Hello there, I’m new.
I don’t know if this was already brought up at an earlier, but does anyone know where I could get some good locomotives and passenger cars to make a prototypical consist of the North Coast Limited? I don’t care if it is brass or plastic, I just need a name.
Let’s assume you’re talking HO.
First the what (before the “where”):
Oriental Limited made all the cars for the NCL in unpainted brass. Challenger did the train later, painted–with locomotives, I believe.
In plastic, the only car that is correct is the Walthers Budd smooth side dome coach.
Athearn has made F7’s and F9’s that are appropriate for the train. The paint may or may not match other items.
As to where:
For the brass, I’d keep an eye on Brasstrains.com. Beyond them, there are a number of online stores that sell used brass.
Also, there are various on-line “exchanges” that might be useful.
The Athearn F’s will likely show up on Ebay.
Of course, there’s a chance that someone who reads this will want to sell you what you’re looking for.
I think you’d have more luck pounding on the doors of Walthers with a fistful of money demanding they make it as their next train. It REALLY should have been done by now. Maybe your $100’s will convince them today’s the day.
Ed
[#welcome]
In addition to the Athearn mentioned above,
http://www.intermountain-railway.com/ho/html/49033.htm
http://www.intermountain-railway.com/ho/html/49533.htm
Intermountain also offered F7 A and Bs in the Passenger N.P. scheme. I can not attest to their accuracy (other than the lettering on the B unit intake screens should be individual cut-out letters rather than screen printed) but I do have several Loksound equipped Intermountain Fs and I’m quite satisfied with them.
Regards, Ed
Depending on how much building you want to, take a look at Brass Car Sides (brasscarsides.com). They would need to painted but they are quite accurate,
(Edit: Given that the train had many consists over the years, you also might want to narrow down your timeframe. Depending on that, you also might need to includde F3s in your search.)
Quite true.
To me, THE North Coast Limited is the Loewy one.
But the train started out in 1900. No domes there!
So, yes, the OP should be more specific.
Ed
If your budget allows a brass NCL, then you shoudl try to find one.
Otherwise, yoiu will have to piece together a “good enough” model of it. Walthers has produced some cars that are appropriate, but not all of them. There have been several suitable F-units availble over the years.
Maybe that ought to be the nexr Walthers name train. But which one? I also like the Loewy 1947 version.
Tom
If you’re doing a Loewy-schemed NCL, before buying any trains, go out and get Bill Kuebler’s book “The Vista-Dome North Coast Limited: The Story of the Northern Pacific Railway’s Famous Domeliner”. It not only goes through the history of the train, and a car-by-car study of the train, it also has an section on modelling the train.
https://www.amazon.com/Vista-Dome-North-Coast-Limited-Domeliner/dp/1931064067
BTW, as with Great Northern’s Empire Builder, the NCL included CB&Q-owned cars painted to match the NP cars…and of course, Burlington Route E-units pulled the train between St.Paul and Chicago.
Tom,
The ‘Loewy’ paint scheme was applied to the train in the mid 50’s when the domes arrived. The 47’ train had the original delivery paint scheme…
To be clear, the CB&Q-owned cars looked exactly like their GN and NP counterparts. That is, the only visual difference is a small bit of lettering near the ends.
They were NOT “regular” stainless CB&Q cars that were painted up to match.
An exception to the above could be argued with the Slumbercoaches on the NCL. Which were noticeably NOT painted the same as the rest of the train.
Ed
Which NCL should Walthers do?
Why, the one with the domes, of course.
But which version?
I would recommend the late 1955 one–the one with the Traveler’s Rest lounge.
And to produce a separate two car auxiliary set with the 1958 Budd diner and the 1959 Slumbercoach.
The above would thus make a train that could be run from 1955 to 1970.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:
They could do a follow on 1947 NCL (the early streamliner scheme) by making just one more car (I think): the early version of the lounge.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S STILL MORE:
The flat top coaches for the NCL were also bought by the SP&S for non-NCL service–an additional bonus.
AND STILL, STILL, STILL MORE, KIDS!:
The SP&S owned dome-sleeper from the NCL was eventually painted in a different SP&S paint scheme–how cool is that!!!
Why, it’s enough to make an elderly gentleman, how you say: to get down and boogey all night. Every night.
Ed
JRB:
Oops! I misspoke. Thanks for the correction. I like the postwar livery; not the mid-50’s version. I guess a lot of folks would be more partial to the later dome version. To each his own.
I understand the cars from the '47 train were reassigned to other NP service when the new NCL was introduced, so there would certainly be a market for them no matter which era the modeler prefers. I’ll have to research this further.
As suggested, a steam-hauled heavyweight NCL would be an entirely different matter.
Tom
I will start with saying I’m not really an NP guy. So the following is my best construction. But it’s pretty close, I think:
Unlike the GN (see 1947 and 1951 Empire Builder), there never was a “new” NCL. The newness kinda dribbed and drabbed in. The 1947 NCL wasn’t fully streamlined. There were typically heavyweight sleepers in the consist, for example. As it got older, it got “smoother”.
But that’s a good thing for people who like the pre-Loewy NCL. Such as yourself. Because most (or maybe all) of the lightweight cars you’ll need for the pre-Loewy train were also in the Loewy train.
The trick’s gonna be deciding which “year” you’re interested in. So you’ll be wanting an appropriate consist list. I would expect that by 1953, the heavyweights were gone, for example.
As an example, consider the consist on July 18, 1948 (page 168, “Northern Pacific Pictorial-Volume Four” by John F. Strauss, Jr.)
It’s all lightweight (streamlined) except there’s two 14 section sleepers, two 10-2-1 sleepers, and a 6-6. All heavyweight cars.
Moving on, there’s a consist for December 11, 1952 (note that that is winter season) (page 12, “Northern Pacific Pictorial-Volume Five” by Strauss) that is all lightweight. And it APPEARS to be made up of cars that would also appear in the early Loewy train.
So, the chances are good that you can have some sort of a not-Loewy painted NCL by simply re-painting Loewy ones. If Walthers didn’t do it for you.
Myself, I’d also be on the lookout for some heavyweight cars.
By the way … I neglected to welcome Southbound Night Train to the MR Forum… [#welcome]
Here are some of the cars of my “close enough” NCL 
The stainless steel Budd Slumbercoaches were pooled between the NCL and the CB&Q Denver Zephyr. They would be swapped between the two trains in Chicaco. Therefore, you could model a NCL with a Burlington Slumbercoach in it.