Can I Run Streamlined Passenger Cars with PM 1225?

It may just be me and my love for this locomotive, but she looks good pulling pretty much anything! I have had her pull scale freight, heavyweight passenger cars, and streamlined aluminum passenger cars. They all look great.

If I remember correctly, there was a lightweight passenger set in the Pare Marquette road name with C&O colors. If you can find them, it would look pretty cool behind the 1225.

In actual service the 1225 was a freight engine so it wouldn't have pulled passenger cars. According to C&O Power the PM Berks were never equipped with steam or signal lines.

If you are modeling the 1225 in modern excursion service then it would seem you could pull a combination of heavyweight and streamlined passenger cars in a variety of roadnames.

I think MTH made the only set of PM tri-color, streamlined passenger cars over a decade ago, however, I may be wrong. In any case the PM streamlined cars were pulled by PM E-7's.

Ken

The 12" to the foot scale PM 1225 pulls streamlined via cars in C & O colors on every passenger run she makes.

Ron

I enjoy these types of threads. Ain't nobody right, ain't nobody wrong. It's kinda what one would call, "At what point in time?"

There are those who say the Big Boy was never used as a passenger locomotive. Again,"At what point in time?".

Any time before 2015.

Rusty

Well you should remember the old time model railroaders "rule # 1"

"It is your railroad, and you can do it however you like"

That being said, if you want to satisfy a yearning to run the loco as it ran in regular service in the 40s and 50s, it was a freight only engine.   Maybe at one time it rescued a broken down passenger train, but its primary service was freight.    In those days, all passenger cars had steam heat and in some cases steam powered AC, and passenger engines had steam connections back from the loco through the tender (under) and into the passenger cars for this purpose.   It was extra plumbing and extra maintenance.   There was also a signal lline that I think was air from the loco back to the cars so the conductor could communicate with the engineer.   Remember the conductor runs (is in charge) the train, the engineer just operates the engine.   Neither of these capabilities were needed or provided on freight engines.    So a freight engine did not normally run in passenger service.

In the modern world of excursions, all the cars are self-contained or they use Head-End-Power (HEP) provided by a diesel or auxillieary power car.   This is an MG providing electrical power to the cars.    So the steam line issue is not there anymore.   And excursion trains do not make a lot of stops and starts compared to old time passenger trains, so they don't bother with a signal line.

And since we love to see steamers run, anything can pull anything in excursion service and often does.