The East Wind

[thomasjmdavis]

They're gorgeous, but the East Wind terminated in Washington DC, and I'm pretty sure the FEC had nothing to do with it.  Perhaps you were thinking of the South Wind?

Did some of the cars run through to/from Florida via the Champions or other ACL trains?  Or did everyone change trains in Washington?

[nickelplate759]

The East Wind was a Washington-to-Portland Maine summer tourist train, so no Florida connection.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

They're gorgeous, but the East Wind terminated in Washington DC, and I'm pretty sure the FEC had nothing to do with it.  Perhaps you were thinking of the South Wind?

Yes. Yes I was.

[ncbqguy]

The South Wind often had ACL E3/E6s on it coming into Chicago....
Charlie Vlk

[Sokramiketes]

The South Wind often had ACL E3/E6s on it coming into Chicago....
Charlie Vlk

Yes, but why so much talk about secondary winds?  Let's talk about real trains like the West Wind. <grin>

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[nickelplate759]

I picked up a copy of The Keystone, Vol. 38 No. 4,  Winter 2005, that has a nice article on the East Wind with quite a few pictures.
I'm pretty sure that the opening photo (pages 11 & 12) of the 1941 East Wind in Worcester shows a PLC70R in East Wind silver & yellow as the 6th car in the train, with its kitchen to the rear - it's in between an Osgood Bradley coach (likely NH, maybe B&M) and a P70KR.  It would have to be either #1127 or #1128, the two PLC70R cars that were dedicated to the East Wind that year.


SO...I need to make one.   Anyone know of PLC70R sides done in N-scale?  As near as I can tell, neither Brass Car Sides, Union Station Products, nor Roberto Martari ever did them.

<edit>
So the instruction sheet from East Wind Manufacturing, that was included with the P70kR side, mentions sides for a PLC70 as being offered.  Has anyone every seen a set?  Better yet, does anyone have a set they would be willing to part with?
</edit>

[dougnelson]

George:  As far as I know, East Wind Manufacturing did not do the sides for the PLC70R, only the P70kR.  As for the trucks, note that the 2D-P5 trucks on the P70kR should be the roller bearing version.  It is too bad that the East Wind Manufacturing/American Limited trucks are no longer available (long story after American Limited was sold).

Here is my P70kR.  Note the full-width diaphragms that were on the 1940 East Wind P70kR cars.  These were also made by American Limited (or Des Plains Hobbies).  Not sure if they are still available?:

[nickelplate759]

George:  As far as I know, East Wind Manufacturing did not do the sides for the PLC70R, only the P70kR.  As for the trucks, note that the 2D-P5 trucks on the P70kR should be the roller bearing version.  It is too bad that the East Wind Manufacturing/American Limited trucks are no longer available (long story after American Limited was sold).

Here is my P70kR.  Note the full-width diaphragms that were on the 1940 East Wind P70kR cars.  These were also made by American Limited (or Des Plains Hobbies).  Not sure if they are still available?:

Very nice!  Where did you find the FOM decals?

[thomasjmdavis]

Jerry Britton's website has a listing of sides from Laser Horizons (Dennis Sautters) that includes the PLC70R (if my bifocals are acting properly, and I have all the alpha-numeric designation in the proper order).  I don't know if Dennis has done these particular sides in N scale, but a few years ago, he went out of his way to produce some Erie baggage cars for me, so I know he is amenable to doing such things as time allows.

https://jbritton.pennsyrr.com/index.php/tpm/latest-articles-blog/368-laser-horizons-passenger-car-sides

(Oddly, the blog post is dated 2019, but the product list is date 2011)

You might try contacting him through Jerry Britton or the PRR historical society.

[nickelplate759]

One slim lead:  From Mike Dunn, the former proprietor of East Wind Manufacturing, I've confirmed that they did indeed produce PLC70 sides, but when they sold their inventory to PRR-Parts (many years ago) there were only 2 sets of sides.

So they did/do exist.  I've no idea how to find some though.

Anyone got a contact for Dennis Sautters, the proprietor of Laser Horizons?

[dougnelson]

Very nice!  Where did you find the FOM decals?

Those were made by Mike Dunn.  Printed on an Alps.

[nickelplate759]

With help from @thomasjmdavis, I've managed to acquire a set of  East Wind Mfg. sides for a PLC70.  I also learned from him that a PLC70 and a PLC70R are not the same thing (the PLC70 had one restroom, the PLC70R had two) but the do look the same from the outside.  Time to start building!

The next challenge is working out a good approximation of the underframe details of the PK70R and PLC70R.  I may just use photos of HO brass models as a close-enough reference as I'm not going for rivet-counting results here.    For that matter, I'm not going to add rivet detail on the PK70R and PLC70R cars, even though the prototypes had plenty of them  - so there won't be any rivets to count.

[thomasjmdavis]

I ran across another potential resource while looking around the web for photos.  I glanced through this thread, and did not notice a previous mention, but forgive me if this is a repeat.

The New England Chapter of the PRRTHS has a magazine titled "The East Wind".  Back issues apparently still available.  Vol.1 No.1 has an article on the "East Wind", but it's not clear to me, looking at their back issue page, which lists contents of each issue, whether the article is on the East Wind train, or introducing the East Wind magazine.  But might be worth an email to them.

https://prrths-ne.org/nechapter_eastwind.html

[nickelplate759]

...

By the way, @dougnelson , you did a particularly nice job of shaping the car skirts on the model shown above.    Would you please share your technique?

[nickelplate759]

Time to get going on the car sides.    Step one is rounding the bottom edges of the cut acrylic car sides.   

As they come the side are 100% flat, with no curve to the skirts.   I know these need to be sanded to an appropriate curve, and am looking for suggestions on how to do that evenly.   I've done it with files, etc. before on American Model Builders sides, but that was only on the skirts at the car corners and less fussy.  These have full-length skirts.    Ideas on how to do this consistently?