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Post by acelaphillies on Mar 22, 2014 9:41:24 GMT -5
In this thread feel free to post as many pictures as you would like from your Pre-Amtrak passenger & commuter models. They don't have to fit into any project or subject matter, this thread is simply for the fun of sharing pictures.
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jwb
Member
Posts: 27
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Post by jwb on Mar 22, 2014 10:49:28 GMT -5
I grew up in the 1950s and 60s, riding and watching passenger trains on the Lackawanna, PRR, NYC, New Haven, Boston & Maine, Southern, Seaboard, ACL, RF&P, B&O, and others. I've always wanted to incorporate them on a model railroad, especially the secondary, less glamorous trains that carried mail and express. While I have passenger stations and tracks to accommodate passenger trains, it's been a long job to figure out how to run them in a satisfactory way. Here are a few examples of what I'm working toward, first an IHC ACL coach with GSB trucks: Next a JC Models 18-roomette: Next a Walthers express reefer with some added grabs and so forth: If there's interest, I'll post some more equipment and show how I'm starting to operate it.
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Post by acelaphillies on Mar 24, 2014 20:34:27 GMT -5
it's been a long job to figure out how to run them in a satisfactory way... If there's interest, I'll post some more equipment and show how I'm starting to operate it. Would you mind explaining a little about your operating scheme? Sometimes this can be a hangup with passenger modeling because long trains + faster speeds = quickly running out of track. Thanks, and nice pictures too! Is your layout freelanced or based off of a specific prototype?
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jwb
Member
Posts: 27
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Post by jwb on Mar 25, 2014 14:58:42 GMT -5
Let's start with exactly what trains we're talking about. Into the 1960s, the biggest passenger carrying railroads had basically three types of passenger trains (leaving out special cases like oommuter, rural local, or mixed trains): limiteds, secondary trains, and mail-express trains. By the 1960s, the secondary trains were carrying mainly rail employees riding on passes, while the mail and express trains may not have carried passengers at all. For instance, the B&O had the Capitol Limited, the overnight train to Chicago, but had secondary trains with names like the Diplomat or Shenandoah running on a roughly 12-hour opposite schedule. The Santa Fe had the Super Chief (and also for much of that time the Chief) running as prestige trains LA-Chicago, but it also had the Grand Canyon making more stops and on 12-hour opposite schedule. The secondary trains were slower, made more stops, were often shorter, and carried more express and mail cars. So these can be more interesting from a smaller layout standpoint.
Then there were mail and express trains that carried baggage, RPO, express, express reefer, and box-express cars. These often ran up to about 1970, and sometimes past Amtrak, although Railway Express went out of business about that time, and that was the biggest part of these trains. It also didn't help that the Post Office discontinued RPOs in the mid 1960s, although they still sent storage mail by rail. In general, mail and express trains gradually morphed into today's intermodals, with UPS and FedEx replacing Railway Express. What the mail and express trains had most in common with other passenger trains was that they had steam heat and often used passenger power, or power like FP7s. The Seaboard ran its SDP35s on their mail and express trains (you could ride on theirs as a passenger, and I did once).
The mail and express trains have the big advantage for the modeler that you can run them with box-express cars and so forth, so they're easier on curves. You can also switch them more easily like freights.
I've found more and more that DVDs with archival railfan film are a very good and cost-effective research tool. I like it that a lot of DVDs cover the 1960s, when I started to seriously railfan. You can get a lot of inspiration from Emery Gulash's DVDs on the New York Central, PRR, and Penn Central, which ran a lot of these trains. They're available from Green Frog, which often puts them on sale at very reasonable prices.
I'll post some more later on exactly what I'm working on.
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jwb
Member
Posts: 27
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Post by jwb on Mar 25, 2014 16:10:12 GMT -5
The various kinds of mail-express cars are actually more like glorified freight cars, and you can switch them in roughly the same way. If you operate your freight cars, you know that each industry gets a certain type of car, and you have some method, either manual or computerized, to put cars into a train and distribute them to yards or industries. By the same token, mail-express cars have destination spots. At a larger station, these might be places on the passenger platform where mail, baggage, or express is unloaded, with the cars set out from a train for loading-unloading. Another destination spot could be the Railway Express facility, which might be pretty large. Another might be a post office annex, where mail storage or RPO cars are set out for loading or unloading.
