I know that 60’ passenger cars are not “proto”, but again so is my layout. A few years ago it was possible to find 60’ passengers cars, working just fine on a lay out with 18" radius. Now that most of it is under the “Walthers Empire” (Trainline etc…) I see only 83’ cars by "the Car loads " (Pun intended). I bought a few and “sliced” them but they just don’t work well.
Is there any place where I still can get 60’ passenger cars?
Richard-Connecticut
eBay.
There are usually/often Roundhouse 60 footers available. Look in eBay stores, as well as the auctions.
I understand that Rivarossi is producing their 60’ cars again (mail, baggage, combine, coach) which used to be distributed by Walthers. Also, the older Roundhouse 60’ “Harriman” cars are still around, but you have to hunt for them. Lifelike also produces the “Harriman” style cars. These consisted of baggage, mail, coach, diner and observation.
Tom
Athearn sells some 70 and 72’ passenger cars.
The Rivarossi 60fters look pretty nice. They’re shown in the Walther’s catalog if you have the new one.
I need to know about 72’s vs. the 60s though. (70 fters too?) I posted in another thread but without the email notification
feature I lost track of where it was!
I’ve been wondering what minimum radius 72’ passenger cars would take and still look good. I had some
Athearn 72s on my 22" old layout but can’t really remember how they looked. I know they overhung on 18" inside tracks (double mainline) though and didn’t look great. Loathar do you run them and if so on
what curve radii? Thanks.
I’m thinking of getting a set or two of the Rivarossi 6O fters but holding off until I know my minimum radii on the proposed layout.
Richard, try:
cgi.ebay.com/Rivarossi0420143s687#ebayphotohosting there are some green 60’ers shown in the box there. (I’m not savvy enough to be sure how much of the above address/link you need though…)
I would say for the Athearn 72’ cars a radius of 22" would be alright, but 24" would make them look very good. Since about a 32" is where all of the prototypical length cars shine.
Cheers!
~METRO
Actually, since I wrote the above post, I (via google) found an old post on this forum (April) called a question about radius that showed some good pics. More never hurts though… 
Sorry. No, I don’t own any of the Athearns. I’ve been looking at them. It looks like they come with truck mounted knuckle couplers so they would probably run fine on 22’s. Don’t know about looks though.
I’ve got 26" to 32" curves and my IHC 89’ heavy weights still don’t look great on the smaller curves.
This seems to come up a couple times a year…anyway, the Walthers / Trainline / Rivarossi cars are all based on real prototype 60’ cars. The Chicago and NorthWestern operated 60’ “Utility Coach” and “Utility Combine” cars, the W/T/R cars are accurate models of these cars. Many railroads operated 60’ Baggage or RPO cars, it appears the W/T/R cars may be based on CNW prototypes too, but there were dozens of railroads that ran similar cars.
The model cars use body mounted couplers, which means that they won’t necessarily take sharp curves. In my experience they won’t take 22" radius curves when coupled up as part of a train, let alone 18" radius.
Athearn’s heavyweight RPO, Baggage, and Coach cars are all full-length models. Many coaches were in the 70’-72’ range like the Athearn one, and the IIRC 63’ and 67’ head-end cars are also accurate length. However, Athearn’s heavyweight diner, sleeper and observation car are modelled on 80’ cars but shortened down to 72’. I believe they’re based on ATSF prototypes.
The Athearn cars should take 18" radius curves quite well. Rivarossi’s older passenger cars with truck mounted couplers will too, even 80’ long cars, though they don’t look so good doing it. If you can find the old MDC/Roundhouse 60’ Harriman steel cars with talgo trucks (truck mounted couplers) they might be
I’ve 3 sets of passenger cars, Walthers Santa Fe streamliners (11.75",) Bachman Santa Fe Heavyweight set (11") and the Rivorossi Santa Fe set (8.75").
Subjective observations:
The Walthers look nice, but are by far the most PIA cars I own.
The Rivorossi’s roll and ride the smoothest and have the best detailed look overall.
