Walthers made some L&N coaches around 05-06, If Rivarossi does another run of Heavyweight Baggage and RPO's lettered for L&N, that wound be a perfect supplement for them. Or find an IHC Heavyweight Baggage/RPO and modify it (cut off the truck mounted couplers, replace plastic wheels with metal ones, replace those horn hooks with metal kadee's, put weight inside the car, etc.
Since I have been into HO D&RGW of the 2nd generation diesel era, I have noticed generally that D&RGW diesels sell very well and tend to be sold out. The Athearn tunnel motors have always bee fast sellers and only now that there have been some 7 runs done of them has demand started to be caught up. IMR may be a little late to the table with their tunnel motors. The SD50s, even without the low nose signal light have also sold very well, as have the Atlas and Genesis GP40-2's - both are generally hard to find.
Walthers did cancel the passenger EQ but some of the were foobies and only one or two were acually decent matches for the Prospector PS prototypes IIRC. I have a couple of the PS 52 seat coaches Walthers ran which are very close to the Prospector Chair cars. Would like to see them run in single stripe however.
I have a couple of the Palace Car Company combines - one without skirting in the post 1975 blanked out dorm window type and one in the original skirted w/ dorm windows type. Usually when I have seen the PCC Prospector cars come up for sale, they are priced unpainted quite high - from memory in the $250-300 price range in the last 8 years. I did manage to pick up one of them around 1990 for $120 and the other in the late 1990's for $180. I don't regularly browse brass John, so if you see any PCC Prospector cars not that much higher than BLI, please let me know for sure.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Well, sometimes here in the East things show up cheap...I once had 3 of the sleepers, and the blunt end observation painted in single stripe but that was years ago. If I see them again I'll certainly let you know.
John
At least IHC and Rivarossi released streamlined passenger cars for lesser known roads, it's better than nothing.
The IHC Dome car looks like a B&O prototype and the RIVAR Dome looks like an UP prototype.
Much appreciated John. I have always wanted to have more of the prospector cars. Back in 1986 I lived in Houston and I found out PCC was going to be offering the Prospector cars. I ordered 3 of them which was about all I could afford at the time and they were priced at $90 for the regular cars and $110 or so for the dome and Wilson McCarthy. I ordered 1 each of the RGZ combine, Wilson McCarthy business car and the Dome-chair. They were delayed and I was moving from Texas to Indiana they arrived after I moved, and somehow my parents intercepted the parcel and sent them back, meddlers that they were; I was 24 at the time and they still pulled stunts like that which was very annoying. By the time I settled a few years later in NY State, I contacted Caboose Hobbies and all they had was one of combines (deskirted and with the blanked dorm windows) so I took it as a consolation to missing out on the 3 cars earlier. Some years later at a hobby shop where I lived, the PS combine in original Prospector configuration showed up as part of an estate showed up for $180 along with CZ cars; I bought it and some of the brass CZ cars. I sold them all later at a loss when the BLI cars came out but didn't regret it much since the BLI cars were fully finished. For sure I kept the combine and it's finally going to get painted this year. The other one was painted last year - in late 1970's paint as it appeared on the RGZ. The only car missing to complete that train is the steam generator. I do have a shell I sanded to DB fan off but nothing else.
Oh, sorry to hear you missed out. I got some of the final ones PCC actually had on hand, in the sleepers, about 1993 or so. They painted them for me, too...but alas I traded all those cars in on something else. As late as 1993, PCC actually had the sleepers in stock and you could get them direct, and affordable. I think they were $210 each beautifully painted and lettered with windows installed. Had my wife's name as one of the car names in lieu of Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball...Jean thought that was cute.
I stupidly floorwaxed them to protect the plating and wasn't happy with the uneven finish results...that was one reason I traded them away. I'll never use the floorwax to protect plating again, though I have to say Athearn's clearcoat rubs off the plated Santa Fe units way way too easily (that's partly why I sold my Genesis warbonnets and WP units--if you actually touch them they look bad in no time--even with clean hands I found I could scratch and scuff Athearn's plating, leaving permanent marks). Walthers/Proto 2000 F unit clearcoat over the plated finish is much more durable than Athearn's. The Walthers units can be handled and played with without leaving permanent marks in the plating because their clearcoat is so good.
