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Easy Sharpening Up of your Passenger Car Interiors.

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  • Member since
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  • From: Indiana
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Posted by Flashwave on Saturday, May 21, 2011 12:29 AM

AntonioFP45
Guys A MUST SEE FOR NEW YORK CENTRAL FANS!

Many of you likely have seen "North By Northwest". What a movie! Yes, I'm 43 and had never seen it until recently. Cary Grant was truly a classy actor. The type of image that mothers wanted their little boys to be.

Anyway, great interior and exterior shots of New York Central equipment. Too many colors to list here. Easier just to get the DVD from a store or check it out from your local library.

Beign the impaitent little scum that I am, I'll try anyway. Googled "North by Nortwest train scenes". granted, these appear to be for the 20th Century, not the stainless I need, but the bedding seems to be a burnt sienna or a mineral red, dpending on color fade for movies of that era. Chair upholstry in sleeping compartment matches too.There's more grey in the cream color paint on the walls of the sleeper and diner, maybe an eggshell?. Floor carpeting is a faded dusty brown.

 

-Morgan

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Posted by chatanuga on Saturday, May 21, 2011 1:20 PM

For my Amtrak Heritage fleet, I popped the tops and sides off my cars and hand painted the interiors with toothpicks and #0 brushes.  Took a lot of work and time, but it was worth it.  Just need to add people now when I get the time and money.

For the diner, I painted the table clothes white and the seats a maroon color that looked about like what I've seen in some pics of Amtrak diners.  The kitchen area was painted an aluminum color to simulate the chrome surfaces.  On the walls of the rest of the car's interior, I used a sandy tan color, which looked better than the plastic tan.

For my two Walthers coaches, two 10-6 sleepers, and two slumbercoaches, I painted the tops of the seat backs white and then used toothpicks to apply a dark blue (again going by what I remember seeing in Amtrak pics) to form the edges of the headrests.  The rest of the seats were painted dark blue, and the walls were painted in the same sandy tan color as the diner's walls.

On the one coach that had center posts on the windows, I took a small pieces of masking tape, tore them in two, and then placed the straight edges on either side of the posts.  I then used a toothpick to apply silver to the posts to better match the prototype pics I've seen of these cars.  This car is actually numbered the same as the real car that I saw in Fostoria on the Broadway Limited in 1994.

On the open vestibule ends, I added end gates to keep my passengers from falling out.

With the lounge car, I went back to the same maroon color that I used on the diner seats and painted the seats and walls the same as I did the coaches.

I'm happy with the results.  Looks better than the plain tan interiors, and a few people in each car will complete them.

Kevin

 

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Posted by Motley on Saturday, May 21, 2011 2:05 PM

Speaking of the NYC. I completed a few cars. I went with blue seats, grey walls, and brown carpet.

Michael


CEO-
Mile-HI-Railroad
Prototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989

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Posted by dcfixer on Sunday, May 22, 2011 11:18 AM

chatanyga:  Your seats look great.  Nice work with the covers and colors.Thumbs Up

Motely:  Awesome interior, Man.  Looks really nice.  I'm impressed.Thumbs Up

Unfortunately, I have been to busy with health related issues, selling our home and moving to do any work at all on my models lately.  Most of my hobby stuff is packed up.  I really miss it, but hope to get back to it before Christmas.  I haven't been participating in the forum (or my website) lately, and won't be participating very much for awhile.  No matter how things turn out, I will never forget all the great people and great times I have experienced here.

DC

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Posted by AntonioFP45 on Monday, May 23, 2011 10:16 PM

Hey guys,

I was pleasantly surprised to see this thread come back again (I hope the "anti-old thread police" aren't going to taser us! ). 

Chatanuga, great job on your Amtrak interiors.  To me those colors look on target as I often rode Amtrak's Heritage cars during the 80s-90s and took plenty of photos.

------------------------------------------

Motley, what a difference adding passengers makes!  Very nice.  In looking at your passengers clothing, I'm assuming that this is early 1960s?  I've seen photos of my mom in the early 60s and in one shot she's wearing pants similar to the woman in pink.  

-----------------------------------------

DCFixer,

I'm saddened to read about your situation.  You've been an outstanding asset to passenger train modelers and are regarded highly.  Your talented work is well known.  I pray that your health improves and that you'll be back posting here soon, showing off more of your work.

God Bless, amigo.


"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"

 


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Posted by Flashwave on Friday, June 17, 2011 2:44 AM

Alright ye gods of color, I'm hunting for Southern 10-6 and C&O 10-5 chair/bed colors.

