Easy Sharpening Up of your Passenger Car Interiors.

[Rotorranch]

Cool, Antonio! Looking forward to getting this info, as I'm about to commence building my IHC interior kits for "The Kid's" Chessie Fan Trip train. It'll be cool to do it in the correct colors!

Rotor

[AntonioFP45]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Rotorranch

Any color suggestions for my passenger trains? Chicago & Alton, Great Northern Empire Builder, Southern heavyweights, and Chessie Steam Fan Trippers? Also early AMTRAK?

How do you guys find all this stuff?

Rotor

Rotor,

I may be able to help you on the Chessie steam trip cars as I rode them in 1981 and took some photos. I'll post the info later along with Will-O after I look at the photos. I wish I had a scanner so I can post them on this forum.

As for how we find this stuff, it's easy. Looking through personal photos, visiting musuems or tourist lines in any town I stop in (my poor wife puts up with it), looking at photos on websites and in books. I was amazed at how many streamlined and heavyweight passenger cars are preserved in Florida and Georgia alone. Many times they're in tiny out of the way towns on the map. Anytime I hear of passenger equipment present near a town I'm visiting, I'll take a "little detour" to check it out.

I just found out yesterday that there are two ex-Seaboard Airline passenger cars preserved at Boca, Raton Florida. So next time I go to Miami to visit my cousin, "I'll likely take a little detour!".

What got me started on this thread is that years ago I saw a Marklin HO passenger car with a beautifully detailed interior, complete with colors! I stared at this car for the longest. It dawned on me years later that painting the cheap IHC kits would make a big difference.

Peace!

[csmith9474]

I just spent last night building an interior for a Santa Fe 4-4-2 Regal sleeper. Looks alright. I also recently built an interior for a P/S baggage dormitory. I found that .020 styrene works fairly well. I am about to do a Palm interior which is a 10-6 (which equals a pain in the behind). Is Red Cap still doing interior details?

[Anonymous]

Thanks Antonio, look forward to seeing the photos.
This morning I got a book called Streamliners by Mike Schafer and Joe Welsh.. There were a number of photos of interiors in coulor, but not from the California Zephyr. Otherwise it's a lovely book with lots of great pictures. Makes you dream.
William

[AntonioFP45]

Will,

I'll look through my photos. I'll come back and edit this post with info. Hopefully my photos will show the details you're asking about.

Peace!

[Anonymous]

Great thread this. Antonio mentioned that the California Zephyr Dome cars had yellow and white seats, did these colours apply to the other cars in the consist.?
What other colours were employed, for the walls, floor etc? There are only black and white photos in the books I have and I have not found any colour pictures on the web.
william

[Rotorranch]

Any color suggestions for my passenger trains? Chicago & Alton, Great Northern Empire Builder, Southern heavyweights, and Chessie Steam Fan Trippers? Also early AMTRAK?

How do you guys find all this stuff?

Rotor

[AntonioFP45]

CSmith,

Thanks for the idea on window shades and using sheet styrene. It makes sense that styrene would adhere much better to plastic than cardstock. I've seen white styrene at various hobby shops. I want to try window shades on some of the Rivorossi passenger cars that I'm currently detailing to better match the Walthers Budds.

Roger that.

[csmith9474]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Don Gibson

I find simulating window shades the most 'bang' for the buck., particularly if one treats each window individually. Some passenger's have them all the way up to see the view, some all the way down to block the sun and sleep, and the rest in between. Time consuming, but cheap.

IHC and all cheap lighting kit's suffer from unrealistic flicker. and flicker free lighting cost's more than the car.

http://www.richmondcontrols.com/

(signed) fellow passeger nut.

I have been using blank cardstock for shades, but am going to try to use sheet styrene. There are a couple of reasons for this. My first is humidity, shich needs no explanation, and the second is adhesion to the car body. I have tried different methods for sucuring th cardstock to the car body, but none is perfect. I model passenger trains almost exclusively.

[Don Gibson]

I find simulating window shades the most 'bang' for the buck., particularly if one treats each window individually. Some passenger's have them all the way up to see the view, some all the way down to block the sun and sleep, and the rest in between. Time consuming, but cheap.

IHC and all cheap lighting kit's suffer from unrealistic flicker. and flicker free lighting cost's more than the car... especially an IHC car.

http://www.richmondcontrols.com/

(signed) fellow passenger nut.

[AntonioFP45]

C-69

Wow. Sorry amigo, While I may have seen some before I don't know the names of the specific books that deal with scratchbuilding passenger cars. But consider posting a new thread and ask for this info as there are some scratchbuilders on this forum.

