Golden Gate Upcoming Passenger Car Projects

Texas Chief please.

I am no longer adding to my collection, so my vote does not count.  

I would love to see brass models of the early Sunset Limited with those lovely arched windows and tongue-in-groove siding.

But I bet the Golden State would sell better.

nw2124 posted:

I would be interested in seeing suggestions for passenger consist and Golden Gate seems to be the only game in town. Let's hear your suggestions!

My suggestions:

1) SRR Tennessean

2) Wabash Blue Bird

3)Amtrak California or other phase 4 cars

Any one else I would love to hear from.

Stephen

An accurate Wabash Blue Bird would be great.  Could do it with an E7, like the Train of Tomorrow.

The only passenger set that I would spring for at this point in time would be a PRR Yellow Kid train.

scott5011 posted:

Texas Chief please.

This would give me a good reason to reserve a Santa Fe big dome. 

mwb posted:

The only passenger set that I would spring for at this point in time would be a PRR Yellow Kid train.

Didn't PRR have a work train that was all yellow?

Stephen

I would love to see a complete comet 2 passenger set in a nj transit paint scheme.

For me it would be an Olympian Hawatha. Their recent offering of the Empire Builder dome car certainly opens up the chance of them offering a proper full dome in the Hiawatha set. See this thread for reference:

https://ogrforum.com/t...iawatha-for-santiago

No manufacturer in O scale has offered a full correct Hiawatha in non-brass form, yet thousands of hobbyist own Hiawatha pullling power, from steam to diesel and electrics. Money is to be made here that is my bet.   

nw2124 posted:

mwb posted:

The only passenger set that I would spring for at this point in time would be a PRR Yellow Kid train.

Didn't PRR have a work train that was all yellow?

Stephen

If they did, it was probably too modern for my modeling interests.

D&RGW Prospector and C&O George Washington as these are based on the same Pullman Standard cars with fluting applied only below the windows. With these cars you can also make Nickel Plate, D&H, and B&O sets as well as individual cars for NYC, Seaboard, and a few other roads.

Ken

nw2124 posted:

I would be interested in seeing suggestions for passenger consist and Golden Gate seems to be the only game in town. Let's hear your suggestions!

My suggestions:

2) Wabash Blue Bird

Stephen

Maybe you should check out Lionel's new 21 passenger sets:

Combine, Dome, Coach, Dome-Observation, Wabash (Bluebird Scheme, silver, blue)

breezinup posted:

nw2124 posted:

I would be interested in seeing suggestions for passenger consist and Golden Gate seems to be the only game in town. Let's hear your suggestions!

My suggestions:

2) Wabash Blue Bird

Stephen

Maybe you should check out Lionel's new 21 passenger sets:

Lionel
Fluted-Side 4-Car Set - 3-Rail - 

Lionel #6-82550
 

Combine, Dome, Coach, Dome-Observation, Wabash (Bluebird Scheme, silver, blue)

Pretty sure those are just generic cars painted to look something like Wabash cars.  And made of plastic...No thanks.

Jtrain posted:

breezinup posted:

nw2124 posted:

I would be interested in seeing suggestions for passenger consist and Golden Gate seems to be the only game in town. Let's hear your suggestions!

My suggestions:

2) Wabash Blue Bird

Stephen

Maybe you should check out Lionel's new 21 passenger sets:

Lionel
Fluted-Side 4-Car Set - 3-Rail - 

Lionel #6-82550
 

Combine, Dome, Coach, Dome-Observation, Wabash (Bluebird Scheme, silver, blue)

Pretty sure those are just generic cars painted to look something like Wabash cars.  And made of plastic...No thanks.

Yup, NYC ESE cars painted Wabash.  They did the same for Southern.  I didn't buy. I will hold out for someone like GGD to make the following accurate (and definitely not someone else's railroad cars painted Southern) trains, or I will make them myself later on:

Southern Crescent

Southern Piedmont Limited

Southern Asheville Special (Its like a 3-car train in the era I model, so I'll probably end up making this myself.)

maybe an SCL Silver Star

PRR, N&W, L&N and RF&P all had the same car painted in PRR colors but with lettering for each railroad.  I think it was a 4140.   All were named cars with the N&W having 3 different cars.

