "Proto 1000":
  • B&M RDC-1, RDC-2, RDC-3
  • NH RDC-1, RDC-2, RDC-3
  • NH DL-109 (green scheme to 1960 or so)
• Rivarossi (but sometimes old AHM or IHC at train shows):
  • Heavyweight RPO/Baggage in CNR green/black
  • Lightweight coach in CNR "wet noodle" post 1964 (re-paint to green/black to back-date to 1954)
  • 12-1 Pullman from 1915 to maybe 1940 (needs A/C ducts and underbody equipment for post-WWII operations).
  • Lightweight 10-6 sleeper in PRR paint (through trains to Boston, Portland in late 1950s)
• Red Caboose
  • PRR X-29 boxcar equipped for express service.
• Intermountain (Bethlehem kits assembled and painted in China):
  • B&M arch roof steel coach and combine (ex-Reading)

Equipment That Needs Detailing, Painting and Decaling:

Depending on your skill and available time, there are many passenger locomotive projects that can be rewarding: an MEC, NYC or CV passenger GP unit should be easy from recent offerings. NH and B&M passenger GPs require additional parts as well as painting, as do B&M passenger Alco RS units. If you can find the right shells to start with, B&M and MEC dual-service F units are fairly simple.

The IHC corrugated-side cars are in the Walthers catalog as "Pullman Standard", but they are actually hybrids of Budd prototypes - the experts say none of them actually match a prototype exactly, but they can see elements of NYC along with western and southeastern roads. If I wanted an inexpensive Boston & Albany/NYC "New England States" from the 1950s, this is where I would start...

Passenger car kits (usually unpainted):

