Would a post war, say, early 50s, Pullman/UP 4-4-2 sleeper still have skirts when it was yellow/gray? Why were the skirts removed? My quess is that is was to ease maintenance, but I don’t know.
Thanks,
I can’t find any reference that shows UP A-Class 4-4-2’s surviving past the last one sent for scrap in 1933. That’s not to say they didn’t last into the 50’s but rosters that I gave a cursory look-see at show no retirements of 4-4-2’s during WWII or thereafter. Do you have a photo of one taken in the 40’s or 50’s?
My bad; I should have been more exact. I was asking about the Pullman/UP 4-4-2 sleeper car (Imperial series).
DC
Whoops! Helps to read the post carefully when one is not in a sleepless stupor. Being an Engineer, my thoughts are always revolving around locomotives…I’ll do a little research on the other thing…what was it? A car? :0)
Hi “DC,”
I can’t answer specifically about the UP 4-4-2 sleepers, but yes, the general reason for removal of passenger car skirts was to allow easier access to the the underbody equipment for maintenance.
So long,
Andy
If maintenance people designed things there would be no sheet metal around the chassis. People would be sitting on crates.
One of our Komatsu loaders blew the heater core. Step 1 in the book said REMOVE CAB. I did it without taking the cab off but it still took 10 hours.
Pete
I am not UP expert, or Pullman expert. But this website seems to have lots of useful pics of UP passenger cars
http://www.trainweb.org/passengercars/Indices/U1.htm
Dave Nelson
I think you read it OK; I edited my post for clarification after your initial reply. This is what I have on the car: made for Pullman in 1942, plan 4069H - two tone gray, Imperial series; UP acquired some time between 1947-1950 after Pullman break up; painted yellow/gray after UP’s acquisition to 1954. Just don’t know when the skirts were tossed.
Thanks for the help. [:)]
DC
I use that site a lot. Pics of the 4-4-2 Imperials there are way to late.
Thanks for your interest. [:)]
DC
Hey, Andy,
Yes, I have been a pain, asking around a lot (as you probably are aware of). I’m starting to wonder if that data is known. I’m going to have a run day with my streamliner on the San Diego Model Railroad Club’s layout at the Railroad Museum in Balboa Park. Maybe I’ll just leave them on, someone won’t be able to resist correcting me and I’ll get the story then.
It made sense - saved a lot of time and money without those. Not only would it make access easier, but I bet it was a real pain removing and installing them (snapped rusted bolt heads, dent/rust fixing, paint touch ups…). I’m curious now as to how soon they woke up and tossed those things - besides wanting my model to look somewhat correct.
DC
Hi “DC,”
As to when railroads started removing passenger car skirts, I know that the Santa Fe “de-skirted” a lot of its cars in the 1950s, and that the 600-series dining cars and 1340-series dormitory lounges delivered in 1950 for the “Super Chief” came from Pullman-Standard without skirts. The same was true for the 3453-series baggage-express cars delivered by ACF in 1951.
The shops weren’t consistent about these removals, though, and some cars kept their skirts through the 1960s.
So long,
Andy