There sure are a lot of great suggestions posted above and a number of these projects have been discussed at GGD, and I have talked to some of you at shows about them. Personally, I believe we will see at least several of these come to fruition in the next few years.

Martin; If you would like I can paint a Lionel kid's toy set yellow and letter it PRR and bring it to  Strasburg but I somehow think you are referring to the turn of the century passenger train. Scratchbuilding time. You have the talent.

I'll take a Pullman 10-6 Sleeper like this one (SAL PORTSMOUTH ):

Not sure what other RRs used them, but I'm fairly sure not all interiors were the same.  Floor plans are a necessity (BobH, you already have the PORTSMOUTH ).

IMO GGD could take a "common" car (at least on the outside) such as this, and with a little research/input from the gallery, offer single cars on a regular basis.

I would like to see a more pragmatic approach to selecting the future rounds of passenger cars. Namely, if a particular set or train is produced, than a matching engine should be part of the announcement or a recently released substitute from another manufacture is available.

Example, currently, there are plans to make the E8’s. I did not order any issues, not because of road name selection, but rather lack of passenger cars to go along the engine. In my case, I would have ordered a C&NW or Illinois Central sample if matching passenger cars were to be made available. I have no problem waiting for a complete set, but I have to know there are plans for a matching set or cars and power before I can commit.

Conversely, passenger cars that are announced with no proper power to pull them will also end with a non-order. In this very thread a set of Wabash Bluebird cars was requested, but if there were not a matching E7 to pull them then it would be difficult to support such a project.

In the case of the Illinois Central E8, if GGD were to announce a set of passenger cars (Panama Limited, City of New Orleans) then I would order the E8 now and have no problem waiting for the passenger cars for a reasonable time.

The Milwaukee cars are interesting because there are more then a few examples of power available, so GGD could make a MR train that supported other manufactures engines and I might be able to get behind a project like that.

Charlie

only in my dreams. 

prr keystone. a unique, one time, lowered passenger train.  after you left the vestibule and entered car, and then you cleared the trucks there were several steps down to the main lower passenger level.  a unique prr passenger train. 

mikeg

Again, my display shelves are full, and if I add anything it would be a Bi-Polar, but I am resisting mightily.

No manufacturer in O scale has offered a full correct Hiawatha in non-brass form, 

This is not entirely true, depending on your definition of "full correct".  walthers offered a pretty good Hiawatha decades ago, and K-Line did a pretty good set.

Full correct can mean lots of things, like accurate interiors, full underbody detail, Nystrom trucks - the list can go on.  GGD will not be able to do all that, but as with other passenger sets they can probably outdo K-Line by a factor of two or three.

The reason Scott will not be doing the arch-window Sunset Limited or the Yellow Kid is in this sentence.  Way too many variants from that era.  Scott told me that personally about ten years ago, and it is probably still true today.  That was truly the golden age of wood Pullmans and coaches, and some day somebody will do a few of them.

Edit: Capitalize Walthers, add the thought that maybe a Hiawatha set is a good idea.  I can edit, I just cannot get it to re-post.  This forum now hates iPads.

Superliners!!!

http://www.hebners.net/Amtrak/amtSUPER.html

sooner or later the modern stuff will come!!

OK, here's a radical idea....for example....

Santa Fe's Trains #7/8....The Fast Mail.  For 45 years these trains hauled the mail from Chicago to LA, often having a length of 22 cars...or more!

OK, OK.....so they weren't your typical passenger-hauling train.  In fact, they typically had but a single 'rider' car...a lowly heavyweight smoker/lounge or coach bringing up the tail end of looonnnng string of baggage, rpo, express boxcars, horse express cars, etc., of all sorts and makes.  But, think about it...

So, here's the crazy rationale....  

