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Post by johnsullivan on Mar 7, 2015 14:00:17 GMT -5
I recently received 2 New York Central E8's and the NYC GP7 and GP9. With the matching NYC bay window cabooses, I am all set to build a fine roster. AZL continues to do a fine job in producing fine quality trains. These 4 new locomotives run smoothly, quietly, and most importantly smooth starting and stopping. In assembling a heavyweight consist or 2, I have many of the NYC cars so far offered (as well as several other eastern railroads). What I am missing is an RPO and an observation. I know that Rob A. is attentive to the details, and would like to know the following: are either the Central Square or Central Village offered last month from a NYC roster? The 2 tone gray colors look right, but I know these were used by other railroads as well as by NYC. If neither of these are NYC cars, then will AZL be offering an observation car for NYC? The same question also applies to the RPO car. Read more: azlforum.com/conversation/174#ixzz3TjByk623 |
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Post by amtk908 on Mar 8, 2015 12:52:30 GMT -5
Hello John,
Both cars, Central Village and Central Square were assigned to the NYC in 1926. Central Square was sold by Pullman to the US Government in 1943 and converted to a hospital ward car. Central Village was divested by Pullman to the NYC around 1947 and was scrapped in 1957. Hope this is of some help.
Regards,
Cliff
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Post by johnsullivan on Mar 9, 2015 9:53:46 GMT -5
Thanks Cliff for the info. I had research this on-line, but did not unearth what you posted. Now I can add those observation cars to the end of my NYC passenger train.
John
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Post by johnsullivan on Mar 9, 2015 9:54:43 GMT -5
Thanks Cliff for the info. I had researched this on-line, but did not unearth what you posted. Now I can add those observation cars to the end of my NYC passenger train.
John
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Post by markm on Mar 11, 2015 10:43:20 GMT -5
John, While I think you got an answer you wanted, you didn't mention the train you want to model. Working RPOs were configured for specific routes and rarely changed. Mail storage cars were a bit more flexible. Observation cars were also somewhat train specific, mainly due to drumheads. I can't say where Cliff got his data, but a place to check out would be www.pullmanproject.com/ and for NYC specifically: nycshs.org/Hopes this helps, Mark |
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Post by amtk908 on Mar 12, 2015 8:25:26 GMT -5
John,
Mark's suggestion of the Pullman project is an excellent one. If one is only checking one source, it is probably the most reliable. My information came from a number of sources as a check and cross check. The Pullman Project, NYC Historical Society, Kratville and Wayner Publications and my own somewhat extensive lists of car records. When researching car records, it is often necessary to check and cross check a number of sources, and even then, paint records are rarely 100% certain, lacking obvious definitive photographic evidence. The cars in question were Pullman "Pool" cars. Meaning, when new, they were intended for operation on a specific carrier, however, they could be and were operated virtually anywhere. If you want to pair them up with NYC Two-Tone Gray cars please recall that NYC did not start painting their heavyweights in two-tone gray until after 1953 and then it was only air-conditioned cars. Very few of the cars that were Pullman owned and divested to the NYC in 1947 were ever painted in two-tone gray, many remained in Pullman green some were lettered for New York Central with small "Pullman" at the corners of the letterboard.
Having said all that.... My suggestion would be not to get too hung up on absolute prototypical accuracy, especially when trying to model in Z Scale and using only commercially available equipment. Excepting some of the limited production passenger sets that AZL had offered in the past, everything else has to be somewhat of a compromise. If it looks good to you and you are comfortable with it, run it and enjoy it. With a little care you can get "close" to believable. IE: If you are going to haul either of those cars with E8s, choose the car Central Village because the Central Square had gone to the government by the time E8s came on the scene. But if you just love the name Central Square by all means use that car and just enjoy the view of it passing by carrying the markers for your NYC heavyweight accommodation train.
This is all supposed to be fun.
Enjoy!
Cliff
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Post by johnsullivan on Mar 12, 2015 10:15:10 GMT -5
Hello Mark and Cliff,
I would like to thank you both for responding to my question. This forum is a wonderful means of tapping into the information the members collectively have, and you two gentlemen are stellar examples. Mark, I spent time yesterday checking out the 2 links you posted, and was nearly overwhelmed by the quantity of info there. As easily happens, I was distracted by info about the streamlined NYC steamers. I own a z scale model of the NYC J3a streamliner which was built by my friend, the late Michael Hilliard, and it was fascinating to read all about this and other locos.
I have decided that what Cliff said about the hobby being fun makes the most sense to me, rather than trying to be too careful about prototypical accuracy. I have ordered the Central Village observation, and will put it on the end of my train and enjoy! I will also order an RPO car. The consistent paint scheme is what looks best to me, even if is not necessarily historically accurate.
Once again, thank you both for your attention and help, and I hope AZL continues to deliver these fine products to us all!
John
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