Does anyone have Chefs, cooks and waiters in their dining cars?

There's an MTH people pack that has a waiter and people holding food and coffee mugs. I don't know which pack number it is off the top of my head.  

I have been looking for a cook and some waiters for my Scale Polar Express Dining Car.

My railroad only offers slightly discounted food service from the MTH McDonalds next to the station to carry on the train.  Passengers are permitted to Super Size their meal if they prefer. 

Brian I like the way you think.

It's a shame there's pretty much no Burger King's, Chili's, 5 Guys, KFC's, Red Lobsters, or Wendy's to put on a layout.

But yeah, I have never really seen a chef or waiter figure available for O scale...

Artistta figure 1474 is a cook.  Preiser set 65355 has a waiter.

Neal Jeter

Mikado 4501 posted:

It's a shame there's pretty much no Burger King's, Chili's, 5 Guys, KFC's, Red Lobsters, or Wendy's to put on a layout.

But yeah, I have never really seen a chef or waiter figure available for O scale...

There was Burger Chef and A&W and some other generic type places by MTH.

It would be easy to print up some signs for 5Guys or others and redecorate a building.  I agree though.... KFC...others would be nice.

Mike D posted:

I have some seated figures, conductors and porters by K-Line and a bag of the unpainted figures by MTH on the way. I bought two sets of Keil-line dishes and silverware for my diner. The only thing I can't find are food service personnel for dining cars. Does anyone have food workers in their diner's? Pictures would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike,

Some advice from the point of view of having looked everywhere for dining car staff, including chefs/cooks:

1.  The interiors of Lionel and MTH passenger cars are sub-O scale, much closer to S or indeed even smaller. Also, Lionel's cars' floors ride high over the trucks and so if you use true O scale figures, whether seated or standing, they will not necessarily be visible in the car windows assuming that they fit at all. Thus, you need to stick to smaller figures. All of the K-Line, Lionel and MTH Railking figures I mention below are smaller than true O scale.

2.  K-Line produced some dining car staff, I think no more than four porters. As you asked for photos here's a set of three of these figures in my (as yet unfinished) Lionel 21" aluminum Texas Special StationSounds diner, which is populated mostly by the car's original figures, MTH Railking figures and others I scavenged from other cars. The three porters are one each ringing a dinner chime, taking an order and serving up a meal:

K-Line also made one bar porter, who is shown below in another car, which is the observation car of the same Lionel set (all of these cars were based on K-Line tooling):

Don't worry, I straightened out the drink in his hand before the car was completed.

3.  There are still some of the K-Line figure sets around that come up on *Bay from time to time. Incidentally, the Lionel 6-83653 seated passenger figure set for their new 21" ABS cars is a re-release of the K-Line passenger figures WITHOUT the standing car staff figures. Aside from these, there's an MTH Railking set of diner figures but it does not include staff. There's a vendor at York called Scenic Express (they have a website) that has a vast array of figures in every scale. Trouble is, you have to see the figures labelled O or S scale to decide if they will actually fit in the space you have for them. Another online source is Peoplescale.com who catalog figures by height. At 1.5 inches high their O figures are too tall but they offer smaller figures (starting at 1" height) as well and you might find one you could "convert" into a chef.

4.  Ready-made chefs/cooks - I have not found any in either S or O scale although I know Arttista produced one a while back. But if you are adding figures to a Lionel/MTH diner the kitchen space is so small that it's feasible to use HO figures in there bearing in mind that to be seen through the kitchen windows they'll have to be small anyway. Preiser makes this set of merry chefs, complete with pots and pans:

5.  Finally, dollhouse "quarter scale" figures, which are essentially O, are widely available but so far I have not tracked down a chef. I keep checking Shapeways 3D printing to see if someone comes up with something but so far no luck.

No figure recommendations but some literature to make them come alive:  McPherson, James.  "A Solo Song:  For Doc."   You can find it in many anthologies of short fiction.

N.B.:  the story is not G-rated.

