Mail and Express Modeling

Atlas express reefers, I sold both.  Should have kept at least one of them.

GGD unlettered with REA logo added

L-Line 1821.  Black paper to the right is testing which panel to cut out.

American Standard kit

Atlas car out of box

GGD unlettered

American Standard 60' baggage car

GGD express reefer

Lionel's A R E.  This car has bulk containers inside.

MTH Santa Fe heavyweight baggage car 1725

B&O wagon top box car in Pullman green.  The Royal Blue cars generally did not leave B&O tracks.

Weaver reefer repainted.

Weaver's T&P Mail Storage express box car

GGD REA express reefer.

Two GGD cars.

GGD REA express reefer leased from the Santa Fe

K-Line 1821

K-Line repainted for New Haven service

K-Line repainted with a messenger window.

MTH fantasy baggage car

MTH 1725

MTH 1812

Williams 4107 from their first five car passenger set.

Williams repainted for New Haven service.

Weaver express box car.

We don't need to wait for a company to offer a Fast Mail train.  Acquire express reefers and heavyweight baggage cars from various manufacturers and make your own train.  Fifteen cars from various manufacturers and a couple of road names and you're set. Add one T&P or MP express, mail or heavyweight baggage car for some color to an  other wise Pullman green line of cars.   John in Lansing, ILL

rattler21 posted:

We don't need to wait for a company to offer a Fast Mail train.  Acquire express reefers and heavyweight baggage cars from various manufacturers and make your own train.  Fifteen cars from various manufacturers and a couple of road names and you're set.  John in Lansing, ILL>

There you have it. In my opinion, it is much easier to assemble such a train from the SCALE size cars, both express and baggage, that have been available over the last many years, from MTH, Atlas and Weaver. I put together a really nice , long PRR express train, made-up of various PRR express reefers, express boxcars, and B60 baggage cars, with an N5 cabin car on the rear (correctly lettered for 'Assigned to Railway Express, passenger service'). I'm not aware that such an "express train" could be assembled from 027 non-scale equipment, however.

Actually I do have some cars in O-27 and some in O scale which can do O-31.  Some of the 6464 cars were painted "close" to storage boxes.  Some of the refers based on the 1950 body can fit.  REA flats have come out again based on the 1950's flat.  Some of recent O-27 cars from the majors can fit.  The only missing piece is an RPO, but K-Line made a few for O-27.  I run the Rail King Doodlebug with an express box or passenger car.

Scale is very promising.  PRR is out there.  The MTH R50 will do 31.  Weaver 40' express boxes will do 31, and do give some color.  Lionel scale milk cars work well.  It may be short, and it does push the 31 envelope is the K-Line AL UP RPO.

Yes it is out there if you know where to look.  Yes one does not mix scale and O-27.  

But maybe other than of Weaver in its prime I have not seen the majors "push" this.  Interesting modeling possibilities!

Here is my NYC Express Train consisting of express reefers, ex troop sleeper express car, heavyweight RPO, and heavyweight baggage cars.

Here is my Pennsylvania express train consisting of Pennsylvania X29 express boxcars, express reefers, ex troop sleeper express car, heavyweight RPO, and heavyweight express baggage cars.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

 Thanks,

Richard

Atlas could make some nice offerings in this category.  Having acquired from Weaver the troop cars with their Allied Full Cushion Trucks, they could offer some of their 40' and 50' boxcars with these AFC trucks, suitably painted/lettered for mail, express mail service.  Santa Fe, for instance equipped the first 200 (cars 10000 through 10199)of their Fe24 class 50' double door boxcars with the AFC trucks.  They were originally painted in the common, albeit popular, "maps and slogans" scheme.  Early on they were probably painted pullman green.  Later on many of the Fe24 cars (500 in all) were re-equipped with Barber S-2 and other capable high speed trucks and painted in gray with large circle logos.  Lots of decorating variety in that class!  I'm sure other railroads (Rock Island, CB&Q, etc.) had similar situations and the cars found their way into mixed/through mail trains.

IOW, for several O3R manufacturers, the new tooling costs might be minimal in order to offer up some unique mail train equipment, marketed as such.

And many of the mail trains had a coach or two tagging along.  Nothing very unique about those cars, but in our hobby it would be nice if some appropriate SINGLE cars of this type were offered.  Ditto the more common baggage cars.  Too often the O3R marketing of coaches and baggage cars has been tied to 5-car sets focused on crack passenger service.  It would be nice to see singletons offered for those perhaps interested in building a mail train....express or otherwise.

In fact, come to think of it, the passenger car...if added...was usually on the end of the train.  So, a singleton car with marker lights and a scissors tailgate across the vestibule opening, marketed as a 'Mail Train Passenger Car' would be dandy to suffice as a 'caboose' for such a train.  Just MHO, mind you.

