Aerojet
Active Member
If you are modeling the late 50's into the 60's. This was a turbulent times for railroads. Planes and cars had pretty much taken over the passenger business, and trucks were working their way into the freight hauling. Especially from smaller towns on branch lines. Which is why the railroad abandoned them in droves.
Yet lines like the Wisconsin Central and later the Wisconsin Southern, now WAMX, took on those lines and made them really pay. It shows that in this part of the world, namely branch lines are not dead. If you service them properly.
Take auto racks. At first cars were shipped in box cars with the Evans lift system to get four to six cars in each box car. Later on Evans made up the first auto loader hauling 4 cars in an open rack. this was followed by 6 cars, then the open 18 car racks. These were used until the 70's when the fully enclosed auto racks were put into service to protect the cars from damage in shipment. Why don't more people model those units like I am?
Passenger cars were a big deal post world war 2 and the investment the railroads made was huge. As I stated at the top, planes, trucks and cars took most of the biz and they were glad when in 1970 Amtrak came along and the sold or gave Amtrak tons of passenger cars to get them off their property. Many more were just too old and were scrapped as is where is. Branch lines out side of commuter lines were dropped by the scores. But if there was a way to make this pay?
Hence my "little train" of passenger cars. If WC and WSOR / WAMX can make freight pay, why not passenger? All you need to do is shrink the passenger train to match the revenue, and offer first class service in a smaller package. The tracks are pretty much still there, all be it light rail, almost trolley car weight, so a little train like mine, pulled by say a 1500 type switcher would be able to work those tracks without any problems. The small size will let them go around any curve, which would make a trolley car cry!
More cars are coming soon. I will post those when I get them completed. No kit required, just build them. I do have a spare Piker in house which was never built. I am using those parts for reference sizing. Someplace in all my old Walthers catalogs there is a photo of a guy's train -- made up of a half dozen Pikers and an Oscar all done in Pennsy Tuscan Red -- and pulled by a steamer. Just for interesting thing to look at - and - something else to build.
My train is going to be made up from the many rosters of cars which are listed in several of the Train Shed Cyclopedias and other reference books I have around here.
The Aerojet
Yet lines like the Wisconsin Central and later the Wisconsin Southern, now WAMX, took on those lines and made them really pay. It shows that in this part of the world, namely branch lines are not dead. If you service them properly.
Take auto racks. At first cars were shipped in box cars with the Evans lift system to get four to six cars in each box car. Later on Evans made up the first auto loader hauling 4 cars in an open rack. this was followed by 6 cars, then the open 18 car racks. These were used until the 70's when the fully enclosed auto racks were put into service to protect the cars from damage in shipment. Why don't more people model those units like I am?
Passenger cars were a big deal post world war 2 and the investment the railroads made was huge. As I stated at the top, planes, trucks and cars took most of the biz and they were glad when in 1970 Amtrak came along and the sold or gave Amtrak tons of passenger cars to get them off their property. Many more were just too old and were scrapped as is where is. Branch lines out side of commuter lines were dropped by the scores. But if there was a way to make this pay?
Hence my "little train" of passenger cars. If WC and WSOR / WAMX can make freight pay, why not passenger? All you need to do is shrink the passenger train to match the revenue, and offer first class service in a smaller package. The tracks are pretty much still there, all be it light rail, almost trolley car weight, so a little train like mine, pulled by say a 1500 type switcher would be able to work those tracks without any problems. The small size will let them go around any curve, which would make a trolley car cry!
More cars are coming soon. I will post those when I get them completed. No kit required, just build them. I do have a spare Piker in house which was never built. I am using those parts for reference sizing. Someplace in all my old Walthers catalogs there is a photo of a guy's train -- made up of a half dozen Pikers and an Oscar all done in Pennsy Tuscan Red -- and pulled by a steamer. Just for interesting thing to look at - and - something else to build.
My train is going to be made up from the many rosters of cars which are listed in several of the Train Shed Cyclopedias and other reference books I have around here.
The Aerojet
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