Howdy: I’ve noticed that there are 70 foot and 85 foot heavyweight passenger cars. My question is did railroads run one type or the other or did they mix them on their routes?
the goat
Typical Pullman sleepers and diners were 80+ feet long. Coaches could typically vary from 70’-80’ in length. Since most sleepers were built/operated by Pullman, they used standard Pullman plans and were usually very consistent in length.
Jim
The simple answer is, “yes”. When the Zephyrs came into existance (the self propelled ones) streamlining became the rage including steam engines and the rush was on. It was not an overnight conversion and lasted into the late 50’s so cars were inserted into trains as they were delivered. While the streamlined cars were new and clean experienced travellers and private car owners today cherished those heavyweights for the riding qualities and comfort. So dependent on your time frame it is perfectly ok to throw in an occasional heavyweight or streamlined car in a consist.
You must remember that many model cars that are advertised as 70’ cars are not copies of prototype cars, but are shortened versions of 80’+ cars, so that they will operate on 18" to 24" radius curves.
Unless you are talking about a railroads ‘queen of the fleet’, passenger trains (prior to Amtrak) could have consists of many different types of cars and even different railroads. Even their number one train could have a mix of heavy and light weight cars, express cars, express box cars, etc.
Dale Latham
And don’t forget about the head end cars, which is where most passenger trains made all their money! Baggage cars were generally much shorter than passenger cars, and most were only about 60 feet long. Heavyweight RPOs weren’t much longer, and there were even a few mail storage cars that were shorter still (ever see a 40’ heavyweight?). There were even a few “streamlined” shorties in service; the IC’s 50’ mail storage cars spring to mind.
Heavyweight mail storage cars generally lasted in service longer than long distance heavyweight Pullmans, diners and coaches, with large PC fleets of the cars lasting right up into Amtrak. So while the people-carrying cars on a later passenger train might have been matched 80 foot streamliners, the head end stuff would be a hodge podge of older cars of varying lengths and paint schemes.