GOING INTO PRODUCTION!!-- 3rd Rail B&O Columbian Passenger Car Sets--Wow!

quote:

Originally posted by ChessieMan:
This set sounds promising. There will be two train sets total that will be issued in four-car packages. Each train set will consist of eight passenger cars (no sleepers as the Columbian is an all coach train). Two items stand out in this set. The baggage car and the dome cars will have ice breaker bars on the roof (used to break icicles off of tunnel portals to protect the dome). The other neat feature will be working floodlights on the vista dome car roof that will light up, just like the prototype!

I think I will order a set from Justrains!

The Columbian cars were smooth sided?

Yes, sir!

What a beautiful train.

I'm only just learning about American trains. Is that an E7 A-B pulling the train in the pic?

That's an EMD F3 A and B.

What is your recommendation for an F3 set to buy?
I would like scale, sound and smoke(if possible}. I run conventional, but do have PS2 and TMCC.locos.

Although not models of the passenger geared F3s, Atlas O is producing a set of F3 A-A with steam generator and water tank.

Thanks Chessie Man, they look sweet.

Icicle breakers and spotlights... how can it get any better!

Gentlemen,

Anyone have pictures from the past of the prototypical B&O Vista Dome passenger cars with the ice breaker bars on the roof and spot lights? This B&O Set just seems to get better and better! I have the Santa Fe Chief set on order; I just may order the B&O Sets as well.

Regards,
Swafford

Chessie Man, I may just have to at least get the set that has the dome car, and add it to my K-Line set.

Here are a few pictures of B&O's two dome cars, number 5550 "High Dome" and number 5551 "Sky Dome."

5550 in original Columbian paint showing icicle breaker




5551 in Columbian paint



5551 as repainted into C&O colors. This photo provides a good view of the floodlights and icicle breaker.

The deed is done, I have reserved a set.

ChessieMan, knowing that you are a big C7O fan I am glad that these passenger cars were announced by Sunset 3rd Rail.

However, I wish they would concentrate on getting out the SP Daylight Cars , including the articulated SP Daylight passenger cars that they promised a couple of years ago; please see what you can do


"She took the Atchison, Topeka & the Santa Fe"

What's the street price on these beautys?

The builder is completing the Santa Fe Chief for delivery probably late this year. As soon as that is done the builder will start on the Daylight.

When is the estimated delivery on the B&O Columbian Passenger Car Sets?

Regards,
Swafford

I have not heard of a delivery date on these but it is supposed to be sometime this year. I have also heard that the delivery of the two four-car packages will be staggered to ease the strain on our wallets.

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Allen:

What a beautiful train.

That’s certainly a beautiful set but the B&O Capital Limited out classes it. Maybe I’m a little biased since I have the set.

Just a little trivia about the picture. Does anyone know the name of the bridge in the photo? It’s world famous.

How about the Thomas Viaduct near Baltimore, MD.
Is this the same bridge?

Regards,
Swafford

Yep that's it. I grew up just a few miles from there. HERE'S a little history.

Good Day,

Has anyone pre-ordered the two 4-Car Baltimore & Ohio "Columbian” Passenger Car Sets?

I have two of the Santa Fe passenger sets on order. Per Scott Mann’s message on the forum, the Santa Fe passenger sets shipped out of Asia on January 21st. I look forward to receiving the ATSF passenger cars. I hope they’re worth the wait. I will check the quality of the ATSF passenger cars before I moved forward with a pre-order on the B&O sets.

Regards,
Swafford

I ordered an eight-car train. I hope it comes out at nice as the 20th Century Limited sets.