Sorry I could not be more helpful.

[AntonioFP45]

Hello Ken,

I wasn't slighting Norfolk and Western on purpose. The info I've been providing is based on photos that I've seen in books, magazines, private collections, on the web, and of course inside prototypes like Amtrak or museum equipment.

Good news in your case is that there are still N&W smooth sided streamlined passenger cars in existence, though I don't remember if they belong to a society or a private owner.

My suggestion would be to go to this link:  http://nwhs.org/contacts.html

These good guys have a wealth of information and might be able to e-mail you the details or even some photo shots. Make sure you tell them exactly what you are requesting and that you wi***o share the info with fellow modelers on this forum.

Let us know how it goes.

[NZRMac]

Antonio, I didn't see Norfolk & Western mentioned anywhere?

I have Bachmann spectrum heavyweight 4 car set and 4 extra coaches.

any suggestions?

Thanks, Ken.

[Anonymous]

antonio! please help me with some recomendations on reading material which might help me in my scratch building attempts of classic passenger cars.

[e-mail]

[jimrice4449]

While we're gussying up psgr cars lets do some frosted windows for ltwt cars. Get a piece of clear plastic (enough for a BIG bunch of windows) and lay out a bunch of parallel strips of 2" (scale) masking tape on 2" centers. Spray w/ a mist of white ( a little heavier than you would do Grimy black if weathering). Strip off the masking tape and repeat. The painted side goes to the car's interior.

[wt259]

Great topic!! Any thoughts on the interior colors for the late ATSF Chief or the ATSF business fleet? The few pics I found on Fallen Flags showed a tan interior with blue seats.

[AntonioFP45]

Hey, to UP Modelers! Here's a more encouraging update, I hope.

( I need to buy a digital camera and a photo scanner! ).

I found an excellent prototype interior shot of a yellow, streamlined UP coach. Though smoothsided it has rivets on the body.

I was quite surprised to see that the wall and ceiling color is a very light "Powder Blue" especially since Light Tan was often the favorite with western roads. Basicallly looks like White with a small amount of Blue tint. To get this color, IMHO, it looks like mixing 4 parts Bright white, and 1 part Great Northern Big Sky Blue would do the job .

The seats in this coach are vinyl and the most reasonable color that I found on the model paint charts is SOO Line Red, IMHO.

Remember though, just as with other railroads different color schemes were applied over the years.

Cheers!

[AntonioFP45]

QUOTE: Originally posted by biggsy

hi there. painting the interiors is a good idea if you know the colors, i am in Australia and finding out is hard,so what are the interior colors of the union pacific passenger cars, all the photos i have and have found on the net are in black and white,i e-mailed the uphs but never got a reply,so any help would be great. thanks biggsy

Hello Biggsy,

The photo of a UP passenger coach's interior that I have is grainy. Looking at the photo carefully, here's my best guess:

Seats: Dark Tan, Headrest area Chocolate Brown.
Walls: Greeni***an.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

Perform a web search and contact some of the UP railfan and historian clubs. Since UP still has a set of the passenger cars for use on excursions and officer's specials someone has to have some interior shots!

Cheers[8D]

[biggsy]

hi there. painting the interiors is a good idea if you know the colors, i am in Australia and finding out is hard,so what are the interior colors of the union pacific passenger cars, all the photos i have and have found on the net are in black and white,i e-mailed the uphs but never got a reply,so any help would be great. thanks biggsy

[csmith9474]

Another great place to look for passenger car interior decor is old magazine ads. Most of the ads are dead on with interior colors, but some are artistic interpretation. But as posted before, don't get too wrapped up in getting the perfect colors, just make it look good for you. One area you may want to try to get right is dome seating and carpeting. This is the only area that I have made a point to get right.

[AntonioFP45]

Hi Crew,

For you B&O modelers!

Heavyweight coaches: "Cincanattian": Dark red seats, similar to Caboose Red. Tan walls.

Heavy weight coaches: 1948 rebuilt version. Beige seats. Yellow-Beige Walls. Flourescent lights in center of ceiling.

UPChallenger,

I haven't gotten to the point of lighting my Rivorossi cars yet, which are similar to the IHCs, so my info might not be helpful. From what you describe though, I would go ahead and try one car. The screw stud protruding through the floor might not be noticeable because out typical vantage point when running passenger trains is about 2 feet "above" our layout.

For lighting, I don't plan to use the IHC kits though. Miller is supposed to be introducing a flourescent lighting kit in 2006 using diodes. I might not wait that long. With help from a friend, I'm strongly considering installing "blue-white" diodes in my Rivorossi cars as these resemble flourescent bulbs. Since diodes are point sources of light, I'm going to experiment with a piece of mylar to see if the light can be spread.

