Too many observation cars!

you can find the coach cars on Ebay and swap out if you are patient enough

 

I know the Lionel Baby MPC madison passenger cars people did this

Mario

 

   I purchased their car kits back in the 80's and I swaped the ends with no problem. I don't know how they are today.

 

Bill

This is irrelevant to your problem, but addresses prototype practice with observations...as shown above the model has a coupler on the platform end...some, maybe older model sets, do not.   Obviously prototype cars have couplers on each end.  Just wonder if there are photos of prototype trains with more than one observation pressed into service in the consist?  I don't recall seeing any, but a railroad needing capacity (sports games, State Fair runs, etc. )would seem likely to have used whatever was serviceable and available.

I like the idea of swapping. I guess you could also do the reverse and put PBS ends on both sides of a car to model older open vesibule cars.

Hmmm, open ended cars you say? Now there's an idea.

I wonder how that would look?

Thanks,
Mario

A little like the MTH 19th century passenger cars I would think. I've heard of passengers in "the old west" taking shots at buffalo from open vestibule cars. I wouldn't want to spend too much time out there in the crumple zone at least on an end car you can see what is about to happen and make your peace.

BTW... semi-scale passenger car ends come painted road-name specific and are $5, not including shipping and handling.

 

Call Bachmann and ask for parts... Jennifer was a great help!  Thank you Jennifer.

 

Thanks,

Mario

coloradohirailer asks:  "Just wonder if there are photos of prototype trains with more than one observation pressed into service in the consist?"

Indeed there are. Special trains of the American Association of Private Car Owners (AAPRCO) often have many open-platform and closed end cars in their consist. Here's two views of the Convention special in FL back in 2009.

Of course, one may not walk between the cars, but there are gates in the end railings that could be used by railroaders in an urgent situation. Closed-end cars have a door.

B&OBill

Here's a close up, same train, of an open observation car coupled to a standard car.

We O-gaugers can thus couple any of our cars of any railroad, in any configuration, and call it "an AAPRCO Special!" This year's convention train, to Chattanooga, TN, was 29 cars long.

 

B&OBill

Reading ran their "Crusader" with a boat-tail observation car at each end, so all they had to do at the end of the run is give the locomotive a spin on the turntable and couple to the other end.

       

Yes they did that but there was an added metal shroud that was part of the streamlining on the tender that disguised the forward tender.

I had the same idea back in the 1980s.  Williams at that time informed me that they redesigned the cars so that the closed vestibule ends were no longer separate parts.  Oh well...back to the ol' drawing board.    Odd-d

The Reading Crusader was steam powered by a 4-6-2, and they either switched the engine & tender on a turntable or ran down to a Y and reversed. There were two engines dedicated to the Reading Crusader, cab #'s 117 & 118. the tender for the Reading Crusader was also specially designed to be able to look better, sort of round(like in-dented) in the middle where the tender hooked up to the observation car.

 

To the best of my knowledge Williams never did the Reading Crusader, Williams did do a Reading "King Coal" passenger set with six cars in the Crown Edition era.

 

Williams made a six car passenger set with observation car without coupler on the rear, the Santa Fe "El Capitan" set in the Crown Edition.

 

Look at what you buy, because it may not always have the rear coupler.

 

Lee F.

K-Line did make the Reading Crusader with two observation cars -- one on each end.  The set was done for a department store in Pennsylvania.

 

I understand that Reading could not turn the entire train for the return trip and had to just turn the engine.  Therefore, two observation cars were needed.

 

Jan

MTH/RK did sell an extra obs when the CUSADER train came out.

hopefully, my parts will get here tonight so that i can swap them out and run the train at the Syracuse train show this weekend!

 

I plan on having a NYC Pacific pulling a 9-car heavyweight train, perhaps with a mail and express car, or two.  We shall see...

ok, all complete...

 

Before:

 

 

After:

 

All I need to do now is upgrade the trucks on the older cars so they don't uncouple (fixed couplers, but the rivets are loose).

 

Thanks,

Mario

 

 

Looks great!

 

--Greg