The following are the two consists of the Columbian (1949):

87A EMD F3A 1,500 hp Diesel Passenger Cab Unit
87X EMD F3B 1,500 hp Diesel Passenger Booster Unit
1350 HARPERS FERRY Baggage 12 Crew Dormitory Buffet 24 seat Coffee Shop Combination Car
5500 CONNELLSVILLE 56 Revenue seat Coach
5502 GARY 56 Revenue seat Coach
5550 HIGH DOME 42 Revenue seat Strata Dome Coach with 24 non-Revenue seats in Dome
1090 AKRON 38 seat Dining Car
5504 MARTINSBURG 56 Revenue seat Coach
5506 NEW CASTLE 56 Revenue seat Coach
3315 CHICAGO 27 seat Tavern Lounge Bar 26 seat Lounge Observation


Second consist:

88A EMD F3A 1,500 hp Diesel Passenger Cab Unit
88X EMD F3B 1,500 hp Diesel Passenger Booster Unit
1351 SILVER SPRING Baggage 12 Crew Dormitory 24 seat Coffee Shop Combination Car
5501 CUMBERLAND 56 Revenue seat Coach
5503 LA PAZ 56 Revenue seat Coach
5551 SKY DOME 42 Revenue seat Strata Dome Coach with 24 non-Revenue seats in Dome
1091 PITTSBURGH 38 seat Dining Car
5505 McKEESPORT 56 Revenue seat Coach
5507 YOUNGSTOWN 56 Revenue seat Coach
3316 WASHINGTON 27 seat Tavern Lounge Bar 26 seat Lounge Observation

Here is the Columbian at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.

This is a nice idea, but what are the chances that these cars will actually be made? It seems that GGD has announced a lot of passenger car sets recently but it is difficult to believe that the demand is actually there given the state of the economy.

GGD has announced several sets that have already been made to scale by K-Line (but not all completely true to the prototype). These include NYC ESE, SP Daylight, PRR Congressional, B&O Columbian, etc. It would seem that GGD might be better off concentrating on those few sets that have not yet been made by others and thus might sell more. Since K-Line already made a scale version of these cars, I am not sure that the Columbian is one that would sell well. We shall see...

I think that the Columbian will sell very well. It is very difficult to obtain the K-Line cars beyond the basic four-car set. Even if you find the two-car add on sets, they are selling for around $225 per car. All that money for what is now an inferior product.

Add in the benefit of the correct dome car and car configuration, you have a hit. Most of the B&O guys that I know, 3-railers and 2-railers, have already reserved this set. An added benefit is R Heil's personal interest in this set. I think that it will be made.

quote:

Originally posted by ChessieMan:
It is very difficult to obtain the K-Line cars beyond the basic four-car set. Even if you find the two-car add on sets, they are selling for around $225 per car. All that money for what is now an inferior product.

Wow, maybe I should sell my cars! In any event, if the K-Line cars were "inferior" as you say, one would think that people would wait for something "better" rather than shell out that kind of money. Something just does not compute there...

Compare the K-line quality to these models. This is why many people have jumped off of the K-Line bandwagon.

quote:

Originally posted by NYCJim:
As promised, I'm back from my Canadian boat trip so here are two videos of the GGD 20th Century cars as we ran them several weeks back at the Illinois Railway Museum.

Stills and Video

The second video is just a run by of a B&O freight and Train 25(Twentieth Century Ltd)

GGD Runby

For the photo nuts, the photos and video were shot with a new Canon 5DMkii full frame still camera with HD video so you can watch them on Youtube in HD. Edited with Abode Premiere Pro CS4.

Watch the credits of the first video closely as the soundtrack is provided by the Big Guy himself(I don't mean Frank) singing about his favorite railroad.

Enjoy!

Good Day,

Is there any news on the Golden Gate Baltimore & Ohio "Columbian” Passenger Car Sets?

Regards,
Swafford

IF you cut me deep enough, I bleed Sentinel Blue. So what is all this?
Somebody trying to twist my arm, or what!?!

KD
I do not know if we have spoken but if you have attended a 2 rail show and spoken to someone at the Sunset/GGD display it was probably me. The stance that Scott Mann, owner of GGD, has taken is that there are fine offerings from several other major companies to fill the 15-18 inch length passenger car market. Once K-Line disappeared from the RTR full scale length car market that left a void that GGD and Atlas have recognized. While there certainly is a market for shorter cars GGD has decided to stay in the scale length market particularly since half their sales are to 2 railers who tend to build layouts with wider curves.

Like you, I remember riding The Columbian in the 1950's and agree the spotlights did not add much to the ride in the dome car, but the dome was a great place to see S-1's on Sand Patch.

