PASSENGER TRAINS - Let's See Them!

@BobbyD posted:

Nice. First glance it seemed they were giving Amtrak the cold shoulder for ending of Dining service.  

Who knows, you might not be wrong with your guess

In Honor of VE Day, a video of my WWII Defence Special

Nice way to remember V-E Day!  Hard to believe it was 75 years ago.  Thanks for posting!

Pennsy passenger trains with PA2 at the point.   

Passenger trains at a station stop.

I had the very good fortune of being befriended by noted Chicagoland LIONEL painter, the late Richard Sherry, in the late 1980's and joined a small group of train lovers for Wednesday night get togethers for soda and popcorn in his unfinished basement--great times.

Richard showed me the basics and my first passenger train attempt was the "Abraham Lincoln" of the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio, a line I'd never heard of but loved because of its striking colors.  It was one of the most requested repaints Rich did using PW LIONEL F-3's as donors; the other most requested was the Rock Island in that beautiful maroon, silver, etc.

At any rate, I did virtually no research before painting the train--for example, I don't know if GM&O ever had streamline/light weight pax cars.  I know I do not remember seeing photos of them if they had any.

Shortly after starting this train, I returned to Atlanta to complete it and; later, the Northern Pacific North Coast Limited you see.  And that was it for the next 25 or so years.

@BobbyD posted:

 

Williams E's Sam? 

 

Yes, someone put PS2 in the lead A unit so it's now command controlled. Offered for sale if interested as I replaced them with the Legacy E units below from a coupe of years ago!

AmTrak on the S&Y RR

My Amtraks

Guys - great pictures all, thanks for sharing.  Trumptrain - i have soft spot in my memory for the Pennsy, but not her diesels (although I love the look of your PA2) , my experience was mostly on the eastern corridor behind mighty GG-1's and silver cars.  I rode from New Brunswick where I went to College to Newark near where I lived most weekends to go home to my parents.  It took nearly 2 hrs to drive the 90 miles home, but on the Pennsy it took just 47 minutes behind that "G".  We would board about the front of the train in the coaches with the Pullmans etc strung out behind.  When the engineer hit the throttle, it was like a jet plane and the train would be going 100mph before the last car cleared the platform!

My train today is perhaps not as beautiful or as close to scale, but it represents about a 2+ year hunt for the early postwar tinplate cars in BROWN !  These are much more scarce than the green or blue cars and finding a set that was in reasonable (not perfect) condition that I could afford took a lot of looking!  The "24 series" brown cars came with 2 engines, the 224 in '46 and the 675 in '47 and '48.  Lionel changed the numbering in '49 to a "64" series although the cars did not change at all just the number and after '49 withdrew all the tinplate cars from their sales offerings, never to re-appear.

The photos depict the set with a 224 as it might have appeared in '46 or perhaps early '47.  My first Lionel was Christmas '47 but I got a work train powered by the new steam turbine.  Later on, our passenger roster got filled with a pre-war 1666 and some blue / silver tinplate passenger cars (also pre-war).  Likely bought by Dad as used in '50 or so. 

Here are my "new" cars, some scratches but all in all good shape with lights, and almost as old as me!  (74 years)

And here they are in consist (as they would have been in '46) with the mighty Lionel 224

Have a safe and healthy week everyone.   My students take their final exam in my course on Monday afternoon (virtual) and after those papers are graded and the final grades submitted on Tuesday...I am FREE till August !! - when we start again.

Don McErlean

@Don McErlean posted:

Guys - great pictures all, thanks for sharing.  Trumptrain - i have soft spot in my memory for the Pennsy, but not her diesels (although I love the look of your PA2) , my experience was mostly on the eastern corridor behind mighty GG-1's and silver cars.  I rode from New Brunswick where I went to College to Newark near where I lived most weekends to go home to my parents.  It took nearly 2 hrs to drive the 90 miles home, but on the Pennsy it took just 47 minutes behind that "G".  We would board about the front of the train in the coaches with the Pullmans etc strung out behind.  When the engineer hit the throttle, it was like a jet plane and the train would be going 100mph before the last car cleared the platform!

