PASSENGER TRAINS - Let's See Them!

Scott - Thanks for the info on the name plates.  I really have WAY too much equipment already, but the Prospector is hard to pass up, love the paint scheme. - Jim

Powhatan Arrow

Decided to break out my Alaska passenger train. I love the way the yellow & blue stick out against the “snow.”

Bryce

The "Chief" at the North Main Street station...

@Oscale_Trains_Lover_ posted:

Decided to break out my Alaska passenger train. I love the way the yellow & blue stick out against the “snow.”

Bryce

I also love the Alaska passenger trains, Bryce. Whose cars do you have??? I have the Lionel Denali set and love them, but they didn’t make an observation car that I’m aware of.

My "handle" on the model train forums is Yellowstone Special. This was actually a summer only passenger train that the Union Pacific ran from Salt Lake City, Utah, up to West Yellowstone, Montana, which is the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park. You may have seen video recently on the news of the park's northwest portion affected by unusual flooding and the damage it has caused.

Anyway, this passenger train ran through my hometown in eastern Idaho until it was discontinued in 1965. I put it out on the layout once in awhile and today, here it is.

Arriving on tracks 1 & 2. Coming and going at Terryville Suburban Station on the Great Northeastern Railway.

@Yellowstone Special, thanks for the video; neat train.

What brand are the passenger cars?  Product number?

@Yellowstone Special posted:

My "handle" on the model train forums is Yellowstone Special. This was actually a summer only passenger train that the Union Pacific ran from Salt Lake City, Utah, up to West Yellowstone, Montana, which is the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park. You may have seen video recently on the news of the park's northwest portion affected by unusual flooding and the damage it has caused.

Anyway, this passenger train ran through my hometown in eastern Idaho until it was discontinued in 1965. I put it out on the layout once in awhile and today, here it is.

Hi Vern, cool video, looks great with the close up of the UP F3 AB set pulling the Yellowstone Special train going by! You have a mix of UP cars with interiors and silhouettes, I have the same curiosity as Carl (@Pingman). Are they all aluminum cars? I'm gonna guess that the cars with the silhouettes are Lionel? Thanks for posting!

Brought my J class with GGD Powhatan Arrow cars to the club layout.

Greg P

@Trainbros89 posted:

Brought my J class with GGW Powhatan Arrow cars to the club layout.

Greg P

Greg, nice video and outstanding train.  Thanks for sharing.

What does "GGW" stand for?

@Pingman posted:

Greg, nice video and outstanding train.  Thanks for sharing.

What does "GGW" stand for?

Hey Carl,

thank you! That was a type on my part, as I meant to say “GGD”, which stands for Golden Gate Depot.

Regards,

@Trainbros89 posted:

Hey Carl,

thank you! That was a type on my part, as I meant to say “GGD”, which stands for Golden Gate Depot.

Regards,

Thanks.

Thank you Carl and Scott. The whole train is Lionel. There is a 4-car set (Lionel 6-39146), out in 2001, consisting of a baggage car, 2 coaches, and an observation. A year later, Lionel offered a 2-car set to supplement  it, (Lionel 6-39194) consisting of another coach and a diner. I have both sets, but have never used the other coach or diner. These two sets have Lionel's newer overhead lighting, interiors, painted passenger figures, and lighted observation car drumhead.

The Yellowstone Special I used to see as a kid growing up in the 1950s and 60s was a night train. The northbound left Salt Lake City at 7:30 pm, arriving at West Yellowstone at 7:30 am. Its southbound counterpart left West Yellowstone also at 7:30 pm, arriving at Salt Lake City at 7:30 am. They passed each other north of Pocatello, Idaho.

The real trains had a baggage car 2 coaches, 5 or 6 Pullmans, no diner, and no observation car. That's why a couple of the cars are Pullmans with the window silhouettes. Goody eye, Scott. So, the 2 Union Pacific Pullmans I use for this train are the Ocean Sunset and and Placid Bay from Lionel's 1984 Union Pacific Overland set. I painted the trucks on these two cars silver and they match the rest of the consist perfectly, except for the window silhouettes. Oh and yes, they are all aluminum smooth sided cars. 😉 Thanks for your interest.

Here’s my Southern Pacific passenger train.

@WP posted:

Here’s my Southern Pacific passenger train.

Love it!

@Yellowstone Special posted:

... So, the 2 Union Pacific Pullmans I use for this train are the Ocean Sunset and and Placid Bay from Lionel's 1984 Union Pacific Overland set. I painted the trucks on these two cars silver and they match the rest of the consist perfectly, except for the window silhouettes. Oh and yes, they are all aluminum smooth sided cars. 😉 Thanks for your interest.

