Proper trucks for 75' Pullman coach kits

 Each railroad had its favorite trucks for coaches.  B&O for example, favored 6 wheel, bottom equalizer trucks for nearly all its heavy-weight passenger cars from 60' railway post office cars to baggage cars, combines, coaches and diners. At the time Pullman owned and operated the sleepers and lounge cars, all of which also rode on 6 wheel trucks.

Sone railroads with commuter and local day-train traffic favored the cheaper and less costly to maintain four wheel trucks.  In such service ride quality was not as important as it was for long distance service.  That said, four-wheel truck coaches could also be seen on overnight trains on some roads, like the NY Central and the Pennsylvania, as well as  six-wheel truck coaches. And with that, the Pennsylvania had its own unique designs for both types of trucks.

If you have a prototype railroad in mind for those models, try to look up photos showing their 1930's and 40's passenge trains to see what they were using.

Much the same applies to the kind of roof a railroad had for their coaches, whether clerestory or round.

S. Islander

Thanks! I guess trucks are like jet engines - the buyer chooses, not the manufacturer. Never considered that. :-)

I'm mostly interested in Southern Pacific, and it looks like there's a mix of 2- and 3-axle trucks being used in that era, so I guess it depends on a lot of factors. 

Fred

I think (and I don't know about SP), that you want to avoid modern streamline trucks like on the light weight cars.    Weaver made nice Delrin modern 4 wheel trucks, but I don't think they match heavy weights on any RR.

Scale City designs bought the old Keil LIne product line and they had some heavy weight diecast trucks.    Not sure if you could get 3-rail wheels with them.   But  you could  use someone elses wheelsets.   

You could also attend an O scale show and shop around for some used ones from walthers.    Walthers at one time had a bunch of different styles.

Thanks, Jim! I am planning to go to O Scale West, assuming it's still on. I will keep an eye out for Scale City or Keil Line passenger trucks there. Dangerous place to be - that's what got me into these wood-and-metal kits to begin with! 

SP used standard trucks, both 4 and 6 wheel, as well as some truly distinctive six wheel designs.  For my money, the Walthers 9100 series cars come close enough to both SP and PRR, with Lobaugh trucks.  If you don't mind die cast, the All Nation trucks are just as attractive.  Maybe some photos later . . .

Here - some Walthers kits generally resembling SP.  First is a 9100 series coach for SP; second is the same kit with different roof for PRR.    The third is an All Nation aluminum sided coach, and finally the vaunted and accurate PSC Harriman (I have ten).  Note the trucks - Lobaugh on all including PSC.  I should tell you that I personally prefer the Walthers to the PSC - maybe that's because I had a hand in creating them.  PSC trucks can be made to work ok - sometimes it requires effort.

Wow, those look amazing! I now have 5 of the Walthers kits and one from Boxcar Ken (?). That's probably where I'll stop for now, unless I see some amazing deals at OSW. Sounds like I should keep an eye out for Lobaugh trucks. 

Thanks!

Lobaugh's trucks have been long out of production - since the early 1950's, at least.  They have cast bronze side frames and are equalized - that is the truck can flex on uneven track work. These trucks have the same mechanical design as the former Varney/All Nation and Walthers trucks.  All Nation used a hard alloy for the side frames, Walthers did on some trucks as well, but most were of a softer metal composition.   None of these trucks were  sprung, but all had some degree of equalization.

Sprung trucks were offered back in the late 1940's by Grace Line, later ACE, Old Pullman, Keil Line and now by Scale City Designs.  These trucks employ coil springs with dummy leaf spring detail.  Some issues of the 6 wheel "Pullman" truck tend to have the equalizers sag from car weight and spring pressure over time, due to their soft metal composition. US Hobbies and Precision Scale offered truck kits. 

The USH 6 wheel truck kit consists of hard alloy castings and is assembled with copper rivets. It models the 6 wheel Pullman type truck but is slightly over-sized, close to 11/64"/ft scale.  Once assembled they can be a bear to paint.  The Precision Scale trucks are made of brass castings and are assemble by pinning (or bolting with 00-90 machine screws) and soldering.  Both makes rely on spring action to handle uneven track work. 

Here are some photos showing the kinds of trucks I mentioned above.

Well I missed adding in the other photos. Here they are! 

With any make of trucks, it's vital they be correctly assembled, tuned and lubed for best operation. This makes certain the wheels are correctly gauged, the axles in tram (perfectly parallel) and roll freely.  Used trucks having worn journals can be re-bushed with brass tubing. The trucks should demonstrate some equalization or spring action, depending on how equipped. Loose, floppy trucks will soon fail. Attention must be paid to the bolsters and their fastenings, to be sure they fit correctly, hold the truck square, carry the car and flex as needed.   S. Islander 

Really nice looking cars.  You do know how to build a Walthers kit.

I have PSC trucks on ten cars, but much prefer the tracking qualities of Lobaugh and All Nation.

Yes, this are beauties, the B&O combine and the CNJ coach in particular have a real fidelity with the prototypes and all your paint and decal work is excellent. Well done. I like Lobaugh and All Nation trucks in particular from a performance standard, from my experience they seem to hold up better over extended operation then the Walthers. 

@S. Islander posted:

Well I missed adding in the other photos. Here they are!

With any make of trucks, it's vital they be correctly assembled, tuned and lubed for best operation. This makes certain the wheels are correctly gauged, the axles in tram (perfectly parallel) and roll freely.  Used trucks having worn journals can be re-bushed with brass tubing. The trucks should demonstrate some equalization or spring action, depending on how equipped. Loose, floppy trucks will soon fail. Attention must be paid to the bolsters and their fastenings, to be sure they fit correctly, hold the truck square, carry the car and flex as needed.   S. Islander

nice