First, head-end cars get short shrift in the model offerings.  They're ho-hum, boring, yawn-worthy, homely, dime-a-dozen. etc., etc., etc..   And, yet, they were immensely critical and numerous on the 1:1 rails through much of the 20th century.  It's how the mail was moved, man!!  And there were whole trains of these duckly uglings, running coast-to-coast....on regular schedules.

But from a model production perspective, they're sort of interesting....I should think.  Hey!...no windows!!  No interior lights!!...except, perhaps, on the rpo.  No plethora of peoples.  A few doors.  Ho-hum paint/graphics.  And so many variations of baggage-hauling types/makes/lengths/styles/etc., with every single daily run of #7/#8 having a unique mix of equipment.......Why, how could ANYONE argue the authenticity of the mix!?!?!?  As for the rider car?......pick something appropriate.  And just DARE someone to complain it's wrong!!  Heavyweights, lightweights, ACF, Pullman-Standard, Budd, this class, that class......Holy Moly how can you miss?????  And the possibilities and volume potential could be ginormous!! 

And the Atlas, MTH, Lionel folks could do the other complementary cars for the Fast Mail that fit their production portfolios....Express Boxcars, single door, double door, 50-foot, 40-foot, appropriate mail-hauling colors, .Allied Full Cushion express trucks, .....Mercy!....it's mind-boggling what a focus on mail-hauling trains could do for this hobby....(and my wallet!). 

(I tried to get the HO production crowd jacked up over this about 10 years ago........the groaning was more prevalent than the resulting product!.....How Ordinary)

And, I only pick the Santa Fe's mail-hauler.  I KNOW that they were as prevalent on eastern roads, too.   Which simply becomes a further multiplier of the possibilities.

I know.......dumb idea, right?

Not necessarily.

Something for rumination.

KD

To nw2124,

There is one other plastic manufacturer. Those of us who have the Atlas Zephyr train has a beautiful set of cars. We may not have likes the time it took to get the train but the wait was well worth it.

Dick

bob2 posted:

Again, my display shelves are full, and if I add anything it would be a Bi-Polar, but I am resisting mightily.

No manufacturer in O scale has offered a full correct Hiawatha in non-brass form, 

This is not entirely true, depending on your definition of "full correct".  walthers offered a pretty good Hiawatha decades ago, and K-Line did a pretty good set.

Full correct can mean lots of things, like accurate interiors, full underbody detail, Nystrom trucks - the list can go on.  GGD will not be able to do all that, but as with other passenger sets they can probably outdo K-Line by a factor of two or three.

The reason Scott will not be doing the arch-window Sunset Limited or the Yellow Kid is in this sentence.  Way too many variants from that era.  Scott told me that personally about ten years ago, and it is probably still true today.  That was truly the golden age of wood Pullmans and coaches, and some day somebody will do a few of them.

Bob, I meant a ready to run set that included the super dome. Walthers never produced the dome. I'm unaware of the Kiel line set as I run 2 rail. 

 

I'd vote for a Missouri Pacific Eagle (Texas or Colorado).

...gregg

breezinup posted:

nw2124 posted:

I would be interested in seeing suggestions for passenger consist and Golden Gate seems to be the only game in town. Let's hear your suggestions!

My suggestions:

2) Wabash Blue Bird

Stephen

Maybe you should check out Lionel's new 21 passenger sets:

Lionel
Fluted-Side 4-Car Set - 3-Rail - 

Lionel #6-82550
 

Combine, Dome, Coach, Dome-Observation, Wabash (Bluebird Scheme, silver, blue)

breezinup: The Lionel Wabash cars are Generic and are not even close to being correct! GG could do The Wabash, and the Norfolk and Western Blue Bird plus Amtrak cars.  3 Trains for the price of one. these trains were pulled by E8s not E7s As Charlie suggest.

The sets could be done like the Train of Tomorrow with the E8s.

