9538 BLUE COMET OBSERVATION CAR - This was just purchased and I thought the 9538 was a passenger car and observation was a 9540

thats interesting but its definately factory and I see no alterations in the car

All you'd have to do is unsnap the coach vestibule and snap in the Observation railing.  There would be no other signs of alteration.

Jon

I concur with Jon.

I had (actually still have) a set of Pennsy cars which was issued in the same time frame. I was missing the observation car - it was kind of “rare” at the time. My mother went to the local train store in Brooklyn and the owner offered to break off the vestibule from one of the coaches (which I already had) and pop in the observation railing as Jon mentioned... he was also going to charge her a fairly significant premium for the faked car. Luckily, she passed on the offer. Several months later, we were on a family vacation in Quebec City during Carnival and came upon a small train store (if I recall correctly, it was called Paul’s Maison des Trains!!!). Got the real observation car for a great price

I'll check my roster later to see the number and the name on my Blue Comet observation car

so what you folks are saying, one has to cut out the piece on one car, install a roof and attach the vestibule. I think your wrong on this one, but thanks

It snaps out - no cutting from what is being said. Parts are interchangeable to help maximize the tooling I would think.

@j. constible posted:

so what you folks are saying, one has to cut out the piece on one car, install a roof and attach the vestibule. I think your wrong on this one, but thanks

No, I don't think that's what people are saying.

To convert from a open-end observation car to a fully enclosed car, you simply remove the observation railing and attach the appropriate vestibule. To go the other way, one simply removes the vestibule end and installs the railing.

Any car could be an observation by installing the railing. No cutting necessary, and nothing involves the roof.

TRW

So I checked my Observation car is 9540 Temple, not 9538 Faye so it appears the vestibules on yours have been switched.

i took it apart, i see what you mean

Case closed. :-)