Dome car floor dip?

[gunkhead]

I'm working on adding an interior to an old Athearn dome car. Do I need to put a dip in the floor under where the dome is? That's what the window placement suggests.

[gmpullman]

The Burlington built two dome coaches from existing Budd coaches 4709 and 4714. These are the only two cars with out a depressed center section. One of the cars is still on display in Bellevue, Ohio. The other was used on the Branson Scenic Railway, stored for sale in Kansas City.

http://www.trainweb.org/railnewspb/Q/

 

As far as modeling the interior, I don't think anyone will notice if the dip in the floor is not there, IMHO.

Have Fun! Ed

[gunkhead]

Hey, I'll notice :P And I think others would as well since I'm adding an interior and lights, which without a depressed center would really call attention the fact that two of the windows are currently floor-level XD

[ndbprr]

Yes. Usually the area under the dome held something like a lounge, snack bar or storage, etc. What the area was used for is railroad specific. Most domes only had an entrance at one end with stairs up to the dome and down to pass by it

[dknelson]

Keep in mind that when you are standing outside a passenger car - even when it is standing still at a station -  you do not have a real clear view inside even under the best circumstances.  When it is moving you have no clear view whatsoever just a vague sense of something inside.

Rather than go nuts trying to modify the floor levels I'd just go with various "fool the eye" tricks with truncated passenger torsos and such.

Dave Nelson

[doctorwayne]

I agree with Dave, especially so because of the thick "glass" used on Athearn cars.

I'm not at home now, so don't have access to all of my photos, but here are a couple of interior shots of the lounge area behind the dome/depressed floor area:

Wayne