Penn Central Enthusiast Roll Call

Well, yeah, kinda. I like the black paint. There are some PC E8's that are just long

and black and a few have only the number low on the side - no "PC" at all.

Totally Darth Vader.

 

I'm a NYC fan. So, when the Williams scale GG1 came out some years ago in PC, this

"allowed" a NYC fan to purchase a GG1 with a NYC connection...weird hobby. 

So far for Penn Central I would have to custom paint some of the train I had in mind.

 

Atlas O Master PC GP9 diesel

Atlas O Master PC 50' Plug-Door box car

Atlas O TrainMan PC Gondolas

Atlas O TrainMan PC PS-2 4750 Cu. Ft. 3-Bay Covered Hoppers

 

Weaver PC 50' Plug-Door Box cars

Lionel PC Bay-Window or Center Cupola Caboose.

 

The Penn Central Thrall Car 60' Double-Plug Door Box Cars leased from Kellogg's in Battle Creek would be nice to have in O Scale. The only way to make the Thrall Car 60' Box Cars economically is to to either find a lot more similar cars for other railroads like SSW and SP, or do them in custom runs with some 3-D Printing or Rapid prototyping.

 

 

The branchline that was near my house did have some sporadic traffic and I wish that I would have thought as a 4 year old to 8 year old to start taking photos of the PC trains before the tracks were removed. Now I just have to reconstruct the trains from a few memories and buy all the Emery Gulash videos and books about the PC.

 

Andrew

I have the MTH E-44, Williams F3 ABA, and the Williams GG-1.  I want more!!!!!

Yessiree Bob !!

Scale GG-1, E-33 and lots of cars !!

 

We're black !!

Black is beautiful, baby !!

 

Scrfappy

Count me in!  Late PRR, early PC was one of the most interesting times I can recall.  As an early teen I can still remember the excitement of seeing my first GG-1 with the 'worms in love'.

 

BTW, thanks to Trainland, a WBB PC GG-1 now roams the rails in my basement with a a pair of MTH E-44's (amongst others)

 

AF

I wasnt but I slowly became one. I have all 5 PC MPC boxcars. I got them cheap mint in the box from other club members. I started collecting them because no one else seemed to like them. I got the later overstamp 6464 because I thought the narrative they showed was interesting. Then I started getting the Williams GP38's,F3s and GG1s. I even got the porthole caboose.

I even got the N scale PC passenger train Kato made last year because it was so nice. I wish an o scale maker would do a mixed livery PC passenger train like they did. Now my O scale Williams one is part Congressional and part New Haven orange stripe.

What started as a minor interest has gotten quite a bit bigger.

I'm in, how can you not like the Penn central. 

 

Dave

Glad to see that some are into Penn Central, when I see it  I get sad. The last gasp of two great railroads

The Penn Central is straight out of my childhood in New York!   My most recent locomotive purchase was the Williams scale PC GG-1 from that large Brookyn dealer.  Just prior to that I picked up the Lionel scale PC smoking bay window caboose at DuPage.  I'm always looking to expand my scale Penn Central fleet.  Had I noticed that posting this morning I'd have jumped on it myself!

I'm one.

 

Fred

       
   

There were more than two involved but really it showed the impact of the interstate highway system.

The PC really had so many different diesels as well as electrics. Sure they were painted black but that did mot change what they were. From an enthusiast POV it was very interesting there were all kinds of new assignments and the chance to see thing that were far from the areas they used to run. GG1s in NewHaven or EP5s in Alexandria VA.

Me, too. I lived near the Pennsy Northeast Corridor, and got to see a lot of PC trains. Which I STUPIDLY did not photograph.

For me it all started with that picture of my grandfather next to 9850:

 

 

In researching how to recreate that locomotive in O scale, I found myself really enjoying the whole look of the railroad (dirt and grime aside). The infinite variety of motive power, the utilitarian black scheme that just oozed 70s, the vast rainbow assortment of rolling stock, it's basically a railroad where almost anything goes. Want to model a PC freight train? Get a PC locomotive and virtually any standard freight car that existed before 1977 and you've got it. I just scored this beauty in the same thread as the other reefer that got snapped up this morning:

 

 

I've seen many focal orange ex-PRR cabooses bringing up the rear of PC freight trains. Just one more vibrant color to add to the mix 

Ahhhh yes. The late Penn Central. When she collapsed, it was the biggest corporate failure in our nation's history.

