Model Train Journal

Just went searching - apparently all photos have been purged from our original passenger car thread except for a couple that Pete posted. So maybe it is time to re-do the thread? I suggest starting with nice old stuff, but I think we would all be delighted with PSC or Protocraft or Wasatch.
Potential contributors - ask us how to post photos. Turns out that even computer illiterates can do it.

Here is what we think is a Joe Fisher car:

I'm game.

This is a Walthers B60 with sides modified to widen the second door, Doors are scratched from a CD gem case, cut and masked to simulate the modernized metal doors with sealed windows. Trucks are Lobaugh, decals are from a nice custom run by the SCL Historical Society done awhile back.

Of all the local forumites the one I would most like to trade photos with is Pete. I can share some cars that Maroon now has, and another pair of possible Joe Fishers, but for now this one is for Pete:

Well thank you Bob, I'm happy to oblige. That combine is a beauty I covet though me-thinks it's a delux smoker lounge-combine Pullman plan and not one of the "cheap" seats that one typically associates with company owned combines in the deep south.
Wayne just earlier posted here and then deleted this car that's about three computers ago for me, so I dug it out of one of my survey compilations.

Way back when between Maroon's research and this forum I was finally able to identify it as a Pomona Valley shell, spot welded from punched sheet steel sides and ends. A 12-5 pre-war Broadway "Brooks" series duplex bedroom car finished with MicroScale sets and some really nice Napoleon trucks from an undetermined manufacturer. It has a matching 4-4-2 PV brother yet to be finished. They'll both wind up up with Jim as he has the appropriate "motors" for them.

I did this craziness before Bill Badsen started his business, scratching most of the underbody hardware out of wood, spare plastic parts etc. as I couldn't find it commercially and had not yet availed myself of a Chicago Show yet. The visible silver screw is the sole thing holding the roof onto the rest of the car, though the PV metal shell was so well built/straight I wasn't compelled to add a corner mounted roof kit.
I like it a lot though it's 17/64 and looks odd with my Kasiner and Walthers cars.

I sort of prefer GGD cars for model RR use. They are not as detailed as PSC or other brass, especially underneath, but they track well and the superstructures look good from -2-3 feet away. They are sturdy enough and cheap enough for layout use too. My budget could not justify a string or in my case 2 short strings of brass cars. The GGD PRR P70 coaches and heavy weight pullmans that I am familiar with are ok models of their respective prototypes too. Also I have 52 inch minimum curves and these cars handle them with ease with no modifications.

My layout "operates" with up to 8 operators, and stuff does have to perform and does get handled and run. These cars work well in that environment.

I don't have any photos but I could take some.

Yes, please - photos. That would make three of us.
I agree - I have one plastic GGD Pullman, and with one subtle exception it is, at a short distance, the most realistic looking car in my fleet. Looks even better than its brass GGD companion. I don’t do plastic, so do not have a string of these, choosing instead to run Walthers.

Photo's are always good. I concur with the GGD's, we have a string of the GGD PRR P70/B70/BM70's etc. on the downtown club and they are sturdy and now track well after we got the bolsters adjusted correctly. They look great too and play well with the Weaver B60's and X29's and the old Walthers/Auburn HW's.

One of my favorites - Walthers:

This was a gift from Jim Seacrest. He told me it was a Fisher, and I reckon he was the expert. Apparently there was an entire string of these, and I got the baggage cars. Really nicely made!

It does seem to have those build characteristics typical of Fisher cars, specifically the back supports for the door and end stirrup steps, and the color of that copious underbody hardware.
Nice! though I'd be tempted to re-letter for something like B&M, CP or CV

[quote="De Bruin"]

You guys have forgotten more about passenger cars than I will ever know. The window arrangement here seems odd to me, as I don't see the point of three different heights. Care to explain the purpose?

12 Duplex Single Rooms, 5 Double Bedrooms
Probably a PRR PS124 class sleeper

Floor plan:

http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiag ... &sz=sm&fr=

Floor plan is in Chinese LOL, but I'll assume windows for upper and lower bunks! Thanks Dave!

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