ATSF El Capitan stepdown coach

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

I’m modeling the early 70’s in N scale in Ft. Worth, Texas. I want to model the Texas Chief as seen here shortly after the Amtrak take over but before any of the SF equipment was painted.

I’ve already identified the Bachman N scale full length dome as a candidate for the train (even though the letter board is way too big). Anyhow, The two bi-level cars ahead of the full length dome appear to be from the El Cap, so I was thinking about purchasing Kato’s El Cap set so I could have a few of these bi-levels and combine the rest with my Kato Super Cheif starter set to run at the club.

Anyhow, what is a step down coach? If I had to venture a guess one side has it’s access door down low like a conventional coach and the other side has it’s door up high so it can be paired up with another bi-level.

Since the photo’s I’ve seen of the full length dome have it’s door down low, I’m guessing the the second bi-level is a step coach. Is that correct?

2

You’ve pretty much answered your own question. There is a set of steps that go down for conventional equipment. I believe in the early 80s, Amtrak modified the windows and made the front half dorm space for their crew members to use on Superliner trains. Today Amtrak uses the transistion sleepers to do what the step up coaches did.

Hope this helps

3

Thanks Will, I guess sometimes my logic does work. Although my wife might argue with that, lol.

4

Yep you’re right about what a Step-Down Hi-Level is.

But most likely that would be two Step Downs in the Texas Chief photo. The lower ends mating with the lower level equipment. One low end mating to the dome, the high ends meeting between the two Hi-Levels, and the other low end mating to the baggage car. The lower level window arrangement confirms my suspicions if they both are in fact step downs.

More importantly…Kato is doing a Hi-Level trainset!!! I must have been under a rock to miss this one. Almost makes me want to get into N scale.

I’ve been waiting over 11 years for a quality plastic Hi-Level lounge in HO. And now N scale is getting a full trainset soon. Looks like Con-Cor is my only hope for an HO lounge in the not so distant future. I couldn’t wait for one car in the consist, ended up making my own transition topped dorm for our HO El Cap:

5

In addition to the “steps-down” chair cars, Budd also built 12 convertible High-Level chair cars, originally Santa Fe 725 through 736, that could be converted from straight-through High-Levels to steps-down cars when needed. They all went into Amtrak and were renumbered 9925 through 9936.

Here’s the complete Budd High-Level chair car roster, starting with the Santa Fe car numbers:

526-527, 80-foot experimental chair cars with “tumble-home” at upper windows, built 1954, with steps down, became Amtrak 9900-9901

528-537, 82’-8" steps-down chair cars, built 1956, became Amtrak 9902-9911

538-539, 82’-8" steps-down chair cars, built 1964, became Amtrak 9912-9923

700-724, 82’-8" straight-through chair cars, built 1956, became Amtrak 9942-9964

725-736, 82’-8" convertible chair cars, built 1964, became Amtrak 9925-9936

(Don’t ask me what happened to Amtrak 9924.)

Remember that all these cars also had center stairways to the vestibule doors, rest rooms, and luggage-storage racks on the lower level.

So long,

Andy

6

A couple questions about these cars …

  1. How can you tell at a glance which end is the forward end of the car? For that matter any passenger car? Locomotives have an “F” stenciled on them, and I believe most freight cars have some indicator stenciled on them to indicate the forward end simply for ease of a repair order creation.

  2. Did the Step up/down coaches come in two versions? One with the seats facing forward and the stairs at the forward end and another with the seats facing forward and the stairs at the rear? Did the seats rotate in some fashion to face forward whether the stairs were at the front or rear? Or did the seats just face the rear when the stairs were to the rear?

7

There really isn’t a true front to a Step-Up coach. But let’s say that the end with the steps is the front end since on the first car it is always facing forward to meet with lower level baggage cars, dorms, locos, etc…

A good way to tell which end is the “Step Up” end is to look at the upstairs windows.

Find the small single pane window on the upper level. This single upstairs window is always on the end with the upper level connection. So go to the other side with the full double window and you’ll find the “Step Up” end.

So in the photo below the step up end is to the right of the photo since the upstairs single window is to the left:

On the other side of the car find the single upper window, go to the other end of the car and there you’ll find the steps. So in the photo below, the step are to the left of the photo since the single upper window is to the right:

The window trick doesn’t always work though because the non “Step Up” Hi-Level coaches also had the same upstairs window arrangement with the single window on one end. And these non “Step Up” coaches had upper level connections on both ends of the cars.

This isn’t exactly the easiest of explanations, but I hope it helps a bit. I couldn’t really tell you how to figure out the “front” of other passengers cars, if they even have a designated front (“A” end).

Your second question is a lot easier to answer. Yes the seats swiveled so they could face forward. In most photos I’ve seen, the seats on the last car (which had steps on the rear of the train) were swiveled to face forward. Meaning they were facing the

8

Thanks a lot for your reply, it was very helpfull.