It was a long time ago but yes, I was always irked that I wasn't able to get those 3 PCC cars back in 1986. Oh well, life goes on. I'm not surprised the sleepers were among the last available. IIRC, the Prospector mostly ran with only one sleeper in its final years, which is when I would model it if I could get all the cars together. It was a handsome train to the very end.
Nice touch with the custom name on the sleeper. My wifes name is Jean as well, hah hah. I have never heard of floorwax treatment but it's good to know to steer clear of it if it doesn't give good results. All of my D&RGW Genesis F units are without plating so hopefully they will hold up to handling but I will try to hold them by the base.
Riogrande5761--
Did you know Rio Grande rebuilt the sleepers to Coach configuration during the final years, and ran them as coaches. Also, some of the Prospector cars had fluting removed (due to excessive rusting of the Cor-Ten steel behind it) and the sides repaired. Others had the bottom parts of the fluting removed, so I have read in passenger car books--but there are no photos I've ever seen of the de-fluted cars in Rio Grande service (then some went to Mexico, if I recall). I can say that removal of Pullman Standard half side fluting was common on American railroads. They had extensive rust repair issues to the lower car sides.
Car name was Jean Renee. Some folks swear by the (clear) "floorwax" treatment as a form of extra clearcoat over plated finishes, but you have to place it neatly and cleanly in a smooth even swipe and absolutely not touch it again for any reason (till it dries) or you can get little tiny bubbles in the finish, which I found annoying.
Someday I'll do another passenger car with that name--or rather pay a pro painter to do it. Maybe a Texas & Pacific lightweight for the Eagle, now that I'm getting into T&P steam (just bought a non-elesco fwh T&P 4-8-2). Apparently it was one of relatively few lightweight trains pulled by steam before enough E's and PA's were available. Some steamers were fully decked out in the Eagle paint schemes!
John,
If you are referring to the CZ Budd 16 section sleepers converted into 48 seat coaches circa 1962/63 then yes. It is my understanding the Propector PS sleeper cars remained with sleeper facilities until that train was discontinued in 1967, according to all the books and literature I have read. This is from Don Stracks UtahRail.net:
"The Prospector was discontinued on May 28, 1967. Unlike other railroads that degraded service at the end the Prospector exited with head held high still as fine and stout a passenger train as any in the nation. It ran daily its entire lifetime complete with all service intact including sleeping cars and full service dining cars that served Rio Grande mainstays such as fresh Rocky Mountain Trout and Navy Bean Soup until the last run."
I have read about PS cars with the rusting issue you mentioned although none of my books show any of the Prospector cars with the fluting removed while they were in D&RGW service. I've seen photo's of other PS cars with fluting removed for the reasons you listed in some articles.
Western Pacific seems like a good seller, Athearn Released Genesis Models of the F3's/FP7's while Broadway Limited Imports released 12 or 13 Streamlined California Zephyr Cars.
Do CBQ/Kansas City Southern sell well in terms of "Southern Belle" and the "Twin City Zephyr?"
As far as roads in the southwest, check out the BLI Texas & Pacific 2 10 4 brass hybrid. Not only is it the most expensive they have done it's almost a complete sellout everywhere. Which I think is a first in this series.
Modelers of Texas railroads have been starving for stuff since Bobbye Hall stopped importing. Just because were are in the southwest home of beautiful weather does not mean their aren't many of us. I know of over forty layouts in the Austin area alone.
I think free enterprise is like a lot of things. People do things because they are interested in specific things. Yes the money is important but people are not gonna put their heart and soul into something they could care less about. It seems that now that there are increasingly fewer model railroad importers/producers it just happens that as of right now very few are interested in the Southwest or many Midwest railroads except for the few biggies. I think I said in an earlier post the Southwest and even the Southeast desperately needs its own Rapido.
SB
Hi RioGrande--
Maybe I was misinformed or made a memory mistake there. My apologies.
Regarding the BLI T&P 2-10-4, I might go there if I had funds available, but I like the non-elesco fwh T&P engines more, so opted for the coffin fwh 4-8-2...I'm thinking about buying one of the Hallmark T&P 2-8-0 tenders to have painted and to run behind a non-T&P 2-8-0 that I happen to have on hand.