Regarding Ocean Sunset and Placid Bay, do these cars have an extrusion that is U shaped in which the red stripes are applied?  They're smooth-sided, but is it the same extrusion as the cars with interiors?

I'm very grateful to you for posting the info on these cars.  I'm no expert, but I try to stay alert to LIONEL 15" passenger cars, especially those with interiors, and those are new ones on me.  Thanks for the education--they look great.

@Apples55 posted:

I also love the Alaska passenger trains, Bryce. Whose cars do you have??? I have the Lionel Denali set and love them, but they didn’t make an observation car that I’m aware of.

Paul,

Your Denali set looks and sounds fantastic! These are the MTH 70' cars (4 car set: 20-65130 & 2 car set: 20-69256). I have noticed that the MTH 70' passenger cars in the post-1990s scheme (Predominantly dark blue with yellow stripes) are harder to find than the pre-1990s scheme (Predominantly yellow with dark blue stripes)

Bryce

@Pingman posted:

Regarding Ocean Sunset and Placid Bay, do these cars have an extrusion that is U shaped in which the red stripes are applied?  They're smooth-sided, but is it the same extrusion as the cars with interiors?

I'm very grateful to you for posting the info on these cars.  I'm no expert, but I try to stay alert to LIONEL 15" passenger cars, especially those with interiors, and those are new ones on me.  Thanks for the education--they look great.

Carl: Now that you’ve mentioned it, the newer cars with the interiors do have slightly different striping. On them, the upper red stripe is applied into a narrower U-shaped channel than the older Overland cars have. The newer ones’ bottom red stripes are also slightly wider than the top stripe and are flat on the surface, not in a channel. These are unlike the older cars that have both stripes of the same width, applied in the U channels, top and bottom.

So, even though both the old and the new cars are smooth sided, their striping is slightly different and not identical. Good eye. 👍

@Oscale_Trains_Lover_ posted:

Paul,

Your Denali set looks and sounds fantastic! These are the MTH 70' cars (4 car set: 20-65130 & 2 car set: 20-69256). I have noticed that the MTH 70' passenger cars in the post-1990s scheme (Predominantly dark blue with yellow stripes) are harder to find than the pre-1990s scheme (Predominantly yellow with dark blue stripes)

Bryce

Thanks, Bryce. For some reason, of late, Lionel has been offering passenger sets without observation cars (the Denali Star and the Pennsy South Wind, for two). I’m a traditionalist… passenger trains don’t look right without a proper observation car bringing up the rear!!!

About 15 years ago, I was lucky to take the Star up to Denali… an amazing vacation!!!

@WP posted:

Here’s my Southern Pacific passenger train.

John, that is a cool 2-6-0 SP locomotive, and is very similar to SP #1744 currently being restored at the Bright Side Yard in Niles Canyon Railway by the PLA. Nicely mixed passenger consist too! If you haven't checked it out already, here's the link to the #1744 restoration project.

https://www.ncry.org/blog/sp-1...one-wheel-at-a-time/

Happy Railroading!

@WesternPacific2217 posted:

John, that is a cool 2-6-0 SP locomotive, and is very similar to SP #1744 currently being restored at the Bright Side Yard in Niles Canyon Railway by the PLA. Nicely mixed passenger consist too! If you haven't checked it out already, here's the link to the #1744 restoration project.

https://www.ncry.org/blog/sp-1...one-wheel-at-a-time/

Happy Railroading!

Thank you Scott. That is a great restoration the Niles guys are doing!!!! A really neat engine!!

@Yellowstone Special posted:

Love it!

Thank you!

@Yellowstone Special, your 4-car set cars are very similar to a later, seven car UP set with scale Alco PAs, 6-31712.

The latter had rubber diaphragm car ends and sprung trucks; otherwise they shared the same extrusion and construction with interiors and frames as your 6-39146.

Pity LIONEL did not offer a dome car to go with the 4-car set.  It would not have been prototypical for your train, but it would have been a useful add-on for many.

Also, I'm familiar with the 6-31712 and Overland cars because I believe they are the only painted Lionel 15" aluminum cars with offset vista domes.  Every other painted 15" aluminum vista dome car by Lionel has the dome centered in the roof.

These became the donor cars for my NP Noth Coast Limited and GN Empire Builder short dome cars.

@Pingman posted:

@Yellowstone Special, your 4-car set cars are very similar to a later, seven car UP set with scale Alco PAs, 6-31712.

The latter had rubber diaphragm car ends and sprung trucks; otherwise they shared the same extrusion and construction with interiors and frames as your 6-39146.

Pity LIONEL did not offer a dome car to go with the 4-car set.  It would not have been prototypical for your train, but it would have been a useful add-on for many.