Then there's the supporting station details.  Like some heavily laden (sacks, luggage, crates, trunks, cartons) baggage carts....electric and man-powered types.  In fact it would be fun to have some of the cargo labeled for Lionel, Ives, Gilbert, etc..en route to the fulfillment of nearly everyone's #1 gift request on the Christmas list during the transitional era.  Some 1:48 mail-hauling vehicles at the station would be a nice touch.

I know, I know....mail trains are kind of ho-hum in the the pizzazz category.  But they have a well-respected place in U.S. railroad history.....and have been typically overlooked in the O3R marketing realm.

FWIW and IMHO, always....

KD

Right now I have a set oh 2353 ATSF F3 leading some O27 6464 type boxes with REA type liveries.  Hope to get some more out so I can use my switcher lead to break up the train.

My mail/express trains are made up of 60 ft. REA reffers, and several REX express boxcars, plus RPO cars  and baggage cars for the road I'm currently running .... B&O N&W, Western Maryland, or Pennsylvania.  When running B&O mail/express I also include a B&O 60 ft. reffer and express boxcar. 

All of the rolling stock is out there and already manufactured by the model train companies.  It's just a matter of keeping our eyes peeled and searching out the equipment.   All of mine is scale btw., however I've seen some non scale express REA and RPOs in various road names. 

MTH has made separate sale 70ft heavyweight baggage cars and RPO cars. Weaver made the B60 baggage and the B60 RPO cars along with the ex troop sleeper express cars and express 40ft boxcars. MTH makes the Pennsylvania R50 express reefer and I also have these cars in NYC and REA.

Atlas makes the Pennsylvania X29 express boxcar  and the 53ft express reefers in REA and several other road names. I use a 70ft heavyweight combine car at the end of my express trains for the purpose of a rider car.

i like the idea of using a caboose at the end of an express train expessicially at the end of a Pennsylvania express train .

 Thanks,

Richardn

At the spring York meet ,I found a lot of heavyweight baggage cars at a good price , so now I have my NYC fast mail. Cars are pullman green but different road names or manufactures so not all the same shade of green.  

No one has mentioned switching the trains, just running them around.    

"Mail/express" trains were fast trains just like other passenger trains.    They were fast trains like other passenger trains.    They often ran at night and did not make many stops.  

There were two kinds of "mail" cars.    "RPO"s are/were Railway Post Office cars and they were actual rolling post offices staffed with Post Office employees.    They sorted and bagged mail along the route.    They picked up mail and dropped off as they went and might actually pick up mail at one stop and drop it off at another on the same trip after sorting.     These cars traveled in regular passenger trains.    RPOs were leased by the USPS in 15ft 30ft and 60ft modules.     The 15 and 30 ft versions were in combines,  and were probably the most common.    They could be Mail/coach or mail/baggage combines.     Many gas-electrics were built with 15 ft RPOs.     60ft RPOs were often single cars.     Some 60 ft RPOs were in longer 70 or 80 ft cars and had an attached Mail storage compartment.    Pennsy's common M70 (Mail 70 ft) contained a 60 ft RPO and a 10 ft Mail storage section.     Pennsy also had many MB70s which were 30 ft RPO with the rest baggage or express.    I have been told that the MB70 was the more common car ont he Pennsy.

RPOs were included in regular passenger trains on regular routes.     They were not dedicated to complete trains because there job was to work the mail while in transit and pickup/sort/deliver mail as they went along.    I understand that many name trains carried an RPO.    Many local passenger trains were designated RPO routes which often provided the revenue to support the train and keep it in service as riding passengers diminished.

Main/express trains were complete trains moving blocks of these cars.    I don't think they often had RPOs, it was not their job to stop at many places along the way.     They became very common as noted above.   And the express cars could move offline from RR to RR as needed I think.

The Atlas O PRR X29 was brought in as an Express car version and is a pretty good model of one.    The PRR converted a bunch of X29s into express cars for used in passenger trains.     This included bigger bearings on the trucks for high speed service in passenger trains and different springing represented by leaf spring on the models.   I am not sure if they were modifid trucks or totally new.  

They also added steam train lines for the steam heat then in use and various grab irons, handholds, stirrups at the doors as required by the FRA for cars in passenger service.    These subtle differences are fun when compared to a freight version of the car.

GGDs Headend car sets included a nice Mail/Baggage combine.    

clem k posted:

At the spring York meet ,I found a lot of heavyweight baggage cars at a good price , so now I have my NYC fast mail. Cars are pullman green but different road names or manufactures so not all the same shade of green.  

 

   here is a video......

Videos (1)

The ATSF ran RPO's on its name trains.  But the number of RPO's depended on what the Railroad Mail Service contracted per segment per day of the week.  Depending on the contract, the RPO' could be added or dropped off at Kansas City or ABQ.  Or a train had a RPO just to store mail, and was crewed down the line.

Interesting railroading.

Thank you Brian, I never did find my old post or your video.

Brian - great video!!

