NOT REALLY... but certainly a concern. I'm not a 'diehard' fan of Northern Pacific as many on this forum may be. I have a small collection of diesel and a couple of steam locomotives. I've got many freight cars with the Monad logo... I think its cool looking. But my real passion for passenger consists is what brings me to this pose my concerns on this thread. Certainly Northern Pacific is probably one of the roads that has a relatively small but fervent contingent of N scalers... but... it is a large enough contingent to motivate manufacturers to do justice to the passenger cars of the railroad? I doubt that Kato will ever produce a complete NCL set. Already the few passenger cars that have been produced are only 'close' approximations of the actual cars. I've come to grips that I'll probably have to accept this reality... but... the other reality is that the cars for a NCL or Mainstreeter consist need to be produced and the dome cars are key pieces that are yet to be announced. Sure... I could pay an arm and a leg for the inaccurate ConCor domes which now are commanding the same price as the far superior Intermountain passenger cars... but I'd need 4 of them... and I'm certain they won't look good with the Intermountain cars. I'd feel a lot better if Intermountain would announce the Domes sometime this year... cause they've been releasing passenger cars at a snails pace over the past 5-6 years. Once the Obs cars arrive sometime this year... the Domes will be the final piece(s) to the long drawnout puzzle of the NCL. Here's hoping for some serious push to finish the NCL by Intermountain... or a shocker... Kato announcing a complete set.
Intermountain's release schedule is the only gripe I really ever could have with them! But then I remind myself, they've given us NP guys FT's, F3's, F7's, and more freight & passenger than MTL pound-for-pound. Not to mention their service department ROCKS. I had emailed them pleading for Observations and butterknife stuff last year, and lo & behold within months we get both announced! They do listen. I am certain that they staff some die-hard NP guys too. Those new Loewy F3's sent me into a frenzy, and I will be a full-foamer if they announce some quality domes! Hell, Con-Cor has a dome with flush windows and better detail that's darn close to NP prototype. They didn't seem to be open to doing any revised or butterknife NP stuff in N, but that stuff is selling in HO so I gave up on trying to make sense of their operation haha...
I had read somewhere that the ConCor domes are sort-of Great Northern inspired... which probably does make them a 'reasonable' fill-in. But... I also understand that there are two different types of carbodies for the NCL domes... 4-4-4 Vista-Dome sleeper & 46-Seat Vista-Dome coach. I'm not sure which one the ConCor lightweight streamline cars resembles... but... the typically low quality (by todays standards) detail on the ConCor cars would be a dealbreaker for me.
The Con-cor dome COACH is absolutely correct for NP if not a little short on details. I detailed one a number of years ago and really like how it turned out. I realize most are looking for RTR stuff but we NPers are lucky to have brass car sides to accurately model the entire NCL, save the obs.
I don't know why NP fans or Santa Fe or SP fans rant. The makers of n scale practically cater to those roads. Fox valley's Milwaukee sets are awesome. Expensive! But awesome. But its the only typical Milwaukee set. Yes there is brass carsides and a ton of kit bashing options. But makers need to start considering other roads. Caves to the rest. I understand that there has been no new run of N P stuff. But at least con cor used the NP type.
FVM Milwaikee steam loco and cars are very reasonably in my opinion. I am also hoping for a centralia dome to complete out the collection. It looks like I will even be phasing out my Rapido NP cars with my recent order of IM NP F3s. I like the Rapido colors better personally but I want a complete train that matches head to toe. I may use the Rapidos and Centralia Butterknife scheme with an SP&S or two coaches to throw together a secondary train.
Thanks to a heads-up in another thread, we also can toss in the coming Loewy-Green observations from Lowell Smith (now online as well) on that mix-use local train. If the Wheels Of Time heavy baggage cars weren't such an awful choice of mint & forest green, I'd run 'em too. I look forward to patiently growing my NP trains so I can run a couple butterknife and a couple loewy trains. Even though they are going for up to $300 a pop nowadays, the Loewy FP-7's IM ran are some of the finest locos they have produced. No warp on the side grilles, flawless crisp paint, and they will pull a ton while having a factory cutout for a sound decoder/speaker. If those F3's are in line with their last run, I'll have an ABB and an ABA (both proto depending on the train). I tell ya, for those who are willing to preoder we're lucky to be NP fans these days.
