In the product line of HO passenger cars...wonderful..however, is there anything on the horizon about doing the Meteor's 1947 Tavern-Observation??? (How can you do the Sun-Lounge without the Obs too?) Thats the only thing holding me back from modeling the SAL/SCL and ordering car kit in mass quantities. haha Nice work on the baggage-dorm!!!

-- mike Mayer (mimayer@concentric.net), October 02, 1999

Answers

If anyone is interested in ACL heavyweight diners, the Rivorrossi hw diner (the old one, not the new one which appears to be based on a B&O car) is a fairly close approximation of an ACL diner. The model is crude by today's standards (oversize rivets/limited detailing), the window spacing is a little off, and there are louvres on the model's sides that are absent on the prototypes. However with a little TLC, aftermarket details, and some serious modeling, one could closely approximate the group of diners that included the Florence, Rocky Mount, St. Petersburg, Columbia, Orangeburg, etc.

One can also accurately model three ACL diners purchased second hand from Pullman in 1937. One of the ACL car names was Ft. Meyers. The cars were identical to those used by the CB&Q. Characteristic features of these cars were the five kitchen/aisle windows and standing ribs at the roof seam locations. Back around 1992 Aurora Shops imported brass models of the CB&Q cars. It won't be easy but with some serious searching one might find be able to locate one of these gems. All that is needed is a paint job and some interior details.

Hopefully the society will consider adding car sides for ACL hw diners or the ACL hw lounge cars (FL, NC, SC, etc.) to the inventory.

Final note, the FEC and RF&P purchased diners from the same lots as the ACL for use on the name trains - the Rivorrossi car mentioned above is a close representative of these cars. Based on the few available photographs, RF&P cars seemed retained an as-built appearance late into their careers while the FEC cars appear to have been modernized by the early 40s.

-- Buddy Hill (palmettoLTD@hotmail.com), November 01, 2001.

If you look in the catalog you will note that the window replacement pier panel IS avilable for the 1939 "Meteor" tavern coach.These can be used on Rivarossi or Walthers cars.

-- J.Oates (jlosal@mindspring.com), October 31, 2001.

Thanks for your suggestions for new models. You'll be interested to know that we now stock three new custom-cast resin car sides produced for us by member Tom Christensen. We offer these cast resin car sides for ACL baggage cars in the 529-578 and 1630-1644 series; SAL RPO cars 98 and 99; and SAL 70’ baggage cars 312-327. The ACL cars are 70’ long. The SAL RPO car is 70’ car with 15’ RPO section and two baggage doors.

These car sides are for the experienced modeler but make up into very attractive finished cars. To use them, remove the roof from a Rivarossi heavyweight baggage car, then cut out the original car sides. You will then have something looking like a bulkhead flat, with floor and ends remaining. The new resin sides will then fit in place of the old ones. Some of these cars require a different roof that is available from Bethlehem Car Works. The sides are only $6.00 a pair plus our usual shipping charges (3.50 for one item, 6.00 for 2 or more). Other ordering info is in the catalog section of our web site, or just send check, m.o., or charge card info to ACL & SAL HS Product Sales, PO Box 325, Valrico, FL 33595-0325.

-- Larry Goolsby (LGoolsby@aphsa.org), October 29, 2001.

Yeah, what about heavyweight ACL cafe-lounge kits. They get my vote! As for the COMET, a heavyweight Seaboard diner was fairly common for this train. I wouldn't mind car sides being available for that car either; the Bachmann Spectrum series HW diner appears to be a reasonable contender, with minimal work. Does anyone have any ideas about this?

-- Bob Venditti (bobvend@bellsouth.net), October 28, 2001.

to Mrmotorcoach, It's virtually impossible to model a Seaboard train, like the Star or Meteor without the 1947 Tavern-Obs. You can kit-bash the Diaphram to operate the obs mid-train like the star. The ACL requires the Tavern-Lounge square-end cars, unless you model a heavyweight (where's the Cafe-Lounge heavyweight?) If you can bash the Tavern-Coach you can do the Comet, a personal favorite of mine (never rode it except vicariously when she was included with a Washingon-New York train along with a very-late Silver Star on which I was riding, but no tavern-coach.

We NEED the 1947 Obs, 1939 Tavern-Coach, and ACL square-end Tavern-Lounge...hen watch the sales blossom! I'd sell all my New York Central for that to model the Seaboard main!

-- Mike Mayer (mimayer@concentric.net), October 28, 2001.

I would like to cast my vote for a Sun lounge car. If you guys can get Overland or someone else to produce a complete nickel plated brass model I would be interested. I also second a SAL tavern-obs. I bought one of the sunlounge kits. It will never get done. My custom builder looked at me like I was crazy! Still looking for the ACL purple decals for RFP-PRR cars.

-- Craig A Harrison (MrMotorcoach@aol.com), October 27, 2001.

I'd like to see kits for the 1939 Champion and Meteor train sets as well as ACL/SAL heavyweight diners, baggage, coaches, etc.

-- Buddy Hill (palmettoLTD@hotmail.com), October 03, 1999.