My train today is perhaps not as beautiful or as close to scale, but it represents about a 2+ year hunt for the early postwar tinplate cars in BROWN !  These are much more scarce than the green or blue cars and finding a set that was in reasonable (not perfect) condition that I could afford took a lot of looking!  The "24 series" brown cars came with 2 engines, the 224 in '46 and the 675 in '47 and '48.  Lionel changed the numbering in '49 to a "64" series although the cars did not change at all just the number and after '49 withdrew all the tinplate cars from their sales offerings, never to re-appear.

The photos depict the set with a 224 as it might have appeared in '46 or perhaps early '47.  My first Lionel was Christmas '47 but I got a work train powered by the new steam turbine.  Later on, our passenger roster got filled with a pre-war 1666 and some blue / silver tinplate passenger cars (also pre-war).  Likely bought by Dad as used in '50 or so. 

Here are my "new" cars, some scratches but all in all good shape with lights, and almost as old as me!  (74 years)

And here they are in consist (as they would have been in '46) with the mighty Lionel 224

 

Have a safe and healthy week everyone.   My students take their final exam in my course on Monday afternoon (virtual) and after those papers are graded and the final grades submitted on Tuesday...I am FREE till August !! - when we start again.

Don McErlean

Don, great looking trains!

Are you going back to face to face in the fall? I'm teaching at university and we are remote, but no word yet on fall.

Pdxtrains. Thank you for the compliment. As to the fall, the University has announced that fall classes will be face to face BUT with distancing guidelines in place. At 6 ft that reduces the classrooms to about 25% capacity. My course has 22 students at this time and we have no space for that big a group under those rules. So I will have to do multi-sections or do it on-line. Still awaiting that decision. 

Don McErlean

On our layout, a Southern Pacific Passenger Train with SP Mallee locomotive and SP Harriman cars. 

Early morning commuter train. 

Great thread, guys!  I'd "like" every one!  Permit me to show some of my passenger trains.  My layout wasn't done and is now in storage in preparation of an eventual move whenever the sequestering allows house sales to go on in a manner that allows folks to actually SEE houses.  In the meantime, since 99% of my trains are in storage, these photos will have to do.

Custom painted salvaged Gilbert cars behind a Lionel Flyer EP-5 and NH head end boxcar:

Custom painted salvaged Gilbert cars in Milwaukee Road colors.  Diaphragms from American Models added.  Painted to match Lionel Flyer EP-5 (which MR never had, but cool anyway!):

Same train on the Southeastern Michigan S Gauger's display layout:

Scratch built Thomas train on the Southeastern Michigan S Gauger's display layout:

Custom painted C&O cars from American Models behind my BL-2, also custom painted running on another S club's layout (sorry, I can't remember whose):

PRR observation car under the viaduct on the Southeastern Michigan S Gauger's layout:

C&O BL-2 passenger train and American Models PRR GG1 passenger train on my previous Flyer tinplate layout:

Lionel Flyer PRR observation car clearing a crossing on my previous Flyer tinplate layout.  The marker lights have been illuminated although they weren't illuminated from the factory:

My scratch built RDC running on another S club's layout.  The car was built as a "what if" Gilbert made an RDC:

Gilbert Flyer PRR K5 salvaged from a parts box pulling a long string of American Models PRR passenger cars on the SMSG display layout:

Salvaged Gilbert Flyer aluminum cars in front of my Ann Arbor Michigan Central depot (the depot has been "in progress" for years) on my now disassembled layout:

American Models C&O 4-8-4 with custom tender pulling a consist of C&O heavyweights on the SMSG display layout:

My scratch built AEM7 pulling a short string of American Models custom painted Budd streamline cars:

Finally, why we do what we do, isn't it?  Photo taken at a set-up of the SMSG display layout at a train show.  The little guy and his mom were checking out the interiors::

@WP posted:

On our layout, a Southern Pacific Passenger Train with SP Mallee locomotive and SP Harriman cars. 

