Modeling Passenger Car Kits

Correct Height for Passenger Cars

1. There are a number of HO SP passenger cars from different manufactures that were produced over the last 25 years. While the height of the couplers is right on, the ride heights of the cars are all over the place, very noticeable at the roof lines and at the diaphragms. Their may be some differences in the roof heights of the cars between makes (Budd, Pullman, ect.) and type and age or car (heavyweight, lightweight). Concern yourself with the height at the diaphragms as standard so there isn't a step up or down between cars. You'll need to change the truck bolsters.
   

Heights

1.             Car Type                                                Height                Measurements                  
   

2. Lightweight cars                      13' 6"    from top of rails to top of roof
   

3. Heavyweight arch roof "Harriman" cars  14"        from top of rails to top of roof.
   

4. Other heavyweight cars          14"- 14'5"     from top of rails to top of roof.
   

5. 
   

6. That was a sort of standard cross-section for lightweight cars, but a few lightweight cars weren't that tall.
   

7. The respective C.S. passenger car floor heights above top of rail appears that 3'6" to 4' was the usual measure.
   

8. 
   

Modeling Harriman Era Cars

Southern Car & Foundry

1. SCF does offer HO scale resin kits of select head end cars, but no coaches or other similar equipment.
   

2.                                                                                 http://southerncarandfoundry.com
   

Ken Kidder

1. HO scale brass Harriman era cars
   

2. Scratchbuild plastic underframes with Evergreen styrene replacing the plain wood floors which originally came with the models. See the list's Files area under photos for the underframes that were constructed by Clyde King!
   

3.                                                                                 http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Espee/files/
   

4.                                                                                 http://www.pbase.com/espeef5
   

5. 
   

6. There is an underbody diagram along with a side framing diagram on page 42 in Volume 3 of the SP Passenger Car series. The Common Standard underbody framing was all much the same, just adjusted for car length. I'm referring to the double I-beam center sills, bolster location and the diamond bracing at each car end near the bolster. This almost never changed over the life of the car. And it was not really visible at track level as the side sheeting came down far enough to hide it. The other underbody equipment, such as battery boxes, air cylinders, air tanks, equipment boxes, supply boxes and air-conditioning equipment varied over the years (especially on air-conditioned cars) and the best way to get it right is to consult photos. 
   

7. Jeff Cauthen
   

8. 
   

9. Note: It is very hard to find suitable castings for SP underbody equipment. Fred, aka Carman, has done a fabulous job putting the various "boxes" under his cars, but there are some pieces that no independent casting company makes. Ice chests, refrigeration units, propane tank storage, etc., are all still needed in HO scale.
   

10. Pete
    

11. 
    

12. In the photos you'll notice the truck bolsters were moved out vis-à-vis the wood underframes that come in the Kidder models, which are too close together and make the models look funny. There are numerous Precision Scale and Cal Scale parts to add to the underframes to give them a 'busier' appearance.
    

13. 
    

14. Ken Kidder brass Harriman cars  are inexpensive, early brass passenger cars, and their inaccuracies are outweighed by how easy they can be made more realistic. Use the Ken Kidder cars in place of the longer commute coaches because they're better suited for the sharp curves on a layout. Photos of my cars (with details added) are here:   
    

15.                                                                                 http://homepage.mac.com/rbowdidge/railroad/vasonapasscars.html
    

16. Robert Bowdidge
    

17. 
    

18. The Ken Kidder 60-C Harrimans aren't prototypical (the 1939 photos seem to show commute coaches used on this train), they're short enough to handle the sharp curves of a layout. Rather than buy a bunch of $300 Precision Scale cars, use Ken Kidder Harriman cars. These are affordable (around $40 each), and are also much more fun because you can paint and detail these cars yourself. The Ken Kidder cars are from the early days of brass; they have a too-shallow roof curve (which isn't noticeable when these cars are in a train by themselves), missing roof conduit and the wrong air vents, no interior detail, a wood floor, and no floor detail.
    

19. 
    

