BLW/ZT Conn River Passenger Set - Progress Shots

[rfranzosa]

With many thanks to Dr. John Horvath, the Boston and Maine Historical Society, the Pullman Project, the New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association, Conductor D M Rice logbooks, the CV Railway Historical Society and Paul Charland's ConnRiver Route, we are creating a Passenger Set for the route representing 1956 passenger traffic. First up, the Montrealer/Washingtonian sleeper pool, based on Dr Horvath's spreadsheet:



6 Double Bedroom/Buffet/Lounge Sleeper (NYC "Dover" series )



6 Section/4 Double Bedroom/6 Bedroom Sleeper (CN "Green" Series)



6 Section/4 Double Bedroom/6 Bedroom Sleeper (NH "Beach" Series)




8 Section/5 Drawing Room Sleeper ( NYC "Clover" Series)


Interiors still to be completed, also need to add/create coaches and head end equipment... then on to other ConnRiver trains!

Rick

[Orbita]

Those look really nice! Especially the NYC heavyweights! Glad to see you guys are making a new release. It's been a while.

[rfranzosa]

Those look really nice! Especially the NYC heavyweights! Glad to see you guys are making a new release. It's been a while.

Retirement helps


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[bootednancy]

Rick,
great passenger cars as always......maybe you should also consider a few New Haven heavyweights that were 2 tone greys or Tuscan red, but lettered New Haven in the New England to Northeast route trains???

[rfranzosa]

Rick,
great passenger cars as always......maybe you should also consider a few New Haven heavyweights that were 2 tone greys or Tuscan red, but lettered New Haven in the New England to Northeast route trains???

Great idea. Limiting this set to Conn River, but there will be other opportunities


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[bootednancy]

Rick:

I don't know if you recall....few years ago I outlined a plan if you could create some LIRR rolling stock (MU and diesel) for Vince Cockeram's half finished LIRR mega route?????

At the time you were busy with a job, and had other projects on the Train Sim drawing board. There is a good need for some accurate rolling stock for LIRR so maybe we could discuss laying it out again??? For a start, I think the simplest thing to create (in TSM or whatever shape program) would be the P-72 series and T-72, MP-72c, MP-72T^ and T72 cars all of which ran about a 300
car order in 1955 to re-equip all their trains+

Can supply diagrams, and photos of the cars requested. While there are some LIRR engines, the RDC cars and MP-54 and MP-70 double deckers available , Rick Lamp has the numbering of the cars a bit in the inaccurate state of what they actually were

Thanks for your listening to the idea

Doug

[rfranzosa]

Hi Doug,

I do remember our discussions on the LIRR. Cabviews and sounds for the MUs will be a challenge, but LIRR is still on the long list. Let's circle back later in the year, once I've been able to get the ConnRiver set completed

Thanks

Rick

[Unoriginal]

These look awesome! Glad to see you guys are still around making content.

[rfranzosa]

These look awesome! Glad to see you guys are still around making content.

Thanks!

It's great to have a little time for the sim again.

Rick


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[eric]

I agree. The quality and detail in Rick's IC heavyweight and lightweight cars from the IC pack from a couple years ago is a huge leap from some of the older options.

Having stock for the NH and NYC is a great addition.

[rfranzosa]

Thanks, Eric,

This has been such an interesting project. The Montrealer/Washingtonian changed consists regularly year over year, with PRR, NH, B&M, CV, CN equipment. I was surprised to see the NYC Pullmans represented, but they were only assigned from 1955-7. I'm working from a detailed spreadsheet created by Dr Horvath. 1931-1966 with 57 different sleepers represented. It was just luck that I had a 1956 timetable to work from.

Rick

[eric]

Glad to see Dover Strait in the grouping --- that's alive, restored and operable out at the IRM thanks to a guy by the name of Roger Kramer, who also bought the Iowa Pacific 515 (ex-CNW 515) as well as some other pieces, and led its restoration largely out of his own pocket.

[dcarleton]

I was surprised to see the NYC Pullmans represented, but they were only assigned from 1955-7.

When the Pullman Company was broken up after the war, the cars were apportioned out to the railroads based on Pullman mileage operated by the railroads in prior years. The Central had been one of the three largest operators based on mileage and thus became one of the largest recipients of cars from the Pullman fleet. The deal was that the cars were conveyed to the railroads and the railroads leased the cars back to Pullman for operation, presumably on the owning railroad. But passenger business on the Central was crashing, so their cars which were LTP (leased to pool) could be assigned to whichever trains needed the space regardless of which railroad.

Later on (1958?), the Central cancelled their operating contract with Pullman and took over operating their own sleeping cars directly.

Something else to keep in mind while doing research – A comparatively small portion of the fleet was never conveyed to the railroads. New York Central style two-tone grey was often used by Pullman as a de-facto standard for Pullmans which were retained under Pullman Company ownership. Even the car names were done in the same font. So, when looking through consist lists recorded by railfans, or when looking through old photographs, remember that two-tone grey does not always mean New York Central. Official Pullman documentation will be most reliable.

[rfranzosa]

When the Pullman Company was broken up after the war, the cars were apportioned out to the railroads based on Pullman mileage operated by the railroads in prior years. The Central had been one of the three largest operators based on mileage and thus became one of the largest recipients of cars from the Pullman fleet. The deal was that the cars were conveyed to the railroads and the railroads leased the cars back to Pullman for operation, presumably on the owning railroad. But passenger business on the Central was crashing, so their cars which were LTP (leased to pool) could be assigned to whichever trains needed the space regardless of which railroad.

Later on (1958?), the Central cancelled their operating contract with Pullman and took over operating their own sleeping cars directly.

Something else to keep in mind while doing research – A comparatively small portion of the fleet was never conveyed to the railroads. New York Central style two-tone grey was often used by Pullman as a de-facto standard for Pullmans which were retained under Pullman Company ownership. Even the car names were done in the same font. So, when looking through consist lists recorded by railfans, or when looking through old photographs, remember that two-tone grey does not always mean New York Central. Official Pullman documentation will be most reliable.

Very good question(s), David. I'm relying on the CVRHS articles on the Montrealer/Washingtonian from a few years back, the cars are listed as NYC, but the only photo in the article is an undated photo of one of the 'Dover' cars taken probably in Mott Haven. I've been going on the assumption that Thornton Waite and his collaborators are correct in the NYC ownership and that 1956 is far enough into the LTP era that the cars would be lettered NYC, with the small Pullman designation at the ends. If you have contrary evidence, please let me know!

Thanks,

Rick


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[mikebond]

Very nice!