I am looking for information on Olympian Hiawatha passenger consists, especially those that would include one of those really cool skytop observation cars. I have been encouraged by another thread to try my hand at making a skytop out of a resin kit, so I figured I ought to model the rest of the train. Thanks in advance, Adam
Wikipedia lists this consist. A sample 1953 consist:[citation needed] Mail and Express 1208 Baggage Express 1336 Baggage Dormitory 1309 Coach 480 Coach 481 Coach 482 Tap Lounge “Tip Top Grill” 164 Touralux Tourist 14-section sleeper Mt. St. Helens Touralux Tourist 14-section sleeper Mt. Tacoma Diner 122 Super Dome Lounge 53 8-duplex roomette, 6-roomette, 4-double bedroom sleeper Yellowstone River 10-roomette, 6-double bedroom sleeper Lake Coeur d’Alene 10-roomette, 6-double bedroom sleeper Lake Pend Oreille Skytop 8-double bedroom sleeper lounge-observation Gold Creek I am also interested in knowing what sort of Milwaukee consists would have made the City of Portland runs.
There were variations as the years passed. If I recall correctly, the public timetable would have a list of carbody styles. Boxcab E50
I am interested in modeling the skytop in the maroon and orange scheme, unless I can find some really compelling reason to do it in the UP colors instead. I guess that narrows me down to the period between 1948 and 1957.
My mind is a bit fogged today from medications. If you want a Superdome era consist as well, I believe you are narrowed to 1952 and later. Boxcab E50
Milwaukke Road consists The Milwaukee Road listed the consists of all it trains in every public timetable it published (as well as sample fares). Pick the year you wish to model and find (many sold on ebay) the timetable for the year you are looking to model. The City of Portland consists are also in the Milw. timetables from 1955 forward. The Milw. had five basic consists for the Olympian, the Hiawathas and the Columbian (the Milw's other transcontinental train). Use care NOT to confuse the Olympian with the Hiawathas even though the final Olympian version was named the Olympian/Hiawatha; the consists were quite different. One other note; the tiptop lounge car on the Hiawathas used the same basic car (exterior is identical) to the Olympain's touralux sleeper car. The Olympian cosists included: (1) the 1911 all steel inagrual (sp) Olympian built in the Milwaukee shops (thus hard to find models of); (2) a late 1920's version with basic Pullman cars; (3) the 1936-37 heavy train: (4) the 1947 Olympian/Hiawaha in Milw. colors, and (5) the 1947 (post 1955) Olympian/Hiawatha in Union Pacific colors - grey and yellow. The 1947 versions were unique in that they were also built in the Milwaukee shops. In addition, America's "father of industrial design", Raymond Lowey designed the original engines for the 1947 train (F-M "erie builts") and Brook Stephens designed the cars for the train (including the skytop lounge and the full dome/bar car). Note please that the F-M engines lasted less than three years due to mechanical problems and the full dome/bar car was added in 1952; it's designed is still used by Amtrak today. You will find a photo of Lowey's design on the Wikipedia page for the Olympian/Hiawatha. If you cannot find the timetable for the year you wish to model, then please email me and I will get you a copy from the museum in Harlowton, Montana. They have about a dozen different timetables. Montananext@yahoo.com
What scale would you be building this in? Walther's just released the complete consist a couple of months ago in the orange and maroon, and know it's being released in UP yellow/grey. If anything, go to a good hobby shop and take a peek.:teeth:
Number 4 is my primary interest for this project. Thanks for the information. I am learning about the Milwaukee Road more and more while doing this. It's a fascinating railroad (as you all well know).
Adam, I don't know if these will be of any help, but thought you might be able to see some details. I just had to post them. Great memories.
Note the photo Fitz posted. That's the Cedar Rapids. It was out here in MT a couple of times the last two years. There were/are two different series of Skytops- The Creek series, and Rapids series. The Creeks were used on the Oly Hi. Boxcab E50
Puddington has a thread going already. His success with the shell has encouraged me to give it a shot. I will also share my experiences.
Hi Boxcab50, I just registered and as I'm trying to figure out how to use the forum's "elaborate" system I stumbled onto your interest in the Olympian 'Skytop Observation". I have one of the Walthers O scale kits of this car, with trucks and interior. I'm trying to contact some of the "holders" of slides or photos of these cars to get permission to use one of the photos of an "actual" skytop lounge car that members probably have. This is the only site I've bookmarked on my Mozilla system........so...I believe it to be the source of a lot of skytop shots. Maybe I'm away off in left field from what you're looking for.......for sure. But..maybe you could give me a tad bit of advice on how to "wade" through this forum's system to get to what I'm after. I don't want to be taken by the hand or "baby sat" but there mus be some simple directions I missed when I registered that would get me a better handle on contacting or listing my interest. I clicked on "new posts" and it comes back with "jump". I've clicked on "jump" and that doesn't work. I'm kinda of going in circles and missing the major "quantum leap" that is right in front of me and I'm missing. I have this O scale kit, I want to sell it, I'm looking for someone that has some photos of one of these cars that I can work out some kind of deal to use the photos. I have autoCAD skills, can do drawings, sketches that kind of thing if that would be of interest to trade for use of the photos. I want to sell the car kit on eBay. I've tried to do an Adobe Illustrator illustration of the car from some jpegs I've referenced but it is just way to time consuming for where I want to be. your comment..............? Thanks Steve Schwengel a.k.a. saguaro3585
I'm hoping to see Walthers (or anybody, for that matter) come out with a run of HO scale sleeping cars used by the Milwaukee Road on the Olympian Hiawatha from 1947 to its untimely demise in '61. These would be the baggage-dormitory, a Pullman 10-6 sleeping car, a 14-section Touralux sleeping car, and--of course--the "Creek"-series Skytop lounge sleeping car. Currently, all the above save for the Skytop lounge one could model using an undecorated Walthers Pullman-type coach body and a Brass Car Sides kit. One would have to purchase the Nystrom trucks from the Walthers Hiawatha series cars for accuracy. Further, there were a few other types of sleepers used on the Chicago-Twin Cities portion of the Columbian/Pioneer Limited that would also be excellent editions to anyone's Milwaukee Passenger fleet. I recommend Morning Sun Books' Guide to Milwaukee Road Freight and Passenger Equipment Vol. 1 for further study, along with some timetables of your desired era.
For what its worth to the n-scalers out there, there are heavy rumors that Kato is going to do the Olympian Hiawatha in the future - possibly with Little Joe power. Kato has been hinting at shows and some industry people have also heard the same. I also think Matt from Fox Valley Models could be persuaded to consider building the twin-cities version - he's a big MILW fan. Could be an interesting couple of years coming up for MILW fans. -j
I have heard the Kato rumor- Which makes my wallet very nervous! I would really like to see any such item, before buying. In order to get the right series Skytops, etc, etc. Boxcab E50
