Here are some Con-Cor passenger cars I just finished striping for my J Class. Used Testor's gold, but realized that it doesn't match the locomotive stripe. I also think the bottom stripe is too thick. May have to repaint everything anyway when I get my Kato observation. Used a couple of the Microscale decals, which are not correct for these, just to see. Let me know what yall think. Sully
Sully, I have a number of ConCor and Rivarossi painted N&W and N&S passenger cars. I don't believe these are custom paint jobs. When I compare them to your paint job...yours look good. On three of my heavyweight cars you can hardly see the stripes let alone the header. If you wanted to sell them as is and if I didn't have a car and dryer to repair...I would buy them and proudly run them. Job well done!
Thanks Rick! I still quite new to painting n scale stuff, and these are my first passenger cars. I am without doubt my own worst critic. In retrospect I should have put the gold on first, laid a tape stripe where I wanted, then shot the red. Oh well. May be able to mask and add some more red to get the stripe where I want it. Then again, maybe not. Been after this for a while, just glad to get some progress. Now if I just had a place to run them! Sully
Color looks good. Better than the Concor almost fair attempts. Decals, as you say, are really really off. Compare to http://rr-fallenflags.org/nw/nw-o581abn.jpg Note that N&W never owned a smoothside car like the one behind the tender in the "red era". All N&W "head end" equipment was heavyweight until the 1964 merger, when N&W got some lightweight head end equipment from NKP/Wabash. New and correct N&W decals are on the way. Soon I hope.
Sully, You wrote: Now if I just had a place to run them. If you're in the neighborhood... bring them on over. Besides the water skiing and fishing are the big things... all happening with zest... on the lake and the girls in ....well....less then...aye yea yea! I don't want to appear to be to honkish here. Got to love it. You know the passenger cars may not be 100% accurate but for a first try your work is quite good. You should of seen mine on the same baggage and mail combine. After painting it by spraying it with a Model Master aerosol you couldn't make out the doors details ...thick ...thick ...thick. Had to use a dentist pic to clean it up. Out of desperation I finally torched the car...ahh...trashed it. Gosh that was bad. Have fun!
Rick - I really appreciate the offer. Would love to load up the trains and fishing gear in my Ranger and head your way. That would be a sweet getaway! But, with these gas prices I don't think I could afford to haul the boat out there from Kentucky! Especially with my F250. Will have to settle for my little oval when I get it done!
Thanks! Mixed the color up myself, a little caboose red and Tuscan. Hope to repeat it when I get my observation. Tried my best to eyeball it from the stripe on the J. Had just enough left for one more, but the paint set up in the jar. I have tried and tried to save paint, but it never lasts. Oh well. Looking at that picture again the stripes look yellow, not gold like I did. HMMM, I must have based my decision on the gold on the wrong set, and just tunnel visioned from there. As far as the cars themselves go, I am not familiar at all with passenger stuff. I looked and looked and the Con-Cors were the closest I could find to the picture you posted. Yes, I have become a junkie of the fallen flags site! I did notice that the side skirts should not be on the Con-Cors, but did not want to get into that yet. I did not like the observation that came with this set at all. Am going to get a Kato. The most useful info I had gotten about cars was another post on this site I believe, and it may have even been from you. Have just not found a lot of pics of the passenger cars, and none of the libraries around here have any N&W stuff. Would purchase a book if I could find any with good reference pics. After this, I may have to do one in HO as well. Sully
Off the top of my head, N&W switched from goldleaf to "duluxe gold" (more yellow) possibly soon after the 1949 version of the Powhatan Arrow. The 1949 Arrow had full skirting, but this was removed in the early 1950s. Mark
Thanks for the info Mark. I will have to take another look at removing the skirting on mine at some point. Will probably just leave the gold on it for now, until new decals come out. Sully
Sully, If you're as nutty about N&W trains as I am, I recommend (if you can find them) a couple books: N&W Passenger Service 1946-1971 [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Norfolk-Western-Passenger-Service-1946-1971/dp/1883089506"]Amazon.com: Norfolk and Western Passenger Service, 1946-1971: Books: William Warden,Kenneth L. Miller[/ame] The Norfolk and Western Handbook [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Norfolk-Western-Handbook-Conley-Wallace/dp/B000M00ABM/ref=sr_1_2/102-4310451-7556909?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187384737&sr=8-2"]Amazon.com: The Norfolk and Western Handbook: Books: Conley and Wiley, Aubrey Wallace,Photos & Diagrams[/ame] Cheers, Mark
Cool. Will keep an eye out for those books. Hadn't been a big N&W fan until I started researching these cars. I have quickly become very "nutty" about them. Very impressive line. Sully
Mark, Did N&W run any passenger trains in and out of Chicago during the late 40s-mid 50s? If you, do you know which station/trackage was used? Thanks! BZ
BZ, IIRC in that time frame the connection would have been via PRR, so no N&W trains per se. Will take a look when I get a chance. Mark
Well, got to run the cars behind the J for the first time yesterday. Finished my little oval and of course these were the first to go around. Really enjoyed seeing it all together. Gonna go ahead with the decals from Microscale for now, mainly since they are all I got. When some accruate ones come out will have to do a repaint. The gold stripes are glaringly inaccurate behind the J, but they will remain for now. Now to get the observation. Sully
ConCor still has all of the smoothside cars available, painted and decorated in N&W. We have them setting in our shop right now and they just came in from the distributor a week or two ago. I know the colors aren't perfect but they look good behind the J. The factory paint is "close enough" for many and the lettering looks a little closer than the decals you have. No need to hunt for the observation, they are available new.
BZ, Found a website that saved me the trouble of digging up my old timetables. N&W sleepers made it to Chicago in that era (1946 in this case): "Train #3, "The Pocahontas" ran from Norfolk to Cincinnati with sleepers from Norfolk to Chicago-via PRR #215 from Cincinnati(12 section, lounge car), " http://www.geocities.com/orvillei/norfolkandwestern1946.html N&W did not have rails into Chicago until the 1964 merger with NKP/Wab/P&WV. Mark
The switch was about 1954-55 around the same time that the formulation for the tuscan paint was changed. The reason for moving away from gold leaf was that it weathered horribly and dulux gold would last longer and be less expensive. I believe that the Pennsy also changed their lettering at about the same time for the same reasons.