Hey WP,  that's some right nice scenery work you have here sir - simple and effective. The stream is especially pretty!

@WP posted:

On our layout, a Southern Pacific Passenger Train with SP Mallee locomotive and SP Harriman cars. 

John:

Yours is a great passenger train running through very realistic scenery. Thank you for sharing the video.

When it comes to passenger locomotives, I have a clear preference: 

I love the MA & PA

Have been wanting to post in this thread for a LONG TIME!!! Love me some passenger trains!! What great pictures! 

@poniaj amazing scratchbuilts!! The AEM-7 is AMAZING and I love the S RDC! @Dewman51 and @Bill T- LOVE the Amtraks and to @trumpettrain AWESOME Pennsy PA & Pullmans!!

Layout is currently under construction but I have the foundations for my mainline in place so I have some good pics and videos. About me and my love for passenger trains- Railroads of choice are almost always from the Northeast/mid-Atlantic U.S.. The railroads that I run or would like to acquire a consist to run include: Amtrak, the Lehigh Valley(born and raised- have freight but no passengers), New Jersey Transit, the PRR, and the B&O. Also, because of my love for the company, I enjoy Bing American Market passenger cars & their Deutsche Reichsbahn cars, the Ives Railway Lines, postwar AMT Santa Fe streamliners.  

I'll start with a picture of some of my Bing American Market- all in New York Central Livery, some wood-sided litho others steel sided.

Moving on to modern: the PRR. I love the MTH O-27 Madison 13 3/4 inch cars with the 6 wheel trucks. Below is a front shot followed by a shot from the back of the consist which is pulled by an MTH PRR S-2 Turbine w/ Proto 2. Got the loco prior to the passenger cars. Was never a big fan of steam locos, but the price was more than right.

From the back of the Observation Deck- my dark brown PRR consist. I bought the 4 pack(boxes labeled as Railking O-27 madison), NoS, at my LHS a couple months ago and added a combine(rugged rails box) last week. I always heard that the early rugged rails were basicaly the same as the early Railking & Premier offerings and that is quite accurate. Regardless, all quality cars and I'm looking to get one more to complete the consist.

The next 2 pictures are an oddball:What was sold to me as an Amtrak Williams "Metroliner" I bought in the last month. I knew I wasn't getting a genuine Williams Metroliner like from the MET-100 or -200 sets. I have a Williams 810 Metroliner(motors were gutted, unfortunately) and I love it. Anyway, took a shot on this guy. Obviously a modified coach with a Metroliner piece put on the end. It does have dual postwar motors though and has great pulling power.

2nd to last set of pictures - MTH Premier NJ Transit P40DC Genesis pulling Lionel 12inch passenger cars that I got about a month ago. I personally don't care for the Atlas NJT coaches, ideally this engine would pull MTH 16" amfleets in NJ Transit livery. However, they haven't been made in 15+ years as in 2016 were cancelled. Regardless, I''m happy that what might be my favorite engine has matching passenger cars to pull now! It actually doesn't look terrible and the cars are nice. Especially as opposed to what I ran before...

...see below. As I had no NJT rolling stock what-so-ever, I chose another nearby commuter rail provider- the LIRR. Here's a video from right after I got the NJT Genesis in December when I had it pulling the original K-line Scoot set LIRR cars . 

Finally, some Amtrak, and in the form of my most recent big purchase no less! First time posting it...here is my Lionel HHP-8 set with 3 Amtrak Amfleet 18" cars and an unopened add-on 2-pack. 

First picture: HHP-8 with 2 of the coaches,

Close-up how the Lionel Amfleets look. One has trailing red markerlights.

I know the engine in this set gets knocked pretty often for its lack of features and subpar motors. However, it's still really neat looking and pulls the consist with ease! I do hope to get the separate sale HHP-8 some day. Had the deal for it and the 5 passenger cars been so good I might still be waiting....but I am darn gladI'm not!

