Today I am going to review a Walthers car I bought the other day, a B60b baggage-express car. The B60b was a Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) design, and the fleet was built at the railroad's extensive shop facility in Altoona, PA. Most went to the PRR, although Norfolk & Western bought some and Long Island Railroad (LIRR) also had a small collection. After the big merger, the PRR cars were painted into Penn Central Green, and were retired sometime during that time period. Although they were a unique Pennsylvania design, they were part of the Railway Express Agency (REA) pool and carried express shipments all over North America and could be seen off the PRR system. They were classified as "Messenger" and "Non-Messenger" versions; if a person had to accompany a certain shipment, a Messenger type car was used, and it had a small seating area and bathroom for the person to ride in. Messenger type cars could be identified by a gold star above the car number.
Cosmetics:
My model is a non-messenger version in Long Island Railroad colors, specifically MTA's "Dashing Dan" paint scheme. The car comes without a number, but includes a decal sheet with car numbers available. Ten numbers are available for LIRR, numbers 7715-7724. I numbered my car 7723. The decal film slid off the paper very easily, and fell right into place with minimal adjustment required. All the lettering, including the decals, is crisp and clean. The Dashing Dan logos can be read under magnification. The paint scheme is a simple dark gray, and it matches the dark gray on the real car. According to the drawings, the messenger version cars come equipped with a full interior, but being a baggage car I see no point to this, although it is a nice touch. The rivet details show up very nicely. The undercarriage is mostly complete, all the major components are in place but things like brake piping and other small details are missing.
The doors and undercarriage details are separately applied, all the other details are molded in place except the grab irons. The grab irons are modeler-installed. However, because of the many different car styles over the years, there are different grab irons for different paint schemes. Starter holes are provided for all the grab irons, regardless of what model the car is. I haven't yet installed the grab irons, but studying the drawings to find where they go is difficult, because in many places only one grab iron goes where there are starter holes for three, and it is confusing as to which starter holes are the ones I actually need to use.
Operation:
The car is equipped with working diaphragms, metal wheels, and Proto-Max knuckle couplers. A set of hornhook couplers is provided in the box. The car weighs in at 5.22 ounces, almost exactly at the NMRA recommended 5.25 ounces. Since it is only 60 scale feet long, it can be run on tighter curves than the typical Walthers limit of 22" radius. The paperwork does not say what that limit is, but I would guess it could go around an 18" radius curve.
Overall, I think this car was a good purchase. I am pleased with the level of detail. I especially liked how easy it was to decal the car, in the past Walthers decals were more of a pain to use. I think this car will look great at the head end of any passenger train.
Walthers B60b Baggage-Express Car
Walthers Product Number 932-5873
Long Island Railroad (LIRR), ten roadnumbers available
MSRP $44.98
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