20. To improve the cars, get rid of the wood floors and fabricate your own underframes for these cars out of styrene. The floor is 0.020 inch sheet styrene. so that they fit between the floor support brackets on the Ken Kidder cars. Add enough detail to make these cars interesting. Add a battery box, brake cylinder, and brake valve, generator, brake rods and piping, one or two air tanks, and vapor regulators. The vapor regulators are part of PSC's underframe kit, and were used for venting steam lines. These are short pipes that stick down from the floor. Regardless of whether they're prototypical, they help make the underframe look busy.
    

21. Robert Bowdidge
    

1. 
   

Paint

1. Paint the truck sideframes and battery box covers in SP Dark Olive Green in addition to the sides and ends. Roofs and underframes will be black.
   

Lettering & Numbering

Decals

1. Decals of course will be Thin Film #160 with Imitation Gold lettering.
   

2. Rob Sarberenyi
   

Reference

1. The Ken Harrison article "Three Southern Pacific "Harriman" cars" that appeared in the  August1988 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman magazine. The RMC magazine article contains a few plans and may prove useful.
   

2. Rob Sarberenyi
   

3. 
   

4. For a book about Harriman cars with plans try Volumes 1 and 3 of the SPH&TS Passenger Car books, along with just-now published Vol. 4 on diners. You won't find a better collection of photos, and floor plans of all principal classes are included.
   

5. Tony Thompson
   

6. 
   

7. There were articles on Harriman era cars in the early issues of Western Prototype Modeler and other early issues before it became Prototype Modeler effective with the August 1977 issue.
   

8. 
   

Walthers

1. The cars do not come with the car names on the sides. The car names on the decals in the package that come with the cars from Walthers does not match anything in the SPH&TS Vol. II sleeper cars book.
   

Paint

1. Cars were originally painted green. Olive Drab paint may be used for the dark olive color. 
   

2. Use Great Northern “Empire Builder” Green   - Accuflex #16-65
   

3. Use Military Olive Drab          - Polly S #500850 (FS 33070)
   

4. Use old Coach-Pullman Green          - Floquil R-45 (don’t use new kind)
   

Lettering & Numbering

Decals

Lettering Color for 1930's Harriman passenger cars

1. Someone makes decals that would have the car name on them that will match the letting on the Walthers HW cars both TT gray and the Pullman green. For the correct color (or decal maker) for 1930's Harriman cars use three kinds of decals, each with a different color.
   

Microscale

1. 87-241-8 "SP Heavyweights -- Dulux Gold"
   

2. This looks like a bright yellow. It's very visible on the models. This comes out as a dark gold or brass; the color also disappears against the dark olive paint. This is correct, as the metallic color was used prior to WW II. It doesn't look good on most models, as it has to catch the light to look bright (the same was true of the prototype but it operated in far brighter and more diffuse daylight). Also see Microscale's catalog lists an 87-1165 "Passenger Car -- Heavyweight -- Dulux lettering".
   

Thinfilm

HO-160 "HW/Harriman Set Dulux Gold Lettering"

1. These represent a post-WW II color (adopted 1947 or 1948?). It does look far better on models.
   

2. Tony Thompson   
   

Modeling Late Era Cars

Union Station Products

Instructions

1. Attach the ends to the roof of the TSP cores. These seem to fit much better than the old ECW cores which need lots of putty to fill in the spaces left due to poor / misaligned roof/ends. Then use epoxy to laminate Evergreen styrene to the Laser Horizons ABS. Use Ambroid, Proweld or Tenax for styrene to styrene welds (USP sides to TSP cores)
   

2. 
   

3. It’s possible to melt USP sides with liquid cement for styrene (Tenax, Ambroid. Proweld which are generally fantastic glues)when laminating styrene to styrene...so be careful as it is not apparent until a few days later when you find divits in the sides where the internal bracing has been applied.
   

4. 
   

5. The USP sides are more difficult to work with as they seem more delicate than Laser Horizons or AMB ABS. This is especially true when forming the skirting. Laser Horizon skirts have horizontal grooves cut inside which makes the curves much easier to bend and glue. He also cuts a nice lip on the windows which simulate the gaskets. Both sides are a little longer than the cores an so you need to sand some off the edges at the non-vestibule end.
   