The Southern Belle apparently sold well in brass, and I bet it would do ok in plastic as it's a beautiful train...but who knows if the big guys will ever pony up for that.
John, It may be that the ex DRGW PS sleepers were converted after Rio Grande sold them. I have not followed there lives after that time. A few of the Prospector cars were held an extra couple years following the demise of the Prospector and use for special's at the head end of the CZ, mainly 52 seat chair cars, lounge-buffet and dome-chair. By 1970 those were gone as well and only the 2 combines and the Wilson McCarthy remained of Prospector heritage.
To me the Prospector is a much more attractive train than the entirely silver CZ, and I'd love to see it released in HO plastic even if a car or two was only "close".
I'd also love to see a Southern Belle or the Eagles....
Yes the KCS trains not only were beautifull but also ran quite a while. If it was not for the cancellation of the mail it would have run into the seventies as it went were no one else did and driving from KCS to Shreveport and even Port Arthur is still a struggle. I have managed to model a very close Flying Crow using a Walthers E6 and two of their recently done coaches, baggage and Express box. I really wish I could find one of the ex NYC observations to paint up.
I have also managed to put together a accurate Texas Chief and California Special using Walthers cars. Just need three more coaches which the new 54 SF Chief release will give me.
My showcase train is a Hallmark Texas Special with extra Hallmark heavy weights painted to match like the MKT had to do because of its popularity. The Texas Special is a great example of what i mentioned. There have been many sellouts of this train in O but no HO manufacturer is currently inspired enough by the Southwest to mess with it.
The biggest hole besides the Tex Special is the Missouri Pacific Eagle. This train would also sell like crazy as the Eagles went everywhere in the SW and Midwest even to the South and Colorado. The only accurate one I know of is the Hallmark that is as rare as a 45 carat diamond. I did not know it was even done until Brasstrains.com did their reference with pix. Oh well maybe someday a wealthy Mopac fan will go into the model train business.
The CZ is a nice looking train in it's own way and I've always wanted to model it and it's successor, the Rio Grande Zephyr. Now that I finally have a painted PCC PS combine, I have all the pieces to model a summer RGZ if the CZ name boards can be ignored. The SG is the only thing left I need to somehow wangle or model.
But I agree, the Grande Gold/Silver with the stripes really sets the Prospector apart and is a colorful and nice paint scheme. It seems to fit well too in it's Rocky Mtn and Utah desert environs as well. And for modelers, it's not as long yet it is basically a complete train if you model it with a baggage, combine, coach, diner and sleeper, in it's smallest complete form, or there were versions which also included an extra baggage (sometimes UP type) and more than one chair or sleeper. Even more cool is it ran in the mid-1960's with up to 4 TOFC flat cars on the back end; reportedly those actually made the train a bit better in terms of "ride" stability too. It would be nice to see the Prospector offered in plastic; one can only hope, but Walthers seems to be not up to the task yet.
Some of the other trains you mentioned like Southern Belle or the MP Eagles, which IIRC, the D&RGW piloted into Denver according to some photo's in my books.
Would the Pennsylvania "Congressional Limited" sell well?
How about The Wabash "Cannon Ball" or CBQ's "Twin City Zephyr"?
BTW: The 1952 "Congressional Limited" had 18 cars!
@ blabride:
Long time ago I saw photos of a Hallmark MP/T&P Eagle equipped with full interiors, window blinds and passenger figures. Looked absolutely fantastic. Many times I thought about purchasing Rivarossi/AHM/IHC/Rapido Trains MP and T&P cars, but I stopped because I definetly prefer a correct Eagle. Especially since many Eagle cars had those specific round porthole windows. My favorite Eagle train to model would be the 1952 West Texas Eagle between Dallas and El Paso featuring T&P´s only dome car and being pulled by the magnificent looking T&P M-1 Mountain painted in the Eagle scheme to match the train! This can be done of course by purchasing the 8 car Hallmark Set and the engine (by Iron Horse Models), but my budget is far below the price level of these items!
Manufacturers releasing passenger streamliner sets in Brass or in cheap plastic is much worse than nothing at all.