Passenger cars on the FCNWell after having had gone through (thinning the herd) my rolling stock and motive power, over the last two years. (Covid shutdowns meant a lot of free time).
Over the last two months, I took a look at what is left of my equipment stash... Passenger cars, in particluar... And decided to make some additions to my passenger trains.
Since the FCN is set in the modern era, the only reason to have passenger trains, are
Special Charters...
The
Northern Charters train was created several years ago, after I purchased an Undecorated Kato 6-car Smooth-Side set. Over the following years, I accumulated a few more pieces of Undec stock and reconfigured the train's consists. The RPO became the FCN"s Test Car #100 and was replaced by a 2nd Dome, that itself "lost" it's top, that went to the original Dome car to make the Dome/Observation car of the current train. A car the Kato should have made....
The "Northern Charters" train set
The consist = Baggage, Lounge Car (Dome Car that lost it's top), (Dome), (2) Sleeper Cars, Dome Car and a Dome / Obs Car (the top recipient). Power is a GE P30CH (3-D printed shell) modified to fit a Kato C30-7 chassis.
GE P30CH
All the Equipment has been painted, in a FCN Blue with Black roofs and undercarriages. Lettering was Silver decals, from the Scale Rail Graphics: "Northern Sky Charters" sets. I was lucky to pickup the last ones he produced... many years ago. All my Cars continued the decal sheets' naming of the cars, starting with "Northern".
Dome/Obs Car - Northern View
Present Day...I wanted to add more equipment (including sleepers) to the NC train, but found I only had ONE set of Northern Sky decals left.... So. I had to decide what car I could add with this last set. I always wanted to add a "Power Car". A car that I could also use with the FCN's Biz train.
Power Car "Northern"
Body is a stock Kato Baggage with styrene panels. A Atlas BXX-7 fuel tank, small exhaust stack and Gold Metal Models Kato stirrup parts, finished out the details...
Since, more "Blue" sleepers were out of the question. I decided to paint the two Sleepers that I plan to add. in a Maroon (Wisconsin Central) and Black scheme. This gave me the chance to use the Gold Leaf "Pullman" lettering from an old Micro-Scale, "Pullman Heavyweights assigned to Union Pacific" set. Since, I could not find any 'Northern" text in these sets. I settled for naming the cars for locations on the FCN. The "Almond" and "Wild Rose" were achievable, but required a lot of piecing together.
NC Rental Car "Wild Rose"
The FCN Biz Train...Consist: Power Car - Northern; Lounge - Northern Club; Sleeper - Wild Rose and Biz Car - Wautoma...
As I was creating the additional equipment for the NC. I decided the FCN's
"Wautoma", the only "FCN Owned" car, needed a upgrade. This car was made from a Smooth -Side Sleeper with about 10 feet (3/4") remove from the center. It is about 15+ years old and was showing it's age. So, I bought replacement glass and installed new window shades. The body also got a fresh coat of gloss. And, I finally installed the rear marker (an LED) that I had been wanting to do, which replaced the painted-in one.
FCN's "Wautoma"
I have a few additional pieces of Kato equipment left, and could add a Budd corrugated Sleeper, Coach and Business Car to the Northern Charters' train set...
Jerry G.