6. 
   

7. Note that TSP now makes a .040" underlay/bracing to laminate to the sides, but it is expensive, so just custom cut your own bracing for each car from Evergreen sheets.
   

8. 
   

9. Build up the interior partitions (sometimes just rudimentary walls) on the TSP floors with more Evergreen styrene (ACC'd or epoxied), after laminating lead or brass sheet stock to the floor for weight. Most of the interior seats fit nicely on this weight, though you need to find what works in each situation.
   

10. 
    

11. Use Walthers or D&G trucks. Underbody details are available from a variety of manufacturers, so you can go as crazy as you like here.Use microscope slide cover slip glass for the window material.
    

Walther's

1. The "Original" series had flat sides, wood floor, wood roof. These are pre-1958 vintage.
   

2. 
   

3. The "Pug" series had metal sides and floor in one piece, and were all 60' "shorties". These were also discontinued in the late '60's
   

4. 
   

5. Ca. 1958/59 came the 7800 series "silver anniversary: cars. These are distinguished from the earlier cars by having a lip on the bottom of the sides that folded under the floor.
   

6. 
   

7. Ca. the very early 1970's, the "6600" series came out, these were the same as the "silver anniversary" cars, but had plastic roofs ("celestory" roof styles only in this series) and included "super details" (diaphragms, extra roof and underbody detail etc.). The arch roof cars continued to have the wood roof and be in the 7800 series, but the super detail kits were added to these also.
   

8. 
   

9. ALL the kits were discontinued in the very late 1970's as being too labor intensive to produce at a reasonable price, although "left over" stock continued to cataloged until the mid 1980's.
   

10. 
    

Modeling Passenger Cars Kits

Athearn

1. To disassemble a Genesis Daylight cars, the sides just spring apart to drop the body. Remove the ends first. They just pull off. There is a sticky compound that holds them on place. Then spread the sides and lift the shell off the chassis. If you have a skirted version watch the metal screens. You'll probably pop one or both off. The car ends are different and only fit correctly one way so remember which end went where.
   

2. Alan Houtz
   

BLI (Daylight Train)

1. There are new and old Observation cars and 4 sets of the articulated chair cars.
   

2. 
   

3. The new DCC observation car has the soft diaphragms. the lighting is not as bright, the general lighting is much softer. Reduce the brightness of the lighting in the rest of the cars to match. They are supposed to ship replacement diaphragm with one of the single cars. View a short video of the train on YouTube "http://youtu.be/zrSDn9Sk28Y"
   

4. Paul Deis
   

1. The articulated BLI cars handle 30" curves and #6 switches without a problem going forward. The BLI are supposed to run on 22 inch radius. These look a lot better on 38 in radius. When backing there are some problems with the diaphragms pushing on the side of the car behind (a non-BLI no diaphragm car). The lights are pretty much comparable to the Athearn Genesis chair car that they are running with. The lights are much brighter than a Walthers car with the Walthers light board.
   

2. Jim Pattison
   

Electrical BLI (Daylight Train)

1. BLI first release Daylight cars (articulated chair car and diner plus parlor observation) cars had excessive current draw on boot-up which either shut down the booster or shut down the storage track, depending upon whether the track is/is not turned on at boot-up. Energizing the storage track post-bootup would trip the PSX (or PSX-AR, depending). The BLI service department responded very timely and did all I could expect short of re-engineering the product. I do thank them. They responded that their oscilloscope showed a 4-amp spike in current draw for the first few cycles of power application. They installed a 10-Ohm resister before the capacitor which did partially resolve the problem. I find that the second release cars just now received have the same excessive current problem. 
   

2. Bill Baker
   

3. 
   

Brass Car Sides

1. kit #21 Pullman 13-bedroom (plan #4071), "County" series
   

2. kit #37 Pullman 22-roomette (plan #4122), "Bay" series
   

3. 
   

Limited Edition Passenger Car Kits

1. kit #7415 Chair Baggage
   

2. kit #7416 Articulated Diner 2 each
   

3. kit #7421 Tavern
   

4. kit #7422 Chair
   

5. kit #7423 Articulated Chair
   

6. 
   