It will be a while, but when I do it I'll post my results right away, regardless of the outcome.

[Anonymous]

Antonio

This is my first post so forgive me if this has been discussed.

I too have been detailing the interiors for my IHC Heavyweights, but I have a question regarding the IHC lighting kits and how they work with the IHC interiors! I hope you, or someone has the answer.

As you are proabably aware, these lighting kits come with metal wheel sets to replace the plastic ones along with a bushing, screw, nut and wire mounting post to replace the original plastic pin that held the trucks on originally, and also to help aid in the wire hookup.

I followed the instructions to a tee, inserted the bushing in the truck, then proceeded to insert the screw from the bottom up throught he floor board and and secured it with one of the tiny nuts provided. However, when I went to dry fit the interior the screw was sticking up too far to allow the interior to lay flat. Another problem that arose was the directions call for you to loop a wire connected to the light around the screw, then place the mounting post on top of that and finally a second nut to secure the post and wire.

According to how it lays out now, there is no way to intall the mounting post because that would require the screw and post to portrude through the floor of the interior! If that is the case IHC never hints around to do this in their instructions.

Just wondering if you or anyone may be able to shed some light (pun intended), or may have had a similar experience with these kits. From what I see, they don't look compatible with each other, although they're both IHC products. And it wouldn't make any sense to have an interior if you can't light it up, right?

Thanks in advance!

[AntonioFP45]

O.K Passenger Train Crews, here's another railroad.

I've had the priviledge of knowing Mr. Jim Langston, a well liked, down-to-earth manager at CSX.

According to his info, Seaboard Coast Line streamlined passenger trains typically had Greenish-Blue coach seats. Lounge cars often had tan and red tables and chairs. There were variances since SCL had passenger cars acquired from other railroads, including Chessie.

Good enough for me though as it's difficult to find interior photos of SCL streamlined cars, inspite of their popular New York to Florida runs. I'll be mixing Model Flex Santa Fe Dk. Blue with a color similar to CN Green. Lounge cars tended to have tans and reds on seats and tables. Your basic earth colors.

UP_Santa Fe: Great idea on using mirrors your bathrooms. Even from the outside that's an item that could stand out in a lighted car.

10-4!

[AntonioFP45]

Here's something unusual,

Any of you ever hear of the LRC trains? 

VIA in Canada used these. Amtrak trial ran at least one train for a while back in the 80s. Interiors are brighty lit, the seats are an unusual but attractive Blue-Green " color.

If you go to www.railpictures.net go to the blank "Search Box" towards the bottom and type LRC. On the 2nd photo shot page you'll see the interior photo of a VIA LRC coach. IMPRESSIVE! Note the flourescent lighting.

Cheers!

[AntonioFP45]

Hey guys, found another photo!

There are some NJT fans on this forum.

A retired ex-Santa Fe 1950s streamlined "heritage" coach used by New Jersey Transit. Seats are a bright blue. The material looks similar to the tough vinyl used on modern school buses so it's safe to assume that Santa Fe's upholstery dissappeard years ago.

The closest color approximation, IMHO, would be Conrail Blue , which I think is available in Acrylic and Solvent model paint brands.

High Greens!

[Anonymous]

I've painted most of my passenger fleet interiors. Though not completely "prototypical" colors, they have a very real appearance. I also added mirrors in the restrooms, etc. and it sure adds to the visual effects of the lighting in the interiors.

As soon as I can afford it (saving up for lots of Kato track!) I will be adding the passengers and railroad staff themselves.

[cefinkjr]

Great idea and fairly easy to implement!!

Anybody have knowledge of the proper color(s) for a troop Pullman. I would guess the bunks would be made up with Pullman's standard rose or olive green blankets but that's just a guess.

Chuck

[AntonioFP45]

QUOTE: Originally posted by simon1966

Actually, I am glad you resurfaced this one as I could not remember the title and as a result did not find it with a search, I am just starting to put my Walthers cars in service, so this is a great reminder.

Thanks as always...

Very glad it's helpful.

Don't forget to post your results after you work on your Walther's cars! [;)]

[simon1966]

Actually, I am glad you resurfaced this one as I could not remember the title and as a result did not find it with a search, I am just starting to put my Walthers cars in service, so this is a great reminder.

Thanks as always...

[simon1966]

He did it again!!!! Actually, this was the thread I mentioned in the "Does anyone know any good threads" thread that was on the board a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, what better post to hit 3 stars on than in acknowledging a forum "Master"

[:D][:D][:D][bow][bow][:-^]