I've kinda thought about modeling the Texas Special in HO. One of the main problems is finding the appropriate equipment!! And since I don't have the time;space or money to go buy a brass import set,I'm gonna try to use some RTR erquipment. Which ain't easy since the closest thing is IHC's slightly prototypical set. And even on that,it's just really a paint job with the Texas Special lettering. Now I've seen pics of the Texas Special in it's later years as a vest pocket size train so it wouldn't be too hard to model. Heavyweight Baggage Car-Either Athearn or Walthers. Paint it in either Green or Red and Silver. Heavyweight Baggage/RPO-Either Athearn or IHC. Paint it Red and Silver. Chair Car-Walthers PS Chair Car. Paint it Red and Silver. Diner-Good Question. Most pics show a heavyweight diner. But I guess it wouldn't hurt to use a LW Diner. Now I'm not sure who makes a LW Corrugated Diner except IHC. Sleeper.That's the real toughie!!Katy used 14-4 Sleepers. The closest I see to one in RTR is Walthers 10-5 Frisco'Meteor'/PRR Pool Sleeper. I asked a couple years ago on the Katy Yahoo Group about using it as a stand in and I was given a resounding"NO!!"by the group!!! Express Box/Reefer:Athearn has a Katy Express Box Car as well as a Santa Fe 40'DD Box Car and Walthers makes a REA Reefer. Motive Power:Intermountain Models was supposed to make an FP7 with the"Squashed"Katy Shield. Anyway,do any of you out there have any suggestions for me??
Texas Special proto refernces For what it's worth, here is my bibliography on Texas Special information "Texas Special" NB out of Dallas, 1946 in 400,000 Miles by Rail by Blanton p.102 entering Austin 1949, pulled by steam, p.160 "Texas Special" locos & paint Model Railroader July88 p.124 "Texas Special" by Russell Straw of Sugarland Model Railroader Dec97 p.101 Texas Special at Dallas UPT Trains magazine Feb51 p. 35 Texas Special at Dallas Union Terminal 1951, west end Model Railroader Sept 07 p.59 "Texas Specl" @St Louis in America's Colorful Railroads (Ball) p.159 Texas Special chair car “New Braunfels” 1965 Katy Flyer Dec08 p.3
While I appreciate the bibliography Ken,what I'm really looking for is appropriate HO RTR Equipment for it!! The really tough part's finding an appropriate Diner and Sleeper!! All the other stuff's not too hard to find!!! But I do thank you for the Bibliography leads!!
Not really much out there. Some of the new Walthers cars are acceptable stand ins as are a few of the old Con Cor cars.
Welcome to the world of research. Don't forget, Google Books as a reader function, you can often glean some good info from there. What you need to run down is A) Who made the Diner, and B) if it's a 36 or 48 seater. If it's a pullman Heavyweight 36, Walthers is good. If not, you may need the Bachmann model or faking it. One thing you might try, pull up a picture of the Texas Special Sleeper on your computer, and put it on one side of your monitor. On the other side, pull up an advanced searc onm Walthers website fo r" HO, Walthers, keyword undec sleeper" Then start counting windows, but make sure the vestibule door is on the right position. Windows on one side won't match windows on the other. When you paint your cars, dissassemble them and paint the walls with the red first. Then put a piece of Tamya tape down the center. They cell tapes at the right width of HO window stripes. put that down, then paint the silver over it. It's much easier that way.