I am sitting on the fence with these cars, yes they would be nice to have but has anyone heard of any street prices? Also will these have the battery lighting avalable like the Zepher cars have? and lastly, does anyone know if these cars ever wondered up north to the Philly area?
John

How will the color be on the new cars and which current engines will they match? I'm still new to the present state of 3 rail O and had an interesting discussion about the B&O color a week or so ago. In comparing the illustration above of the Atlas F units with the two color pics of the prototype pictured in the thread, there is quite a difference. The real engines look almost black compared to most of what we see in modeldom.
Jim Barrett tells how most illustrations that depict color of the B&O are incorrect and stem from an ad in a National Geographic Magazine back in the 1950's I think he said. Lionel and others copied the incorrect blue resulting in most of the brighter shades we see today like the above Atlas project!.
According to Jim, our MTH E6s are close to the correct blue while the gray is too light.
Personally, I much prefer the 'incorrect' blue of the Atlas models.


The Appalachian, Tampa, & Santa Fe RR
Headquartered n the western NC Mountains

The colors on The Columbian will be as close to the real colors as possible. It will be nowhere near the color in the Atlas illustration for their F units. In Atlas defense they will also have the correct colors on their models I am sure.
I own three of their B&O GP-9's and I believe the blue on these engines is extremely accurate for B&O.

As DK pointed out in an earlier post we had several of my Palace Car Company HO Columbian cars on display at York this past October. Their color is quite good, I believe.

As far as power for The GGD Columbian, Sunset will be making E-7 diesels that will match. Also, the last run of MTH E-8 diesels in B&O blue and gray was very good looking and accurate for using to power The Columbian.

quote:

Originally posted by dkdkrd:
Some of my strongest memories are of the meals in the dining car. I can even yet SMELL the dining car in my memory! And, I tell people today about the 'finger bowls'...and they blankly stare back! Spring water. Heavy silver plate utensils. Crisp white table cloths and heavy napkins. Food to die for.

I read somewhere recently (I'll have to remember where) that the food on the B&O was considered the best of any railroad. I remember this, because it really surprised me. I would have expected the Super Chief, NCL, Empire Builder, 20th Century, Broadway Ltd., or something else. It's true that I have little familiarity with many of the eastern roads, but I would not have guessed the B&O. Of course, evaluation of food service can be very subjective.

quote:

Originally posted by c.sam:

How will the color be on the new cars and which current engines will they match? I'm still new to the present state of 3 rail O and had an interesting discussion about the B&O color a week or so ago. In comparing the illustration above of the Atlas F units with the two color pics of the prototype pictured in the thread, there is quite a difference. The real engines look almost black compared to most of what we see in modeldom.

The Appalachian, Tampa, & Santa Fe RR
Headquartered n the western NC Mountains

Here is the Atlas paint sample.



And here is a B&O locomotive.


And here is the link to the BANDO Blue discussion.

Rheil or SDMann--

Will the Columbian cars be delivered set up to ride and the proper height over the trucks? Will the reduced thickness of the aluminum extrusion cause increased noise when the cars are in motion? Thanks.

from an undated pamphlet:

quote:

Originally posted by rheil:
The colors on The Columbian will be as close to the real colors as possible. It will be nowhere near the color in the Atlas illustration for their F units. In Atlas defense they will also have the correct colors on their models I am sure.
I own three of their B&O GP-9's and I believe the blue on these engines is extremely accurate for B&O.

As DK pointed out in an earlier post we had several of my Palace Car Company HO Columbian cars on display at York this past October. Their color is quite good, I believe.

As far as power for The GGD Columbian, Sunset will be making E-7 diesels that will match. Also, the last run of MTH E-8 diesels in B&O blue and gray was very good looking and accurate for using to power The Columbian.

For my eye, in the basement, the colors on the Atlas F-3's on display at York was quite satisfying. I will be happy when they get here. But, let's put our heads together on this. Does anybody today make B&O coaches with the Blue and Gray Paint? Well there is the GGD cars. I don't hear any complaints on those. I for one am quite happy with the GGD coach colors. So shouldn't the Columbian and E-7s, from the same early 1950's era, match thoses cars? Methinks I would be very very happy with that. Cheers (and get busy with production).

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