I am not going to beat around the bush and just say that my knowledge of trains is very limited. So I don’t know where to go online to buy/look for stuff. I would go to my brother James, but sadly he is no longer with us as of a few years ago, may he rest in peace. But any way here is what I am looking for:
I am looking to purchasing two steam locomotives, and two sets of passenger cars that I want to customize for two holiday trains, one for Halloween and the other for Christmas. I need them both undecorated and in black.
For the Halloweeen train the locomotive I am looking at is a 2-6-6-2, but I can only find it with markings on it. As for the passenger cars I am wanting to get them in black and also undecorated I am wanting for this to be a set of 12 passenger cars, and I am wanting to get decal/sticker lettering in gold/white/orange and that can either glow in the dark or be regular. If there is not like an official set that would be good to purchase, what would be a good combination of cars for this set? And what I mean is like haw many cars of each type of car would you suggest.
An example on the suggestion would be: Get 1 baggage, 1 combine, 2 sleeper car, 2 diner etc. etc.
For my Christmas train the locomotive I need is a 4-8-4, black and undecorated and for this one I am looking for 12 silver undercorated passenger cars. And for this one on the decal/sticker lettering in red/green/blue/gold. Again if there is not an official set to buy, again what combination of cars would you suggest?
Interesting couple of projects you want to model. Search undecorated on Ebay and something will pop up for your loco’s. As for the passenger cars you could probably get some and repaint them or search undecorated on Ebay for them as well. Loco’s there usually is a few but for passenger cars your limited. Train shows are a great place to find passenger cars to repaint. Don’t know where your going to get glow in the dark decals. Good luck…
(and while you are at it, perhaps ordering the paper catalog for HO which I assume is the scale you use - they just came out with the 2013 catalog). Play around enough with the advanced search function and I think you’ll find the products and some information and order numbers and prices – but look carefully to make sure what you want is not sold out.
So selecting locomotives in HO and typing in 2-6-6-2, your choices are basically the rather expensive Spectrum C&O engine, which you would have to repaint to get rid of the C&O lettering since their painted and unlettered version is sold out, or the Mantua Metal engine which is currently available unlettered and costs less money.
I am unable to be helpful on glow in the dark lettering. It would be so small in any event that if the train is moving I suspect it would not make the impression you are after.
For the Halloween train I’d go with standard cars - a couple of baggage cars and a mix of coaches, pullmans and just one diner and maybe an open platform observation car.
For a 12 car streamlined passenger train I would go with baggage car, RPO/baggage express, two coaches, diner, four pullman sleepers, two dome lounges, and an observation car.
For your 4-8-4 Christmas engine perhaps one of the Bachmann 4-8-4s, but again i suspect you will have to repaint.
Given what you seek to do, I would also explore the used train market. There may be swap meets in your area, and there are more now that summer is over. When buying used, ask to see it run before parting with too much cash.
You can paint passenger cars pretty easily with a rattle can. Take the window “glass” out to keep it clear. Wash the car with hot soapy water. Let it dry. Remove or mask off the couplers and the wheels and the trucks to avoid getting paint in them.
12 cars is a pretty long passenger train in HO. Also, many of the longer passenger cars won’t stay on the track if the curves are only 18 inch radius (the standard SnapTrack curve). Athearn cars will handle 18 inch curves and some other brands probably do too. But I would check the curve handling ability before sinking money into a car. You may find that a 6 or 7 car train is long enough to look good.
People expect passenger trains to have one or more baggage cars up front, followed by nearly anything. Most non-rail-fan people cannot see much difference between coach, sleeper, parlor car, diner, or railway post office car. So anything with windows will do.
I’ve never heard of glow in the dark decals, or lettering. You can get 1/4" high dry transfer letter sets at stationary stores. That’s a little big in HO (2 feet) but acceptable.
Thank you for the help. I am looking to do this in N scale, for I havel limited space to work with. I also thank you for the information. I have decided to to bring the passenger car count down, and my new question is, what would be a good number to do?