Express reefers are a little bit different, if they aren't running in dry service off season. A lot of their reefer traffic would be from California and southern states with the earliest fruit of the particular season. They would be part of the regular mail-express trains, loaded in a hurry at intermediate stops, and forwarded to their terminals in places like LA or Oakland, where they would be quickly transferred to mail-express trains headed east. However, later in the season, the fruit would go via conventional reefer. Off season, the express reefers would have their ice compartments folded away and would run in ordinary parcel service.
The larger stations would have a dedicated switcher doing this work on one or several shifts, as well as adding or removing diners, coaches, sleepers, etc to the regular passenger trains.
You can't necessarily do this on a very small layout, although I wouldn't even rule out someone finding a way to fit his on a 4 x 8. (I think if cab4 put his mind to it, it would happen!)
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cab4
Member
Posts: 149
Primary Railroads: Conrail, NJ DOT, Amtrak, SEPTA, NJT
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Post by cab4 on Mar 26, 2014 22:22:56 GMT -5
I have to agree with the DVDs. I have the Penn Central box set by Greenfrog, and its fantastic! I wish there were more Northeast Corridor (there is only a little on the volume 4 DVD), but on a whole, its still a fascinating look at the PC, including the passenger trains.
Another good DVD for the electrified passenger stuff is Pennsy's Racetrack 1940-1980, by Heron Rail. Its got a lot of shots from the 1950s and 1970s, and even some older footage from the 20s and 30s
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Post by gmpullman on Apr 1, 2014 23:55:25 GMT -5
I thought it was time to get a few more photos posted here... just to stir up some activity! Most of these pics are a few years old but I thought I'd share them just the same... TRAIN TIME: Hustle and bustle as the Century prepares to depart... Union Station... Can I get a cab? The Centuries Pass In The Night 1938... The Centuries Pass In The Night: 1928 (no comment about the "Earlybird" boxcar!) I have a much nicer signal bridge in this location now. Good excuse for a re-shoot! The Steward is taking drink orders on the observation platform, sure looks inviting inside! The Centuries Pass In The Night: 1948 I wanted to recreate the famous NYC RR painting, these are actually just test shots. I hope to redo them sometime soon. Enjoy! Ed
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cab4
Member
Posts: 149
Primary Railroads: Conrail, NJ DOT, Amtrak, SEPTA, NJT
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Post by cab4 on Apr 3, 2014 8:27:37 GMT -5
Wow, Awesome stuff!
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Post by acelaphillies on Apr 3, 2014 14:54:32 GMT -5
Wow, Ed those photos are just outstanding! Some of the best model photos that I have seen, and not just on this board. I have to say that my favorite is Union Station. But all of the photos are incredible. You really mastered the lighting effects in those low light scenes. The comparison shots of the 20th Century Limited trains are very neat as well. Nice work!
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Post by backshophoss on Apr 3, 2014 15:57:20 GMT -5
GMP,Very well done,was the photos done on film or digital?
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Post by gmpullman on Apr 4, 2014 15:35:50 GMT -5
Thanks, everyone. They are digital. I use a Canon Rebel T5i and a lens that I can stop down to f32 that way the depth of field is very broad. Acelaphillies, I'll have to show you the new NEON Union station sign... pretty neat!
I guess there are programs that you can "layer" the focus and blend multiple shots to keep front to back focus sharp but I haven't tried it out. As it is some of these shots require a full two or three minutes!
I posted a few Amtrak photos over at the Amtrak Modeling board, too. Thanks again, hope to get more here soon!
Take care, Ed
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Post by Amtrak207 on Jun 21, 2015 22:12:39 GMT -5
God Ed,
I just saw these, I am SIMPLY BLOWN AWAY!
Tom
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Post by antoniofp45 on Jul 21, 2015 13:45:18 GMT -5
(Walthers)Pullman Standard 52 seat coach. Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. New York to Florida service on SCL Champion.
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edgecrusher
Member
Posts: 31
Primary Railroads: Monon, RI, NYC, PRR, C&EI, CNW, Milw......
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Post by edgecrusher on Jul 30, 2015 12:32:34 GMT -5
Started unpacking some of my stuff the other night and thought I'd snap a quick pick. Hopefully I'll be able to start some benchwork for a new layout soon.
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Post by mttrains on Jul 30, 2015 16:47:23 GMT -5
Looking forward to seeing more!! Keep them coming please.
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