Last week I was in my LHS and I always check out their second hand shelf. I found an interesting piece that I couldn't quite figure out. It is a lightweight 60 ft RPO with what looks like factory lettering for the New York Central. What seemed odd to me is it was painted in Pullman Green. All lightweight NYC passenger cars I am familiar with are either silver or some shade of gray. It has 3 horizontal pinstripes running the length of the car at the top, middle and bottom. I could not recognize the manufacturer based on the trucks or underside. I'd never seen anything like it. I asked the proprietor if he knew the make and even he didn't know. This tells me it is likely a true vintage make. I don't know if there is a prototype for such a car but since it was only $5 and my freelanced layout runs lots of NYC passenger trains I decided to take a flyer on it.
When I got it home, I took a closer look at it to try to figure out who made it. The car body is some type of metal and fairly rigid. It has full width diaphragms which are not the least bit flexible and bare metal trucks with operating springs. In addition to the screw which attaches the truck to the underframe, there are too large headed screws to either side which seem to hold the truck assembly together. This seems to be a quality car even if it is questionably prototypical. It rolls quite smoothly and stays on the track. For now I have decided to use it to replace a problem child Walthers 60' Budd RPO which doesn't like to stay on the track when going around 30" radius curves. It looks out of place in a consist of Budd cars behind my MTH Empire State Express Hudson, but as long as it performs, it will be a part of that consist.
My question is whether anybody has an idea who the manufacturer is and how old this car might be.
Something like this:
https://hoseeker.net/americanbeauty/americanbeautycatalog1953pg01.jpg
Ed
Yes, that looks very much like what I have. The end of the diaphragm looks exactly like mine. The striping is the same. Mine has clear windwows and KD couplers but those both could easily be after market modifications. I'd say it's about 95% likely it is the same product line. It speaks well of the quality of these cars that this still operates so well many years later. I don't know how long these cars were manufactured but if this car is from the 1950s and is still in this kind of condition, I give kudos to the makers. I wish my modern Walthers passenger cars worked half as well as this one.
I found this article written in 2008 about post WWII model railroading cars which has two examples of American Beauty passenger cars. These appear to be full length rather than the 60 footers shown in the previous post. I had never heard of this line before today.
The HO Scale Model Railroading Revolution of the 1940s – Old Model Kits Blog
I think they went out of business in the sixties.
John-NYBWMine has clear windwows and KD couplers but those both could easily be after market modifications.
If it's from the fifties, the couplers would have to be 'after market' because I believe the current style of Kadee couplers didn't come out until the 1960s. Back in the fifties car kits might come with some type of dummy coupler (or X2F horn-hooks in the sixties or later), but more likely it would be "trucks and couplers not included". Cars coming with Kadees or Kadee-compatible couplers didn't really become normal until fairly recently.
An interesting side question - what kind of couplers do the cars in the picture in Ed's link have? They look almost like European style couplers. Maybe Mantua 'hook and loop'?
wjstixAn interesting side question - what kind of couplers do the cars in the picture in Ed's link have? They look almost like European style couplers. Maybe Mantua 'hook and loop'?
Mantua coupler
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
wjstix John-NYBW Mine has clear windwows and KD couplers but those both could easily be after market modifications. If it's from the fifties, the couplers would have to be 'after market' because I believe the current style of Kadee couplers didn't come out until the 1960s. Back in the fifties car kits might come with some type of dummy coupler (or X2F horn-hooks in the sixties or later), but more likely it would be "trucks and couplers not included". Cars coming with Kadees or Kadee-compatible couplers didn't really become normal until fairly recently. An interesting side question - what kind of couplers do the cars in the picture in Ed's link have? They look almost like European style couplers. Maybe Mantua 'hook and loop'?
John-NYBW Mine has clear windwows and KD couplers but those both could easily be after market modifications.
I'm pretty sure the trucks are American Beauty because I've found them being sold on ebay at a premium price. Whether they were included with the car or had to be purchased separately I can't say.
Based on this one sample, operationally they are superior to much of what comes with kits and RTR today even if they look a bit clunky.
