Heavyweight Pullmans by Walthers and Branchline- accuracy of air conditioning ducts

[Anonymous]

Thanks for info on the air conditioning ducts. I will start on a Branchline Pullman posthaste! And well, I do remember the old Blue Line and American Beauty kits- very nice for their day. I had built a few of the JC Silversides kits, and recently sold on EBay some that I'd had unbuilt since 1958! What I WOULD like to find in some of the old Exacta HO passenger car kits with the copper engraved sides. Regards- Richard W.

[Anonymous]

Since I still have more than a dozen Walther's ealier kits still in boxes, I won't be in a buying mode for some time. However, I will look into the "Branchline" kits. You may not remember the "Blue Line" or "American Beauty Line" kits, smooth side streamliners [all metal and wood, prepainted]. I managed to find some while visiting LHS across the country while "on the road" for 20 years. All of my cars are of metal and wood. The trucks [4 and 6 wheel] are "Central Valley" of the appropriate type. What were the "steam injectors" on the Milw. for? I know of under body steam traps included in the Walther's kits. Do you detail and light the interiors and is this an option on the "Branchline" kits? The older Walthers cars wiegh a ton with the super detailing options but run smoothly on Central Valley trucks. Happy R.R.ing.

[jimrice4449]

I'm in the process of assembling 10 of the Branchline cars and they blow my mind. I've always been a psgr freak and worked with the old Walthers stamped sheet metal cars and these are like going from a model T to a Rolls-Royce. As for the ductwork, it's accurate. The right side (the side with the most berths, rooms, etc.) is longer than the left. The attention to detail(and research) on these cars can be measured by the fact that each specific car has the proper trucks (top or bottom equalized) and the proper type of AC (ice, Pullman Mechanical or even steam ejector in the case of Milw). Truly awesome.

[Anonymous]

Yes, jsoderq speaks the truth. I checked the site and found it to be very detailed (even pedantic) information. If you wi***o know the number of rivets in any given standard car operating on any given road at any given time with any given road or Pullman number; you can probably find it. There may be a "point of diminshing returns" for all but the scratch builder preparing to build that perfect replica of his favorite prototype car. For the R. to R. or kit builder, the site may bring more frustration than promise for "smack-on" accuracy which is rarely found in commercial kits or built-ups. Yes, there are disagreements among those posting on the Site, still it is worth a visit.

[jsoderq]

Best source for this info is the passenger car list on yahoo. Be forewarned - some of the info posted turns out later to be incorrect so be careful and do thorough research.

[Anonymous]

I am a passenger train enthusiast also. To my knowledge and from all the Walthers kits I have built over the years, the A/C duct work on the roof covered only passenger areas. The length of the "A/C strip" was, e.g. Dining Car: only where passengers sat at tables for meals. Pullman Cars: duct work only over bedrooms, roomettes, births, etc. The faring from the top of the monitor roof to the lower tier was always a problem in kit form. Walthers tried to solve the problem with white metal castings but I found it easier to "fill-in" with wood putty and do some careful fine sanding. Some Pullman Car configurations did indeed run the full-length of the car (usually Club, Observation and Business cars. A few modelers opted to simply choose the high arch (Northeastern Wood) roof sections for "full length" ducts. Unfortunately, the "high arch" roof is not the same profile as monitor roofing with A.C. duct work added. [Ice lockers should be added to the underbody detail also.] There isn't any uniformity except in identical floor plans. In other words, there can be a difference in the length of duct work on an individual car from one side to the opposite side. In my opinion, this is a feature that makes the heavy weight standard cars more intresting than the later "smooth or fluted side" streamliner types. The various "broken" horizontal roof lines seems to add variety that is lacking in later compressor driven A/C (modernized) standards, smooth and fluted sided cars. Mind you, most standard heavy weight "Day Coaches" would not have A/C duct work but monitor roofing only. I hope this is of some value for using your options in building or checking the accuracy of R. to R. cars.

[Anonymous]

I was looking at these kits at the local hobby shop today. They're each beautiful. I was noticing (looking through the cellophane on the boxes) that the air conditioning ducts on the roofs of the Walthers cars were of different lengths according to the style of Pullman (generally the ducts were over the actual passenger areas). I didn't want to try and open the boxes of the Branchline kits, but the line drawings on the boxes for different Pullman configurations seemed to indicate the length of the air conditioning duct was the same in all cases (admittedly the drawing was for only one side of the car). In some cases the duct appeared to extend well beyond the passenger areas.
Can someone give me some information on this, please?
Regards- Richard W.