Pullman-Bradley Cars

There were no Osgood Bradley "American Flyer" RPO's, there was no reason for them.

New Haven was the biggest user.  Other users were Boston & Maine, Bangor & Aroostook, Kanasas City Southern, Seaboard Air Line and St. Louis Southwestern (Cotton Belt.)

Rusty

The New Haven had two or three Osgood Bradley cafe cars built; partial windows on one side and full length windows on the other. I made a few Osgood Bradley coaches and a cafe car starting with KLine 13" streamliners as scale length cars (Weaver) are too long for my modest RR.

Also FYI the Lehigh Valley also had two Osgood Bradley coaches.

jackson

I have photos of PB NH grill cars, please do not ask where I obtained them, lost in fog of time, but from internet. 

Enjoy

mikeg

Seaboard had 4 (285-288) Pullman-Bradley Combines as well as the coaches:

http://www.railwayclassics.com...es/amflyer/SAL01.jpg

Mike,

Here's another photo of the combine with a rear view:

http://rrpicturearchives.net/s...ture.aspx?id=3227118

Check out those vents on the end.

Thanks! They did get off the east coast, and into the south!  KCS and SLSW:  I am

guessing the two western roads only had coaches, and no combines?  I will have to

visit the Weaver site and see what they offer(ed).  Since there is a book on just about

every thing that pertains to railroads, I am guessing there is a book, or at least articles written, on the history, period,  and origin of these cars?

The LIRR acquired the surplus Bradleys from  the Boston & Maine during the 1950s. They ran these in commuter and the longer route services for about 20 years .They were numbered in the 7500 series.  The LIRR cars were repainted at first into the LIRR grays of the 1950s. In the 1960s  the cars wore the Worlds Fair colors with the orange window band. During the MTA years, the cars wore the variations in the MTA colors of Blue and Gray. After their days in revenue service wereover, some of these cars remained on the railroad and were used in work train, instruction cars , offices etc. There was one at the Ronkonkoma yard for many years after revenue service. 

The Great Northern and the Northern Pacific had Pullman-Bradley coaches.

Goody!  These are getting further afield.  Weaver is offering Canadian Pacific and

National cars plus a few eastern roads.  CN and CP had these?

Espee also had them

Love the Pullman-Bradley cars.  I would like Weaver or MTH to make 18" versions of these as a lot of us simply do not have the real estate on our layouts for the O72 or wider curves to accomodate these beauties.

I would be in for the Boston and Maine, New Haven, and the Bangor and Aroostook versions.

Jim,

I too am a fan of the Pullman Bradley cars as i run mostly passenger equipment on my Not-So-Great Eastern including the NH and LV. I'm limited by 042" curves; hence i made my own. The toughest part were the windows. I was able to find junker American Flyer P-B coaches at train shows for no more than $6 each, and often would sell the frames, trucks, couplers, or whatever was left after i removed the body, back to the same flyer guy i had bought the car from for a few bucks! It took 1.5 cars to get enough window strips to do one 13" KLine coach. i cut the windows out of the flyer cars in strips using a very fine toothed band saw running slowly. Then grafted the window strips  into my "donor" coaches. Didn't do the proper end slope to the roofs as i couldn't figure out how to make all those compound curves. I made 5 or 6 of these (one LV and the rest NH including a grille car. On one NH car (#8524 and barely visible in the photo)i added end markers and a Tomar drumhead "Merchants Ltd." in the rear passage door.) The cars were painted with Scalecoat II NH Hunter Green from a rattle can. The cars show differently because of differences in the room lighting. Also they have since been upgraded to LED's.

jackson

Clever, and nice cars you created!

I remember the 1000 on the New Haven  commuter trains.If I remember correctly this car was modified by Pullman into  a picture window car.It was the only one done and there were no more changed,It had a different paint job and stood out on a train.It was a fairly easy job converting one of the Weaver coaches to this configuration.Also converted a coach to a grill car which was more of a job.Ran them both in the same train even though the grill cars were gone before the 1000 was converted. 

I too am modifying PB cars.  However I am starting with Weaver PB and eliminating the middle bar and making picture windows. 

I am trying to figure out how to cut out a few windows and graft on other side to make a diner. 

Your solution interested me, but did you cut both sides at one time or did you figure out how to cut only one side?

mikeg

mikeg,

i did only one side at a time. For your reference the NH P-B diners (or in correct NH terms, "grill cars") were to the best of my knowledge and from the photos i've seen, only solid (w/o middle windows) on ONE side. I'm sure some NH authority will correct me if i'm wrong!!!!

I disassembled the car, made a wooden jig to hold it in place, keep the sides rigid, and guide a Zona saw to make the cuts on each side of the window openings after scribing them with an Xacto knife. It was a very slow and tedious task, taking a few hours to do each car. Grafting was done with some sheet styrene (.040") braced internally, glued with some liquid plastic weld cement, and finished with Squadron White putty and sanded with 2400 grit wet/dry paper.

Not sure if this info helps, but good luck with your project and show some pics when you get it done.

jackson

Are all the Weaver cars the same style?  In other words, could I buy one lettered for NH, strip it, and repaint it for Seaboard (being they don't offer SAL anymore)?