• Bethlehem Car Works:
  • RDG 70' arch-roof coach (B&M, MEC) and combine (B&M bought a version with one more passenger compartment window). Flat styrene kit, less trucks, used 1946 - 1959.
  • Osgood-Bradley monitor-roof coach (B&M, NH), 2-baggage door combine (B&M), RPO/baggage (B&M and MEC versions available). Etched brass sides, styrene roof, less trucks, somewhat harder to assemble well than a straight styrene kit. If detailed (mostly whether or not AC was installed) and painted appropriately for the era, accurate 1920s - 1960.
  • PRR B-60 arch-roof 60' baggage car - flat styrene kit, less trucks, re-issued by Eastern Car Works with some loss of detail. These ran in baggage/express service all over New England 1920s - 1970s.
  • B&M wood baggage car - flat resin kit, less trucks. These were replaced with steel cars in the mid-1950s.
• Branchline Trains(http://www.branchline-trains.com)
  • NYC 22-window coach kit, also available painted NH (accurate), Rutland (accurate) and B&M (close, but with a change of number and trucks can be made accurate).
• Eastern Car Works (http://www.easterncarworks.com)
  • Pullman-Standard smoothside lightweights are all correct NYC prototypes, but don't necessarily match the normal consist of the New England States, which appears from pictures to have been mostly Budd stainless cars in the 1950s. Flat styrene kits, less wheelsets and window glazing.
  • Osgood Bradley "American Flyer" lightweight coach, built 1934 - 1936. This coach is correct for all the B&M cars and half of the NH fleet, and can be modified for the NH grill cars, BAR coaches, coach grills and baggage cars with varying levels of effort. These were widely used on B&M non-commuter trains of all kinds until the B&M went all Buddliner, and on the NH as first line equipment through the 1950s, and then in commuter service until Conrail.
  • Pullman-Standard stainless-sheathed lightweight coach & parlor/baggage built 1948 for NH (distinctive "American Flyer" rounded ends on the roof). Flat styrene kit, less wheelsets. Not the best molding - you need to remove the rivets from the roof, among other things, but ran on NH and interline trains 1948 - 1980s. ECW offers a few other "stainless steel" kits, sleepers based on ATSF prototypes.
  • Original and modified P-70 coaches, combine and RPO kits - these are flat styrene, unpainted, and have better die-cutting than Bachmann RTR P-70s (what I notice is the Bachmann giant belt rail). Appropriate for run-throughs from the PRR from 1920 to 1968, then ran systemwide on PC into the 1970s. The PRR cars I've identified from New England photos are usually 4-wheel trucked.
• Funaro & Camerlengo - resin kits, usually less trucks.
  • Osgood-Bradley coach, advertised as NH, but could probably be used for B&M and not more than 10 people now living could tell you what the differences were. I haven't actually examined the kit, but it's probably flat sides/floor/ends that you assemble with epoxy or ACC
  • NYC steel monitor-roof coach is usable 1920 - 1960s (secondary trains only after maybe 1950). It is also available with Rutland decals (1920s - 1953).
  • Milk cars - F&C has by far the most complete line of New England prototype milk cars - the B&M 50' wood car kit is a full body molding, partly hollowed out, to which you attach the floor and details. The Erie/B&M 40' steel car is flat sides to be assembled. Depending on specific milk routings, various of these cars can be used from the 1920s into the late 1950s.
  • CN 8-hatch top-iced reefers - some of these were built for express reefer service, and the F&C kit would look rather unique if painted appropriately, circa late 1940s to about 1960.
• New Haven RR Historical/Technical Association. Specialized NH kits offered by mail order or at their booth at train shows.
  • 1948 Pullman-Standard stainless-sheathed lightweight kits - they offer etched/plated sides packaged with an Eastern Car Works plastic kit. A bit harder to assemble than all plastic, but the variety of window arrangements is much wider and the plating solid.
  • Resin baggage car kits - they had F&C (I think) do two or three basic car types, which they offer with variations in details and decals. These were widely used in run-through trains from the 1920s, and operated on the home road into the 1970s.
• Northeastern Scale Models (out of production):
  • B&M open-platform coach and 4-baggage-door combine. These wood craftsman kits were offered for years, and were re-issued in the late 1980s by a firm which folded. The only accurate way to do B&M commuter and branch line trains from the turn of the century till they were replace with steel cars and RDCs 1940 - 1955.
• The Roundhouse "Pullman Palace" 85' sleeper, being wood, would not have been allowed into either Penn Station or Grand Central in New York, which pretty much eliminated wood Pullmans in New England after about 1920. The corresponding diner is fairly close to a B&M prototype that was built about 1910, was relegated to work service about 1947, and survived at East Deerfield into the late 1970s.

Passenger Engine Kitbashes

It isn't easy, but this is the only way you'll get NH 5-axle C-liners (see recent MR article) and FL-9s - both require either anteing up for brass, or serious kitbashing including drive re-working.

B&MRRHS' "Modeler's Notes" ran an article (originally from the DL&W society's publication) on converting an IHC 4-6-2 to the DL&W engines that became B&M's class P-5 (WWII - 1955).

Passenger Car Kitbashes

• Many heavyweight Pullman sleepers, parlor cars and dining cars can be done with relative ease by cut/splice techniques using New England States Limited window and door sections. See "The Best of Mainline Modeler's Passenger Cars Volume 1" or the April/May 1989 MR for articles and plans.
• The B&M's only series of purpose-built steel baggage cars can be modeled by cutting and splicing either Athearn or Rivarossi heavyweight cars. Similar techniques could be used for other roads' clerestory-roof cars.
• Budd RDC variations. The Proto-1000 RDC-1, -2 and -3 cover the bulk of the B&M and NH RDCs, and high-quality brass versions of the same cars have been imported by MTS recently. However, there are gaps: The NH had several baggage-only RDC-4s. The B&M had RDC-9s with one engine, no end windows and no controls. Both might be achieved by cutting/splicing P1K units. The B&M also had about 20 "new-look" RDCs (pilot flush with the end sheet, headlight in a bulge on the roof). In this case you might be able to use Athearn ends and truck sideframes on a P1K body.
• John Nehrich wrote up quickie milk-car reworks in the January 1997 Model Railroader - these are barely complicated enough to qualify as "kitbashing", but his results look nice.

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