Mike D thanks for the purchase. for the rest of you here's the link for the dishes.

http://www.scalecitydesigns.co...-KEIL-LINE_p_89.html

while there look around for more interior details such as ash tray stands, seats, lamps, headrest covers and more! 

It's great to see the Keil Line products easily available again.

Scale City Designs posted:

Mike D thanks for the purchase. for the rest of you here's the link for the dishes.

http://www.scalecitydesigns.co...-KEIL-LINE_p_89.html

while there look around for more interior details such as ash tray stands, seats, lamps, headrest covers and more! 

Thanks for making them. How about adding some chefs and waiters to the product line? No one else makes them and it looks like there is some interest.

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

Hancock52, those are some nice interiors. Where did you get the carpet runner that goes down the center of the diner? I am going to paint my floor dark red to look like carpet. The runner makes it look a lot better.

If you have Gordon Ramsey as the Chief Chief, one is going to have to change the sound chip in the sound cars.  And those with sensitve ears would have to leave.

There is a chef and waiter available from Omen Miniatures, a British outfit. They are metal, high quality and 1/43 scale. I assume trimming would work, although they're about $6-$8 each for unpainted figures. Stocky chef, tall hat - why not?

http://www.omen-miniatures.com...y-crew-and-personnel

Mike D posted:

Hancock52, those are some nice interiors. Where did you get the carpet runner that goes down the center of the diner? I am going to paint my floor dark red to look like carpet. The runner makes it look a lot better.

The runner is inkjet printed on fabric and is from an image of an art deco carpet (or possibly curtain material). I had to combine copies of this image in Photoshop Elements to get a continuous run and then trim it down to size:

In the dining car it is only down the center of the car. In the observation car I went a little overboard and did almost the whole floor area in it:

The "passengers" in this car are a from mixture of the sources I referred to above including a few quarter scale miniatures.

Firewood, thanks for the info and the link. I sent them a message about availability. Hopefully they have them in stock.

Hancock52, thanks again. I may try to create the runner, but I think I will use cardstock instead of fabric. How did you print on fabric?

Mike D posted:

Hancock52, thanks again. I may try to create the runner, but I think I will use cardstock instead of fabric. How did you print on fabric?

There is paper-backed fabric you can get for inkjet printing - I think what I used is made by Avery and is a craft item. The backing helps transfer the fabric through the printer. Maybe just as important, the backing stops the fabric from coming apart at the edges when you cut it.

I used fabric because I wanted some texture mainly because in Lionel cars the floor is very visible through car windows because it is not far below their level. But in fact printable card stock will work as would matte or satin finish inkjet paper.

Preiser makes set 65355 of Railroad Personnel that includes a waiter/server that is included with a conductor, engineer and two other figures. The set is 1/43 and I cut the feet off the waiter to lower his height inside the dining car.  I have glued his shoes and ankles back on after cutting 1/4" off the bottom of the apron. This is the only dining car figure in O-scale that I have found.

Lionlman posted:

Artistta figure 1474 is a cook.  Preiser set 65355 has a waiter.

Neal Jeter

Yes, the Arttista cook is dressed for an outdoor barbeque but he can be easily repainted for full chef whites or those checked chef pants via a suitable grey wash.  I was at the Amherst Railway Society show in W. Springfield yesterday and meant to get a second figure but was rushed (i.e., late) and forgot.

My plan is to cut off the sides of the spatula that the figure holds and shape it into a large carving knife, then repose the arm (if possible) for counter top work.  Perhaps take a Dremel tool to his large belly, too?  That way when/if I ever get to populating my diner car, I'll have two chefs who won't look like twins.

I'll add a link showing chef's fine cooking at the Tomlinson Run Railroad commissary kitchen after church.

I'm also considering some of Arttista's grocer and similar shop figures.  They have aprons on and perhaps can be repainted to good effect.  Another figure manufacturer whose name escapes me offers a camp cook, but unfortunately he holds a huge horn in front of his face.  Won't work in my diner kitchen ...

At the show, I did manage to get packages of Bar Mills fruit and veggie crates and the hand carts to move them from commissary/boxcar to the diner kitchen for chef to transform into edible art.

