These 60’ers are just the ticket for my smaller layout. Are other than coach cars forthcoming?
Mail cars, diners, sleepers, observation, etc.?
Any roads other than Penn. or Chicago N.W. due also?
I would like to know more about them too.
Where did you find them?
-G
I don’t own any yet, unfortunately. I wanted to see if there’d be anything else available other than the coaches, first. Also if more road names are forthcoming. I’m afraid they’ll vanish from the marketplace
if I wait too long.
I’ve only seen some on ebay somewhere and (I think) in the latest Walther’s catalog. I’d be interested in
knowing where they could be obtained for the least expensive price though!
I’d also like to know how they compare with Roundhouse brand 60’ers. I found a set of earlier passenger cars (1900s/wooden sides) that I liked locally, but I’m concentrating on mid 1930’s-40s, but I’d consider them…
Capt, I could be wrong about this (and I’m sure someone will point that out to me) but I thought Rivarossi, as a train manufacturer business was gone. Merged into another company (Rapido??).
Here is a link showing Walther’s Rivarossi stock of passenger cars. As you can see, Out of stock or discontinued when sold out (as all the 60’ers are)…
You might also look at Con-Cor, IHC under which, a lot of the same cars were marketed. If Shorter passenger cars are your thing, you might also look into ebay (or similar) for some older Athearn Blue Box kits. Most of them are made to negotiate smaller radii.
Hi Jeff. Thanks. I thought they’d just recently come back into production…Rivarossi was bought by Hornby maybe?..
I may have that wrong. Thanks for the tips about Con Cor and IHC. I just finished searching for the Athearn 72’ blue box cars and can’t find them. Did they recently stop making them as well? They’ve been around for 30-40 yrs.!
I guess I’ll have to snap up passenger cars as I find them! I found some Roundhouse 1900s woodies
60’ that were attractive ( a little earlier than I was looking for) but I might just pick them up. Any idea
if they were any good? (1900s).
I think you may be right about Hornby (couldn’t think of the name)…
Athearn, MDC (Roundhouse) are now owned by Horizon, since 2005, I think. I don’t believe they are doing the Athearn BB passenger cars anymore (again, Could be wrong) or at least I couldn’t ferret any of them out at Walther’s website. They seemed to have dropped Athearn pass cars from the catalog all together. Most of the Horizon stuff I’ve seen in the Athearn name is RTR and IMO, Overpriced. I guess I’m just remembering the ‘good ole days’ when I first walked into a hobby shop and bought my first Athearn BB 50 footer for a whopping $2. For years, the BB kits were a staple of the hobby and I think it’s a shame the line has been let go.
I actually like the Roundhouse cars but as you reference, they are late 1800s, early 1900s. I don’t know how they are going to look behind a cab forward or something like that but a nice 4-6-0 or 4-4-2 would look right at home pulling them. I would guess that due to the weight of the cars with all the hardwood construction, no more than 5 or 6 were ever in a single train.
OK, Capt’n, here’s how the story of ~60 ’ cars currently goes…
Rivarossi introduced its line of quality 60’ cars (baggage, RPO, combine, coach) a few years ago…just prior to going into some serious financial straights. Walthers bought out Rivarossi’s remaining stock of these cars and sold them under their TrainLine banner for a year or two. The stock was limited and sold out rather quickly. These sets occasionally appear now on eBay, with 4 car sets often going for around $100. In addition, until fairly recently Train World had been advertising full sets and then partial sets of these cars in a few road names. However, their latest ads seem to have dropped these items. But even more recently, a resurrected Rivarossi (under new outside control), has brought back the coach and combine as a limited run item (see ads in MR).
Finally, be advised that in the near future Con Cor will apparently be producing limited runs of quality PRR MP54 cars in several road names and in undec. These will be offered in 2 car sets. The first to be run will be the coaches, then a baggage-mail and finally a combine. To my knowledge, these cars are around 54’ between the vestibules, or about 64’ between the coupler faces. Con Cor advises those interested to enter reserve orders.
CNJ831
The Rivi 60 foot heavyweights are beauties, stock with interiors and diaphragms, grab irons you can install yourself. Bought my set from Walthers 18 months ago, “limited quantity” etc, but no problems, they arrived in short order and good shape. Not inexpensive, $130 IIRC. I was wondering if the sets offered by Trainworld at $30 were the same, but never got through to staff to find out, the line was always busy.
The MDC 1900 woodies are good looking, especially with a little paint and detail, but the axles are underscale and they derail frequently. All the replacement axles I’ve tried are too tight and introduce significant friction. These really need to be re-trucked with proper flange width axles, and you have to plug the talgo-type snap pin hole for a solid screw mount. They come with basic interiors, and I’ve seen three car sets (baggage, 2 coaches) available NIB in the local LHS recently, $50 give or take.
In addition to Rivarossi, there’s a company embarking on Boston & Maine 60/66 foot Coaches, and Combines in Resin.
Con-Cor is doing PRR P54 coaches, and mP54 MU cars. The P54’s will be released as coaches, combines, baggage cars, and RPO’s. 6 different numbers on six different coaches.
I just wanted to confirm that Hornby now owns Rivarossi and you won’t find Athearn in the Walthers catalog or website anymore as Horizon & Walthers are competetive distributors now and don’t sell each others’ products. You have to go to the Horizon website to find what’s available.