Also, I'm familiar with the 6-31712 and Overland cars because I believe they are the only painted Lionel 15" aluminum cars with offset vista domes.  Every other painted 15" aluminum vista dome car by Lionel has the dome centered in the roof.

These became the donor cars for my NP Noth Coast Limited and GN Empire Builder short dome cars.

Interesting, Carl. I don’t know why Lionel didn’t offer a UP offset dome car as an add-on with the newer sets. I remember Lionel’s UP 50th Anniversary set when it came out. But I never understood those weird full width and height car-end diaphragms featured on its passenger cars.

I rode on Union Pacific “City” trains to California when in high school back in the 1960s and sure don’t remember any UP car diaphragms like that, just the narrower, regular diaphragms between cars. I think the Southern Pacific had similar ones on its Daylights, but not the UP. 🤔

MTH U.P. 8444 With passenger cars.

@Yellowstone Special posted:

Interesting, Carl. I don’t know why Lionel didn’t offer a UP offset dome car as an add-on with the newer sets. I remember Lionel’s UP 50th Anniversary set when it came out. But I never understood those weird full width and height car-end diaphragms featured on its passenger cars.

i agree, Vern. Those wrap-around, black rubber diaphragms at the ends of each car look terrible, especially compared to the nice look of your car ends.

Canadian Pacific Passenger Train. Mostly Williams, however the observation car is Lionel Postwar.

This video has a some passenger and freight combined, so for the first have of the video it's passenger.

You'll have to use your imagination for this vid! It’s 2002 and there’s a UP excursion passenger train, "The California Zephyr", being pulled by a SD70Ace in WP Legacy colors rolling into the station. Then a UP mixed freight pulled by another SD70Ace in the American flag, "Building America", slogan rolls through after the Zephyr has left the station for its next destination. All while an old SP SW8 switcher moves livestock cars to the cattle ranch nearby. The track side service team reviews the nights schedule and consist lists preparing for the nights duties. Just another day on the Western Road in Paradise.

Wow, everyone, beautiful passenger trains and amazing layouts, there’s so many nice pictures and videos it’s hard to say something nice about them all, so know I watched each video. Happy Railroading Everyone

I recently added a pair of K-line coaches to my LIRR Greenport Scoot set. Need to add some passengers to the new cars. I will upgrade the lighting to LED's with GRJ's lighting modules eventually too.

Bob

It’s Saturday and #17 Super Chief leaving Chicago for Los Angeles.

A video of my Union Pacific Yellowstone Special is shown above in a 6/22/22 post. Since then I broke out the 2-car set consisting of a diner and another coach and added it to the train. In doing some research, the Yellowstone Special did have a cafe/lounge car positioned between the front coaches and rear Pullmans. And with a new 180-watt power brick that I wired directly to the track, the F3A handles the whole train without a whimper.

The Great Northeastern Railway's Terryville suburban station is always busy with passenger traffic.

@WesternPacific2217 posted:

This video has a some passenger and freight combined, so for the first have of the video it's passenger.

You'll have to use your imagination for this vid! It’s 2002 and there’s a UP excursion passenger train, "The California Zephyr", being pulled by a SD70Ace in WP Legacy colors rolling into the station. Then a UP mixed freight pulled by another SD70Ace in the American flag, "Building America", slogan rolls through after the Zephyr has left the station for its next destination. All while an old SP SW8 switcher moves livestock cars to the cattle ranch nearby. The track side service team reviews the nights schedule and consist lists preparing for the nights duties. Just another day on the Western Road in Paradise.

A great night-time video clip, Scott. Well done. 👍

Pennsy passenger train making a station stop at the OCSMR...

Fresh video!

Thanks!

- Mario

I was lucky to get my hands on a NOS (from 2003!!!) Lionel 31712 Union Pacific 50th Anniversary Set from Grzyboski’s. It comes with a A-B-A set of PA’s and seven 15” aluminum passenger cars. The cars are absolutely beautiful with nicely detailed interiors. Due to other other commitments, I was only able to open up the passenger cars, but, since my VisionLine Big Boy (#4012) was already on the layout, I used it to create my version of one of the 4014 excursions.

@Apples55 posted:

I was lucky to get my hands on a NOS (from 2003!!!) Lionel 31712 Union Pacific 50th Anniversary Set from Grzyboski’s. It comes with a A-B-A set of PA’s and seven 15” aluminum passenger cars. The cars are absolutely beautiful with nicely detailed interiors. Due to other other commitments, I was only able to open up the passenger cars, but, since my VisionLine Big Boy (#4012) was already on the layout, I used it to create my version of one of the 4014 excursions.

If you need to make room and sell some NYC items like a Hudson or passenger cars I guess I could help you. In all seriousness, nice set of passenger cars! Can't wait to see the loco.