First, thanks to John Olson for his Zephyr-like response to my question
about the Walthers cars. The following query (of general interest, I hope)
is for his attention, as well as for Rich Gortowski, Bill Glick (via Ray
Bedard) and anyone else who may have special knowledge of either prototype
Q passenger equipment or of upcoming models.
Like Ken Martin, I sometimes feel I'm being strangled by ribbons and long
for some good Burlington cars with Roman lettering. While I'm very excited
about Branchline Trains' new offerings, I don't want to buy models that are
too far outside of my time frame (mainly pre-1950). So I'm wondering
whether anyone knows about the lettering/paint styles being offered in
Branchline's forthcoming Pullmans?
A little background. I just visited their website (
www.branchline-trains.com ), and what they're doing is pretty amazing.
Besides the much-touted coaches, they're about to release enough sleeping
cars for everyone on this list (were we HO scale) to hibernate well into
the next century. Six different plans (10-1-1, 10-1-2, 8-1-2, 14-section,
12-1, and 6-3) with some 200 individual names. There are 11 that are
identified as being in a specifically Burlington "scheme." Undoubtedly many
more could be re-lettered into accurate models of other Burlington cars or
used as-is (as visitors, e.g. from the GN, NP, D&RGW, et al.) in our
passenger trains.
Here are the specifically-Q ones they're producing:
10-1-1
Linoma Lake
Carter Lake
Gull Lake (shadow lined)
Lariat Range (shadow lined)
Lariat Crest (shadow lined)
14 Section -- all to be lettered "Burlington/Pullman"
American Legion
New Omaha
New Capitol
12-1 -- all FW&D cars
Anaconda
Wadena
Maximilian
What confuses me is their category of "Scheme." In what sense are these
cars in a specifically Burlington scheme? To me this term would normally
indicate a paint and/or lettering scheme. But my (admittedly limited)
understanding is that Pullman cars, at least before 1948, were mostly just
painted Pullman green, lettered "Pullman," plus whatever the name of that
specific car was (all in Roman lettering), but otherwise had no distinctive
lettering for any specific railroad. Does the reference to a Burlington
scheme mean ALL their cars will be lettered post-1948? (Obviously the
shadow-lined cars are "late" versions.) Or does "scheme" in this case refer
simply to the main railroad to which these cars were assigned? "Carter
Lake," "New Omaha," "Wadena," and the rest were of course assigned to CB&Q,
C&S or FW&D trains.
So here are my questions:
1) What's the difference between those cars labeled "Burlington" and those
labeled "Burlington/Pullman"? I'm guessing the latter are post-1948
letterings, after the Pullman company sold its rolling stock to the RRs,
who then in turn leased them back to Pullman to operate. If so, did the
Burlington's post-1948 cars all have ribbon lettering?
2) What about those just labeled "Burlington" (the 10-1-1s)? Are these so
designated because they are actually lettered for the CB&Q (i.e.,
post-1948) or just because they are known to have operated in Burlington
trains. If post-1948, would they still be in Roman lettering and say
"Pullman"? Or is Branchline perhaps modeling this subset pre-1948?
3) And how about the "FW&D" cars? Mike Spoor's Color Guide (p. 30) has an
Emery Gulash photo of the Wadena in 1963 on its way to the scrap line,
showing the car painted solid silver (aluminum) and lettered in whatever
that Zephyr font is called. Nowhere on the car does it say FW&D, just
"Pullman" and the car name. Does anyone know when it was repainted from
green to silver? Were the Maximilian and Anaconda also
repainted/relettered? And how will Branchline represent them?
4) Given my mainly pre-1948 focus, should I even bother getting "Burlington
cars," or should I instead go for the UnDecs or plain Pullman lettering,
and then complete the lettering/naming myself? Are appropriate decals
available?
I have written Branchline, asking some of these same questions, and I'll
share with the list whatever response they send. Meanwhile, any insight or
inside info would be much appreciated.
Jonathan
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