So, while everything is baking, let's take a break and talk. I know I've got folks probably saying "yeah but I don't own brass and I'm not likely to, it's too expensive, too finicky, and too much work." OK, fair point. It can be all of those at once. I got into it because I wanted accurate models, and if I can get an accurate model in plastic I will. I like to save a buck as much as the next guy. I started with Athearn shorties and had a Daylight set I just loved. Then I fell into bad company (prototype modelers) and started studying the trains I was modeling and developed a desire to model accurately. Passenger trains were built by spec for the railroads, so there are many types of cars. Sometimes these were common among the railroads, like with sleeper cars. Some floor plans sold more tickets than others. Some were one road specific like the SP's triple unit diner and club cars, or some of the early "City of wherever" equipment. So if you aren't a rich guy or your wife will divorce or kill you (or both) if you drop $500.00 or more on one model that isn't even a locomotive, what to do? Easy. Stand-ins. There are stand-ins and there are foobies. A foobie is a car the railroad never had, or one that appears in a paint scheme it never really wore. My old Athearn Daylight had a dome car, a few sleepers, and an RPO, none of which ever appeared on the Coast Daylight. I pulled it with Athearn Super-Power F units painted in Daylight, which also never happened. It was a comedy of errors, but I had fun with it, and it started me on a journey I've had lots of fun taking. Stand-ins are cars that are really close to the prototype, enough so that you have to look twice. I still use them. Like I said, I'll do cheap stuff too! A couple of good examples are these:
The top car is a Soho model of a correct SP RPO Baggage. The bottom car is a Walthers model. You save over $100.00 and your time to paint/decal/windows, diaphragms, and so forth.
Next up is a good one. This is the Roundhouse Harriman baggage car. It is super close to the prototype. In the photo below the center car is a brass model above and below it are Roundhouse models. The one on top is the "new" roundhouse RTR model, the one below is the older kit that still turns up on e-Bay or at swaps. The biggest difference is the door spacing. If you look between the doors of them, you'll see the brass model has four and a half panels between the doors, where the Roundhouse models have three panels. That's about it. There are a few things you can do to get it even closer, and the next project will lay all of those out. My mail train is full of these things and they're so close that I see no reason to replace them with models that would be much more expensive.
Last one up is a sore spot in the SP modeler's community. This car is Golden Gate Depot's offering of an SP RPO/Baggage car. GGD is the plastic model arm of Sunset Models, the brass manufacturer. It's got pretty much everything the car is supposed to have, but to keep costs down GGD used the same chassis for all of the models in the series. This resulted in several incorrect models and at their price point, people were unhappy. Many of the orders were cancelled. The photo below shows the model next to a brass model of the same car. It's a little short, innit? I looked at the promo material for these, and they actually said they were going to do this, so I accepted mine. They're not right, but they work, so I run them and enjoy them. So, two things: A big price tag does not necessarily translate to accuracy. You can model a reasonably accurate train on a budget!