7. Detail parts from Limited Editions are available:
   

8. 
   

9. #1 upgrade kit (for kits 7415, 7420 and 7422 above)
   

10. #2 upgrade kit (for kits 7421 above)
    

11. #3 upgrade kit (for kits 7423 above)
    

12. #4 upgrade kit (for kits 7416 above)
    

13. 
    

MTH

1. The MTH cars have skirts. The couplers on the MTH are not Kadee and will come apart and loose the springs very easily. BLI cars are better than MTH cars especially for less than 44 inch radius curves.
   

2. Jim Scott
   

Lettering & Numbering

1. Change the lettering on the MTH car from "Lines" to the larger Southern Pacific for post 1948 years. Depending on what consist you are going to copy will determine what lettering you will need on the cars. There is some other lettering that needs to go on the Post-war cars and is available on the current set of decals you need but you have to make up your mind as to what era you will model to get the right cars.
   

2. Jim Scott
   

Model Die Casting

1. By kitbashing their Harriman cars, they can be made into more realistic models. Model Die Casting has made plastic Harriman passenger cars for years. These cars are easily available, but only the baggage car is the correct length. The coaches are about 7 feet too short. Windows on the coaches are also too low, and make the car look wrong.
   

1. One can make an MDC Harriman body to make it look more appropriate. First, the trucks that come with the kit are too small. The trucks need to be moved out so they're 52' apart -- about 3' out on each end. They also need to be replaced with the 8' wheelbase trucks. The underframe's also too plain. Fabricate a new underframe from sheet plastic, detail it, and body mounted the couplers. The roof is pretty good as-is. Switch the air vents from the round ones to the squarish utility vents (Precision Scale part 33186), and filled the holes for the old vents.
   

2. Robert Bowdidge
   

3. 
   

SOHO

1. Soho "commute sub" coaches are older and inexpensive brass. SOHO has had Pullman model inaccuracies (too low overall, roof contour, letterboard height ...).
   

2. Robert Bowdidge
   

3. 
   

Southern Car & Foundry

1. The Southern Car and Foundry resin RPO cars make decent RPO cars (although they're long enough to bind going around sharp curves.
   

2. Robert Bowdidge
   

3. 
   

Union Station Products

1. #4071D    Pullman 13 bedroom sleeper, smooth side
   

2. #4082A     Pullman 2-1-1 observation buffet lounge, used on Lark
   

3. #4122B     Pullman 22 roomette sleeper, used on Cascade and Lark
   

4. #9614       Budd baggage/dorm, used on Sunset Limited
   

Union Terminal Imports

1.                   Lounge Cars 83-L-1
   

2. 
   

3. The passenger cars are impeccable, and include factory installed lighting. Their sprung diaphragms are excellent. Both Ed Kurzenski and Chuck Stead have done a wonderful job representing post-1958 SP passenger equipment to the highest of manufacturing standards.
   

4. Scott Inman
   

1. Union Terminal Imports cars are equal to Coach Yard and Challenger.
   

2. Paul C. Koehler
   

3. 
   

4. The best cars on the market. 5 stars out of 5.
   

5. Wesley Fox
   

6. 
   

Westside (Balboa)

1. The Westside (Balboa) models are based on Great Northern prototypes. 
   

2. Jeff Cauthen
   

3. 
   

Wright Enterprises Cars - MHP

1. These models were made by Dick Wright. The MHP cars came in smooth and corrugated versions. The numbers were the same except for the "C" (for corrugated) and "S" (for smooth). These are fun kits to build, and you can feel relatively certain that the window placement and size is correct. Dick's emphasis was to be correct window, size, and placement. These would not materially change as between most corrugated side cars and smooth side cars.
   

2. 
   

3. The MHP cars are a lot of work if you want to get rid of the wooden blocks representing the underframe details. There are some tricks to getting the roof done right, so the wood grain doesn't show, but go farther and cut panel lines and rivet strips (Archer decals), makes a lot of work.
   

4. 
   