Is the window glazing easy to come out, can the center posts between windows be removed to make them the picture window type?

Why don't they offer undecorated models?

  Originally Posted by Bob Delbridge:

You will hate me with a passion.  I obtained from another OGR member 6 Seaboard PB cars. 

I disassembled them, it is straightforward and easy.  The window sheets are secure but come out easily. Since they have some paint they are discarded after making new ones.  As far as center window post is concerned, I cut top and bottom smoothly with a wire cutter.  Some sanding and done. 

I have redone the roof details to prototypical for streamlined.  The streamlining is corrugated roofing from Micro Mark. 

My major decisions are two, raster Lucite to fill in windows or simply refill at same depth. 

Other decision is to eliminate one vestibule and extend coach.  Still debating if difference is worth it. 

Will eventually have to destroy one coach to make a diner. Always decisions. 

Monsoons are here and sinuses are eliminating any desire to proceed.

Hope this helps,

mikeg

Thanks for how to do it information.  Appreciate help.

Pictures below are depending upon who you believe are NH PB Diners or Grill cars.  I personally believe they are diners.  When I rode the Patriot from Newark to Trenton, there was a diner behind the Parlors and before the coaches.   The Patriot cars were PB streamlined.  not PS. 

mikeg

Mikeg,

Have seen those pics before and am not sure if those cars (diners) were originally NH P-B grill cars from the pre-war era, or rebuilt from P-B coaches. The pre-war NH P-B grill cars and coaches had 4 wheel trucks and the diner in the photo has 6 wheel trucks. As far as i'm aware of In the late `30's the NH only had P-B grill cars, P-B baggage cars, and two versions of the P-B coaches. The corrugated rebuilds came after WWII.

Didn't know Micro Mark made that corrugated material; i used two sizes of it from Evergreen on some cars i built into PRR Senator cars a number of years ago. Thanks for that bit of info.

Hopefully someone with a greater knowledge of these NH diners and grill cars (than i have) will be able to provide clarification.

jackson

Mike you dog!!!   Great purchase though on the 6 cars.

I have the decals and paint to convert a NH car to a SAL car so that's not a problem.

Didn't someone offer flush picture windows for these cars?  I think I even provided a link at one time but can't recall who it was.

How heavy is the car, is any additional weight required?

Chooch offers flush window retrofits for the Weaver Osgood Bradley coaches. They will only fit the paired window coaches as offered by Weaver though.

That's who it was, thanks!

http://www.choochenterprises.c..._weaver_windows.html

Does anyone know, for sure, the correct builder's name for these cars?  I have heard both Osgood- Bradley and Pullman-Bradley names being used.  Which is correct, or were both references correct but for different time periods?

Of course, we have all heard the reference to American Flyer style coaches because Gilbert offered pretty good models of these cars in both 3/16" "0" gauge as well as in "S" gauge following WWII.

Paul Fischer

Google it! The Osgood Bradley Co. (Railroad car manufacturer dating back to 1822 in Worcester, MA) was purchased by the Pullman Co. in 1930. The shops were then referred to as the Osgood Bradley shops of the Pullman Co.

Look on the site of the New Haven R.R. Historical Society for further info. Like i used to tell my college freshmen and sophomores, "If you want a grade better than a D-, do your own research rather than expecting others to do it for you".

jackson

The reason for this query is the lower projection on the ends of the cars similar to a fender on a car.  It appears to serve no useful purpose other than some degree of modernization or streamlining.  I have no idea where to obtain such an item or its correct name, if any. 

Does anyone have an idea if such a product is even available as a separate item?

mikeg

Mike, are you talking about the small skirting on the sides (at the ends)?  Maybe OK Engines has some scrap laying around he'd give you.

Mike,

If i had only known -- about two months ago i cut that very skirting off a Pullman i was modifying to a CN sleeper, most of which ran without skirting as snow and ice build up hindered access to the battery boxes, etc. Unfortunately into the trash they went.

So if i were to replicate it, i'd find an existing car with it on, make a pattern out of paper or card stock, and then fabricate 4 of them from sheet styrene (laminated if necessary).

Good luck.

jackson

They got them from the SSW!

How do you get styrene to gently bend then stay in that position?

Found a scale length car with skirting to make a mold. 

mikeg

 Put it around a dowel and heat with a hair dryer using work gloves to avoid burning your hands.

That is cool even though it is hot. 

Really bad pun.

mikeg

Mike,

Looks like you already have a pretty cool answer (another bad pun!).

Actually i laminate (using Plastic Weld) pieces of .040" styrene to get the max thickness and then cut and file to the appropriate curvature.

jackson

I went to local sign shop which does rastering and they figured $300.00 to #350.00 for making windows which would be flush.  even spread over 12 cars this seems steep.

am i being cheap or is this a good price for rastering windows? 

debating same and decided asking forum members may give me some clarity. 

mikeg

$30/car sounds alright, but it does add up.  Now if you wanted to unload one of those Seaboard cars that would cut your cost down a bit

SSW stands for_______________.

Saint Louis - South Western.  More commonly referred to as The Cotton Belt, part of the Southern Pacific empire.