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Hancock52 (and Mike D),

Got some time now to reply more fully.

Hancock 52, I really like your work. What a great idea to print on real fabric for your floor runner!  I'm sure the added texture is a great touch (no pun intended).  The observation car gives you so much space to work with and be creative.  Nicely done.  I especially like the clear "glass" at the ends, and have set aside some clear plastic for a modification that I'm planning for my PRR diner.  Did you add that or was it part of the original model?

My challenge, other than I am new to modeling, is that my dining car is a RailKing and there is no space between the tables and chairs to put people without serious amputation.  I have yet to take the top off to see how many chefs I can put in the kitchen but I'm hoping for two.  The lack of space makes measuring and then placing a rug challenging in the dining section.  I'm considering using my Dremel tool to remove the tables and create four-legged ones like you have. But that's a BIG step for me and I'm not ready to take it yet.

So, in the meantime, I've been collecting security envelopes whose inside prints resemble floor coverings or wall coverings.  They are not as nice as your colorful example, but here are some that I've set aside.  They can be xeroxed to create more and, once scanned, can be colored in any pattern you'd like.

This example seems to most closely match photos of turn-of-the-century parlor car and dining car carpets:

This example comes in various hues of blue and in both large and small pattern sizes. The variety might lend itself to use as a floor and matching wall covering, assuming that it's not too overpowering that way:

This last example, is one of my favorites. It mimics some of the intricate tile work found in diner architecture of the 1940s:

And, as promised, here's the link to a very silly post that I did.  Scroll down about mid-way and you'll see the Arttista chef in several action poses in 1:1 scale.  As I look at it, it seems unlikely that the free arm can be bent as I originally proposed above but the spatula could be modified easily.  The post also shows a rollerskating waitress.  She would be best used at a drive-in but at the Tomlinson Run Railroad, we believe that roller skating wait staff slipping and sliding their way down the aisle with a full tray of food will bring in more customers on our dining train excursions.

The Arttista Chef in 1:1 Action

Thanks again for the initial post, Mike D.  Having full kitchen and commissary staff, and some sort of a railroad operations component, is a dream that I hope to fulfill some day.  Sort of like the Farm to Table movement, only with boxcars. :-}

TRRR

TomlinsonRunRR posted:

Hancock52 (and Mike D),

Got some time now to reply more fully.

Hancock 52, I really like your work. What a great idea to print on real fabric for your floor runner!  I'm sure the added texture is a great touch (no pun intended).  The observation car gives you so much space to work with and be creative.  Nicely done.  I especially like the clear "glass" at the ends, and have set aside some clear plastic for a modification that I'm planning for my PRR diner.  Did you add that or was it part of the original model?

The glass partition was added - it's not in the original model. The intention was to produce a representation of the kind of etched glass partition that was in Pullman-built streamliners of the period, including the Texas Special. I could not actually figure out a way to duplicate the etching, which was more or less elaborate depending on the railroad. This is an example of what was in the MKT version of the Texas Special:

Now, my effort is a complete fantasy partition, which I used mainly to display posters of the period - especially the San Antonio station one on the bottom right, which was actually advertising for the EMD engines that pulled the train (the portrait the passenger is looking at is of Stephen F. Austin, the observation car's namesake):

The real cars also had murals of Texas cities - unfortunately I could not find any color versions of them (if they were color to begin with that is):

My personal favorite vignettes in this car are actually next to the partitions, one of which is these card players.

Those card players are great and a classic RR trip activity. I found a plastic grape tomato or similar plastic fruit box that had a raised design in it.  If I can get more, I'm considering using it for an etched glass window in a trolley.   By flipping it over so the design is flat, I hope it can be used to mimic etching on a double glass partition in my fantasy diner.  I'm also considering hand "etching" my own images in clear plastic.

Could you print out those murals you found and touch them up with pastels for color?  Or perhaps use the airbrush tool in a drawing program?  It might give it a spritz of color like those hand colored postcards, which might work for O scale and the door wall location. 