Also, if you find yourself on Ebay and catch the Chinese el-cheapo pcks of people, they really aren't bad. I still reccomend Prieser for the majority, but it's a quality/quantitiy thing. These chinese peeps are great for passenger cars, and you can get two of them into a Walthers seat. IF they're thin enough. But lets face it, anyone who's ridden a train is familiar with the passenger who should've bought two tickets...

 

-Morgan

  • Member since
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  • From: Anna, TX
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Posted by CP guy in TX on Friday, June 17, 2011 10:36 PM

Thank's Antonio for an interesting thread.

Like you, I'm a serious passenger train modeler, but some things elude me, I gotta say.

CPR heavyweights? I've been winging it when it comes to interior colors. Maroon seats, grey walls and tan flooring is what I've been doing, with a few cars with grey and tan seats for contrasy.

One thing I've founf that really helps the heavyweights is to model at least a few windows open on each car. Open windows were a VERY prominent feature in the old CPR photos, and other roads too. I don't know about other manufacturers, but on all my Branchline coaches. You can easily cut the bottom sills away on the "open" windows and just use short glazing after painting a thin tuscan line on the bottom of the glass to represent the bottom sill on the open window. I assume Con-Cor and Wathers cars are similar.

Also, sunshades. Olive green paper glued to the insides of the windows at different heights goes a long way to help.

End gates as well, of course

A little goes a very long way to make passenger cars much more realistic.

Thanks for the great thread!

 

Van Hobbies H1b, K1a, T1c, D10g, F1a, F2a, G5a. Division Point: H24-66 Hammerhead, Alco covered wagons A-B-B-A, C-Liner A-B-B-A, EMD FP7A A-B-B.

H1b modified to replicate modern day 2816. All with Tsunamis.

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Posted by steamfreightboy on Saturday, June 18, 2011 3:10 PM

Do you know where to get seats for a 60' coach or combine?

sfb

"It's your layout, only you have to like it." Lin's Junction
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Posted by AntonioFP45 on Sunday, June 19, 2011 7:56 PM

CPGuy in Texas,

Thank you for your kind comments. Good tip regarding the heavyweight cars.  I have none, but since I'm modeling the 1960s, I'm going to need a few since the New Haven and the ACL were still running heavyweights during that time period.

Flashwave,

Might help a little:  I rode in a Southern sleeper years back after Amtrak had just acquired the equipment (1980?) and it had not been painted yet.  It's been 30 years, but I still remember the walls being the "typical" beige-tan color that was common on various roads. 

 

SteamFreightBoy,

Check this out:  http://www.palacecarco.com/products.php?cat=7 

"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"

 


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Posted by steamfreightboy on Sunday, June 19, 2011 8:15 PM

Thanks Antonio!

"It's your layout, only you have to like it." Lin's Junction
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Posted by AntonioFP45 on Sunday, June 19, 2011 8:25 PM

Hey guys,

Here's a "Tube" clip of that Steve McQueen movie I referred to way back in the beginning of this thread.  Although it's the Amtrak era, still some very nice shots of ex-Southern Pacific equipment during the early 1970s. Man, those windows are huge! Nothing like the tiny windows we get today when riding in Horizon Fleet cars or the  "Amcans".

Note the dome car interior.  Also that the color of the seats in the coaches are green, but on one coach they're red.  Go figure!Stick out tongue


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty9i2frK1CI&feature=related

"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"

 


  • Member since
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  • From: Indiana
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Posted by Flashwave on Sunday, June 19, 2011 8:51 PM

AntonioFP45

Flashwave,

Might help a little:  I rode in a Southern sleeper years back after Amtrak had just acquired the equipment (1980?) and it had not been painted yet.  It's been 30 years, but I still remember the walls being the "typical" beige-tan color that was common on various roads. 

 

Alright, so I'll leave the walls the same, what corolr were the seats,do you remember?

-Morgan

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Posted by AntonioFP45 on Sunday, June 19, 2011 10:27 PM

I don't remember the seat color. I've searched the web and, frustratingly, there are loads of Southern Crescent exterior photos but up close shots featuring the seat colors seem to be quite elusive!  

