The B&O Cincinnatian configuration

[havingfuntoo]

I am having some trouble identifying the mail car that was used on the late sets of the Cincinnatian, it was positioned between the steam loco and the stream lined heavy weights. It ran on three axle trucks and had a clerestory roof, it had doors at each end and two windows at one end.
Any guidance on the type or class of car, and who makes one in N scale would be greatly appreciated. It is always appears in photos of the steam pulled trains taken in the 1955-56 period.

It is quiet possible this information is readily available, if it is I clearly don't know where to look and I am seeking help from the vast knowledge base the exists with in the Railwire community. 

In anticipation I thank those with the knowledge who are prepared to share it with me.

[Maletrain]

 I too have some pictures showing this car, but none are clear enough to read a road number.

The pictures seem to show a combination baggage/mail car, with an unusually (for the B&O) short mail section.  RPOs typically had mail sections that were in made to lengths that were multiples of 15'.  So, with only 2 windows, I am suspecting that this was something less than a 30' RPO "apartment. However, putting a scale on the MTL and Atlas models makes 15' look too short.

Looking through Internet railcar photo sites, I found these:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/23711298@N07/3792767536
https://www.flickr.com/photos/7687126@N06/3832998141
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nk2985/5713844673
https://photos.smugmug.com/BO-Baltimore-Ohio-Railroad/BO-Baltimore-Ohio-Railroad/BO-23-Aug-1968-Last-RPO-car-in/627433840_NQHLv-L.jpg

But, the best place you could ask your question is with these folks:
http://borhs.org/
or the Yahoo group that they mention (but you have to join).

Let us know what you find out.

[Point353]

Looks like some variation of a B&O "E7" type baggage-mail car, similar to either of these:





Closest model is probably the Micro-Trains baggage-mail car #148-00-090.
You could cover one of the mail compartment windows to make it a somewhat closer match.

[Maletrain]

In the train photos, the car length does seem to be longer than a 60' RPO.  A close look at one of Point353's car images seems to show that there was once a 3rd window that got blanked-off.  So, doing that to a 70' MTL baggage/mail combine would seem like a reasonable stand-in for your model train, even if it isn't perfect.  You might want to "modernize" the MTL baggage door to match the photos.

[nkalanaga]

I'll agree with the blanked window.  There's a riveted plate visible in both of the color photos.

[havingfuntoo]

Thanks Fellas,
I had not noticed the riveted plate before, but I had noticed the narrow window in the door at the end away from the windows,  I had been looking at the Micro Trains offering but thought that the door sizes and positions did not match, the only photo of the car I can find where the number is readable to this point identifies it as car #214, the photo is of train 53 leaving Toledo for Detroit in late Spring 1953.
The streamline cars were 79 ft 5 in long, in the photos the car seems to scale out to a similar length.
I will widen my quest and let you know what results.

[Maletrain]

The drawings I have for a baggage/mail combine E-7, E-7a and E-7b, show road number 212, so I would expect that to be about the same for road number 214.

Overall length was 70'-9".
The baggage door was 5' wide, spaced 13' in from the end sill.
The mail compartment door was 2'-10" wide, spaced 10'-6" in from the other end sill.
This drawing shows 3 windows on the car body in the RPO section.
Originally, the baggage door had 3 windows and the mail door had 2 windows.
From the drawing, it looks like shortening the mail compartment by about 7' would have been a reason to blank the 3rd window, although that would have created a 23' RPO "apartment" from the original 30' arrangement.  But, unless you need to make a true-to-prototype interior, that would not be an issue either way.

For comparison, the MTL model has road number 229, and is about the right length, with a mail door about the right width, with 2 windows, situated about the right distance in from the end sill, but it has a 6' wide baggage door with 5 windows situated about 17' in from the other end sill.  So, after blanking the window, the only apparent difference is the 1' wider door located about 4' farther from the end sill.  (And, of course, the number of rivets might not match.)  You need to decide for yourself what is "close enough" for your railroad.

[Mark5]

From what I've seen of the other cars in the consist, the baggage/mail might be one of the least challenging cars.

Mark

[Point353]

From what I've seen of the other cars in the consist, the baggage/mail might be one of the least challenging cars.

Not if you get the brass models of the rest of the train:

[havingfuntoo]

Maletrain thank you for you help, I am not a rivet counter but I do like things to be close, the interior is not going to fuss me, as the car set I have does not have interior or glazing, and yes Mark5 the car set would be a scratch job if you did not have the key set. I have seen the RPO described as an apartment RPO, which means very little to me in trying to identify the car.