Williams 72' streamlined passenger cars - scale?

The Williams ABS cars are compressed in length (real streamliners were generally 85' long), and have generic window arrangements. Width is most likely scale, but I make no guarantees regarding any other dimensions.

---PCJ

Thanks. I guess what I am getting at is this: if I pull them with a scale length Alco PA, or scale F-units (or another scale engine), will they look tiny in comparison? Not so much the length, but the width/height.

Does anyone have a picture of them behind a scale engine?

I don't have a photo, but an Alco PA will look reasonably in proportion to the 72' scale Williams cars.  There is certainly selective compression in the cars, but the D&H passenger fleet did not consist of a lot of fluted streamlined cars.  They modernized a lot of older cars that were in the 80' range and sometimes shorter.  Do web search on D&H passenger cars and you will see what I mean.

I used to have the Amtrak set of these cars and they are decent cars for the price.

Thanks. My current HO scale layout is a D&H layout set in 1984. I have lots of D&H books including their passenger books so I know that the models I bought are not "prototypical". I bought them because they look fun to have. My HO layout is almost "too" specific in what I model, and one of the reasons why I am switching to O gauge is so that I can have more freedom to run what I want.

@BenLMaggi posted:

Thanks. I guess what I am getting at is this: if I pull them with a scale length Alco PA, or scale F-units (or another scale engine), will they look tiny in comparison? Not so much the length, but the width/height.

Does anyone have a picture of them behind a scale engine?

Yes, they will look correct behind  1:48 loco. Of course, real passenger cars varied in length, too. Some were as short as 60'.

The Wms cars, as well as those of other manufacturers selling in the same size niche, are, as a generalization, scale in their height and girth, but are often shortened in length to some degree or another.

The Lionel PW cars and their 60' clones are some of my my favorites, really. On most layouts they are of a length that looks better on curves (including 072) and do not make a train a mile long, yet they have the substantial "look" of a scale car. 

Ben - here are some photos I took last night.  A Williams D&H PA with a Williams 72 foot " scale " coach.  I couldn't get a good camera angle so the top photo makes the PA look longer than the coach.... which is not the case.   When viewing this combination of PA vs. coach on my layout, to my eye it all looks in balanced proportion.  Sorry I could not get an accurate proportioned photo for you.  I hope in some way this may help you.  

Here the coach looks longer than the PA ... not the case in reality.

This shot may be the closest but still makes the PA look longer than the coach.... again not the case in reality.

I have several of the 72 footers. They are scale except for the length. They look fine behind the Williams PA and E7 locos. They are the same size overall as my MTH Premier cars only much less detailed and very generic in prototype.

That is great to hear. Thanks all. Now I just need to be on the lookout for the 2-car add on pack, as well as suitable engines to pull them.

Here’s my D&H Alco PA with several Williams 72’ plastic cars. They look good with my Sharks also.

@Ross posted:

Here’s my D&H Alco PA with several Williams 72’ plastic cars. They look good with my Sharks also.

Outstanding!!

@BenLMaggi posted:

My HO layout is almost "too" specific in what I model, and one of the reasons why I am switching to O gauge is so that I can have more freedom to run what I want.

You are on a slippery slope, one a lot of us have been on as well LOL!

I can hear myself saying those exact words back in late 1980s.

I got into O-scale because I liked the size, but then I tried to keep RR specific, in my case running equipment that Seaboard Air Line operated.  I've loosened that up a bit and also have some Atlantic Coast Line engines.

The prototypical bug bit but then I realized everything doesn't have to be perfect.  I've modified, kitbashed, and built or had built a lot of equipment but I also have non-scale, non-prototypical cars running on my layout.  Some are exactly what SAL and ACL operated, others are close or not even close.  I have a number of these shorty passenger cars, in the end it's either that or nothing at all.  Fortunately companies like 3rd Rail/GGD have come thru and given us scale equipment like their Silver Meteor 6-car passenger train.  An ACL train would be nice

Buy what you like and if you find something you like but want to change, have at it.  Doesn't bother me one bit to hack into a piece that costs several hundred dollars to get what I want.

@Ross posted:

Here’s my D&H Alco PA with several Williams 72’ plastic cars. They look good with my Sharks also.

I like your D&H Amtrak dome. I have a few slides in my collection of it from that week in October 1975 when the D&H decided to repaint an Amtrak dome in blue/yellow without asking Amtrak first. I almost set the era of my HO scale layout to that week so that I could run those trains with that dome, because I thought the story was so neat.

I liked that car as well! That was a pandemic project. I had bought the Williams dome in Amtrak for it. Just masked around the red, spray painted the yellow over the red, and a D&H decal for the herald. Fun project!

@BenLMaggi posted:

That is great to hear. Thanks all. Now I just need to be on the lookout for the 2-car add on pack, as well as suitable engines to pull them.

Right-Of-Way made a terrific ABA D&H set.  When you buy yours, led with the non-powered A unit.  John