5. None of the cars were ever available as painted kits. They were painted either by a previous owner or, for awhile, a private individual painted the cars and did the basic assembly for a few extra dollars.
   

6. Jeff Cauthen
   

7. 
   

8.      1937, 1938, 1939, 1941 Daylight
   

9.      1941 Lark
   

10.      1949 City of San Francisco
    

11.      1949 Golden State
    

12.      1950 Cascade
    

13. 
    

14. Dick, MHP Enterprises, only did the Daylight cars with corrugated sides. The 1941 Daylight cars were not typically painted or assembled. The chair cars have baggage doors, which would mean 1941- onward.
    

15. Jim Gerstley
    

16. 
    

17.     WE-50000-C 79'    Full Baggage #6607  (The full baggage has no relevance to 98/99. It was used on the T&NO.)
    

18.     WE-50001-C 79'    Chair/Baggage #3300
    

19.     WE-50002-C 79'    Deluxe Coach #2410
    

20.     WE-50003-C 134'  Articulated Coach #2439-2440
    

21.     WE-50004-C 201'  Articulated Diner #10259-10261
    

22.     WE-50005-C 79'    Tavern Car #25280
    

23.     WE-50007-C          Parlor 1 #3001
    

24.     WE- ?                      Parlor-Observation Not Painted-No Number
    

25. 
    

26. The only smooth side Daylight cars he ever did, if any, were special orders. Smooth side cars should be right for the mid-50's and later on. The smooth side coaches had baggage elevator doors which was a compromise to make use of the same die for punching the window and doors. The prototypes had their baggage elevators covered over at the time the smooth sides were applied.
    

27. Dave Blanchard
    

28. 
    

29. The aluminum parlor observation was never a commercially marketed kit, Dick only made it for a number of his friends who had previously purchased the Daylight cars. There were only 8 Parlor Observation kits built by Dick. It seems there are more than 8 in existence, however. There were no labels on those boxes. The parlor observation was originally done in aluminum, but he later did a few in the tinplate steel material. One of the tricky parts is shaping the floor and roof contours on the sleeper-observation car end. Use the drawings in Dick's book to produce a template for this. Dick provided an instruction sheet with a drawing to shape the floor and roof of the parlor-obs. The parlor/obs did not include trucks and couplers.
    

30. Jim Lancaster
    

31. 
    

32. You might also want to take a look at this:
    

33.                                                                             http://www.kls2.com/~karl/rr/sp/sp-md-1946.html
    

34.                                                                             http://www.kls2.com/~karl/rr/sp/sp-cd-1955.html
    

35. 
    

36. Use American Limited diaphragms as opposed to the MHP ones. From experience, they perform and operate much better from an operations stand point.
    

37. Tom Kidd
    

38. 
    

Walthers vs Branchline Comparisons

1. Both kits have less than adequate diaphragms. Replace in both kits with a modified version of the old Walthers folded diaphragms, part #933-429. They look and operate better.
   

2. 
   

3. Neither cars have a very good representation of axle-driven Spicer generator used on most Pullmans. (Precision Scale makes a nice replacement part. Neither car has hopper chutes, which can be added with tubing.
   

4. 
   

5. The Walther car has the 3 small roof vents, somewhat like Garlands in appearance, which the Branchline kits lacks and should be added for most prototypes. Neither car has the right vapor traps.
   

6. 
   

7. The Branchline interior is much less acceptable that Walthers.
   

8. 
   

9. Both cars would benefit from better trucks, the Precision Scale sprung brass ones look good and operate well. T. Thompson thinks the Branchline trucks are satisfactory. Some Walthers cars come with Pullman Style 242 trucks which do not have drop equalizers, others come with the very common Style 2410/2410A which do have drop equalizers. The Branchline cars have the 2410/2410A style also. See SPHTS Vol. 2 for listings of the combos of trucks, car names and air conditioning which are correct for individual SP sleeping cars. For additional modeling details on MR. Keeling write up,
   

10. contact Tony at                  thompson@signaturepress.com
    

11. 
    

12. To build up the bolster with Branchline Trains HW car kits, use AMB attachments kits for the trucks.
    

13. Jim Eaton
    

Rivarossi Blunt end Sleeper-Observation Cars

1. The car is painted in Daylight livery, it has a "20000" decal at the lower side end, a "412" number on the side , no car name decal.
   

2. Guessing Rivarossi have done a fantasy scheme using the PRR mold.
   

3. Enzo Fortuna
   

4. 
   

5. The Rivarossi Pennsy blunt end sleeper-observation were blunt-end cars. SP never had a car of that type. The only two that were very slightly similar were the two Lark cars 9500-9501. But, they had completely different floor plan and the rear blunt end didn't look anywhere close. SP did have round end (boat-tail) observations.
   

6. Jeff Cauthen
   

MTH vs. BLI vs. Athearn  (Daylight Articulated Cars)

1. As Bob Zenk has said, all three manufacturers have their pluses and minuses. If you put all three in a bag and pick the best features of all of them, you'd have the perfect model. But you can't, so you have to choose the one that you feel best represents the prototype.
   

Athearn

1. Athearn fluting is correct, the MTH is not!
   

2. Paul Lyons
   

BLI

1. BLI cars have the finest detail, the corner detail on the windows is at a new level, In the Pullman Std series Espee volume, you can see that the real cars actually had window detail like on the BLI cars.
   

2. Kenneth R. Clark
   

3. 
   

4. The articulated cars' appearance and level of detail is outstanding, but they have high friction in running due mainly to BLI's method of getting electricity to light the cars. The trucks of the cars have a brass strip on both sides and the points of the wheels are "connected" to the strips which prevents them from free wheeling. The Observation car doesn't have this method to light the car and runs well.
   

1. BLI cars are better than MTH cars especially for less the 44 inch radius curves.
   

2. Jim Scott
   

MTH

1. The MTH has full skirting, though it was lettered SOUTHERN PACIFIC, as the BLI obs. On the MTH three-car set, the truck on the Kitchen car which has the connections for the Diner and Coffee cars brakes. It seems that the material around the mounting hole is very thin.
   

2. Bill Myrons
   

1. MTH rolls much better than the Athearn.
   

2. Athearn fluting is correct, the MTH is not!
   

3. Paul Lyons
   

Interior

1. Athearn has white antimacassars printed on the seat backs,
   

2. MTH does not.
   

3. 
   

Details

MTH Diaphragms

1. They are supposed to include a flexible FWD in the next car that comes in so that you can replace the fixed FWD with it for operation. They said the fixed FWD was a mistake and was only to be on the display models, not the operation models.
   

2. Jim Scott
   

3. 
   

4. MTH Daylight diaphragms on the train between the single cars is tight and tend to bind on 36 inch curves, the thing that gets in the way is the striker plates. You’ll have a small gap between the single cars. Making a full with diaphragm that will work on tight curves is very difficult to do.
   

5. Derailments may occur because the diaphragm bellows may have a tiny lip past the endplate which can catch on the neighboring endplate, usually when the cars are exiting a curve. An emory stick clears this up.
   

6. Bob Liberman
   

7. 
   

8. Try covering the striker plates with thin clear styrene--this keeps the edge from catching in the opening.
   

9. Glenn Joesten
   

10. 
    

11. The diaphragms on the articulated cars between the articulation is one piece and only has a striker plate next to the adjacent car. This works fine and looks very real.
    

12. Bob Liberman
    

Couplers

1. With the close coupling positions on 35 inch radii you may have some derailments. Change all couplers to KD 47's and draft boxes, and that will cure this problem while maintaining close spacing by elongating the holes thru the KD's slightly with a round file.
   

Stirrups

1. Derailments may occur because if you add the chair car pairs, they have doors and protruding single stirrups at both ends. This means that single stirrups are opposed at some interfaces. They may catch on each other and force derailments, again mainly leaving curves. Move two stirrups back so they don't project, the change being almost invisible.
   

2. Bob Liberman
   

Antennae

1. Replaced the .010 wire antennae with .015 so they won't be wavy as much. Loosen one end so it moves when you touch it.
   

Athearn vs. MTH vs. BLI Daylight cars Paint Match

Paint

1. Any differences in the paint are not apparent at normal viewing distances. View this video:
   

2.                                                                         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aecyT2MqBgU&feature=youtu.be
   

3. The first and seventh cars are MTH.
   

4. Jim Lancaster
   

5. 
   

6. I posted a couple pic in the photos section, album Athearn & MTH daylights.
   

7. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Espee/photos/album/86812967/pic/list
   

8. Michael Mosher
   

9. 
   

10. MTH is on the left and Athearn on the right.
    

11. Jeff Cauthen
    

Window Frames

1. Athearn does not have silver window frames (black on the door window).
   

2. MTH has silver window frames (black on the door window).
   

Steps

1. Athearn black,
   

2. MTH silver.
   

3. 
   

MTH vs. BLI vs. Athearn Lettering & Numbering

1. On the the eight-car set two sets of chair cars change all the "Southern Pacific" decals to "Southern Pacific Lines" to match the skirts and backup light on the pre-49 trainsets, as well as your #4449 tender.
   

2. 
   

3. The change started in June 1946 when "Lines" was dropped from lettering diagrams. Photos suggest to me that within at most two years all passenger cars had been changed, and many were changed quite quickly.
   

4. Tony Thompson
   

Athearn Lettering

1. Athearn lettering and striping is "lettering gray", not white. This is correct for the period they are trying to replicate.
   

2. Jeff Cauthen
   

3. 
   

BLI Lettering

1. 
   

MTH Lettering

1. MTH striping & lettering is silver, that is incorrect. It should be aluminum bronze.
   

2. Jeff Cauthen
   

3. 
   

4. Another shortcoming to the MTH cars is the lettering is a bit off - it's the '41 lettering without the "Lines" and no car type lettering. The lettering shape changed a bit, too. The aluminum-bronze makes it post ~1948. The lack of black outline makes it 1958 and later (i.e. the "Simulated Stainless Steel" scheme, often referred to as the SSS scheme). We could also use better artwork for the Daylight logo (as Champ once had).
   

5. Arved Grass
   

Electrical

1. Put a decoder in the observation car, as the light on the pre-49 car was for backing only.
   

1. Both Athearn and MTH have nice interior lighting with capacitor anti-flicker.
   

2. Michael Mosher
   

Modeling Interiors

HW Interiors Colors

1. The standard interior color for seats or the interior in general for SP Pullmans was a green plush, a pretty safe default color for the seats in HWs. Also, depends on the period you are asking about.  
   

2. Jeff Cauthen
   

LW Interiors Colors

1. The standard interior color for seats or the interior in general for SP LWs it depended on the car and on the train. Plus rooms were painted different colors most times.
   

2. Jeff Cauthen
   

Modeling Passenger Cars Interiors

1. If interested in installing interiors into various brass SP cars, starting with coaches - Harriman, commute, 60' lightweight coach and other 1940-era cars, the following companies make interior kits for models of passenger cars:
   

Palace Car Company

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Pikestuff

1. If you are not concerned about matching the seat type exactly a low cost solution would be the Pikestuff coach seats. They are for designed for lightweight coaches and the chair spacing matches Pullman-Standard for most lightweight cars. Use them for general service 77-C-1 cars. Spray them to match the interior paint scheme and you can use craft or colored construction paper for the carpeting and curtains. You don’t have to have every window "open" so you can use blinds or curtains (as appropriate) to block off some of the windows. In the "open" windows try purchasing some unpainted seated passengers from the Walthers catalog paint their clothing, shoes, etc. For the blinds there are many materials available from decals to laser cut, again check out the Walthers catalog for options.
   

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Red Cap Line

1. For contest quality models the Red Cap interiors are pricey but dead on. They have everything including the ash trays. The 79-PRO-2 had them. The products purchased allude to the production of every interior lightweight detail possible.
   

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3. This is an online description of the Red Cap Line parts:
   

4.                                 http://www.desplaineshobbies.com
   

5. There is a web "holder" page for Red Cap at redcapline.com but nothing else yet.
   

6. A good source to view Red Cap's product line is Walthers, including photos of most (not all) of their parts
   

7. They can be reached at (805) 241-4473 or redcapline@aol.com. They looked nice.
   

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Sunshine Models

1. Simulated Wood Interiors:
   

2. Prefinished simulated wood interiors for Athearn & Model Die.
   

3. Sunshine Models$12
   

4. P.O. Box 305
   

5. Salinas, CA.  93912
   

The CoachYard

Passenger Car Window Shade Type & Color

1. Passenger car window shade color for the 1950's era Coast Daylights was aluminumized on the outside.
   

Venetian Blinds

1. A venetian blind kit that contains three different sizes of blinds for a total of 25 blinds.
   

2. Sizes and quantity are as follows:
   

3. *3 each of .850" x .350"
   

4. *         12 each of .525" x .350"
   

5. *5 each of .275" x .400"
   

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7. Part #DescriptionPrice
   

8. 300Passenger Car Venetian Blind Set #1$8.50
   

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10. Photo courtesy of The CoachYard, shows some of our #300 Venetian blinds installed in one of their observation cars.
    

Modeling Passenger Cars Details

Window Shades

1. To make the window-shade material in a passenger train try using .010" styrene sprayed with aluminum paint, silver is too flat.
   

2. Jeffrey Alan Cauthen
   

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4. Glue some Aluminum foil to the window shade for the correct color.  It wasn't silver.
   

5. Tom TomVanWormer
   

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7. Try going to local paint store and getting paint simple chip strip. It has worked well for me and the price it right. 
   

8. Ron Plies MMR
   

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10. I paint white 3x5 index cards with Star Brand Silver, and cut them to size with a pair of scissors. The key is to use a silver paint with a heavy amount of metalizer, and Star Brand fits that bill.  Afterwards, I use craft grade rubber cement to glue the shades above the window so you can't see glue residue. Craft grade rubber cement won't melt when you take your models to the railroad club on a 110 degree day and the window glass melts off the carside in the trunk of your car while you're at work (yes, I know from experience).  It's a wonderful thing when you can install all of the shades in a passenger car in about 10 minutes with the near-instant hold of the craft grade cement.
    

11. Scott Inman
    

Window Gaskets

Microscale

1. Microscale has a decal sheet for passenger car window gaskets in HO scale! They are available in both black and silver which is perfect for SP modelers. The decal sheet are split in half so the modeler can apply them to any size window within reason.
   

Diaphragms

1. For head-end cars, SP used a simpler design of diaphragm.
   

Hi-Tech Details

1. There are really fine diaphragms from Hi-Tech Details. See photos of them at their site:
   

                                                                              http://www.hitechdetails.com/Hi-Tech-P_Car_Diaphragms.html

Electrical

Lighting in MTH HO SP Daylight Cars

1. These cars have overly bright interior lights. They are plenty bright enough to be seen with with usual room lighting, but are way too bright for "night". They also shine thru the car body in an ugly way which is mostly masked with room lights on.
   

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3. Either: 1. tone them down, 2. eliminate the shine-thru with complete interior opaque painting, which would then require also repainting the wall colors, or 3. just disconnect them.
   

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5. There is a current regulator transistor that feeds the LED pair thru a diode and a 22 ohm resistor. The 1 farad cap is directly across the LED's. Slice thru the land from the 22 ohm to the LED's and jumpered it with resistors until at 470 ohms, You’ll get a lighting level that looked good in the dark. An additional benefit was that the total drain for the car dropped from 23 to 12 Ma. Shine thru 95% gone.
   

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7. Go one step further by hooking a latching magnetic reed switch across the new resistor, tucked into the roofline on the left side. You can opt for original or night lighting with a pass of a magnetic wand, like Rapido and BLI have used for other functions. These switches are available from Demar Electronics.
   

8. Hal Greenlee
   

Modeling Interior Lighting

1. In lighting cars with LEDS , LEDs address the small car, hot bulb, hot weather, and always full power on DCC concern.
   

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3. Use florescent (LED) for coaches and incandescent (filter) the rest. Try some blue night lights.