Getting back to the original post, in addition to multiple chefs working in a cramped kitchen, and the wait staff, a dining car steward was a very key figure.  The man in the white coat at the end of the car was in charge of the raw food ordering, taking payment from the diners, making sure they were comfortable, and much more.  One modeler in a forum post used (or repainted?) a man in a white jacket to great effect.  But I see that you already have HM the Queen serving in that capacity, no doubt royally.

TRRR

I hope that this is not deviating too far off topic but to try to stick with it to start:

1.  I think that probably all the available resources for dining car staff have been identified in this thread; they include all the ones I've tracked down, here, in the UK or indeed from German or far eastern sources. There are not many in O or S scales whereas there are enough in HO to satisfy most modeller's ambitions. I am going to experiment with the HO Preiser figures in my Texas Special dining car kitchen as the windows of it are small to the point that larger figures could not be seen through them properly anyway (the windows in question are the second to fourth from right in the image below):

2.  I agree that the steward you mention was a key figure but I haven't found one that completely fits the bill as it were. The old K-Line figures were really the best and as Lionel have by some means access to the seated passenger figures of the same production era I imagine that the molds for the dining car staff still exist somewhere. The best hope may be 3D printing if anyone has the initiative to produce the necessary drawings.

3.  I did not think of coloring up the murals I found in various books (mainly The Official Pullman-Standard Library, vol. 7 on the western railways) but it's a good idea and I might try that when I next resume work on my project.

4.  Lastly, I really cannot compete with your earlier thread you linked to but since you mention QE II's presence in the dining car, that was just a piece of tomfoolery/whimsy on my part after I found her figurine at the Scenic Express booth at York. She's not in fact my favorite figure in these two cars; this Texan party girl is:

I actually tried to put this figure right way up at the table but she slipped into the posture you see and there she's stayed. The steward on the left is one of the best of the K-Line figures.

P.S. If you look around on this forum there are some interesting dining car interior threads posted by people who've done some really intricate detailing.

Yes, I have stumbled on some of the fabulous dining car interior posts by other forum members.  Really phenomenal! 

Ah, the "Texan party girl". There's one in every car!  It looks like she's quite enchanted with a fish in a fish bowl? Both of them are "into the 'drink'", so to speak.  I have a sloppy drunk Arttista figure that I am planning on having staggering up the diner aisle while the roller skating waitress is approaching in the opposite direction with her full tray.  A fun time will be had by all.  That's the plan anyway; I've yet to get the top off the dining car to do some actual measuring.

That is a very nice K-Line figure for the steward, and I love those great placemats.  Thanks for the extra pix.  It shows what's possible.

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Tomlinson, good idea about the security envelopes.

Hancock52, Your interiors are great. I am not going to that extent with mine, but yours are very inspiring and have some great features that I may consider in mine.

The set I am starting with is a set of six MTH RailKing O-27 cars. This will be the first set that gets interior detailing and is my trial run. I have 21 MTH Premier cars, 13 Williams 70' cars and 12 scale heavyweights that will get passengers in the future when I have time to allocate to those projects.

I e-mailed Nigel Smith of Omen miniatures about their chef and waiter figures. It's been a couple of days and I haven't heard back yet. If I am able to get them, I will post some pics of them with my K-Line figures for a comparison for those that are interested.

Mike,

We'll look forward to photos of your trial run with the MTH cars.  You've got quite a collection to work with.  By the way, I keep getting a "bandwidth exceeded message" on the retailer's side when I try the Omen miniatures link that Firewood provided.  

For those interested in seeing their chef and other figures, here's a different retailer:

Scale Link's Omen__Painted_figures page

The chef looks very French  and will put the obese Arttista figure to shame; and the man in the white coat with the menu looks good.  They also have a roller skating waitress.

TRRR

Not to belabor this (hey it is one of my favorite topics).  But I recently stumbled on a "Pullman" steward and a waitress by Phoenix Figures in the UK -- they may be a little large at 1/43 scale.  I like the steward, although he lacks the nice menu of the example in a prior post.  The waitress looks better suited for a Harvey House or British pub than a dining car, but she holds a tray that might come in handy.  The website links and item numbers are visible in the photos; the main page is: www.sanddmodels.co.uk

OF336 Dining/Restaurant/Pullman car standing steward

OF34 Waitress carrying tray

Tomlinson Run RR

Hancock52 posted:

TomlinsonRunRR posted:

Hancock52 (and Mike D),

Got some time now to reply more fully.

