Chester Passenger Car Kits?

Looking at the "Chester Industrial Arts Co." [ of Chester NJ, not PA, I notice ] in the October 1950 MR*, eight body types, in both 85' and 60' shorties for HO, 0, and [!] S, are listed:

1.  Baggage-Dormitory-Chair

2.  Express-Baggage

3.  Mail car

4.  Mail-Baggage

5.  Roomette

6.  Diner

7.  Chair car

8.  Obs.-Lounge-Tav.

"Aluminum used is .020" thick, mirror finish."

If they came in a smooth side version, like the Kasiners, that must have come later.  I agree about the larger scale/sizing -- at one time I had 3 or 4, and they did not 'play well' with my other streamlined cars, notably Kasiners.

Best regards, SZ

*Which just happened to be on my nightstand.  Of course, I have a very large nightstand....

It looks like you have your answer before I can dig out old kits.  I have some of these

I acquired over time for myself and a friend who collects RPO cars, and think RPO's

are what I have.  I have built the Kasiner (all aluminum) and Walhers cars, but not these, and found I do not like wood roofed streamliner kits but we wanted a variety of

different RPO's.

Thank you SZ, I ask about a smooth sided version of these as I purchased an unfinished 4-4-2 carbody with those blank end plates on E-Bay (listed as Walthers ARRRNK! wrong!) and it's actually quite nice with the little upper windows cut out, albeit too big to "play well" with my Kasiner's and ICC's either. Most informative, again thanks.

CHR, one of the three I do have is that odd 85' solid RPO that loosely approximates the Budd RPO's for the pre-war NYC Empire State albeit with incorrect smooth roof, and at least one side door a tad too narrow. It's a mystery if there's a real prototype for these, kind of "tastes" like SP but no matter, I'll figure out which road to use them on and post them when they're done,

Cheers!

Pete

When I was a kid they looked ridiculously inexpensive.  I figured that at six bucks each they could not be worth much, and I never bought any.  I think current eBay prices might be a tad high.

Now I won't put up with anything other than one piece extrusions, and they are available from so many places that I am pretty much overwhelmed.  I have three different kinds of Budd, two different kinds of Pullman fluted, and way too many smooth side.

i do have a very, nice B-C, but never realized it was 17/64.

Bob, if I had your skill set and facility I likely wouldn't have any time to build kits like like Chester's, Walthers, BC-k's et. al. either 

But unless you can cut the top off them, straight extrusions are wearisome too if you want to do at least a modicum of interior or window dressing, far worse with a full interior.

Don't get me wrong, I love MAC shops but opinion they present their own tyranny in building, like a "ship in a bottle."

  Pete

I actually love the Walthers heavyweights - the ones that come in the blue pin stripe box.  I do not have the skill to make removable roofs look good, so mine are all sealed up, and worse to deal with than one piece extrusions. all have K-Line Streamlighting in them.  Hope it never fails..

Bob...

I haven't built an O scale Walthers HW kit recently....last one was about 35 years ago for an acquaintance...but I have more recently constructed several HO kits.  I agree that the roofs can be challenging.  But I found a better solution not long ago for both easily removable roofs as well as better interior lighting...

For attaching the roofs...forget traditional fasteners... long machine screws, etc. going from floor to ceiling.  I have become a magnet fanatic.   I'm not talking about traditional, cheap ceramic magnets.  I'm referring to the super-strong neodymium-iron-boron ones that come in a variety of very small sizes.  Our (LHS) principal sales for these are through the Games Dept..  Apparently gamers love them for keeping their game pieces in position, or for creating adjustable limbs, weapon attachments, etc..  They're hard to keep in stock, they're so popular.

On a passenger car for which a removable roof is appropriate, I simply embed two to four of these tiny magnets in the roof or on top of an interior bulkhead.  They can be paired with either a small piece of ferritic steel (e.g.,  common washer) or with another magnet.  Of course, with the latter...two magnets...you must determine the polarity of the mating pair and install them keeping the poles aligned so they will attract....not repel!!.  A mated pair of these magnets has AWESOME holding power for a situation such as this.

Re the lighting...I use LED strip lighting as made by Miniatronics, Viesmann, et al.  It fits neatly into the clerestory area of a HW car, and is not a bad fit on an arched roof, either.  The electrical connections I deal with using miniature 2-wire inline connectors available from several sources (I use Miniatronics).

Returning to the magnets....  I most recently used them on an O scale Ambroid wood caboose model to give interior access.  In this case, especially due to the intricate end ladders, etc., I used the tiny powerful magnets to make a detachable caboose side wall.  It's really cool for providing access for detailing, lighting, etc..  I used magnet pairs in this case, and, man, do they ever hold fast!!!  Later I used the small magnets to hold some pedestrian figures in place around a structure that I necessarily must access the interior occasionally.

The magnets I most commonly use are by Primal Horizon.  The package of 25 magnets 3/16"dia. by 1/16" thick cost $15.99.  They make sizes from 1/16"dia. to 3/8" dia..  Their website is www.primalhorizon.com.

I also use Magcraft super strength magnets, also offered in a variety of sizes/shapes.  Website www.magcraft.com.  The package I'm looking at has 14 disc magnets .500" dia. and .125" thick, $9.99.

Once you try using these incredibly strong tiny magnets, you also might get 'hooked' on other uses.

FWIW, always...

KD

Then you probably want to be really careful when one of my steel boilered Cab Forwards goes by on a parallel track?

Neat tip KD, THanks!

Pete

    The prices for the 0 ga cars in that October 1950 MR ad were $3.45 for the 85', and $2.95 for the 60' "shorts".  [ The S prices were $2.95/2.45 and HO $2.45/1.95 respectively ].  In all cases "50 cents extra for Obs." 

    Other than the Chester ads themselves, my other ready source of info on the Chester cars were the ads by 'E&H Model Hobbies' of Philly, which seemed to be one of the major mail order retailers of these cars.  Their August 1954 ad -- '54 was the last year any 0 scale appeared in their ads, from then on it was "all" HO -- had this pricing:  $2.95 /  2.50. + .25 for the obs.   Or, you could buy a set of all eight cars, eg one of each, for $ 18.95 / 15.95 !!!

   [ The S scale cars were also on sale, evidence that they were indeed made;  HO isn't mentioned.]

With best rgds, SZ