Milwaukee Road Passenger Car Info Needed

Hi Blue Streak.

Let me say that I am not a Milwaukee rd expert however a search of some of the literature tells us the following. Milwaukee received its E-7 set in 1946 and it was painted in the same scheme as the earlier E-6 No 15 which was on the road during wartime. Other than the Diner lounge cars the railroad built in 1942, Cars in the Hiawatha service in the early post war period were those from the pre war trains . The simplified paint scheme with the black roof was not adopted for passenger cars until 1950. The E 7 paint scheme was changed somewhat in 1948 . So the Lionel E-7 set is pretty much as the railroads engines were in 1946-47 . The cars used in the train were likely as that shown in the photo you posted. So if you use these cars with the Lionel E-7 offering it would seem to be representative of Hiawatha trains from 1946-47. Hope this helps for you .

I will try and look in VOL 2 of Hiawatha passanger cars book I have which will cover these cars 

Thanks guy's for your response. LIRR that was my guess based on time frames but was not sure since I really know very little about the Milwaukee Road. Mike I thought about buying the book just so I could find out. I appreciate you looking it up for me.

Joe

Boy that's a close one as the Milw. E7's were built in 1946-1947 and that's exactly the same time the Milwaukee Road was upgrading the passenger car fleet.

Taken from Wikipedia...

"Two sets of passenger diesel locomotives appeared in 1941: a back to back pair of Alco/GE DL-107 locomotives, the #14, and a back to back pair of EMD E-6, the #15. The Twin Cities Hiawatha was partially equipped in May 1942 with coaches, two diners, and two ‘Tip Top Tap’ cars which ran with the 1939 Beaver Tails and parlors. Older series of cars were modified with skirting to run with the newer consists. During the following War years, the trains were loaded out to 15 car consists, and one of the 1942 cars painted in patriotic red, white & blue proclaiming “Buy War Bonds.” The train was so full, that people had to sit on suitcases, or stand in aisles.

In 1947–1948 the Milwaukee Road again re-equipped its major passenger routes with new lightweight cars. The new Morning Hiawatha and Afternoon Hiawatha were inaugurated with diesel-powered trains designed by Brooks Stevens. The new trains included the Skytop parlor observation cars. These four cars had a drawing room and swivelling parlor seats, and at the rear there was a lounge area with an expanse of windows. "

Based on photos and Information presented in the Morning Sun color books and the Scribbins work covering the Hiawathas it seems that the passenger cars built by Pullman Standard for the Milwaukee Rd in 1947 -48 had gray roofs and maroon and orange sides with the serif letters ( Prewar Style). To me the Greys appear a bit darker than the Prewar colors but old film sometimes doesn't tell the exact story. There was a photo in the morning sun collection that showed a skytop lounge in the as delivered scheme with a gray roof in late 1950.

I Think you are ok with these cars and the E-7 for a 1946-48 period train.

Blue Streak, I'd say you're good to go, pairing the new Lionel E-7's with the ribbed-side car set in the pic you posted. 1947-48 time frame as LIRR mentioned. Even the brand-new 1948 equipment had the light gray roofs when delivered.

Thanks for all the information. What do you think about the red trucks on the passenger car set? Were they painted black at some point?

Joe

Regarding the color of the trucks,. its hard to tell from photos I have seen. My guess would be that prewar cars which originally had the red trucks stayed that way until the late 1940s. It might be likely that the new cars delivered in 1948 did not have the red color and that black was used on the new equipment and was the norm by the 1950 repainting program. 

The trucks are black right now