Bring Them B-A-C-K! : Golden Gate Depot Heavyweight Passenger Cars

Kyle,

GGD has made heavyweights from plastic in the past.  I own some Missouri Pacific.  Yes, I'd be happy to buy some more.

Oh this is a nice new thread. Yes … it would be great to see a new run of GGD Heavyweights. I’ve advocated for this in other threads. As always, I say … EMAIL Scott and Let Him Know that you’d like to see the heavyweights Offered Again !!!!!! 😉
Cheers 😜

Another run of heavyweights and the Harriman cars would be awesome. My first set of GGD cars was SP green heavyweights and I loved that Scott did these sets in phases spread out over a few years. Made buying an expensive passenger much easier when the cost is spread out.

Scott has typically done plastic heavyweights in pieces. Last offering was for 4 different cars in 2019 and offered a nice selection of different roads. Many are the typical green but there are nice colorful versions too.

2019 Previous offering were fewer car types and fewer roads  

Two sleepers were released in 2017

2015 saw modernized heavyweight coaches offered with a nice variety of roads.  
I’d Really like to see these modernized cars offered again !!!

More later ….

I didn’t even know about those modernized heavyweight coaches. Those are really cool! I have the original run coaches in SP green, a modernized set in TTG would be a nice addition.

I would love some more!

In retrospect, I was fortunate to have bought SP Harriman coaches and a baggage in BRASS when they first offered them in 3 rail.  Then as soon as the heavyweight sleepers were advertised, I bought them also.  Unfortunately, they were offered in only two configurations, so have each of them.  No dinner was offered, so mine is an old Walthers "silver sides" kit upgraded and with an interior added.

So, I would imagine that there should be quite a market demand built up since the last offerings were quite a while ago

In 2010 - only 2 cars but a nice selection of roads.

In 2009 - a decent road selection

And a limited road selection.

This Might be last time a combine was made. 😳🤔🤔🤔 I’d like to see them offered again - they are a nice add for 2ndary or short consists.  

Also 2017 - but in a category by themselves.  
I especially like the cars because of the visually interesting roof exhausts / vents. Zoom in for a close look  Quite nice !!!

I bought 6 Harriman cars on the one run that Scott did. Would have ordered more but finances draw a line somewhere. The Harriman cars do not come up for sale often and when they do, they have held their value.

I’m in need of more baggage cars for my mail train and probably another coach or two. Would also like to get one of the All Day Lunch cars.

@The-576-Guy posted:

I'm currently thinking about getting passenger car consists for my Cincinnati, Ohio based layout. However, there are limited options when it comes to 100% prototypical passenger cars. The tooling for Lionel's current heavyweight passenger cars is almost 30 YEARS OLD at this point, and the coaches themselves are M-I-D to say the least (Well, for my standards), and the MTH Premier heavyweight coaches aren't too good either.

Golden Gate Depot hasn't made a run of their's in a while and it seems like it's about time for another run.  There are So MANY different possibilities of different consists with a rerun of these coaches and heck, they could even make a plastic run of these to make them cheaper to produce & buy. Who's with me on this one?

Sincerely

Kyle Paul - A Fellow TrainNerd

Look for a late production K line heavyweight cars

scale cars, beautiful interiors between the car diaphragms that actually touch each other excellent detail who could ask for more.

@Ryan Selvius posted:

I bought 6 Harriman cars on the one run that Scott did. Would have ordered more but finances draw a line somewhere. The Harriman cars do not come up for sale often and when they do, they have held their value.

I’m in need of more baggage cars for my mail train and probably another coach or two. Would also like to get one of the All Day Lunch cars.

Yah - For sure the Harriman cars Rarely show up in the secondary market.

I’d also like to see baggage cars in the next heavyweight run !!! I like to put together mail/express consists. A couple of baggage cars in a consist is just a bit wimpy. Often one would also see an old heavyweight coach or two on the tail end of these trains.    

Cheers😉

I'm up to 43 GGD heavyweights in 2 and 3 rail across many road names.  Probably don't need anymore, but those 8-1-2 Pullmans aren't easy to find! I have yet to find one at a reasonable price.  Diners and observations seem less common as well.