I want to build a transiton period pax train NP, ( WWII ) what would I look for pax cars and by what maker would be the most desireable and which would be the least desireable to build . I have F3's A/B for motive . I under stand the domes did not appear until the mid 50's so I cannot use those. Any heads up will be appreaciated ! Paul
I would try and find what the consist of cars was for your period such as sleeper configuration like 12-1 or 10-6 and others. Also how many of those cars were through cars or terminated at various points on the line. Wartime consists could be up to 16-18 cars and often a 2nd section run carrying the pullmans. I have some old timetables that usually list cars that I'll check to see if I have any NP stuff around that period. Once you have the consist in hand though then it just becomes a matter of finding which manufacturer made what.
Here is what I have from my old 1953 timetable when I rode the NCL from Glendive, Mont. to Chicago. Also starting out is a 1937 heavyweight list of equipment that would have been on the train until the advent of the lightweight cars. 1937 consist: Heavyweight 1. Railway Post Office 2. Baggage Dormitory 3. Coach 4. Coach 5. 16-section Tourist sleeper 6. 16-section Tourist sleeper 7. Diner 8. 10-section, 1-drawing room, 1-compartment sleeper Chief-series 9. 10-section, 1-drawing room, 1-compartment sleeper Chief-series 10. 6-section, 6-double bedroom sleeper Poplar-series 11. 6-section, 6-double bedroom sleeper Poplar-series 12. Lounge Observation (3-compartment, 1-drawing room sleeper buffet solarium after 1942) From my 1953 Fall and Winter schedule. Lightweight no domes 1. Observation lounge Sleeping car, 4 bedrooms, 1 compartment, lounge-buffet. Car 258. 2. Pullman standard sleeping car with 3 bedrooms, 1 compartment, 6 roomettes, 8 duplex roomettes. Car 255. 3. Pullman standard sleeping car with 3 bedrooms, 1 compartment, 6 roomettes, 8 duplex roomettes. Car 256. 4. Pullman standard sleeping car with 3 bedrooms, 1 compartment, 6 roomettes, 8 duplex roomettes. Car 257. 5. Dining car. 6. Reclining seat coach. Car C-250. 7. Reclining seat coach. Car C-251. 8. Reclining seat coach. Car C-252 9. Reclining seat coach. Car C-253 10. Coach- buffet- lounge. Also add to the lightweight consist the normal headend cars that aren't listed in my timetable and if I remember right everything was Pinetree.
Thanks John, Now I know what typically to look for, I have one coach now, so thats a start . Now I just need roster the GN and UP trains for the 1940's - transition era . Not sure if I can get a 16 car pax trian to run ok on my 6 x 6 . All I need is about 600$ to build one train to find out !!!
While my NP library is not as extensive as my GN and SP&S I do have some photos in a few of the books showing the trains with a mixed heavyweight and lightweight consist. I want to think that was about the time that the lightweight stuff was being delivered and phased in. All the original heavyweight cars went to the secondary trains but it was not unusual to find a heavyweight or two in the all lightweight consist when traffic was heavy and the need arose. Also when the off season for travel was in some of the excess lightweight could be found on the secondary trains. This went on for awhile until there was enough inventory of the lightweight cars to go around. And some of the heavyweights received both the Pinetree and Leowy paint. So you could have a mixed consist in both paint schemes and car types and be right depending on era modeled.
Yep, nothing 600$ won't solve ... I have a coach in Pinetree I got off the bay by shear luck . the rest just too spendy right now. I will keep looking for the big score on the lottery ...I had hoped to put NP,GN,UP pax trains on thru service ( 4-6 cars each ) but after seeing what a GN 4 pack from Kato went for ... It may take a while
