Okay I apologize but I am finding the taks of pairing passenger cars to a locomotive AND fitting an eara as difficult as landscaping my flower beds (which I suck at). I am a firm believer somethings I am just good at, and other things, not so much. I need help picking out the correct passenger cars (which I have to point out is a overwhelming processes). I have a light mountain 4-8-2 New Haven bachmann spectrum N Scale steamer. I would like to model the steam eara of the New Haven / New England area on my new layout. So far, I am purchasing track and beginning the track laying process, however I want to know where I am going next for passenger cars as I like to plan out a head of time. So I am looking for a passenger set to match the locomotive, but have (for the 5th or 7th time) only come away more overwhelmed than the last time I tried looking for passenger cars. It seems if you’re not shoping for Santa fe, PA, or NYC, you’re out of luck. I’m at a complete loss, even contemplating if I picked the right era and locomotive to base my layout for. My hands are up in the air. I love steam, it;s much more magical for me than diesel … so I 100% want steam and the eara that comes with. I also want a new england / rhode island / maybe NY style layout scene. But I have no idea where to start. Also, what about those RDC cars? Are they in the steam eara? I think one of those running through a city much like a subway would be cool, but am I mixing earas? Some of my questions include: What’s a pullman standard, and why is that all that’s for sale everywhere I look (lol). What amtrak phase set fits the steam eara best? Why is it so tedious to shop for passenger cars? Does anyone know an eaiser way? How do you gu-ru’s do it? What do I need to know to shop out and purchase the best passenger car set for my layout and my railroad (New haven)?
I had a difficult time reading your post (suggest you use some paragraphs and “bullet” your questions), but I’ll give it a shot…
I suggest you narrow down your quest - meaning the RR or RRs you wish to model and the time period. Then, do a Google or Yahoo query on that RR or visit their historical society website to get the specific info you need. Try something like “railroads of New England” or the like.
FYI, steam locos tended to pull heavyweight passenger trains - meaning those with 6 wheel trucks and bolted bodies, of which most were olive drab in color. Obviously there are exceptions, including the Illinois Central, etc.
Those colorful diesel locos tended (key word here) to pull the lightweight cars, most of which were stainless steel or in the RRs colors. Again, check out the web browsers or historical sites for specifics.
Amtrak came about in 1971. Steam engines were long gone by then, except for excursions or the “1976” celebration locos. At first Amtrak used cars from the RRs they “absorbed”, but eventually got to their own cars, similar to those you see today.
There were two major passenger car builders - Budd, and Pullman Standard (PS). There were others, and some RRs built or rebuilt their own.
Once you figure out what you want, check out Walthers to see if any are available (www.walthers.com) and of course, Ebay.
Shopping for passenger cars is easy, but you need to know the RR and era first, and second, if models were actually made and available.
In closing, may I suggest… slow down, and take your time figuring out what you want. By doing so, your chances are better in getting something you will be happy with for a long time. To go out and just buy what you see or “one of each”, will often end up being a regre
I’m in Florida too and am a New Haven fan as well.
Hopefully Paul3 will respond as he’s a very knowledgeable NH guru.
From my observations, ironically, as busy as the prototype NH was with passenger traffic as it was, there is not a wide selection of NH passenger equipment, especially in N-scale.
If you don’t mind “freelancing” you do have viable choices, imho.
Con-Cor offers streamlined N scale cars in undecorated versions. You can purchase these units, paint and decal them. But be aware that if you’re looking for exact or “very close” these are not on target.
Rapido makes some gorgeous N scale passenger cars based on Canadian equipment, unfortunately not undecorated. Their shells would have to be paint stripped.
You’re in a similar boat that many of us are in which a specific road is being modeled with limited or no offerings as far as accurate passenger equipment.
If you want to model the New Haven RR or other railroad in the New England area, research is the key.
Start with the year. OK, so you don’t know the year. I don’t either. So start with the steam loco you have. Find out who built it and what years they were built. Then find out which railroads used them and what years they were in use. Then pick a year you would like to model, and a railroad you want to model, and try to get pieces that would fit that year, plus or minus a few years.
If you don’t want to model any specific railroad, you can freelance. That is when you build your own railroad with its own name but is patterned after a real railroad. (That’s what I do. Mine is patterned after the C&O.) I model what I want to, but try to stay in the year I model. I have selected 1962. Not all freelancers select a specific year but just model what they want to.
Once you have chosen a railroad and a year, then you can start to research what cars and other loco’s were used. Then things just expand from there.
As far as passenger cars are concerned, I think most railroads around that time leased them from Budd or Pullman (and they were called heavyweight cars), but there were exceptions. They were lettered for those companies, and not necessarily for the railroad that was using them.
You also mentioned an RDC car. That was a self propelled passenger car as you know, but it is too modern for the years steam locos were run. However, some railroads did have what was called a Railcar. This was the forerunner of the RDC. They came out in the late steam and early diesel era. So if you decided to model the very late 1940’s to the late 1950’s, you could probably use one. They were used when ridership on passenger trains fell off.
N Scale Florida,
If you want New Haven info, the best place to start is over on the New Haven Forum of the New Haven Railroad Historical & Technical Association’s website (www.nhrhta.org). It’s free, and the folks over there love to talk NH whenever we can (like me).
While I don’t much about what’s available or what was available in N-scale for New Haven, I do have some info for what you should probably be looking for. Much of the info below is from “New Haven Power” by Jack Swanberg.
The Bachmann Spectrum N-scale 4-8-2 is the USRA Light Mountain from the WWI-era. In fact, the first NH USRA Light 4-8-2’s were the very first USRA Light Mountains made. They were called class R-1 on the NH, and the NH had a total of 10 on the roster. The NH went and got 30 USRA copies made in 1920 and 9 more in 1924 classed R-1-a and R-1-b, respectively. They were slightly different than the first 10.
NH R-1 #3300 arrived on the property in the Spring of 1919. Between 1922 and 1932, all NH 4-8-2’s got Elesco Feedwater Heaters. So technically speaking, the Elesco-less Bachmann Spectrum model, if used on passenger trains, would only have hauled heavyweights as the first NH lightweight cars didn’t appear until 1934.
Just hit the “Sitemap” link on the left column, then choose the “List” button in the new frame. Then click on “Class R-1 4-8-2”. The “Thermos Bottle” on top of the smokebox in front of the stack is the Elesco.
The NH R-1’s were mostly fast freight engines, though they were equipped with steam heat and air signal lines for passenger service. Generally, these were for peak passenger service only, and after No. 3333 derailed at Boston’s South Station on 5/19/21 due to the tight No. 8 doubl
Take your time - unless your 80, you seem in an all fired rush but take each topic that interests you as a separate thing to study and find out about that in some depth say, like pasenger trains and diesels as one topic, then say steam power, then historical things about the road as this will overlap and include some of the topics you have already learned about. Be prepared to not be too mad at yourself if after a while you see where you might have done things better. Not all modelers thnk the same or agree on the same thing but all those guys will be helpful to you in one way or another.
I model in HO so knowing what happens with N and the road you are liking to model is outside of what I know. I can say that finding out things is very insteresting, but takes time and patience but I am sure you will get there in the end as long as you go to the right places, ask the right people the right questions and join a Historical Society for the New Haven and any forum for them as well. If you are sunstruck on the NH and starting out your modeling life with limited information you are starting out from page one and all that you learn will be new - thats a good thing, btw.