I find these cars to be some of the nicest available for the price point.  Another run is probably in order.

@GG1 4877 posted:

I'm up to 43 GGD heavyweights in 2 and 3 rail across many road names.  Probably don't need anymore, but those 8-1-2 Pullmans aren't easy to find! I have yet to find one at a reasonable price.  Diners and observations seem less common as well.

I find these cars to be some of the nicest available for the price point.  Another run is probably in order.

Hi Jonathan  
Good to see you chime in !!!  I’ve shown info I have but it samples only those plastic models I have in my rail “empire”.  I’ve steered clear of any brass GGD heavyweights. Have I missed anything ??? Any earlier “runs” ???

Perhaps those sleepers would be good candidates for another run - and expanded roads 🤔. Baggage cars are always need for 2ndary trains. I’d love to see combines done too. So few have been done by GGD.  The modernized coaches should be a “must do” !!!

Greenies are an “easy do” for Scott across many roads but here’s hoping we can see many of the later year colorful “repaints” - only prototypical of course. I like a mixed paint consist 😬.

Cheers 😉

Wish they would make some brass Long Island cars!

Some Daylight heavyweight cars in Postwar lettering would be nice as well. A few of these cars were common on the San Joaquin Daylight in the 50s. A heavyweight RPO was almost exclusively in the consist and every now and then a diner and others found there way into the consist. I need to research specifics a bit more.

Since GGD did the Daylight last year and the dome lounges, doing a SJ Daylight heavyweight supplement would be a cool set for those of us who bought Daylight sets. One could easily build either train with the assortment of cars.

I have the 3-car head-end heavyweight set and the 4-wheel-trucked coaches, but would like to see some Pullman cars offered again.

You may want to move this post to the 3 rail scale forum and tag Scott Mann @sdmann

Not counting baggage or RPO cars, I have 14 passenger cars, 13 GGD and 1 Sunset.  Not too happy with my early P70 4-pack due to the couplers always opening.  What I don't have is a HW observation, so I'd take one of those.  Another P70-FAR would be nice.

If they were to do new tooling, I would buy these PRR designs:

- 6-wheel truck baggage-mail car with round roof like the BM70m or BM70n.

-Either a 6-compartment/3-drawing room or 6-section/6-double bedroom sleeper.

-Either Eventide or Nocturne.  These had 16 duplex single rooms.

@NYC 428 posted:

Wish they would make some brass Long Island cars!

I have three 3rd Rail Brass P70 coaches in Long Island.  I find the brass P70s a little nicer than the plastic ones due to the design of the letterboard. 

I believe this is the complete set of GGD plastic tooled cars released over the years:

• PRR P70 style 80' coaches done in multiple roads with either PRR 2D-P5 trucks, 4 wheel AAR trucks, or 6 wheel heavyweight trucks depending on road name.
• P70FAr modernized coaches with accommodations for various truck styles depending on the road name.
• Head end sets consisting of a baggage car, RPO, and a baggage coach.  All have 6 wheel trucks to my knowledge.
• Diners based on the PRR D78 design in multiple roads with 6 wheel trucks.
• Pullman Standard observations in multiple roads.  I do not know the exact plan, but I believe it is the most common one with the three bedrooms.
• Pullman Standard sleepers in 12-1 and 8-1-2 configurations.
• 60' Harriman cars in a baggage, rpo, coach, lunch coach, and observation.

One can make a great train with these cars and they also work really well mixed with streamlined cars for a more prototypical consist.  Many of these cars ran almost up Amtrak on some roads.

The coaches served well into the 70's in commuter services too.

Jonathan. Thanks for the great summary !!! 👍 🙂

New tooling will be required for anything plastic older than about 2017.  The previous factory destroyed all of it due to a dispute.

@rdunniii posted:

New tooling will be required for anything plastic older than about 2017.  The previous factory destroyed all of it due to a dispute.

That Really Stinks !!!      

So the key word is “about”.  

I hope the 2 sleepers tooling is still around. Not a lot of roads were offered for them. An expanded offering should sell well.  