CBQer posted:

To nw2124,

There is one other plastic manufacturer. Those of us who have the Atlas Zephyr train has a beautiful set of cars. We may not have likes the time it took to get the train but the wait was well worth it.

 

Dick

CBQer: You are very correct they are fantastic cars for a very reasonable price. Good call!

Charlie posted:

I would like to see a more pragmatic approach to selecting the future rounds of passenger cars. Namely, if a particular set or train is produced, than a matching engine should be part of the announcement or a recently released substitute from another manufacture is available.

Example, currently, there are plans to make the E8’s. I did not order any issues, not because of road name selection, but rather lack of passenger cars to go along the engine. In my case, I would have ordered a C&NW or Illinois Central sample if matching passenger cars were to be made available. I have no problem waiting for a complete set, but I have to know there are plans for a matching set or cars and power before I can commit.

Conversely, passenger cars that are announced with no proper power to pull them will also end with a non-order. In this very thread a set of Wabash Bluebird cars was requested, but if there were not a matching E7 to pull them then it would be difficult to support such a project.

In the case of the Illinois Central E8, if GGD were to announce a set of passenger cars (Panama Limited, City of New Orleans) then I would order the E8 now and have no problem waiting for the passenger cars for a reasonable time.

The Milwaukee cars are interesting because there are more then a few examples of power available, so GGD could make a MR train that supported other manufactures engines and I might be able to get behind a project like that.

Charlie

"Conversely, passenger cars that are announced with no proper power to pull them will also end with a non-order. In this very thread a set of Wabash Bluebird cars was requested, but if there were not a matching E7 to pull them then it would be difficult to support such a project."

Charlie,  It is my understanding that the Bluebird was typically pulled by an E8A, after they were delivered, replacing the E7A.  3rd Rail is taking reservations on the E8A units now, in the correct Wabash paint scheme.  It is my understanding that Alco PA units were used too, but less frequently, and 3rd Rail may be offering those too, I have heard.

NW2124 posted:

"3 Trains for the price of one. These (Wabash Blue Bird) trains were pulled by E8s not E7s As Charlie suggest."

The above post by Steve "NW2124" is not factually accurate and should not be considered as correct information regarding the original posters question. Steve, please limit your statements to fact-based information on this topic for future remarks, thanks.

JTrain:

You are correct but illustrates my point in that the reservation may close shortly on the E8's but with no train set announced, it would be difficult to commit to this engine. Again this is just an example, and an idea for Scott to consider for future products.

My personal choice would be an Illinois Central train set, and this I could get behind.

Charlie

I'm in agreement with Charlie, specifically on the IC - I asked Scott Mann last month about the possibility of Panama Limited or City of New Orleans, to have something for E8s to pull. Was told it was unlikely.

There's also Green Diamond, Mid-American and Campus, though I'd guess they'd have very little demand.

David

Our Fast Mail and two non-transcontinental trains.       John

I feel for you Scott M., EVERYBODY (including me) wants their personal favorites.

With the Silver Meteor in the queue (I already have the 3rd Rail E7), the only other passenger cars I would want (and of course the Pullman 10-6 PORTSMOUTH) would be an ACL train.  The ACL E8 was cancelled, but there's plenty of other manufacturers to fill the void (plus repainting a 3rd Rail E8 isn't out of the question), so I don't necessarily tie the production of either an engine or a set of cars together as a deal breaker.

It's funny as to what turns folks on in all this, for me it's the window placement and trucks.  Those are the two visual aspects that I look at first.  Interiors are secondary, if they line up with the window patterns and are basically correct, I'm satisfied.

RRs acquired cars from each other and in many cases re-positioned windows and interiors to suit their tastes (SAL and FEC come to mind).  I don't think there's any way that Scott or anyone else could make a car that would cover the original and the modifications made after the initial build.  Even cars owned by the same RR were altered later.  SAL had some OBS cars with tailboat ends that had diaphragms added later, altering the outside appearance.  Even the SAL Sun-Lounge car has gone thru many changes, one has to be careful when referring to photos when trying to be date/time specific.

