USA TRAINS AND ARISTO HEAVYWEIGHTS...CAN THEY RUN AND LOOK WELL TOGETHER?

[Gundy]

HELLO, AND HAPPY RUNNING!  WE ARE PUTTING A FALLEN FLAGS TRAIN TOGETHER AND AT THIS POINT WE HAVE 3 USA PASSENGER CARS BEING PULLED BY 2 E-8 LOCOMOTIVES.  I WOULD LIKE TO ADD SOME ARISTO HEAVYWEIGHTS, BUT THEY ARE AROUND 4 INCHES SHORTER IN LENGTH AND I'M CONCERNED ABOUT THE COUPLERS AS WELL.  ALSO THE LOOK OF A  SHORTER CAR MIGHT MAKE IT LOOK GOOFY.  WHAT ARE YOUR OPINIONS ON THIS THANKS...GUNDY

[ttrigg]

Gundy:  Couplers can always be swapped out, remounted or just plain reworked to suit your needs.  Combining two different passenger car type will give a “mixed vintage” look, so unless you are a rivet counter I see no problems.  The main thing is, this is YOUR hobby for YOUR relaxation, so just do what you like.

[Greg Elmassian]

 I believe this was not completely unusual. I've seen streamliner trains with heavyweight baggage and/or RPO cars... yes the Aristo HW's are shorter, but not by a whole bunch, I believe 72' vs the USAT 80'.

Also, a HW obs car as a private car on a streamliner consist was not uncommon.

Go on some of the prototype web sites and look up pictures. You might have to adjust the height of the Aristo cars, I have not measured them for correctness (I say this because it might be more difficult to adjust the height of the USAT, and the USAT is closer to prototype)

Regards, Greg

[pimanjc]

Here aretwo pictures of USA F3ABs with a consist of heavyweights, for you determine if you like them together.

By the way, I will be running this train [+] at Marty's this weekend.  It is controlled by the new RCS Beltrol system.

Jim Carter