Looks like coaches are “toast” based on dates. These haven’t been done in quite a long time. Though new tooling would be required, an expansive offering should also sell well.   The modernized coach would be a nice add. Being different adds diversity to a consist - and blends nice in a streamline consist.  

It looks like tooling for the baggage, RPO, Diner, Observation survive (though the Combine did not).  These would All do well.

The surviving tooling should help offset new tooling costs - I hope. Perhaps the cars with new tooling can receive some modest detail upgrades.

Just curious and looking to understand.  Is 1 green model decalled for 10 different roads 1 SKU ? 🤔🤔 To that, Add 5 Paint variations, then total equals 6 SKUs ? 🤔🤔 Just trying to imagine offering structure and limitations.

Cheers 😉

There were a couple of runs of 12-1s.  Roads included:

1. Pullman Green
2. Pullman Two Tone GrayUnlettered Green
3. Erie Two Tone Green
4. Lackawanna
5. B&M
6. B&O
7. C&O
8. CB&Q
9. CP
10. GN
11. NH
12. N&W
13. NP
14. NYC Green
15. NYC Two Tone Gray
16. PRR
17. Santa Fe
18. SP Green
19. SP Two Tone Gray
20. UP Yellow
21. UP Two Tone Gray
22. MILW

I was surprised myself when I looked at the various boxes I have. 

Other roads done on other cars include:

1. SP Daylight
2. Erie Green
3. C&O Green
4. CN
5. SP&S
6. Southern
7. Rio Grande

Not all paint schemes made it to all the cars, and this doesn't include the road names that went on the Harriman cars which would add IC, RI, and CNW to the mix.

Hi,

Richards comment is accurate about previous Aluminum projects prior to 2015.

Richard Wrote: "New tooling will be required for anything plastic older than about 2017.  The previous factory destroyed all of it due to a dispute."

But we still have all the tooling for our plastic HW cars, Sleepers, Coaches, Head End, etc.

And, we don't need most of the car / window punch tools, as we cut all the windows on the fly with CNC machines.

All's good...

Scott

@sdmann posted:

Hi,

Richards comment is accurate about previous Aluminum projects prior to 2015.

Richard Wrote: "New tooling will be required for anything plastic older than about 2017.  The previous factory destroyed all of it due to a dispute."

But we still have all the tooling for our plastic HW cars, Sleepers, Coaches, Head End, etc.

And, we don't need most of the car / window punch tools, as we cut all the windows on the fly with CNC machines.

All's good...

Scott

Wonderful !!!!

Thanks for this Heads Up Info  
Scott !!!!  Perhaps responses to this thread and Emails Direct to You can give you a sense of what everyone would like to See First. Dates of previous run of cars will likely give guidance too.

Cheers 😉

+1 for Pullman Green, Virginian-lettered 80' all-steel heavyweight Pullman coaches!  They were classified as CH-4 by VGN and numbered 200-209 with six-wheel trucks.

The Virginian also had some other Pullman-manufactured passenger equipment including Pullman RPO / Baggage and Baggage / Express cars which probably map well to some of the previous runs detailed by Jonathan above, as well as some really cool, individually named Pullman Club and Business (observation) cars.

In the past, Scott might do 4 cars at a time. Which cars would everyone like to see   first ?????
My vote is baggage, 2 sleepers, and Coach.  I’d like to see both old And modernized Coach (that would be 5) but if just one coach were to be offered, I’d prefer the modernized version.  They will fit in Nicely with all the passenger consists Scott has done.
Cheers 😉

For me personally, the diners and the observations are the hardest ones to find on the secondary market.  I have several roads that could use a diner for sure, and while observation cars didn't run on every train, you need at least one for each road you model, correct?

Also for some reason the 8-1-2 Pullman plan almost never shows up on the secondary market.  I haven't done my research to see if they were less common on the railroads, but I have yet to find one.

@sdmann posted:

Hi,

Richards comment is accurate about previous Aluminum projects prior to 2015.