The 60' car kits came with truck kits:
https://hoseeker.net/americanbeauty/americanbeautycatalog1953pg02.jpg
Here's the assembly instructions for the truck kits:
https://hoseeker.net/americanbeauty/americanbeautystreamlinedfourwheeltruck.jpg
All this information (and MORE) is available at hoseeker, a very excellent site for Olde Traine Stuffe.
A person might compare them to Central Valley trucks.
Cue up the theme music from the Twilight Zone
"He had no idea where it came from, but he knew he had to have it!
Tonight, we bring you.....THE MYSTERY RPO!"
Ominous music...
Wow, that car must be sixty or seventy years old. For it to be in the condition you describe, it sounds like it belonged to someone who took pride in their work and coddled his version of the Great Steel Fleet. I hope you realize that you are the owner of the memorial to an (unknown) pioneer of Our Hobby, hold it in trust for all of us, and when the time comes you will pass it on to someone who appreciates it equally.
I wonder what he used as motive power. I don't think any HO E units were available. Maybe Varney F3's? Anyone know what else was avilable?
BEAUSABRE I wonder what he used as motive power. I don't think any HO E units were available. Maybe Varney F3's? Anyone know what else was avilable?
If "he" was running 60' cars, he probably had pretty sharp curves. So a Varney F3 would make a lot of sense. But Lindsay and English both made Alco F's.
Hobbytown's E7 was reviewed in Model Railroader in the January 1951 issue. Walthers apparently did one, too; but that's news to me.
Lindsay also did a PA, but I don't know when.
Both the E7 and the PA would have looked weird in front of a string of 60' lightweights.
One of the big postwar selling points for HO was that you could fit a layout into a small space that wouldn' fit an O scale layout's large curves. Lionel's scale Hudson required O-72 (36"R) curves, but you could run an HO Hudson on 18"R curves. I recall a c.1951 MR project layout that used I believe 14"R curves. It seems like it took a little while to see the advantage of building an HO layout with really large curves. BTW N-scale was similar, first advertising for it emphasized you could build a layout in a tiny space.
Since my first exposure to toy trains was Lionel and American Flyer, when I discovered HO in the early 1960s, I thought of it as small scale. I still do and chuckle when I hear the N scale guys refer to it as large scale. I can't even imagine working in Z scale.
BEAUSABRE Cue up the theme music from the Twilight Zone "He had no idea where it came from, but he knew he had to have it! Tonight, we bring you.....THE MYSTERY RPO!" Ominous music... Wow, that car must be sixty or seventy years old. For it to be in the condition you describe, it sounds like it belonged to someone who took pride in their work and coddled his version of the Great Steel Fleet. I hope you realize that you are the owner of the memorial to an (unknown) pioneer of Our Hobby, hold it in trust for all of us, and when the time comes you will pass it on to someone who appreciates it equally. I wonder what he used as motive power. I don't think any HO E units were available. Maybe Varney F3's? Anyone know what else was avilable?
Yes, this item has been extremely well cared for. No obvious cosmetic damage and the operating parts, trucks and couplers are in great shape. It has been fitted with KD #5s. I am most impressed by the quality of the trucks. As good as anything on the market today and far superior to what comes with Walthers passenger cars which I have a very low opinion of based on their performance. There are still some kits and completed cars available on ebay from this line, both full length and shorty. I realized what I bargain I got when I discovered a pair of these trucks on ebay would cost me more than five times what I paid for the whole car ($5).
One correction I should make to the OP. The documentation I have since found about these cars indicates they are 65 footers, not 60 as I stated in the OP.
7j43k The 60' car kits came with truck kits: https://hoseeker.net/americanbeauty/americanbeautycatalog1953pg02.jpg Here's the assembly instructions for the truck kits: https://hoseeker.net/americanbeauty/americanbeautystreamlinedfourwheeltruck.jpg All this information (and MORE) is available at hoseeker, a very excellent site for Olde Traine Stuffe. A person might compare them to Central Valley trucks. Ed
My inflation calculator tells me that the $5.45 price in 1953 would be $56.73 in today's dollars. This car is still in excellent condition plus it is equipped with KD #5s and I only paid $5 for it. I think I got a great bargain. This is why I always look over my LHS second hand shelf and the second hand tables at train shows. You never know when you are going to find a nugget at a great price.