what is the right position.

[dwbeckett]

OKAY I think i know the ansure to this but what is the proper position for a combine I think it is baggage end next to the motive power or RPO . Not as I've seen with the passenger end next to a RPO  I see this in ad's mostly.

[kstrong]

In most cases, the passenger end of a combine was adjacent to the neighboring passenger car, so that passengers could walk from car to car. Whether this was at the head end or tail end of the train depended on the train itself, and whether the entire consist could be turned at each end of the trip, or just the locomotive.

Later,

K

[spikejones52002]

Some Railroads placed the seating of the RPO away from the rest of the passengers. It was the crew compartment. Also the closer the car was to the exhust of the Steam engine it filled with smoke more so.

[vsmith]

Most of the time in steam days the RPO was closed off (to ward off robbery) from the rest of the train, so it could be ahead of the baggage car, 1st car in line and the most secure position.

Most RRs that ran special mailtrains would have several RPOs and only a couple coaches, and run non-stop overnight between major cities, service on these trains was spartan but they were often THE fastest way to get from A to B, so they were popular with business men who needed to get there fast.

Just an aside but my recent research on local passenger trains, showed a surprising aspect of the consists, namely that the combine very often ended up at the rear of the train, with the baggage compartment bringing up the rear, I puzzled about this but then realized that the baggage compartment area was acting as the defacto caboose for the crews, the conductor could easily look out the open baggage door or rear platform to keep an eye on things.

[GearDrivenSteam]

Probably whichever way they were hooked up to. Sounds smart ellecy, I know, but it's probably accurate.

[ttrigg]

Who came first, the chicken or the egg?

Dave:
This has proven to be a question of most excellent caliber.  Deep within the recesses of my brain I knew for absolute certain that the ONLY order ANY line ran was RPO- Baggage- Combine- Passenger- xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After spending about three hours going over my reference material, almost completely covering the Colorado short lines, I found enlightenment.  Out of the 300+ photos there were precisely two that went RPO-Baggage-Combine-Passenger-XXXX.  I could find no narrative that spoke of car arrangements.  I did find several references to the fact that said only the engine could be reversed in the yards due to the shortness of turning tracks ("Y's") and turntables. It seems to me that the train left town in the reverse order it arrived!  Then additional cars were added to the rear.  I found one photo showing Engines (2 K37's)- 2 Cattle Cars- RPO- Combine- 2 Passenger- Baggage- 2 Box- Flatcar- Caboose- 2 Passenger- Combine (baggage section forward).

What I have learned from your question (at least as far as applies to the Colorado short lines) consists were built in the order that they were to be dropped off, in order to minimize switching time.

[dwbeckett]

TTRIGG, Thanks for the ansure now IM realy confused  I think I like my way-RPO, baggage, then coach. I realy dont like combine's any way, even though they had a purpose.  

[kstrong]

Ya know, the other day I was killing time in Caboose Hobbies, looking at a box for some passenger cars made by Broadway Limited. On the back of the box was a table showing the order of the cars in the train. Here's a link to that chart on their web site.
http://www.broadway-limited.com/products/calzephyrconsist.htm

Alas, there is no RPO listed, probably the California Zephyr never carried one. But it at least gives you an idea of the ordering of a typical passenger train.

Later,

K

[ttrigg]

TTRIGG, Thanks for the ansure now IM realy confused  I think I like my way-RPO, baggage, then coach. I realy dont like combine's any way, even though they had a purpose. 

I agree, but I like the combines.  Since my GRR is "Locals" only, the combine is a must have.

[Anonymous]

TTrigg, Thanks for speanding hours on that! Input is in brain now, poor grey matter.

Thanks again,

William