Finally, the 5 18" Amfleets associated with the HHP-8 set

Didn't want to over-do it on my first post, hope you all enjoy! Keep the pictures coming!

@WP posted:

On our layout, a Southern Pacific Passenger Train with SP Mallee locomotive and SP Harriman cars. 

Your scenery looks great- nice job!

The Milwaukee passing through on the S&Y RR

Great looking passenger trains everyone!

Bryce

Here's an LIRR East End train pulled by a World's Fair scheme C420 consisting of a B60 baggage car and some heavyweights

This may looks like it's on the floor...but It's actually on my layout table, which I've been forced to live on top of due to construction work!! 

My Peoria Rocket in action!

Spokane Portland & Seattle passing through on the S&Y RR

"The Dinner Train":

First time this one has really stretched its legs.  With me finally starting to build my layout, a lot of trains are coming out of hibernation.    The GG-1 engine is K-Line.  I can’t put a pantograph up because they are taller than my bridges.    Cars are by MTH.

I bought those MTH passenger cars a while back to make a passenger train.  But they don’t roll very well.  Every engine I had struggled to pull them.  The engines were spinning their wheels and barely moving.  So the passenger cars just sat in a box.  Then I found that K-Line GG-1, in the same road name and color, at a local train show.  Took a chance on it. Wow!  Heavy POWERFUL engine. I think if the wheels fell off the passenger cars that engine could STILL drag them around the track.

geysergazer:  does that switcher pulling the dinner train have a NASA "blue meat ball" on the side.  Was it to represent the locos at Canaveral / Kennedy from the 60's?  If so we should compare it with my Marx Cape Canaveral Switcher...HA HA!   No comparison at all!! 

Happy Monday everyone...as  a teacher out of class (summer is here!) you can see I have more time on Monday's than usual!.  geysergazer, if you get a chance I would really like a more full picture of that NASA switcher in a future post and to know where you got it or did you make it? 

Regards, Don

@Don McErlean posted:

her out of class (summer is here!) you can see I have more time on Monday's than usual!.  geysergazer, if you get a chance I would really like a more full picture of that NASA switcher in a future post and to know where you got it or did you make it? 

Regards, Don

Is it this? https://mthtrains.com/30-20657-1 Had looked into one myself.

BobbyD:  Yes that's it, thanks for the link...

Doon

More pictures in LETS SEE YOUR PASSENGER CARS thread started 3/31/20 by Paul Romano.                 John

Here is the passenger train that started my interest in trains and ultimately this hobby.  A Lionel 736 Berkshire with Presidential passenger cars from 1967.  It makes its annual appearance every year under our Christmas tree.

@Don McErlean posted:

geysergazer:  does that switcher pulling the dinner train have a NASA "blue meat ball" on the side.  Was it to represent the locos at Canaveral / Kennedy from the 60's?  If so we should compare it with my Marx Cape Canaveral Switcher...HA HA!   No comparison at all!! 

Happy Monday everyone...as  a teacher out of class (summer is here!) you can see I have more time on Monday's than usual!.  geysergazer, if you get a chance I would really like a more full picture of that NASA switcher in a future post and to know where you got it or did you make it? 

Regards, Don

Don, here you go:

It is an MTH PS3 SW1500 from the 2019 catalog. It is indeed a model of the NASA units (#1 and #2) used on their railroad:

I have permission to post this photo under Creative Commons guidelines. Pic is property of NASA and is hosted at the Library of Congress.

geysergazer:  THANKS for the great pictures not only of your engine but of the real thing.  I have worked part time for NASA on the manned space program since 2005 but that is long after the loco's had gone from Kennedy.  Thanks a lot for posting.  I will be looking for that MTH switcher.

Don

Don, the MTH truck frames are the wrong color (gray) so I spray-painted mine the correct white. It only takes a couple minutes to take out the screws and remove the truck frames for spray-painting.