The Athearn coach is based on a Santa Fe coach, which was 70' long. Santa Fe had quite a few passenger cars too.
I suspect 90% or more of Pullman, diners, and observation heavyweight cars were 80' long. For coaches, it would be more like 50% from what I've read / seen. So yes the majority of "all passenger" cars as you define it would be 80', but that doesn't change the fact that a huge number of coaches were 70' long.
Paul3At any rate, even if the majority of heavyweight coaches were under 80' and therefore the Athearn coach is close to being "normal", that still doesn't help the Athearn heavyweight "Pullman", Observation, and Diner. They are still "toy-like" compared to actual prototype. Same goes for the Athearn streamline Vista Dome, Diner, and Observation.
And no one has disputed that these particular cars are completely freelanced and have no prototype, EXCEPT, for the heavy weight observation which is darn close to Canadian Pacific #27 and several other business cars that where only 70' long +/-.
The Santa Fe had a large fleet of heavyweights that included the following types: coach, RPO/passenger combine, baggage/passenger combine, snack bar car,chair smoker,parlor club, and lounge car. All of which were about 75' buffer to buffer. They are all clearly listed on the ATSF historic society web site, and are well documented in an old pubication by Walthers titled "Passengr Car Plans" which documents prototypes, lengths, floor plans and window arrangements of all the passenger cars they produced in thier old metal and wood kit line. Ask at your club, some old timer is bound to have a copy. Its listing of other heavyweight coaches and combines also support the fact that few were as long a Pullman sleepers.
Paul, I have a number of passenger car reference books and a large MR/RMC collection with dozen upon dozen of steel heavy weight coach drawings most all of which are shorter than Pullman sleepers/diners/obervations/lounges. Some are only slightly shorter, still measuring slightly over 80' buffer to buffer. But many, from roads big a small and from all major car builders are only 78', 76', 75', 72', etc, etc.
And even the P70 you mentioned, is just barely 80'. Set a Bachmann P70 next to any accurate Pullman sleeper model. The P70 is about 5' shorter, buffer to buffer. OK, not as short as an Athearn coach, but not the same length as the Pullman.
This has been my big point all long which everyone ignores - THERE IS NO ONE SET CORRECT PROTOTYPE LENGTH FOR PASSENGER CARS. They where all different. Even Pullman sleepers varied a foot or two with several floor plans built on one under frame and several others on a slightly different one. This is in fact why Branchline has only come out with the specific cars they have, because they are the prototypes on the same underframe.
But then we could get into all the stuff that is incorrect on them. Like how they all have same brake system yet Pullmans had several different brake systems and each road had its preference. And some cars started out with one system and where changed to the other later, and so on.
But I know, shorter cars look toy like, even if they are correct.
Sheldon
Some famous guy said, "There are Lies, Damned lies, and Statistics."
Although you can certainly compute an "average" car length, or an "average" railroad, no such thing actually exists. An average is a statistical concept that does not necessarily apply to any single case.
Of the major passenger carrying RR's (NH and PRR), it stands to reason that they would specify 80' coaches due to their large seating capacity. Much of the rest of the RR world muddled along with shorter coaches and relied on freight for revenue.
Even the PRR had a large fleet of all-steel, shorter coaches than the P70 (the P54), used in commuter and branch service. If you consider the LIRR, which was owned by the PRR, you will find even more P54's and their derivatives (steam hauled, not electric).
Even so, the only justification for Athearn or other shortened cars is the compromise necessary to fit model railroads into spaces they don't really fit. End of story. Rather than compromise, my preference is to run 80' cars on broad curves, and forgo the dubious pleasures of a congested-looking railroad that is better suited for backwoods logging or mining than main line passenger operation. When I had a railroad with 13" minimum radius, I used a 36', scale length passenger car (Tyco "civil war" combine). I was only 12 at the time, but that remains my philosophy today, at 60. If it doesn't fit, I choose not to run it, rather than monkeying with scale proportions. My opinion, and mine alone.
My concern with Athearn heavyweights is that whenever someone asks about them, someone else always says "Athearn cars are all "shorties" and you shouldn't use them because they're not prototypical". The point I like to make is the RPO/Baggage combine, Baggage and Coach cars are in fact not "shorties" but are models of cars that were 70' or shorter in real life. For many model railroads, a passenger train of say the Athearn RPO/Baggage combine and a couple of their coaches would be all they'd need, and they could get it at a reasonable cost.