Kitbashing a diner: Passenger car suggestions

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
21

Thanks, Wayne! Those look terrific! [:)][tup] And, thanks for the lattice idea. I had been mulling over what exactly to do with the car wells.

UPDATE:

I stopped off an LHS with a buddy of mine and found an 80’ IHC sleeper car (w/o trucks) for $8. I went ahead and bought it just to experiment with it.

After sawing it in half and placing it on the layout, I’m still having problems finding a good place for it. I also have to accomodate for parking and that does take up some space. Also, this particular car doesn’t appear to be wide enough to make for a plausible diner.

Another thought is to cut the shell long ways and just use the front portion as a facade. I’d then need to scratch-build or kitbash the rear of the diner, as well as the kitchen area. I could use something like the Walthers brick wall panels to do that.

I’ll still take a look at the MDC coaches that Wayne mentioned. I like the look of them.

Tom

22

One problem is that many diners were made to look like they were made from old passenger cars, but were in fact built either on-site from scratch, or in a factory and came ready-made. That way they could make them a little wider than the normal width of a real passenger car.

Keep in mind too that their might be a separate building butting up against diner where the cooking was done and the food was stored.