These models represent wooden cars built by Pullman for long distance trains of the day. They were called "palace cars" because of the level of luxury inside them. Most cars were lettered for Pullman and painted to match the train they were assigned to, but some trains had the name of the train, not the railroad, painted on the cars, and in those cases the cars were lettered for the train with smaller Pullman lettering on the ends. The Pennsylvania sleeper is lettered for Pullman and painted in the PRR tuscan red, and the GN car is painted in Pullman green and lettered for Great Northern with small Pullman names on the ends of the car.
These cars are cheap, but well detailed on the exterior. The cars include factory applied wire grab irons, green tinting on the windows in the clarestory roof, and a full undercarriage. The observation car has brass-painted railings on the open deck, as well as a curtain around the roof of the deck. However, the ends of the cars are lacking in details. The doors between the cars are simply not there, and there are no diaphragms. The wide open doorway allows you to see clearly into the car, which has no interior details. The cars are not built with electrical pickups for interior lighting.
The cars feature free-rolling trucks with metal wheelsets, and scale knuckle couplers. The cars weigh in at 5.5 ounces, a little lighter than the NMRA recommended 6.5 ounces. However, should you decide to add an interior, that will add weight to the car and probably bring it up to the recommended weight. If not, then the weight shouldn't make a difference if you run a whole train of these cars, all weighing the same. Speaking of interiors, the single-piece body comes off easily with a few screws on the bottom of the car, so adding an interior would not be hard at all.
Overall, I think these are good cars. They are lacking details in some areas, but they are cheap and can be upgraded easily. They may not live up to my standards for detailing yet, but it should be a simple and inexpensive project to make these cars looking great.
Manufacturer: Roundhouse
Price:
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1 comment:
These look like they could be from the same toolings as Roundhouse's old Pullman Palace kits (from back before they abandoned small-budget modellers), just retooled to have draft boxes for knuckle couplers and to have the body attach by screws instead of tabs and slots.
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