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Sure, I love to see the long, magnificent consists of Golden Gate Cars, or scale streamliners, but let's face it: many of us just don't have the room on our home layouts. I got the idea of "Pike-sized passenger trains" from another web site, and am going to try to reproduce some at home.

First one, the mid-1970's Washington section of the National Limited. A Washington-Kansas City coach was pulled by a GG1 between DC and Harrisburg, PA.  There the coach was added to the full train from New York.

Easy to do on the home layout!

 

gg1shortGG1pike

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Model Railroader did three articles on the subject:

Pike sized steam and diesel passenger trains

by Odegard, Gordon

from Model Railroader October 1989  p. 77         

Pike-size passenger trains: part 2

by Schafer, Mike

from Model Railroader January 1981  p. 90

Pike-sized passenger trains

by Schafer, Mike

from Model Railroader November 1980  p. 66

The note about previous articles proves this point: "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it."

Peter, yes, the route was NEC to Perryville and then up the Port Road. The line north from Baltimore through York had been damaged severely in storms.  I rode the Washington section to Harrisburg a few times, went that route as well.  Sometimes the power was a GG!, other times an E-unit. I got these photos of the Washington section in Middletown, PA. It was a Pike-sized train itself.

broadwayetwonAug72broadwayawayAug72

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BANDOB posted:

The note about previous articles proves this point: "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it."

Peter, yes, the route was NEC to Perryville and then up the Port Road. The line north from Baltimore through York had been damaged severely in storms.  I rode the Washington section to Harrisburg a few times, went that route as well.  Sometimes the power was a GG!, other times an E-unit. I got these photos of the Washington section in Middletown, PA. It was a Pike-sized train itself.

broadwayetwonAug72broadwayawayAug72

Thanks, Bill.....that's what I was figuring. When I got to Baltimore in 79, the North Central was pretty run down......I guess another Hurricane Agnes causualty?

Peter

CP's International of Maine Division had some very varied, and short, consists. Seems any mix is "protoypical!"

Stick a D-10, a Mikado, even an E8A on a few cars, freight and pass. mixed and voila!, a prototypical train on that division. Plenty of pics of these short, mixed trains in the following book:

https://www.amazon.com/Canadia...+Pacific+to+the+east

Last edited by Terry Danks

I favor "Pike Size" steam era named passenger trains that look good from 5 feet away. All are MTH Rail King. Trains typically have seven 13-inch long cars outfitted with passengers and LED lighting.

Running often on my railroad are steam trains including the 20th Century Limited, the Pocahontas, the Crescent Limited, the Blue Comet, the Hiawatha, the Sunrise Special, the Broadway Limited, the Representative, the Chessie, the Ski Train and the Crusader. Diesel trains are the Flying Yankee, the Texas Special and the Chief.

"Pike Size" El trains are 5 cars long and include the 1939 World's Fair BMT Q cars and IRT LoV cars.

DSCN2262Woodside [5)Woodside [6)

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This is an excellent thread.  I am more familiar with short passenger trains with mixed cars based on growing up in Northwest Iowa, but I have only ran the big, famous Chicago to the West Coast passenger trains on my layout.  I need to add a short, mixed car passenger train on my upper Milwaukee Road branch line.  One of my favorites in real life was a gas doodlebug that usually pulled a second car.  It was very colorful and would work perfectly on my layout.

Art     

J Daddy posted:

I always wanted a Gas doodlebug car with one passenger car. 

0402_5

That really brings back some great memories for me.  There was one just like this that ran through my home town of Spencer, Iowa.  I believe it ran from Lake Okoboji to Fort Dodge, Iowa on either the Rock Island or the M&StL.  It had a very distinctive whistle and engine sound to it.

Art

For the past 30+ years, the New Haven - Springfield, MA Amtrak shuttle trains have been an engine and 2 cars. Usually the engine is on the North End (railroad direction East) and a cab car is on the other end, although I've actually seen times where 2 engines were used. Anything from an old E8 to a recent Genesis could be used.

In the 80s, various Budd cars, including the Roger Williams were used.

The Vermonter (NH to St Albans, VT) is typically 4 cars, with a baggage car added during ski season for skis and in the summer for bikes.

Here's is a favorite of mine. The Dinky train that runs from the busy NEC at Princeton Jct to Princeton NJ. There is a fenced storage area at Princeton Jct. The trip takes about 5 minutes and is a nice one car overhead  electric pantograph  powered Train. In the last 10 years it has been almost ended several times. It even lost about 200yards worth of track and its 1918 Princeton Station house. I rode it once with my then very young son all day while my wife was lecturing at Princeton.

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LIRR Scoots and Shuttles  Here's a 2-car train

Here's a 2-car train of steam cars is laying up westbound at Greenport station behind Alco RS1 #463 awaiting its departure time in August, 1972. This was NOT a shuttle train, but the actual Jamaica to Greenport and return series of trains mentioned above. 

If you like a "low-speed" ride east of Riverhead, then you'd have loved a ride I took on train #204/#211 out to Greenport and back in the hot, sweltering days of August, 1972.  

Two "ping-pong" cars pulled behind an ALCO RS1.  No air conditioning.  Front doors, rear doors and vestibule doors wide-open.  Windows open.  Anything to suck in a breeze.  Wonderful feeling as you sweated into a wet mass, then had dust and dirt blow in on you from the trackside potato fields, giving you and the seats and everything else inside the car a nice coating.

trumptrain postedacific.

Of course prototypically WM passenger trains were pulled by K2 Pacifics or ALCO Hammerhead diesels.   Although the occassional excursion may have been pulled by an F unit or Geep. 

I would love a WM k2 in 3 rail!! That's an engine I've always wanted but never have I seen anything close enough to pass muster.

jhz563 posted:
trumptrain postedacific.

Of course prototypically WM passenger trains were pulled by K2 Pacifics or ALCO Hammerhead diesels.   Although the occassional excursion may have been pulled by an F unit or Geep. 

I would love a WM k2 in 3 rail!! That's an engine I've always wanted but never have I seen anything close enough to pass muster.

I'd certainly go for one as well especially in 1:48 scale! 

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