The Bachmanns are lighted, look pretty good, work well,
Trucks
Walthers - comes with metal wheels that squeak and the cars pull very hard, lub at your own risk. . . Hard to rail.
Bachmann - roll smooth, came with metal wheels. They just work.
Rivorossi - cannot remember if I changed the wheels from plastic to metal, just too long ago, but trucks and wheels are not a problem.
Couplers
Walthers - PIA - MUST replace with Kadees, and the cars overall are temperamental from a coupler standpoint.
Bachmann a #5/148 coupler is too long and makes the gap between the cars too wide.
Rivorossi works and look great with #5s
Lighting
Walthers lighting kit is expensive and tricky to install and the lights flicker and flash.
Bachmanns come with lights that are already installed but flicker and flash.
Rivorossi no light kit option I’ve found.
Consists
Walthers pulled with BLI E-6 A-B both are powered and it is required to go up my 2% grades.
Bachmans pulled with a BLI 4-8-4, nice train, but my 4-8-4 is my most nitpicky locomotive.
Rivorossi set pulled with a Bachmann 2-8-0 and love the ‘local’ effect, a very sweet little train. Sometimes I pull it with my MTH K-4 and while not as ‘cute’ a train, a very nice package too.
Regarding Athearn - I purchased an Athearn streamliner kit 30 years ago and was never able to make it look or work right so I have shunned that brand eversince. Probably not fair to
I bought a set of the Rivarossi 60’ cars to run on my fictional branchline, which has sharper curves than my mainline which has a minimum radius of 36". I think they look outstanding and I think the tighter curves plus mountainous terrain of the branch line would justify shorter equipment. I have a number of the Roundhouse Harriman cars from a previous layout that I might recycle into use on the branchline as well. I’m just not sure how much traffic I can justify on this branch.
I have a set of the Rivarossi 60-footers that I use as my local passenger, the “Yuba River Express” (which is anything BUT, since it flag-stops at local fishing holes along the river). They look good behind either my 4-6-0 or 800 series Pacific. I also have a set of the Roundhouse “Harriman” cars, and occasionally, if traffic warrants, I’ll mix in a Harriman or two with the Rivarossi with no problem. Makes for an interesting little 4 to 6 car local train.
Tom [:)]
Discount Trains, check’em out. I have the same set and they run well and don’t look bad on part of my layout with 18"R. But look much better on 22R and 24R, scale is 55’.
http://www.discounttrainsonline.com/HO-Scale-Passenger-Cars-MDC-Roundhouse/HO_PAS_480_1.html
oops sorry they are 50’ not 55’. Dummy me! They are MRC ready to run and I got to tell ya the detail isn’t that bad on them.
Labelle has Great Wood kits of 60ft passenger cars, They are great looking and fun to build. The Great Western Rwy in Colorado had a 55ft coach baggage combination that I am building from a Labelle kit with some modifications…
Thank you on behalf of the OP and myself for all of these great responses. I’m pretty sold on the Rivarossis so far. Pics available? I’ve only seen them in the box so far. I’m pretty sure I had good operational behavior from the Athearn 72’s (etc.) “back in the day”. They never decoupled on 22" radius but my inner loop was 18" and they looked pretty silly on those to my eye and I’m not as particular as some. They’re really nice looking passenger cars for a very good price. I still lust after them when I see them on the store shelves but
I think I will go to shorter cars to get longer trains even if I can get broad curves on my next layout.
What are these Bachmann cars? The shortest I can find are the Spectrum 72ft. You’ve got me intrested
Richard, you are mistaken. While several model makers have produced shortened versions of prototype cars, there were many 20th century prototype “heavy weight” passenger cars only 60 feet long. For instance, the Espee had substantial number of baggage, combine, RPO (a few only 40-feet long) and coaches of that length. But remember, these measurements were taken between the vestibules, so the actual car lengths (coupler to coupler) might be a few feet greater than 60 feet for certain types.
Mark
Let’s not forget these: