I can't remember a time when those of us who buy and operate passenger trains have had a better selection. The old standbys of Lionel & MTH have been joined by Golden Gate Depot and Atlas. This begs the question, where do you see your future purchases going and why?

My last purchase was the 18" Lionel Union Pacific 7 car set to go with my FEF Northern. A very nice set that goes with a beautiful engine. My next purchase, I currently have no idea. It will depend upon future releases. I was disappointed when Lionel cancelled the Dreyfus and the 18" cars to go with it.

The MTH and Lionel 18" passenger cars are not an equivilent comparison to Atlas and GGD scale passenger cars. And you could also add WEAVER to the latter group.

i don't see myself buying any more. for two reasons.

1. i don't really have the capacity for more. i have four big (10+ cars) trains now (portland rose, city of portland, california zephyr, super chief) all assembled from a variety of manufacturers and with custom painting by jeff sohn). for practical purposes, i can run only two at once.

2. my O-54 layout looks best with 15" cars and it seems like nobody is making that size will full interiors anymore.

The new GGD offerings are very nice,however I have enough passenger cars. I have spoiled myself with a set of K-Line 21 inch B&O. I know by new standards these are not perfect but they are still very nice. I also have a bunch of older sets of all makes with window strips. I wish someone would market retrofit interior kits for these.

unless I sell some stuff no more passenger cars for me.

I am not happy with the lighting coming in all makes of cars. I have converted all mine to constant voltage overhead LED lighting. 6 car sets now use about 15 watts instead of the 75+ watts from factory systems using light bulbs. GGD is finally going to LEDs. Since I run conventional the constant voltage lighting adds realism and is flicker free. Also amperage requirements are much less per train run and there is less arcing on pickup rollers.

Dale H

I'm looking for a scale set of B&O smooth streamliners to go with my B&O E7 AA set. Prefer Lionel with interiors.
I will also buy MTH Orient Express set, and MTH MK1 British Rail Set

Those of you who want to convert the lighting in your passenger cars to LEDs, Jack Pearce (TCA member), who sells at York in the Orange Hall, introduced a board that provides interior lighting capabilities. The board's capacity is sufficient to light the interior of your cars as well as exterior markers or lighting for your vestibules. Jack tells me that OGR magazine will feature this new product in an upcoming issue.

Good thread...very timely for me!

I agree with Forrest's comment re 15" cars. Would like to see them NOT disappear from new releases. With no apologies, they look best on my 0-72, 0-80 curves. The 70'-ers, or 18", are OK, but they just look like they're slamming the occupants when they go around a curve. Pity the poor 1:48 rider about to cross throught the diaphragms of a pair of 18" (or 21"!!) cars when they suddenly enter a curve at speed. Or better yet, snake through my Ross Double X-over!!

I had spent more time in the HO realm before wholly commiting the basement to O3R. I was reminded by an associate that our traditional 3R curve designations can lull one into a false euphoria. For instance, O-72 sounds grand to 3-railers. Its equivalent in HO is 18" radius...about the SHARPEST that any manufacturer will make their equipment navigate. And full length HO passenger cars MUST have 24" radius curves (0-96 in 3R!!) to operate. Even so, they still look out of place on anything less than 30" radius (0-120!!!! ).

So, I am yet a bit mystified by the preponderance of 21" pass car releases coming. Sure, they're to scale, but I thought this group was made up of us guys with more spartan real estate for layouts!?!?!?

Please don't forget us, Mr. Manufacturer!!!

In the Want/Buy section I posted a search for an elusive 15" car...K-Line's 20th Century 15" add-on Pullman, Cascade Valley. It's my needle-in-the-haystack. The hunt is ON!! Any help?

Re LED lighting... I believe Dallee also makes a very fine LED strip light insert for 3R. In fact I believe you can get it in warm (incandescent) or cool (flourescent) color. Regardless from whom, they are a good idea for holding down power consumption...give your Z's and Duals a chance to run without their tongues hanging out!!

And, Mr. Manufacturer, anytime you're ready to put LED's in the pass cars as original equipment, we're ready, too!!



KD

You cam make up your own LED lighting for between $2 -$5 per car depending on your needs. In an evening you can do 6 cars.

Dale

Im trying to finish up a set of 21" Kline UP City of Los Angeles cars for my Challenger.

My next passenger set will be harder Im sure

I have a C&O M-1 now, and the cars that came with it are no where near what they should have been. I want to Figure out the full 14 car consist of the train that never was (at least in its entirety) the Chessie. I will try and find the closest cars (21") that I can and look to a custom painter for the letterboards. So Im looking for streamliners that would approximate 84' Budd fluted cars.

Thanks!

My future will rest in whoever manufacturers scale (3 rail or 2 rail) Santa Fe passenger cars either streamlined or heavyweight. I'm not looking for just scale length, but cars based on the prototype. If the prototype is the 63' RPO used on the Super Chief, great! If it is a 73' foot baggage car, great! Of course to complete the train the rest of the cars are about 80' long.

My future is in prototype cars, not sets of fantasy cars. I hope.

For now I'm counting on GGD/3rd Rail and Atlas O to come through.

Scott - if you are looking, a brass Santa Fe prototype coach would be nice if there is not enough demand for a plastic coach. After all you have 3 Santa Fe passenger engines in the works, 2 3700 class (original & modified) and a 2900 class.

My future pax cars will rely on 18" as I am still trying to transition over. I have the Lionel Superliner sets along wiht the MTH premier Amfleet sets[2 in 2 paint schemes] The upcomming MTH turbo will also look good with these cars.

I agree about this being a great time to buy streamlined passenger in terms of availability, I don't think I've seen a time when so much variety was being offered. I picked up a set of GGD's NYC Empire State Express cars and am looking at the upcoming 1948 20th Century Limited. The GGD NYC ESE cars are gorgeous and the finest passenger cars I own. I also enjoy my 18" Lionel cars, they look good and have always run well but they just can not compare IMHO to what GGD is now able to offer. Bill B.

One can never have to many passenger cars. Be they 13", 15", 18" or longer. I've never met a passenger car I didn't like.

Where is Will Allen?????....I just knew Will would be here by now! .

Alan

quote:

... This begs the question, where do you see your future purchases going and why?...

I'm waiting for the release of "K-Line by Bachmann" 21" Aluminum streamliners.

quote:

Originally posted by Forrest Jerome:

2. my O-54 layout looks best with 15" cars and it seems like nobody is making that size will full interiors anymore.

MTH Railking streamlined and heavyweight cars have full interiors. I have both versions in PRR livery, and hundreds of MTH "people" I hand-painted are riding inside. Although I'm basically a Lionel fan, I think MTH makes the best looking semi-scale passenger cars. BTW, I'm a "passenger train nut". Freight trains, even as a kid, had little appeal for me.

quote:

Originally posted by leavingtracks:
Where is Will Allen?????....I just knew Will would be here by now! .
Alan

And Marty Fitzhenry?

I've got a couple sets of MTH 18" "Madison" cars for the New Haven and the B&M, along with some B&M express cars, as well as MTH's streamline B&M set from a couple years ago. I'm mulling over a set a MTH B&M woodsided cars in the 2010 catalog that might look pretty good behind my Lionel Mogul.

Other than that, I think I won't be needing any more passenger equipment, or other rolling stock for that matter.

Unless MTH comes out with a (semi) correct set of Maine Central streamlined cars, especially if they offered an E-7 to pull it.

I run up to 21" cars with standard lighting. In the 20th Century train it can be 20+ cars long and ABBA all powered locos. To eliminate the power drain I have each track section [block] powered by a different brick transformer. As the train goes around the loop under TMCC or Legacy control Or DCS for that matter part of the train is in one of four blocks each powered by a different brick. Flickering is seldom if ever seen and the engines have enough power to get around the layout. I am always looking for new passenger cars for my steam engines to pull in the correct era...

weaver is looking into filling the void of 15" passenger cars. if everybody makes enough noise on weavers phoneline, they could become the new 15" supplier of aluminum 5, 6, or 8 car sets. call weaver and let them know you want 15" passenger cars.

I do not favor the current trend toward scale size passenger cars.

In my opinion, scale cars look awful on the curves of most layouts. My layout is 12' x 24' with over 300' of track and growing. Typically, I run passenger trains of 8 to 10 cars because this consist mimics real trains in the late steam era that I model.

The overall impression of a passenger train is important to me, and I find the Rail King 027 cars look the most convincing in trains of 8 or more cars. I tried 16" long cars on 042, 054, and 072 curves, but the overhang is unacceptable. Moreover, the length of an 8 or more car consist is overwhelming for the 20' straight runs on my main lines.

So it pains me that manufacturers are concentrating on 60' and larger scale cars, and the variety of Rail King 027 passenger cars is at a stand still. By the way, Rail King 027 passengers cars are the most impressive semi-scale cars on the market.

On my railroad, freight trains yield the right of way to passenger trains.

IMO, the 18" MTH Premier cars are a good compromise between the 21" scale offerings from GGD, KLIne, and Big L and the 15" versions, which, IMO look a little stubby to me.

I have O64 curves on my layout and they don't look ridiculous negotiating the curves.

Of course, if you have tighter curves than O64, than the 15" versions would be the way to go. There's plenty of choices in the 15" realm too.

We O gaugers never had it so good. Years ago, all we were offered was warmed over postwar stuff. We have so much more choice now, ain't it great?

I prefer to run scale passenger cars

VIDEO has scale length equipment from GGD, K-Line, Weaver and MTH

This message has been edited. Last edited by: pennsyk4,

My plan is simple and set in "brass": I have the Golden Gate Southern Pacific corrugated Daylight set on order to replace the MTH 18" plastic set I sold to make room for this set. THe idea is to run/display these cars with my Samhongsha MTH 4449 Premier Daylight. That is it, nothing else on the horizon for now, but I agree there ARE a lot of choices now compared to the past with regard to 2 or 3-rail scale passenger cars, especially streamliners.

Passager Train Collector,

I hate to hijack your tread by I saw these Industrial Rail Heavyweights at the York show and was very impressed:

http://www.atlaso.com/IR/irpassengercar.htm

The length is 15.75" which is a good but I was worried about the hieght at 3.25". Are these too short? I was thinking about running the PRR ones behind a scale K4. The detail on the cars are great and the price is not bad.

Thanks
JohnB

Dave Allen,
In reference to your post about B&O smooth side cars check the Golden Gate Depot web site. GGD will be doing the 8 car streamlined Columbian including the dome car.

This is a great time to buy, especially for the scale modeler. Some incredible sets out or in the works and of the correct length.

Unfortunately this is not the best economy to take advantage of that.

quote:

Posted November 01, 2009 12:10 PM Hide Post
i don't see myself buying any more. for two reasons.

1. i don't really have the capacity for more. i have four big (10+ cars) trains now (portland rose, city of portland, california zephyr, super chief) all assembled from a variety of manufacturers and with custom painting by jeff sohn). for practical purposes, i can run only two at once.

2. my O-54 layout looks best with 15" cars and it seems like nobody is making that size will full interiors anymore.

If 18" or 21" (1/4" to the foot or 1/48 scale) 72' or 85' passenger cars are too long for 054 curves, it reminded me that there once were 3/16" to the foot "0" Gauge trains made by Gilbert/American Flyer in 1939-41 and by Marx in the 1950's.

I would like to see a manufacturer make a 3/16" to the foot (1/64 scale) model of an 80' long passenger car (which would be 15" long and run on "0" Gauge track instead of "S" Gauge track). It could even be called BROAD "0" GAUGE.

Passenger Train Collector,
Even though I have the room and wide radius curves the smaller cars are prefered. I buy what looks good to me. That's what is nice about this hobby.
JohnB,
Those are good looking cars. I'll be looking into a set soon.
Joe Hohmann,
There's nothing wrong with having an affection for passenger trains. Just ask Passenger Train Collector.

quote:

Originally posted by Bobby Ogage:
I do not favor the current trend toward scale size passenger cars.

In my opinion, scale cars look awful on the curves of most layouts. My layout is 12' x 24' with over 300' of track and growing. Typically, I run passenger trains of 8 to 10 cars because this consist mimics real trains in the late steam era that I model.

The overall impression of a passenger train is important to me, and I find the Rail King 027 cars look the most convincing in trains of 8 or more cars. I tried 16" long cars on 042, 054, and 072 curves, but the overhang is unacceptable. Moreover, the length of an 8 or more car consist is overwhelming for the 20' straight runs on my main lines.

So it pains me that manufacturers are concentrating on 60' and larger scale cars, and the variety of Rail King 027 passenger cars is at a stand still. By the way, Rail King 027 passengers cars are the most impressive semi-scale cars on the market.

On my railroad, freight trains yield the right of way to passenger trains.

Bobby --

You expressed almost precisely my views too. My only beefs with the RKs are: 1) i gotta buy (& paint!), then install, the peeps; and 2) generic configurations in each "class" (i.e., madisons or streamliners).

Still, compared to my PW, the trucks & couplers are excellent, no shadow windows, and the length is soooo much better on my O54/O31 two loop road. Sorry Williams.

-- gary ray

There has always been a great selection of non O scale sized cars. For those interested in accurate scale length cars though, this really is the golden age. The offerings by Atlas O and GGD are second to none when it comes to scale fidelity and just well built models for those interested in these areas. Atlas's 15" Trainman line cars are based on prototype models too and can still be scale for smaller layouts.

This is no trend towards scale length cars, it is simply filling a huge void in the passenger car offerings in O scale. The market has been saturated with 18" and smaller cars for years and likely will continue to be. However, for reasonably priced scale cars just even 5 years ago you were looking at old Walthers kits, K-line cars or expensive brass imports.

When you can buy cars today from GGD and Atlas for prices that are comparable with the offerings of the original K-line, this truly are good times for serious passenger train operators. I am blessed to be able to do up to 088 curves at home and the new club layout will be large 0120 and larger for the mainlines. Pure heaven for a scale operator.

These larger cars are not for everyone, but based on the market, there is certainly a demand and these sets are selling. Bob at AM Hobbies mentioned that he took over 3000 orders for the new Atlas CZ cars. GGD's offerings often sell out. That is market demand.

My passenger car inventory consists of the Pennsylvania Congressional set ( Aluminum cars) w GG1, the NYC F3 aluminum car set with NYC F3 (MPC 80's) and a four car set of the original Williams run of the Pennsylvania Bakelite style heavyweight Madison car set. No need to purchase more as I am well equipped to represent my favorite passenger roads on my layout.

Who would have thought we would have such choices in passenger equipment....

Lionel's 18" cars got better with the George Washington; B&O and NYC sets then along comes GGD with Heavyweights and streamlined cars; then the 20th century limited and now Atlas O is getting in the fray.....

Fabulous.... but not a particularly good time to have a wall full of MTH sets..... Though their new sets are very nice as well - we ran the MTH Dreyfus cars with the MTH Dreyfus w PT Tender last night..... swell....

Left hand wall in the exercise room:

It is a great time to be collecting passenger sets. But i need to sell a few before i buy anymore. I'm drooling over the PRR congressional set that GGD is making. But it's got two major problems for me: one, the near two thousand dollar price tag, even for 12 cars, is stiff. Two: 21" cars, while scale, look like crap on my O72 curves. I'm going to stick with my 18" K Line passenger sets for now, i still think they look great. But i do wish i had more layout real estate for larger curves, and a much larger train budget, when i see what is being made today.

Nick

Nick,
You do not have to buy 12 Congressional cars from GGD. They are being sold in sets of 4. Buy two sets which will give you one of each different car plus an extra coach.