I am a beginner in modelling the Southern Pacific in HO and was wondering whether anyone could give me some advice as to which of the Amercian manufacturers produces the most accurate Southern Pacific Rolling Stock in Daylight colurs for the years from the 40’s, 50’s & 60’s.
Also could anyone pass me on advice as to what motive power was used on the various SP passenger streamliner services - both steam and diesel.
Basically I love the Daylight express coulours and would like to replicate a number of trains accuratly with both Steam and diesel motive power. For example I have a Bachmann GS4 and a pair of Proto 200 E7 & E8 loco’s (with E7 B units) and would be interested in knowing who produced the most appropriate stock to run with these locomotives.
I am also thinking of getting an Athearn Genesis F7A in the SP Black Widow coulours - were these units just used on frieght services or did they do passenger work and if so what sort of passenger cars were they usually seen with?
Appologies for so many questions in such a small space, but if anyone has any ideas or information to help me out it would be greatfully received.
You are getting offly close to one of the sacred cows of model railroading namely color. To digress a little my wife bought a pair of earings that had a purple color. When she got them home they were two different colors. She took them back and they were the same color in the store. The lights at home made them different colors and the lights in the store didn’t. So rule number one is what type of lights will they be viewed under becasue it definitley affects the color. Rule two is everybody sees color differently so what I say is right may not be for you. Rule three is there is not one color. The railroads had color samples they used when the equipment was painted but UV light, dirt and time cause it to fade and oxidize. Some people obssess about color variation. I gave that up years ago. You can find equipment on any railroad that ranges from brand new to rusted. Any of the major producers do a pretty good job on color. Just avoid the ones that everybody agrees are off. As a rule P2K paint jobs appear to be the standard today.
I have good news and not-such-good news. The good news concerns the locomotives, so we’ll start there. Several of the mass-produced models are appropriate for the Daylight trains:
–The streamlined GS4 steam engines pulled all of the Daylight trains in the 1930s, and continued in service until the early 1950s.
–Alco PA and PB diesels were assigned to Daylight trains, but not until the mid 1950s. They worked on both the valley route and the coast route, so they might have been found on any of the Daylight trains then running.
–EMD E7A and E7B, E9As and (the sole) E8A were assigned to Daylight trains from the time they first arrived. However, they were not assigned to the Valley route due to the steep grades found there.
–Dual service F7As (Nos. 6186-6239) and F7Bs (Nos. 8086-8139) also were assigned to Daylight trains–but for the most part these units were found in freight or secondary passenger-mail-express service. The San Joaquin Daylight was the most likely of the Daylight trains to have F or FP units assigned. The only F unit on the SP system to be painted in Daylight colors was Cotton Belt FP7 #306. All of the other F units were delivered in the Black Widow scheme, and many were repainted in the red and gray schem during or after 1958. The just-released Genesis (single unit) F7A is from this number series; the A-B sets are freight service-only units.
Now for the not-such-good news. The Daylight passenger cars were unique, and the only accurate models of them in HO have been made in brass or in the long-discontinued Limited Edition kits. The readily available and nicely painted AHM/Rivarossi cars are unlike any aof the Daylight cars.
In a pinch, however, Athearn cars should do. While most of the Daylight chair cars (or coaches) were articulated in 2-car sets, there were about a dozen Pullman-Standard single unit chair cars with fluted sides and window arrangements quite close to those of the Athearn streamlined cars.
Southern Pacific Historical Society’s publication often features stories on different SP passenger trains (with photos); also take a look at Harry Stegmeir’s book on SP Passenger trains (TLC Publications). I can never spell the author’s name correctly. Anyway, the book is based on SP consist documents and has a ton of information in a relatively small space. Hope this helps. BTW, even though I am WAY FAR AWAY from SP country I joined the SP Historical Society several yrs ago and have been well satisfied with their efforts.
How prototypically accurate are the IHC smoothsided streamline coaches for any Daylight Operation? I have been given a couple and don’t know whether to invest in a few more or sell the ones I have an purchase some Athearn cars?
Here are a couple of web sites you may find useful. The first is the Robert Morris Photography page–take a look at the photos under the SP freight and passenger train operations heading. By the 1960s the Daylight paint scheme was disappearing, but several Daylight-painted cars can be seen in the trains shown here.
The second site is the Challenger Imports site. They have just imported HO scale models of the Shasta Daylight. Its cars were the only SP smooth-sided streamlined cars painted in the Daylight scheme. The Shasta chair cars were unique in having high “Skyline” windows. You can see for yourself how the IHC cars measure up against highly accurate brass models. Now the URLs:
The only passenger cars that are appropriate for the SP that are accurate and non-brass are Walthers 4-4-2 and 6-6-4 Pullman Standard sleepers and their newly released Pullman Standard 52 seat coach. The coach is a C&O prototype, however the SP purchased three of these cars nrs 2216-2218. these cars however were never painted in the Daylight scheme. The sleepers were painted in the Lark colors of Black, Lark Dark Gray and Lark Light Gray. The coaches were semi fluted (fluting only below the windows)silver above the belt rail and roof/ends, natural stainless steel fluting below the windows and Lark Gray on the trucks and underbody.
You can find some of the older SP brass cars for resonable amounts online.
Ch