I won't live long enough to see all these requests come to fruition, but I hope everyone gets what they want.

nw2124 posted:

 

breezinup: The Lionel Wabash cars are Generic and are not even close to being correct! GG could do The Wabash, and the Norfolk and Western Blue Bird plus Amtrak cars.  3 Trains for the price of one. these trains were pulled by E8s not E7s As Charlie suggest.

The sets could be done like the Train of Tomorrow with the E8s.

Chopped Liver?

Rusty

This is a non vote, because the only main line passenger train I would be interested in is the Exposition Flyer, which was heavy weight, depending on when the MoPac Colorado Eagle was inaugurated.  (this last may have been the only steam passenger train I saw out on the road)

rheil posted:

Martin; If you would like I can paint a Lionel kid's toy set yellow and letter it PRR and bring it to  Strasburg but I somehow think you are referring to the turn of the century passenger train. Scratchbuilding time. You have the talent.

Thanks, Bob, but I think I'll pass on that offer.....

Yes, the turn of the century train is the one that I refer to - doubt that too many variants from that era is really a relevant excuse, either.  Westerfield did a set in resin in HO that still commands a good price (last one I saw started at $350 unassembled) and that also indicates that the necessary information is available for making these cars as a reasonably accurate set.  Fortunately, Sunset has already imported suitable acceptable engines for this train.

Thanks for the vote of confidence on talent; I have all of the raw materials collected and waiting in the queue - time is a more limiting variable in the equation.  I would pay the price for an O scale RTR set simply since my time to build them at my hourly rate will more than justify writing the check. 

Then again, I'll probably have to cut a hole in 2 walls just to run such cars...

kanawha posted:

D&RGW Prospector and C&O George Washington as these are based on the same Pullman Standard cars with fluting applied only below the windows. With these cars you can also make Nickel Plate, D&H, and B&O sets as well as individual cars for NYC, Seaboard, and a few other roads.

Ken

Excellent choice - a number of railroads owned those cars, they'd match up well with a number of the Alco PAs and EMD E-8s coming from 3rd Rail (and those nifty E-7s 3rd Rail has already brought in).

How about the East Wind?  GGD could make use of many of their existing tooling?

From Wikipedia:  "Service started in June 1940 with two sets of pooled passenger cars painted yellow with a silver window band and pinstripes. Each train had an arch-roof baggage car, a dining car, and as many as 8 lightweight coaches. New Haven and Boston & Maine provided American Flyer coaches built in the 1930s by Pullman Company's former Osgood Bradley Car Company plant in Worcester. New Haven provided a similar grill car while Pennsylvania Railroad provided P-70 coaches and a lounge car. Similar service ran in the summers of 1941 and 1942."

Jan

I would like to see a re-run of some of the heavyweight sets, specifically the B&O.  I not interested in the modern heavyweights.

May be more of a 3rd Rail item, but I would love to have the auto carrier from the Summer of 1965, B&O experimental Chessie "Take-Your-Auto-Service." 

I believe the auto carrier was actually built for Volkswagen in the mid 50's and could carry 10 VW Beatles.  Given that bugs were 160" (13'4"), I'm guessing that flatcar must have been somewhere around 72' in length.  I believe that the two cars were returned to VW service in the Fall of 1965.

Could be plastic or brass. 

Jim

Jan,

     If you can find one the Keystone, Vol.38 issue #4 seems to have the best and possibly? the most accurate info on the East Wind. Opinion!!!

    I would also suggest the recent pilot models from Division Point they are in HO but are valuable as resources for modeling purposes.

Martin,

    Seems its just you and me interested in the Yellow kid. MTH 64 woodsides look like a lot of chopping and where would one get the arch top windows and the ovals?  The Wood supplier you clued me in on has the wood sides and the beltrail  but my painting skills at this time in no way match the skill necessary for such a colorful consist.  I will continue looking into this one the Keystone article is one of my favorites. And then the interior what a beautifully crafted piece of work that would be!!!!