Richard Wrote: "New tooling will be required for anything plastic older than about 2017.  The previous factory destroyed all of it due to a dispute."

But we still have all the tooling for our plastic HW cars, Sleepers, Coaches, Head End, etc.

And, we don't need most of the car / window punch tools, as we cut all the windows on the fly with CNC machines.

All's good...

Scott

So that means all the PRR P70 coaches and the P70FAR coaches as well! Bummer!

@prrhorseshoecurve posted:

So that means all the PRR P70 coaches and the P70FAR coaches as well! Bummer!

Scott said the tooling exists for all the plastic heavyweight cars.  It's the aluminum cars that were done prior to 2016 that he does not have access to.  The nice thing is that the aluminum cars can be redone easily compared to an injection tooled model and now are being designed using 3D modeling, so the aluminum cars are more accurate than the original offerings.

The biggest challenge is just getting enough interest to in the plastic cars to place an order with the builder who does the injection molding on those cars.

@GG1 4877 posted:

Scott said the tooling exists for all the plastic heavyweight cars.  It's the aluminum cars that were done prior to 2016 that he does not have access to.  The nice thing is that the aluminum cars can be redone easily compared to an injection tooled model and now are being designed using 3D modeling, so the aluminum cars are more accurate than the original offerings.

The biggest challenge is just getting enough interest to in the plastic cars to place an order with the builder who does the injection molding on those cars.

And to make the vestibules more robust so the couplers dont yank them out on a train.

I haven’t paid much attention to the couplers but I’m thinking there’s old construction and new construction. I pulled 2 easy grab cars off the shelf. The old was a coach and new a baggage car.

Big differences- check it out.

Here’s the old assembly - 2009 vintage


Here’s the newer coupler below - 2019 vintage

I don’t think this new truck-coupler assembly will be a problem.

One solution would be to make the doors fixed and not operable.  I think that is the biggest detraction from most non-brass cars and locomotives.  The doors just never close quite right and there is a huge gap.  Making the doors fixed would go a long way towards making the vestibules more robust.  However, I have never had an issue of couplers coming off on mine. 

@GG1 4877 posted:

One solution would be to make the doors fixed and not operable.  I think that is the biggest detraction from most non-brass cars and locomotives.  The doors just never close quite right and there is a huge gap.  Making the doors fixed would go a long way towards making the vestibules more robust.  However, I have never had an issue of couplers coming off on mine.

I’d be for fixed doors. I never got why working doors were important. 🤔 Perhaps the fixed door would make assembly easier - a good thing. 😉

Yes! More GGD heavyweights. I would love to see more heavyweight sleeper types too. Harrimans would be great. Also, let’s do more than just pullman green, PRR Tuscan, two tone grey, & UP yellow. Let’s add more road name variations  like Southern, SF, & CB&Q silver shadow line cars, Southern Crescent limited green 21” heavyweights, The Orange blossom special, PRR yellow Kid, & so much more.

@sdmann posted:

Hi,

Richards comment is accurate about previous Aluminum projects prior to 2015.

Richard Wrote: "New tooling will be required for anything plastic older than about 2017.  The previous factory destroyed all of it due to a dispute."

But we still have all the tooling for our plastic HW cars, Sleepers, Coaches, Head End, etc.

And, we don't need most of the car / window punch tools, as we cut all the windows on the fly with CNC machines.

All's good...

Scott

Scott,

I don't want to go too off-topic but since you said that you still have the plastic head end tooling, any chance we could get those beautiful GGD 54' Reefers to go with some GGD heavyweight cars?
https://ogrforum.com/...c/176694689197168822

Best,
Bryce

I have a lot of GGD plastic coaches and sleepers and i want more...More..MORE!!!

I'm currently on the hunt for and would love a rerun of:

Norfolk and Western Heavyweight Coaches, Pullman Sleepers, Diner and Observation

PRR Modernized Heavyweight p70s

PRSL Heavyweight p70s

Pullman Green Sleepers

and in the next run...

How about a LIRR Cannonball set! Pullman Sleepers with coach seating replaced and an Observaton!

(id post a photo but you know the rules.... so check out these beauties on google)