I've started working on locomotives and cars to model the post war L&N "Pan American".? Lowell Smith is releasing cars for this train, but I wanted to get a jump on things after pre-ordering his cars.

I've taken a factory decorated Life-Like E6, E7, and two E8's and put the shells on Kato E7 mechanisms as well as detailing and weathering.? They are all speed matched (Digitrax DCC) and can be run in any combination to power the train.

I've painted up a bunch of cars as well.? Most of them are heavyweight Micro Trains cars that I stripped, repainted, and decaled.? There is also a Kato lightweight car in the mix.

The train is coming along nicely.

开云体育

开云体育

What color blue to use to represent L&N cars is a good question.? From what I've read, and seen in photos, I am pretty well convinced it depends on "when".? The blue did fade.? So the cars in Nate's photos may have a more "out of the paintshop" appearance, while yours looks more like it's been around a few years.? Likewise the gray on the roof. (although on the roof, it likely accumulated enough soot and grime that the paint color is likely irrelevant- in photos they sometimes look black).?

An additional consideration is that photos of anything "blue" are impacted by sunlight and reflection of a blue sky.? On a bright, sunny day, the color may appear to be a much lighter shade, that it appears in a neutral light

I had settled on Model Master Blue Angel Blue for my L&N cars and have used it for several years.? But as fate would have it, Model Master is no more.? I suppose it is possible the color will re-appear under Testors "Acryl" labeling, but I might have enough in my last couple jars to get me through the last L&N cars on my to-do list.

On L&N baggage cars, Diane is essentially correct.? Almost all L&N cars were very symmetrical- doors were both the same size (it varied a bit between classes, but around 5.5 to 6' ) and spaced the same at both ends.? The exception would be their first 2 steel baggage cars, which were purchased "off the rack" from ACF in 1913 and numbered 1400 and 1401.? From the L&N diagrams, those 2 cars are very similar if not identical to the 70' baggage cars with 5' and 8' doors done by Wheels of Time a few years back.? In this case with a clerestory roof, and either multi-window doors (which they originally had) or the single large window doors, which was commonly adopted by L&N when they refit their baggage cars after WWII.? When L&N merged with NC&StL in 1957, they also acquired baggage cars of several designs that were rebuilt from various coaches and old Pullmans.

The L&N standard baggage is about as "generic" as a manufacturer could ask for.? If someone were to make a car with 5' or 6' doors spaced 15' off each end, with interchangeable doors (to allow for various window styles), it could be used as a close stand in for a myriad of road names.? One of the frustrations (admittedly minor) with the MTL baggage is that the doors are part of the body casting, making customizing the car more difficult.?

But I am still a big fan of the MTL baggage and have a bunch.

I had time yesterday morning to finally weather the cars I've been working on.? Here's a video of them running on my temporary layout.

A question: ?Did L&N withdraw from the Pullman Company, or were those markings too delicate to apply?
--
John Perkowski
BNSF (CB&Q) MP 9.6
Along the route of the Pioneer Zephyr
Parkville, MO

I didn't have "Pullman" decals in the L&N style script which is why I lettered them the way I did.? The sleepers should have "Pullman" centered in the letterboard in yellow script lettering with "L&N" in smaller letters on each end of the cars next to the vestibules (up in the same letterboard by the roof).?

I had to compromise with what I had (just like using Foobie car names on the sleepers - these car names are actually for food service cars).

Nate