I saw that some shops are starting to get in the recent run of the Centralia Shops diner cars. Are these a generic car, or are they specific/true to prototype? I am interested in the B&O cars, but don't know enough about them to know if these models are accurate to the B&O, are "close", or are complete fantasy. Any insight/info is much appreciated!
It is not a prototype B&O diner. The two road numbers offered are 1090 and 1091. Here is an HO brass model accurate for those two same cars: https://www.brasstrains.com/BrassGu...Palace-Car-Company-Diner-Baltimore-Ohio-DINER The windows on the kitchen are a noticeable difference. The brass model has round portholes, while the Centralia car has square ones. I looked through the Passenger Car Photo Index website, and could not find a match for any of the schemes offered. The closest ones were the Union Pacific and Amtrak cars (which are the same UP cars now in Amtrak service). The Centralia car is supposed to be Pullman, but the the UP cars are ACF. There are three kitchen windows evenly spaced on the UP cars, but four on the Centralia model. I'm not sure what the actual prototype car is (or it it even has one). It could easily be a Western road, or another road not offered in this release.
The Centralia Car Shops/Intermountain diners are basically split into Western and Eastern versions, but, they are a one size fits all design. They may or may not be close to the prototype. I am surprised that CCS/Intermountain has got any N scale back in the market with all the China issues going on.
According to a fair number of passenger car modelers, the "Eastern" diner is NYC prototype, and the "Western" diner is SP prototype. This is backed up by photos of NYC and SP diners. Certainly the window arrangements match. Info I have is that both are Pullman Standard, but I'm open to correction. http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/nyc444.jpg http://coastdaylight.com/gs2.jpg
Good catch on the NYC diner. That photo is on the Passenger Car index too, I don't know how I missed it; I was looking at other numbers right next to it last night.
Keep in mind that-- as I am finding out for my reviews of Micro-Trains passenger cars for the UMTRR-- passenger cars varied quite a bit among and even within railroads. Standard designs certainly existed -- and the "Pullman Project" website has a large amount of information on this-- but cars were rebuilt over time. The net of it is that a car precisely modeled after one example at one point in time may be a "stand in" to one degree or another for everything else. The B&O group on groups.io is worth joining for more specifics about that railroad's equipment. The group has a pretty extensive archive so you might be able to do a search to learn more about the company's diners. https://baltimoreandohiorailroadlist.groups.io/g/main
The Morning Daylight, Coast Daylight used triple diners as did the Sunset Limited. Other SP trains would use these western diners. The two-toned grey could used on the Lark and Cascade. The General Service silver scheme would likely use these as well. The RI/SP Golden State used these too. I just ordered three of them for Lark, General Service and Golden State.