What Scale Figures for Lionel Hiawatha?

navy.sealOGR Forum Member

I'd like to place painted seated figures into all the metal seats in my Standard Gauge Lionel Hiawatha passenger cars as well as into all the metal seats in my Standard Gauge Milwaukee Road State Cars. Unfortunately, there are no train stores in my area which sell either Standard Gauge or G gauge trains and stock the large figures to go with them. Since I need to order a bunch of seated figures and don't want to order the wrong size, can anyone tell me what "scale" figures both fit into the seats and look best through the windows in these two situations, i.e., 1:22.5, 1:24, 1:25, 1:30, 1:32, or some other scale?

Bob Nelson

5/9/158:20 AM

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ron mOGR Forum Member

Lionel had no particular 'scale' for their Standard gauge, over the years the consensus more-or-less has chosen 1/27.

Just remember that these trains are TOYS.Even if big boys play with them.

Ron M

Originally Posted by navy.seal:

Bob Nelson

5/9/1510:06 AM

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Southwest HiawathaOGR Forum Member

I put some G gauge figures from USA Trains in my Hiawatha cars. I believe they are nominally 1:32. They fit the seats well and look good in proportion. I think they may be out of production. There were two different sets, each with seven figures. The figures can still sometimes be found on eBay or as NOS at dealers. Unfortunately I do not have any photos of the figures in the seats, and the Hiawatha is packed away and very, very deeply buried.

I did a quick eBay search and found one seller with both sets for sale at $20 per pack of seven with free shipping.

USA Trains Pax 310

USA Trains Pax 311

5/9/1511:26 PM

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navy.sealOGR Forum Member

Originally Posted by Southwest Hiawatha:

I put some G gauge figures from USA Trains in mine. I believe they are nominally 1:32. They fit the seats well and look good in proportion. I think they may be out of production. There were two different sets, each with seven figures. The figures can still sometimes be found on eBay or as NOS at dealers. Unfortunately I do not have any photos of the figures in the seats, and the Hiawatha is packed away and very, very deeply buried.

I did a quick eBay search and found one seller with both sets for sale at $20 per pack of seven with free shipping.

USA Trains Pax 310

USA Trains Pax 311

Thanks! That's exactly what I needed to know.

Bob Nelson

5/10/1510:03 AM

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Southwest HiawathaOGR Forum Member

Bob

After my previous post, I found some unopened USA Trains passenger packs and a State car that wasn't too deeply buried, so I opened one pack and took a couple of pictures. As you can see, these passengers look a bit small in the very large seats in the State car. You might be better off to look for some 1:24 figures for the State cars. These "coaches" look more like parlor cars with the big swivel seats! I had not previously tried to put passengers in my State cars; I should have been more specific in the earlier post that I had only put them in the Hiawatha. I've corrected that omission.

The figures look much better in the smaller seats of the Hiawatha cars, which have 2x2 seating rather than 1x1. Total height of each seated figure is 1-1/2 inches or a bit more, so they would be about 2" if standing. Sorry I can't post a picture of the Hiawatha coach with passengers.