Golden Gate also made 53ft steel express reefers. I have the REA and NYC versions. These two reefers can be seen on my Pennsylvania express train.

Express reefers and I believe standard reefers were pressed into service this time of year to help move parcels and LCL freight.

I always run RPO cars in my express trains. They add a little variety to the train. Some of my reference books mentioned that RPO cars were included in express trains.

Thanks,

Richard

For my late 1940s PRR layout, I've been buying several express and mail cars to build a mail/express train headed by either my Lionel T1, Weaver passenger Sharks, or Lionel Centipedes.  I also plan to use several as HE cars for my passenger trains.  So far I've got:

One 3rd Rail R50 Express reefer.

13 MTH R50b express reefers.  Two have the green trucks which may or may have still been around in the late 40s.  On MY railroad, they just haven't been repainted yet.

Two GGD 54' REA reefers in the correct paint scheme for my era.

Two GGD B70 baggage cars and three GGD BM70K RPOs.

10 Atlas X-29 Express boxcars.

13 Weaver B60 baggage/mail cars.  Unfortunately, I have only a few in the configuration shown with the round roof and round porthole windows.  This is the configuration nearly all B60s were by the late 40s.  I have some that have the round roof but slotted windows which is acceptable.  Since Lionel is now making these cars, I'm hoping I can buy the round roof as separate sale to replace the roof on my cars with the Celestial roofs.  

At the end of the express train will be a GGD P70 carrying the conductor and railroad workers for support.

I also have an Atlas P&R GACC 53'6" express reefer that I need to get a picture of.

Unfortunately, I also have some HE cars that either were never made (fantasy) or in a paint scheme too late for my era.

I have 4 Weaver RPOs that are fantasy cars as far as the PRR was concerned.  Never had any like this.

REA starting using the large red diamond around 1954, so any REA car with this emblem is too new for my era.  Unfortunately, there are very few (none?) REA cars made in O gauge that do not have the diamond.

I also have a Weaver PRR rebuilt troop car/reefer that is also fantasy since the PRR never owned one.  

About 6:25 the NYC J3 heading up a mail express.

Pete

Was that the first Freedom Train in the vid?

Dominic Mazoch posted:

Was that the first Freedom Train in the vid?

Yes, that was the 1947 Freedom Train.  Both MTH and Lionel made 1947 Freedom Train sets that were "scale" length (Scale PA and 19" cars).  Those cars looked short, so I'd say they were the RailKing version.

Now which steamer had the whistle that sounded like a sick cow?  

The Central train looks like a hard working M&E yrain.

Dominic Mazoch posted:

Now which steamer had the whistle that sounded like a sick cow?  

The Central train looks like a hard working M&E yrain.

I think that was the N&W A. That is an old video. A few more cars have since been added.

Pete

CAPPilot posted:

For my late 1940s PRR layout, I've been buying several express and mail cars to build a mail/express train headed by either my Lionel T1, Weaver passenger Sharks, or Lionel Centipedes.  I also plan to use several as HE cars for my passenger trains.  So far I've got:

One 3rd Rail R50 Express reefer.

13 MTH R50b express reefers.  Two have the green trucks which may or may have still been around in the late 40s.  On MY railroad, they just haven't been repainted yet.

Unfortunately, I also have some HE cars that either were never made (fantasy) or in a paint scheme too late for my era.

REA starting using the large red diamond around 1954, so any REA car with this emblem is too new for my era.  Unfortunately, there are very few (none?) REA cars made in O gauge that do not have the diamond.

 

Atlas made the wood 53' express reefers in pre-54 REA gold leaf, sans colored logo with just "Railway Express Agency".  That I am sure of since I have two of them. 

Aaaah, a little creative googling and I found it! 

http://www.atlaso.com/o53woodreefer.htm

PRR had over 500 R50b's so they were everywhere.    And they were mandatory since wood cars could not operate in the North River tunnels to Penn Station or the East River tunnels to Sunnyside yard.

And one has to watch carefully the use of American Railway Express cars.  There was a period the ARE cars ran as such after REA took over, but do not have dates.

CAPPilot posted:

For my late 1940s PRR layout, I've been buying several express and mail cars to build a mail/express train headed by either my Lionel T1, Weaver passenger Sharks, or Lionel Centipedes. 

 

REA starting using the large red diamond around 1954, so any REA car with this emblem is too new for my era.  Unfortunately, there are very few (none?) REA cars made in O gauge that do not have the diamond.

 

Ron,  GGD offered cars without the logo..  John in Lansing, ILL

PRR R50's even came to Houston on the MKT Bluebonnet!

In the Lionel Smithsonian series a NYC RPO is modelled. I had to remove the roof of that model since during transport a part had come loose. So here I have a picture of the interior:

Visible at the lower side are a large mail sorting table and racks where mail bags could be hung; at the higher side are the pigeon holes used to sort letters. Also notice the barred windows.

And here with the roof re-attached:

Regards

Fred