Hancock 52, I really like your work. What a great idea to print on real fabric for your floor runner!  I'm sure the added texture is a great touch (no pun intended).  The observation car gives you so much space to work with and be creative.  Nicely done.  I especially like the clear "glass" at the ends, and have set aside some clear plastic for a modification that I'm planning for my PRR diner.  Did you add that or was it part of the original model?

The glass partition was added - it's not in the original model. The intention was to produce a representation of the kind of etched glass partition that was in Pullman-built streamliners of the period, including the Texas Special. I could not actually figure out a way to duplicate the etching, which was more or less elaborate depending on the railroad. This is an example of what was in the MKT version of the Texas Special:

Now, my effort is a complete fantasy partition, which I used mainly to display posters of the period - especially the San Antonio station one on the bottom right, which was actually advertising for the EMD engines that pulled the train (the portrait the passenger is looking at is of Stephen F. Austin, the observation car's namesake):

The real cars also had murals of Texas cities - unfortunately I could not find any color versions of them (if they were color to begin with that is):

My personal favorite vignettes in this car are actually next to the partitions, one of which is these card players.

Who makes the cards? 

I need to find  waiters for two  diner cars I am working on. I have found several waiters but are too large. I went to my surplus pile and started digging. I buy the MTH 120 pak for the seated figures, never use the standing ones! Sorted out 10 of the same sterile looking standing figure.  Once I started painting them I was surprised how well they looked. I then pulled out the x-acto knife and had some fun. One has tray above his head, one tray on chest, one carrying a menu and one undecided. Got 8 waiters ready to go to work. I think one looks like Charles Bronson!

I used Preiser gas station attendents in my hot dog stand. They come dressed in white, I just added the hats. 

Same in my cafe.

Pete

Great ideas in the last couple of posts. I never thought of using Railking standing figures as diner staff, still less adjusting their, er, appendages to a different pose. O or S scale dining car staff, including chefs, are possibly the scarcest figures of all. K-Line made a number of varieties but they are impossible to find as separate items. Artistta make a couple of pewter figures that could be adapted but the cost is not cheap.

However, I have done roughly the same as Norton in making headgear for figures that were otherwise not intended for diner duty. The chefs' hats shown in the below photos were made out of acrylic modeling putty. Things like kitchen utensils and indeed pots, pans and platters of food are more readily available than figures as "quarter scale" diorama accessories:

Norton, glacierrunner, Hancock52 -- what can I say?  You guys are my heroes!  Fantastic!  You made my morning.  My own chef/server/diner related efforts are on hold for now but these photos are inspiring.

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Another possibility would be to rework the Plasticville Figures - If I remember correctly the molds were purchased by another manufacturer and the figures have been re-issued several times.

  Here's a priest I turned into a dining car waiter - I've done this and many others - just a little time, a sharp Exacto knife, some scrap Styrene plastic, some Squadron Green Putty, and Styrene solvent.

Well, that's another case of high ingenuity. I never contemplated Plasticville figures at all let alone modifying them. I have no idea what size they are, though. The problem with even scale (21") O gauge passenger cars is that the interiors are actually sub-scale. A 1.5" tall figure will look something like 7' + tall inside such a car. Sitting scale figures are different if you are prepared to maim them!

Anyway, I think I might follow your lead. Thanks!

Hancock52, if you cut off the base then, depending on the figure, they scale out between 5 and 6 feet tall

@Robert S. Butler posted:

Hancock52, if you cut off the base then, depending on the figure, they scale out between 5 and 6 feet tall

Thank you, that is good to know. I have ordered some including the priest who will be converted to a member of a distinguished dining car staff.

I also tracked down what might be the Holy Grail namely some nice S scale figures, which fit inside O scale car interiors as well as the old MTH Railking figures.