Centralia/IM N passenger car changes

[nkalanaga]

I just received my first new CCS/IM passenger cars in several years, and noticed two changes.

The first is a good one.  The new cars, an eastern diner and Amtrak 4-4-2 sleeper, have 36 inch metal wheels.  The older ones had standard MT 33 inch plastic wheels, not surprising, as CCS uses MT 1017 trucks - the ones from the 1970s.  To put larger wheels in my older ones I have to bend the brake shoes out, which isn't hard to do.

The second change is less impressive.  Instead of a plastic jewel case, very similar to the ones used by Kato and once used by Atlas, the cars now come in a cardboard box with a plastic window, with the two-piece plastic insert stuffed inside.  The box, and the inserts, are longer than the jewel case, which means that it won't fit in my storage boxes!  I cut the ends off the inserts and stuffed them into spare Atlas loco boxes.

List price on the CCS cars is higher than Railsmith's, so I would think that they could at least afford to keep using plastic boxes!

[Englewood]

I've got several of their newer passenger cars, and I'm also not a fan of the cardboard boxes. But at least they're still producing a few cars here and there.

[Trnsrus]

The body of my new CCS sleeper rides over six scale inches too high. Has anyone else seen this? Also the tuscan red FOM paint job colors are much different from those used on previous run.

[CBQ Fan]

I still find issues with color accuracy. I have really gravitated to Railsmith.

[nickelplate759]

I still find issues with color accuracy. I have really gravitated to Railsmith.

For me,  it's Color inconsistencies,  along with carelessness in lettering that had put me off.

[nkalanaga]

Trnsrus:  Yes, I noticed that today.  I've been replacing couplers on my older cars, that have body mounted couplers, and grabbed the two new CCS cars to test a batch.  The old cars had 1025s, which work fine, as long as everything is body mounted.  But they won't work with truck mounted couplers.  I don't run passenger trains often enough to worry about it, but have now replaced them with 1015s, that work a lot better.  I run them through reverse-curved Peco 18 inch radius turnouts to test them.

In any case, when I put the two cars on the track, the sleeper sat way too high.  The diner was fine.  I'd already had the sleeper apart, to remove the skirts, as the prototype lost them while still with the SP.  I assumed I didn't get the floor back in right, but eventually realized that the floor simply doesn't go in as far as on their other cars, as the latches were all properly engaged. 

I filed  the body bolster flush with the center sill, which seems to put the car at the right height, and it still runs fine around my curves.  An easy fix, but one that shouldn't be needed!

Brian:  No question!  I'd much rather have a Railsmith car, given the choice.  Not only better looking, and running, but they cost less!  They don't have all of the added wire handrails and such, but looking at prototype photos, the wire details tend to look oversized, even if they're not, so cast-on, and silver-painted, handrails seem closer to scale.  I also like that the window frames are part of the window "glass", which makes repainting much easier, although I haven't tried to paint one of his cars.  I have repainted Kato cars, which are made the same way.

[CBQ Fan]

Color inconsistencies are an issue, you can’t put a whole train together without very noticeable variation, at least in my experience. NP and SP&S especially. My latest run SP diner is so off I am not sure what scheme it is supposed to be.

Railsmith looks very similar to Kato’s passenger cars and I honestly prefer that.

[kscessandriver]

Color inconsistencies are an issue, you can’t put a whole train together without very noticeable variation, at least in my experience. NP and SP&S especially. My latest run SP diner is so off I am not sure what scheme it is supposed to be.

Railsmith looks very similar to Kato’s passenger cars and I honestly prefer that.

I guess my question would be, these pre-Amtrak liveries that each railroad had, how did they fade with time? Did each car fade similarly, or were they all a slightly different shade 5 years into being painted?

[CBQ Fan]

I guess my question would be, these pre-Amtrak liveries that each railroad had, how did they fade with time? Did each car fade similarly, or were they all a slightly different shade 5 years into being painted?

The goal/expectation for the manufactures is to get as close to as delivered colors as possible while properly balancing costs, profits etc.  from there it is up to us modelers to do our research on fading, matching etc and weather them from there.

[nkalanaga]

kscessandriver:  Most of the prototype paints I saw in early Amtrak trains seemed to be fairly consistent.  Partly that's because the railroads generally kept the cars clean, unlike freight cars.  Part of it is also probably because the passenger cars generally all followed the same routes, at the same time, so were exposed to the same conditions, and any fading/weathering would be the same for a given paint scheme.  Also, I suspect that they might have used better quality paint (meaning "more expensive") on the passenger cars.  After all, a dozen coaches don't taken early as much paint as a thousand boxcars!

Brian:  That's because both Railsmith and Kato do a lot of research, rather than just slap some paint on a model.

The best Big Sky Blue I've ever seen was on the late 60s/early 70s ConCor cars, freight and passenger, made by Kato (Sekisui).  It helps that the paint was current when they were made, but since the GNRHS has twice produced color charts, the first with actual paint chips, the second with factory paint formula numbers, there's no excuse for some of the colors being used.

Railsmith's current BSB isn't quite as nice, to my eyes, but it does look good, and I don't have any complaints about it.  CCS seems to use Conrail Blue, which is a totally different color.

[chessie system fan]

Lowell says on the Railsmith website that he deliberately matched his BSB to the Kato SD45's for train consistency, since that's the closest thing to an SDP45 we're likely to get.

[nkalanaga]

Good thinking!  I don't have any factory-painted Kato SD45s in BSB, as I painted my own when the first run came out.  But I assume that, if Kato ever makes a BSB passenger car, and a few of their smoothside cars are correct for the GN, they would use the same paint.

[CBQ Fan]

I am using my BSB SD45 as a stand in.

[nkalanaga]

3D printing is getting to the point that it might be practical for production, rather than "a starting point for lots of cleanup".  If so, we might get an actual SDP40.  The hood will fit an SD45 chassis, everything else can be reused.  An SDP45 would require a new chassis, but the GN used both, and the BN used them in freight service after Amtrak took over.  Surprisingly, the SDP40s, redesignated SD40s, outlasted the SDP45s.

[chessie system fan]

I'll probably get around to designing an SDP40 eventually after I finish the train someday.  The SDP45 will be much more challenging because although it has the same wheelbase as an SD40T-2, SD40 trucks don't fit on the Intermountain mechanism.

Truck center comparison info:
http://coscia-espee.info/sp_ftc.html