Lessons in Passenger Car Modeling – Part 1 Conrail’s Research Cars
– by M. R. Snell Photos by the author
Clever passenger car modeling tricks that will save you time and money Reader Feedback (click here)
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odeling accurate passenger equipment has often posed a problem for model railroaders, given the many variations of as-built equipment and the subsequent modifications made by individual railroads. Such was the case when I set out to model Conrail’s Track Geometry Train comprised of former
passenger equipment converted to research service by the freight railroad. After searching through the models presently on the market I realized that while some were close, assembling a prototypical consist would require either scratchbuilding or kitbashing. One school of thought involves cutting and splicing pieces of multiple cars to achieve prototypical models and I set out to find a faster, easier, and more cost effective way to construct accurate models. Even though I was constructing only three specific cars, the methods I used to construct and detail these cars are
Page 78 • Issue 9 • Sep/Oct 2010 • Passenger Car Modeling - Part 1, page 1
applicable to modeling almost any passenger car, especially those that may have been modernized. I’ll share how I modeled this interesting consist from top to bottom using different methods including kitbashing RTR cars, using passenger car core kits, and modifying details while also taking advantage of the ease of use and minimal cost of laser cut sides. Conrail’s Track Geometry Train consists of 3 cars – Conrail 21: a Track Geometry Car, Conrail 22: a Rail Analyzer Car, and Conrail 24: a support car. Typical of many passenger cars, the Conrail research cars have a storied past dating back to the early 20th century.
Modeling Conrail 22 Conrail 22 was built by Pullman Standard in 1939 as the “American Milemaster”, served the Southern Pacific as SP 400 and SP 9500, then wore EMD’s colors as Test Car ET-800, used for locomotive testing. In 1985 it was purchased by Conrail and converted into a Rail Analyzer Car, used for measuring track condition by the Engineering Dept. (see Figures 2-3 next page). The introduction of the Walthers passenger car line has brought about a renaissance in passenger modeling and the Walthers ready-to-run P-S coach provided a natural starting
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