The wood coaches would not be out of place if you are modeling the '30’s-40’s. The depression was in full swing then, and any servicable equipment would be used as long as possible. They would probably have NOT been used in interchange service (not sure about regs for that time period), but would certainly be seen being pulled on the local. My [2c]
There is a set of the Riverossi 60’ Santa Fe coaches on ebay right now.
I have a couple of these sets and would recommend them highly. If you look around Walthers also had a 3 coach set bundled with a passenger set.
Hey Don, thank you VERY much! I just bought them. Thank goodness I was home to see your post right away. These are Harriman style rounded roofs, correct? It’s a bit hard to see in the pics if they’re celestory or not but they seem to be rounded.
I was thrilled to see that they were Santa Fe also! I thought they only were produced with Chicago & NW and Pennsy road names.
By the way I’m right down the road from you, presuming you’re in Western B.C.?
If anyone knows of the availability of other sets (even Chicago & NW or Pennsy) and would let me know
(is PM function working right now?) I’d appreciate it. I need one more.
Thanks again!
P.S. if anyone knows all of the road names these cars were available in, I’d appreciate that info. too.
Cheers!
As I understand it, the new Rivarossi company owned by Hornby has the old Rivarossi molds so I think there is a good chance the entire line might get reintroduced. Just an educated guess. I bought a set of these from Trainworld last year and they are beauties. Perfect for the tight curves on my branchline.
Capt. Grimek
No problem, Glad you found what you were looking for.
I have obtained a few of these sets off of e-bay. Prices for these sets seem to range from $40.00 to $110.00 depending upon how many bidders there were.
I bought a set from the same vendor a couple of weeks ago. I bought the NP set in the two tone green. This vendor had a half dozen sets a couple of weeks ago and that was the last I am told.
These are great coaches, track well, look fantastic, just perfect for the smaller layouts.
If you get a chance to look around, Walthers packaged a set of three coaches with trainsets.
A bit on the pricey side, but tempting.
Jeffers, thanks very much for the details on the MDC/Roundhouse cars. Guess I’ll stick with the Rivarossi’s
for now then as they’re more era specific for my layout anyway and seem to track well.
Now I’ve got to save up for more sets as I find them. As I told Don, I have to give my wife time to forget what the Santa Fe set cost! 
Hi Again Capt. G,
The Rivarossi 60’s are Clerestory roofed Heavy weights, not the round roofed, at least all mine are. They are very Nice cars, that I am sure you will be very Happy with. Mine have run many miles down at the club, and they have performed very well. About the only time they have been on the ground that I know of is when someone (not me) backed them through a closed turnout, OOOPPSSS.
Doug
The MDC/Harriman cars are 60’ cars with truck-mounted couplers which will allow them to run on 18"R curves. Many railroads used these cars or similar ones from the 1900’s well into the diesel era. I’ve riden on similar ex-Rock Island commuter cars in the last few years at the Osceola and St.Croix RR, part of the Minnesota Transportation Museum’s scenic train line.
The Walthers/Rivarossi cars are/were available in four types - Utility Coach and Utility Combine, based on CNW 60’ cars, and RPO and Baggage cars. all with clerestory roofs. These cars have body mounted couplers and will in my experience have trouble with curves below 24" radius. So if your layout has sharp curves, the MDC cars would be a better choice.
If you want clerestory roofs, Athearn makes RPO, Baggage and Coach cars that are fullsize and a Diner, Pullman and Obs car that are shortened down to 72’ (same length as the Coach, the RPO and Baggage car are shorter). These are based on ATSF cars, but are fairly generic and could be used for many other railroads. They have truck-mounted couplers for operation on sharp curves.
You might find a few wood passenger cars in the thirties/forties but it would be very rare. CNW used some as smokers on commuter trains for example. But by 1940 I’d guess 99% of passenger cars in service on std. gauge lines were steel.
Hi Doug, good to hear from you. Thanks. I was hoping the were celestory roofed as I much prefer the look of that style. Every pic I’ve seen of the Rivarossis on ebay, etc. made it hard to tell…
wjstix, I plan on 24" minimum radius. Maybe I’d better hold off on buying more sets of these until I get to try them on a friend’s layout with 24"…
Doug have your’s run on 24 ok or less in yards? I was a bit concerned about the body mounted couplers but thought the 60’ length would make up for that some…faulty thinking?
I had some old 72’ Athearns but they’ve suddenly been harder to find (almost impossible locally) and I thought I’d “get away” with longer trains with the 60’s.
They do look beautiful online. I’m watching the door for the shipment of those Sante Fe 60’s!
They probably got shipped today.
Thanks for all the responses!
Although all four Riv 60’ cars are based on real 60’ long cars, the RPO and Baggage cars were much more common at that length. (BTW I believe the Athearn ones are 63’ and 67’ respectively.) So you could run say a 60’ Baggage with a 70’ Rivarossi (if you can find one) or 72’ Athearn coach or two in a train. Baggage and RPO cars were often shorter than other cars in the steam era, and coaches were often around 70’.
The Athearn cars can be a little hit and miss, sometimes they’re in production, sometimes not!!