Brown Reading Madison Cars?

Before the two-tone green, Reading passenger cars were solid green.  No brown passenger cars.

 

In the 19th century, Reading passenger cars were yellow. Here is a painting of such a train in the 1890's by Jim Holton for the cover of Vol. 1 of his Reading history. The engineer is sitting on the cab sill to get a better view of the Hall signals. The Reading has just switched to right-hand running. Hall (or "banjo" signals) are replacing "windmill" signal towers.

 

Wooden passenger cars built by the Reader Railroad in Arkansas last summer are a pretty close match. They were built for No. 17, a Civil War replica that rolled out of [David] Kloke Locomotive Works, Elgin, IL, in May, 2013! She was built from plans for Mr. Kloke's LEVIATHAN, with slightly smaller drivers for the 5-mile 2% grade to New Freedom (originally named Summit). This train runs weekends and some weekdays through December 23. For schedules and info, go to Steam into History. Click on the red banner.

 

The station is located in New Freedom, PA, about 30 minutes south of York. Go South on I-83 to Exit 4 (Shrewsbury). Go about 6 miles West on Route 651. A good place to photograph the train is a park in the town of Railroad, PA. It's wide open, right by the road, and the tracks go by on a fill. There is a large green sign that says RAILROAD. The town even has a post office.

 

Route 651 becomes a street that ends at a "T" intersection in New Freedom. Turn left. The station and gift shop are ahead on the right. Turn right onto the street past the station. Use the parking lot on the left.

 

Trains run on the historic Northern Central Railway. President Abraham Lincoln rode on this line on his way to deliver his Gettysburg Address. Here at Hanover Junction he changed trains. The remnant of the Gettysburg Branch is the curve in the foreground. No. 17 is on the main between Baltimore, Sunbury and Wilkes-Barre.

 

This train would make a great GENERAL set! Lionel's new Western Union 4-4-0 resembles No. 17.

 

Here is the LEVIATHAN. She joined No. 17 after running in New York state last November.

At one time I had a set of re-painted green Reading passenger cars.  They were "Baby Madisons" and looked good in green with gold lettering above the windows.  Looks like it would be easy to make up a set.

 

Ed Boyle

That it would, and that set would look great!

 

Lionel also made a similar set with 027 streamliners. Some turn up at York and at Allentown (First Frost and Spring Thaw).

ReadingFan: I live in New Freedom and get a big kick out of hearing the whistle every day - as do many others.

I've heard there's going to be a special run on this fall's York meet. Call or email the company and ask - well worth the price.

I guess the answer is no: Reading never had any heavyweight style passenger cars in this shade of brown:

 

 

I always assumed those were supposed to be Pullman green.

One thing that always angered me is that any time the two-tone scheme has been produced (most often by Williams) they insist on adding yellow bands above and below the windows,  which is not accurate.  I just spent a great deal of time removing the yellow stripes from a Williams 72' set.

I guess the color is yet another mystery wrapped in Lionel's long history, like the black and red Santa Fe F-3....

 

It's actually quite interesting because the following year, the Madison cars appeared again in Pere Marquette lettering with almost identical color brown!

 

I, too, didn't happen to like the yellow trim on the windows that Williams had used. At least MTH didn't make the same mistake as far as I remember...

From what I know and have read about the Reading Company they never had any brown passenger cars. Lionel did a cheap repro run for the Reading cars as they had them in another railroad name and just stenciled it for Reading Company is my guess.

 

Strasburg Railroad has a Philadelphia and Reading passenger car in brown or an off red color near the station. The name on the car is "Susquehanna".  As for being 100% accurate for the P & R, I can't say.

 

Lee Fritz

 

I doubt it but at this point I'm glad it's still around and in service.

 

The Strasburg also couples Reading Business Car #10 to regular trains. I'm really glad about that!

 

Financial escapades by the Reading's most colorful and controversial president, Franklin Benjamin Gowen, and his successor, Archibald Angus McLeod, led to several bankruptcies. Yellow passenger cars may have been replaced by more prosaic green as a consequence.

 

To conclude an upbeat note, I'll add a photo of my Lionel Reading T-1 (6-18006; 1989) detailed and painted as #2124 by Reading Steam Guru. Wowak added valve gear, a scale pilot coupler, a scale brass whistle, and two white SPECIAL flags.

 

Last year the Franklin Street Station in downtown Reading was reopened after years of restoration by BARTA. This is a compact, yet elegant, station that reminds me of a Plasticville Union Station. It could be a kitbashing project for a station in a tight space. Long platforms and roofs were required for passenger trains. They could be shortened if necessary.