Product Review: Walthers UP City Series 48-Seat Dining Car

(James)

Today I have decided to review one of Walthers' new Union Pacific City Series cars.  The car I have is a model of their ACF 48-Seat Dining Car.  This series features factory installed grab bars.  All cars come with decal sheets so the owner can number the car how they wish.

Exterior:
This unit looks very nice.  The paint is all very crisp and clear.  All lines are sharp, and the paint scheme is prototypically accurate.  Every car comes from the factory lettered for Union Pacific.  The lettering is sharp and clear.  Generally the lettering is centered along the side of the car, above the windows.  With the dining car, there are several doors, which all are in their proper locations along the sides of the car.  One of those doors interferes with centering the "Union Pacific" lettering, and so it has been adjusted.  Just as on the prototype, the lettering has been moved down the side of the car to accommodate for the door.

The details on the car are very well done.  The factory installed grab bars are all in their correct locations.  Roof and undercarriage details will meet the expectations of even the most serious modeler.  The roof even features all the rivets that can be found on top of one of these dining cars.  Additionally, the roof features vents and an antenna which were found on the City Series diners.

The undercarriage is very nicely modeled.  It does leave out some of the details, such as piping, wiring, and any rivets that may be found there.  However, all the machinery and electrical components are correctly modeled.  The end detail on the car is also very good, with a proper Common Standard Tall diaphragm, metal grab bars, and even the rivets that one could find on the prototype.  The model comes with Proto MAX metal knuckle couplers.  I have chosen to replace those with Type F couplers from Sergent Engineering, for a little added realism.  Typically passengers have Type H couplers, however those are not yet available, and a Type F is the closest available.

The trucks feature metal side frames for electrical pickup.  The wheels are metal, and feature a split axle which fits into a plastic sleeve, to insulate them from each other.  They wheels and metal truck side frames are part of a system which allows the owner to install lights.  The trucks are painted silver and have prototypically correct details including suspension components and brake rigging.  The prototypes had clasp brakes which operate on the wheel tread.  Walthers has modeled those correctly.

Lettering Detail

Interior:
This car features a complete interior, installed at the factory.  The dining area is easily visible through the large windows on that end of the car.  The kitchen area is harder to see as the windows are smaller and spaced farther apart.  Opening the car reveals that the kitchen area is complete as well.  Opening the car up, we find four metal posts, located in the corners of the car.  Walthers produces lighting kits, which are available separately.  There are two versions available, one for DC layouts, and one for DCC layouts.  These posts found in the car are designed and located for an easy, drop in installation of one of these lighting kits.

The car features a good level of detail on the interior, and certainly makes it convenient to light the car.  People could also be added easily once the car was opened.  The only thing the interior lacks is proper interior decorations.  The interior is unpainted, so the car arrives from the factory with a plain, beige interior.

Operation:
This car operates smoothly, although from the factory it does not roll very freely.  Walthers recommends lubricating the trucks to aid in rolling.  I have found that a little graphite added to each of the wheel bearings helps quite dramatically.  In one or two cars, it may not matter if the bearings are lubricated or not, however if you have a long train, you will find that it will take fewer locomotives to pull a lubricated train.  The difference is quite noticeable.

Grab Bar Detail

Walthers does not recommend operating the car on curves tighter than 24 inches.  This is due in part to the length of the car, and also to the size of the coupler pockets.  Since there is a lot of underbody detail, the coupler pockets cannot be wide enough to allow the coupler to swing as far as it may need to for tighter curves.  I found that the car operated without problems on 18 inch radius curves, when it was by itself.  When coupled to another car, it could operate on 22 inch curves, but was not able to operate around anything tighter than that.  I found that this was due to the diaphragms not being flexible enough to accommodate tighter curves.  Once I replaced the couplers, I found that the cars struggled even on 22 inch curves.  The Sergent Couplers have a slightly shorter shank than the Proto MAX couplers.  While they look great, they do limit the operation of passenger cars a bit.

Prototype Information:
These cars were originally built between January and April 1949.  A total of 17 were built for the Union Pacific Railroad by American Car & Foundry.  They were numbered 4800-4816, and have a capacity for 48 passengers.  Electricity came from an on board motor generator set.  Overall weight is 149,200 pounds.  Walthers includes a card with additional model and prototype technical information.

Overall I am very satisfied with this model.  I think it is a great representation of a Union Pacific Dining Car.  I was moderately disappointed at the price.  Walters lists the retail price for this car at $64.98, which is higher than the chrome plated Superliner cars cost.  This is a single level car, without a metal plated finish.  While this features factory installed grab bars, and many other single level passenger cars do not, I do not feel like that justifies such a high price.  The level of detail is very good, but it is very good on most of Walthers passenger cars.  I feel like these cars are priced a bit high.

I had just one other frustration with the car.  Some people will be buying these cars to model Union Pacific's excursion fleet, rather than model the City Series trains.  As I was looking at the decals, I found that there was no number for the excursion dining car, which is #4808.  This would have been a number built with all the other diners, and it seems like Walthers could put that on the decal sheet for those modeling the excursion fleet.  Since that is what I am doing, and I was set on having my car be #4808, I ended up cutting apart several decals and making my car #4808 anyway.  It was a lot more work than I would normally like to number a car that comes with number decals though.

I am still very satisfied with the car, despite the two drawbacks.  Despite the high price, I will still be buying more of the Union Pacific City Series cars, though I will be looking for them on sale.  They do look great behind my model of FEF-3 #844!

Manufacturer: Walthers
Model Number: 932-9540
Retail Price: $64.98