 

But, the PC is alive and well in my train room!The only stock loco I have, so far, is the MTH Alco RS-27.  I painted a set of K-Line E-8s, a set of old Atlas 2 rail F units, a pair of Weaver GP-38s,several MTH, Lionel, and Atlas cabeese,and gondolas. My pride and joy is...a passenger train... just as I remember. Tuscan red, deep water green, dirty aluminum, and every variation of those colors one could imagine, are currently running my rails.

 

I never saw any thing close to a "matched set" in passenger service. Everything and anything ran on the PC.  

 

I used to gaze at the Buffalo train rumbling through Lock Haven, past the college campus during football practice. I remember the torn window shades and grimy glass.

 

Yes....today I came in second in the Penn Central reefer sweepstakes.....by a few minutes...Dang!

Tom in PGH

A Premier Penn Central N-8 caboose also just went for $64 + $10 shipping on Ebay. It was a prototype, but that's still a pretty hefty sum for an MTH freight car 

I took the Shaker Hts. Rapid Transit to college every day in the mid to late 1960s. It went down the rail corridor the Van Sweringen brothers had bought for their Nickel Plate and C&O railroads in the 1920s. By the 1960s it was mostly Penn Central (and predecessor lines) and NKP diesels. No steam. A lot of black locos! We went right next to the NKP yard off of Cleveland's E.55th Street which was always of great interest to me, of course. Lots of action daily there.

 

The rapid transit journey ended at Cleveland Union Terminal (CUT).

I see that MTH is offering a CUT GP-9 this year in its earlier NYC Lightening Stripe livery.

 

The only PC engine I have now is the RMT "Beep" version, but I have a half dozen PC cars to run behind it and remind myself of those old RR days half a century ago!

I grew up seeing the PC worms and later the fallen flag bazaar of CR.  Jim Six did a number of articles back in the 90's about the PC/CR transition era and they hooked me forever on the PC and CR.

 

I was going to model it almost exclusively but the dearth of available products caused me to change my mind.

Same here.  Nothing can replace the NYC and PRR, but I even liked Conrail more than Penn Central.

 

It seems to be largely a question of what livery was running when you were twelve years old.  To many folks, that seems to be automatically the favorite railroad.  To each his own.

Michael, I used to feel the same way, until I discovered how many PC diesels Atlas O and Atlas Trainman have put out. Indeed between Lionel and MTH, about 5 scale engines have been made over the course of decades. But check out the selection from Atlas in recent years:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the above diesels are available in 3-rail with TMCC. I think there's also a 3rd Rail FL-9 in Penn Central. Unfortunately their E-7 got cancelled because only two people pre-ordered it.

 

In terms of scale freight cars, there's definitely a good amount that's been made by Lionel, MTH, Atlas, and Weaver. And also remember that PC freight trains were at least half fallen flag equipment, so there's absolutely no shortage of freight cars to model a PC freight train. And with the diesels listed above, it's feasible to run a Penn Central only layout with a decent roster of equipment.

 

The only true deficiency in the market is passenger cars. There literally aren't any Penn Central passenger cars in O scale. All we can do right now is put an MTH Amtrak set in the 70s scheme behind a PC loco. Or make the train up of all heritage NYC and PRR cars.

 

30-2517-1

 

30-75404

 

 

30-8308

 

 

30-7751

 

 

30-76007

 

 

30-7559

 

 

30-7472

 

 

 

30-7343

Long live PC.....i hired on december 04 1972....Good Times,,jp

And let us not forget that Marx made a Penn Central steam loco for (I think) Sears in the mid-60s. "Nothing like scale realism," says I!

While I'm not a PC fan, let's not forget the recent Weaver H30 hoppers:

 

 

I just picked up some of these cars in PRR markings, and they are gorgeous!

 

Andy

I have the new Legacy RS 11's........and they are gorgeous!

 

The old black is the new black.

 BLACK IS BACK!

I used to laugh at the guys who liked the PC. But after watching PC videos, I became a believer! What a great mix of  vintage equipment! Also PC items seem to going for bargain prices at shows. Because nobody likes the Penn Central? Ha Ha!   Mike

Actually, the livery  was sharp in black for locos.  Green for cars...nah!

 

Cars should have been black!

l

PC9850 - Thanks!