If I have a vote (and I have about 15 MT heavyweights, so maybe I do), I would opt for something along the lines of the Erie car nominated earlier. Or, say, an L&N 1402 series car, that would be generally similar. These are both 70' (int. dimension) cars, much more common than 80' cars.
80' cars would be interesting, but most that I have seen real railroads are rebuilds from Pullman cars. Which usually means plated over doors, which can add visual interest. Many railroads had such rebuilds.
And, if MT is not going to do a 60' baggage (NYC) or 60' combine, those seem like ideal candidates for resin shells to fit over the RPO frame- or just a cut and paste job with the RPO itself- that being what the real railroads did with their older RPOs.
One suggestion I would like to put forward (I did not read all the entries here, so may have been suggested already, I note that alternate roofs were suggested) would be to do a little extra tooling, and provide 2 or 3 door styles, allowing us to "customize" or "modernize" a bit. Many cars that had wooden doors with several windows when built, later got steel doors with one or 2 windows. For those of us who model the 50s, being able to change out doors would be a big help. This is along the line of what WoT did, that allows them to customize their basic ACF car. I just wish they would include spare doors with the off the shelf cars, since in all likelihood, I am going to strip the paint and make it into some roadname they don't supply.
Keep up the good work. The MT heavyweights are one of the best values in N scale today- and I say that even though you haven't yet marketed a single car I really want (ATSF, L&N, Erie, etc. circa 1956). I am planning to read up on Bob Chapman's HO kitbashes in hopes of making one of those PRR diners look more L&N.
Anyway, thanks for asking.
