Rowa passenger cars - what to paint for early Amtrak era.

[learmoia]

So... Warning.. if you wash a Rowa passenger car in Dawn dish soap to it strips the lettering off..

I've got two coaches, two domes and a sleeper.

One coach is allocated to Penn Central.
https://www.rr-fallenflags.org/pc/pc-co3165dca.jpg

One of the Domes will likely end up Amtrak.

But what to do with the other Coach, Dome and Sleeper?
C&O is an obvious option but I can get that factory painted, but I'm curious if there are other options out there that would be appropriate for early Amtrak era

~Ian

[chessie system fan]

The domes are B&O  cars, but other railroads like Wabash and MP had similar cars. Lots of railroads had those sleepers and coaches. Without checking any notes, I can think of B&O, SCL,  IC, DRGW. Maybe MP too?

[learmoia]

The domes are B&O  cars, but other railroads like Wabash and MP had similar cars. Lots of railroads had those sleepers and coaches. Without checking any notes, I can think of B&O, SCL,  IC, DRGW. Maybe MP too?

So B&O Dome (I thought I saw something very similar painted C&O.)

On the sleepers.. with that corrugation pattern?

[nickelplate759]

Technically the Rowa dome isn't quite right. Yes, it's modeled after the B&O dome, but they added corrugated siding - the prototype was a smooth-side.
Someone (don't recall who) posted a conversion to TRW that they did to the correct B&O prototype that was wonderful.

That said, all the cars that Rowa modelled were used by Amtrak, even the observation car.  Some had their corrugations removed, but many did not.  So painting any of them up for Amtrak is just fine.   One thing - I've never seen any pictures of them in other than Phase I paint, so stick with that.

If you want to be a little fancy, most of them had their skirting removed at some point, so you could do that.  If you want to get really fancy, Amtrak painted the smooth parts of the car Platinum Mist, but not the corrugations.
Anyway, here's a picture of a coach (originally NKP 102).
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Having said all that, I realize that you're really asking what else you can paint it for besides Amtrak.
In this case, this very car was used by NKP (with skirts), ACL, and then SCL.  Not sure when the skirts got removed.

[nickelplate759]

Just a thought - Intermountain/Centralia did these same coaches, and offered them in a number of appropriate schemes - so you could copy any of those.  Looking at the Intermountain site I see:
NKP, C&O, D&RGW, C&NW, D&H, Seaboard, ACL, SP, NKP, N&W (blue letterboard), N&W (tuscan letterboard).

[learmoia]

Just a thought - Intermountain/Centralia did these same coaches, and offered them in a number of appropriate schemes - so you could copy any of those.  Looking at the Intermountain site I see:
NKP, C&O, D&RGW, C&NW, D&H, Seaboard, ACL, SP, NKP, N&W (blue letterboard), N&W (tuscan letterboard).

Yep I was looking at those too....

[nickelplate759]

I think for the observation your only prototypical choices are C&O, B&O and Amtrak.  B&O got them from C&O, I think.

Options for the sleeper with corrugations would include C&O or B&O or NKP,
There may be more, but I know that IC at least removed the corrugations.
AutoTrain had them but I don't know if they kept the corrugations.

I miss Jerry Laboda's N-Scale Varnish Passenger Car Users' Guide (I did archive a copy, but still).

[OldEastRR]

WAsn't PM one of the routes using these?

[nickelplate759]

WAsn't PM one of the routes using these?

PM had cars in the same style, but different floor-plans

A few additions additions:

Coache - SCL and SAL both (I just said "Seaboard" before).
Sleeper - ACL.   maybe also AutoTrain car 251 , but I can't be sure that they didn't take the corrugations off (no photo) - the same car did have them when it was Amtrak.  However, AutoTrain did have other corrugated cars.

[randgust]

I repainted and decalled two sleepers into Amtrak Phase 1 for my 1972 Chief.

First was a Kato  Budd sleeper out of the SF Zephyr set, 10-6, did that as the Pine Arroyo

Second was the MRC/Rowa sleeper (These are a Pullman Standard car) as the "Richmond River").

I don't have any online photos.  I will say that doing the Micro Scale Phase 1 decals, particularly the white strips along the windows, is one of the toughest decal jobs I've ever done.  They really look good, but it left a mental mark.   Paint color was tough, for years Floquil had an "Amtrak Red" and "Amtrak Blue", my last jars died getting through that project.

I also equipped both cars with Rapido easy-peasy lighting, which no longer appears available.

PM me with an email if you do want photos.

[Sokramiketes]

I think for the observation your only prototypical choices are C&O, B&O and Amtrak.  B&O got them from C&O, I think.

Options for the sleeper with corrugations would include C&O or B&O or NKP,
There may be more, but I know that IC at least removed the corrugations.
AutoTrain had them but I don't know if they kept the corrugations.

I miss Jerry Laboda's N-Scale Varnish Passenger Car Users' Guide (I did archive a copy, but still).

Can you get the files to @Ed Kapuscinski ?

[Mark5]

On the Rowa observation, note that these lost their fluting by the time they joined Amtrak's roster.

(they were converted to Diner/Lounge circa 1960).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mbernero/23723967280

Amtrak had three:
8200  ex C&O 2500  Blue Ridge Club
8201  ex-C&O 2506  Bluegrass Club
8301  ex-C&O 2503  Allegheny Club

These were seen regularly on the Amtrak Mountaineer (1975-1977 or so) that ran on the N&W east of Kenova WV.

[nickelplate759]

Can you get the files to @Ed Kapuscinski ?

I don't see why not.  Send me a PM and we'll work out the logistics.

I just checked - it's small enough to be e-mailed. 
The internal links (between pages) would need to be fixed up if it were to function nicely again.

George

[nkalanaga]

I've always wondered why Microscale makes Amtrak Phase I arrows and names, but no stripes, since they have a bunch of other styles of stripes.

However, there is a solution.  Microscale 60-427 is marketed as Superliner Phase III stripes.  They're actually Phase II stripes, and look identical to Phase I stripes.  I've used quite a few of them.  Just throw away the parts with the Superliner logo, and use the "Amtrak" name from the original 60-99 set.  The colors match fine.

[wm3798]

Phase 1 stripes are also available in their Amtrak diesel set, with the big black numbers at the aft of the carbody.
No pointless arrows, though.
Another head scratcher from your friends at MicroScale.

Lee