Take a look at these

A. This is the conductor on the SC.  I don't know if he's in a lounge car or coach, but you can see seat colors, which seem to lean towards the yellow-beige family.

http://www.railpixs.com/southern/SouthernCrescent_conductor_Dec78.jpg

B. Restored equipment, although I don't know the interiors were restored to their original color schemes.

http://www.americanrail.com/Royal_Street.htm

 

 

"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"

 


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Posted by Flashwave on Monday, June 20, 2011 2:59 AM

AntonioFP45

I don't remember the seat color. I've searched the web and, frustratingly, there are loads of Southern Crescent exterior photos but up close shots featuring the seat colors seem to be quite elusive!  

Take a look at these

A. This is the conductor on the SC.  I don't know if he's in a lounge car or coach, but you can see seat colors, which seem to lean towards the yellow-beige family.

http://www.railpixs.com/southern/SouthernCrescent_conductor_Dec78.jpg

B. Restored equipment, although I don't know the interiors were restored to their original color schemes.

http://www.americanrail.com/Royal_Street.htm

 

 

Certainly food for thought. The car I;m doing is a Budd Stainless Steel, not the painted Cresent, I don't know if that will influence the interior colorsa. This si a run-through sleeper that would've come off of train 28 (Cinncinatian?) and was picked up by NYC's James Whitcomb Riley (which is now the Indiana leg of Amtrak's Cardinal) to be taken up to Chicago.

The Royal Street is an L&N car, not Southern, so they may have had a different interior anyway, I can still send them an inquiry though!

-Morgan

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Posted by G Paine on Tuesday, June 21, 2011 12:07 PM

steamfreightboy
Do you know where to get seats for a 60' coach or combine?

sfb

If you can find them, IHC interior kits can be cut down / kitbashed to fit shorter cars like Athearn or Roundhouse. This is a photo of an IHC interior that I modified to fit an Athearn heavyweight.

This is a thread where I described how I did the modification
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/p/166695/1832385.aspx#1832385

George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch 

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Posted by Flashwave on Tuesday, June 21, 2011 2:19 PM

G Paine

 steamfreightboy:
Do you know where to get seats for a 60' coach or combine?

sfb

If you can find them, IHC interior kits can be cut down / kitbashed to fit shorter cars like Athearn or Roundhouse. This is a photo of an IHC interior that I modified to fit an Athearn heavyweight.
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q301/ggpaine/Model%20Railroad/Locos%20and%20Rolling%20Stock/IHCInteriorComparetoCutdowntoFitAth.jpg

This is a thread where I described how I did the modification
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/p/166695/1832385.aspx#1832385

Far as Combines, I think Palace Car Co has a combine kit for the Rpundhouse/MDC Harrimans, that could be retro'd in as well.

-Morgan

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Posted by AntonioFP45 on Sunday, July 31, 2011 7:28 PM

Here's something that may be useful.  This link features vintage postcards. Scattered on the page (you have to scroll down to see them all) are 8 shots of interiors. A few of them are illustrated but at least the colors are shown, which is what is our primary focus.  The Southern Pacific "Shasta" and the Union Pacific's "COLA" are included.

http://www.cardcow.com/viewall/29489/


High Greens Big Smile

"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"

 


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Posted by cats think well of me on Sunday, July 31, 2011 8:15 PM

Cool stuff thank you Antonio!

Alvie

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Posted by jharrison on Thursday, August 4, 2011 3:33 PM

Does anyone have any info about Super Chief interior colors, probably the seats are the most important. I have Patrick Dorin's Super Chief/El Cap book but there seem to be some discrepancies in it. I have just finished superdetailing the diaphragms on the new Walthers cars and want to populate and paint the interiors before I put the roofs on. They are such a pain I don't want to take them off again.

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Posted by Charlie on Thursday, August 4, 2011 8:08 PM

The ceilings were painted Turquois walls light beige the carpeting was a green fern pattern. Coach seats were a blue green (seafoam). These colors are for the chair cars. I don't remember the colors for the various sleepers, diners and lounge cars both low level and domes.

Charlie

MP 53 on the BNSF Topeka Sub

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Posted by St Francis Consolidated RR on Thursday, August 4, 2011 9:33 PM

   Brilliant Antonio...brilliant, and the comments and your response too!.

   This is the kind of discussion that makes this forum good.

    Thanks!!!!

The St. Francis Consolidated Railroad of the Colorado Rockies

Denver, Colorado


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Posted by AntonioFP45 on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 4:56 AM

Thank you very kindly.

Here's another postcard shot.  This one is the El Capitan's dining car. 

http://www.cardcow.com/219499/dining-car-santa-fes-el-capitan-transportation-trains-railroad/

"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"

 


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