Colorado sightseeing coaches

[Tim Brien]

Well more projects dragged out of storage to get on with. These cars seemed like relatively easy spray projects to compensate for some of the difficult paint schemes of late.

In the late 19th/early 20th centuries Colorado narrow gauge railways encouraged tourism to take advantage of the spectacular scenery and the population responded with sightseeing becoming a popular pastime. While not actually prototypical I decided to make a small rake of cars to run as a sightseeing special.

One car has the interior from the four-wheel LGB dining car as sightseeing makes people thirsty and a refreshment bar would have been most welcome. Today I filed out the window surrounds adjacent the stove and fitted planked sheeting on each car as well as tidying up the cars for washing and paint preparation. I also fitted sheeting behind the added window blank to make more it look more prototypical.
.

 

[Tim Brien]

I have a fourth car which I need to dig out of storage. It is prototypical and faithful to the prototype. The Denver & Rio Grande basically took two coaches, #401 and #402 and removed everything above the window sill level, making the car much like those open tourism cars seen on many European narrow gauge railways. The car was pre- occupation, health and safety regulations so has no guard railing as on the European cars.

From memory the cars used wicker cane seating. I have not tried to recreate this.

 

[tac foley]

Yet another gem from the master's hands. Tim, how come you can get 'sheathed-effect' styrene siding in OZ and we can't here in UK?

Best

tac
OVGRS
POCRR
G1MRA

 

[Tim Brien]

Terry,
the sheathing sheet is cut from the floor moulding of a Bachmann centre cupola caboose kit purchased back in the ole' days. It was a leftover scrap from another project. Waste not want not as our forefathers once said.

 

[tac foley]

Ah, my ethic, too, Tim...sigh, to get ahold of REAL scribed styrene siding, why, I'd even go so far as to, shibber, pay for it.

best

tac

 

[Tim Brien]

Terry,
I even took to cutting up Bachmann Big Hauler full baggage car kits just to get the siding to use for other coach projects. Alas, from memory the siding on the full baggage kit is a different board width and the thickness to the coach model.

This is the basic D&RG sightseeing car #500 "Royal Gorge". As can be seen the car is little more than a coach that has been gutted. Presumably, this is how the D&RG did it in the late 19th century. On this model ideally I should have increased the car length by one row of seats to thirteen, but as the stock length Bachmann coach is only twelve seats this would have entailed lengthening the underframe and coach sides. This was something I could not be bothered with as the car was to be a quick and dirty conversion.

Typically the car would be painted D&RG "red" (being prior 1918), but a red car would entail purchasing more paint and as I have numerous cans of green (post-WW1) the car will be green to match the remaining sightseeing coaches. Obviously, passengers were more safety conscious back then so guard railing down the sides was not required.

 

[Tim Brien]

This is one that I prepared earlier (many years ago).

 

[tac foley]

Tim, the last Bachmann passenger car kit I saw here was ten pounds MORE than a mint and boxed RTR.

Since I have a few Shays, I was thinking about making some kind of a replication of the Georgetown Loop, seeing as how they have a couple of cars like the full open.

Might still do it with some of my remaining 3000+ coffee stirrers!

Best

tac
OVGRS
POCRR

 

[Tim Brien]

Terry,
given that I have modified quite a few factory painted Bachmann coaches I would definitely pay a premium for an unpainted kit. Hours of removing stubborn factory paint that does not like another finishing coat applied over it is not my idea of fun. I would not touch the mid-1990's release kits in the grey box as they are not glue friendly. I prefer the red box release from the mid-2000's.

I have listed a few leftover basic kits for kitbashing on my eBay account for a relative pittance as I am over it as regards kitbashing. At one point a few years ago I was offered up to a 1000 (yes, 1000) new kits. The cost of postage alone would have bankrupted me.

 

[Fred Mills]

Guys;
You might have noticed that LGB has reissued the sight-seeing cars....in two versions....the original ones which are fair reproductions of the ones in service on the Silverton pike, and another that has a middle of car loading point.
I have had several rides on these cars on the Silverton, and have three of the LGB models....one was slightly modified by the previous owner, the other two, one of which is in DRGW "Gold" and the other a sort of box car red. Kadee #1 820's are easily body mounted, and make the cars look great. All three of mine have had the letter boards relettered using a Brother Label maker. The lettering now is for the Ironwood Peter's Pond & Western (IPP&W).
Terry knows this railroad well...!!
Fred Mills

 

[Andrew B. Middleton]

Tim, Those cars look very good "kit bashers" to me! I know that the originals may not have had safety bars as they may have had if made today, but wouldn't the addition of such bars add a little strength to the window areas?

 

[Tim Brien]

Andrew,
The construction of the side of a coach below the window sill was much like a triangulated truss on a building. This coupled with the trussrods on the underframe would have made the prototype coach relatively strong longitudinally.

 

[Tim Brien]

Well all good plans of mice and men. What started as a simple spray task became very complicated. The spray cans used were a couple of years old so I did a test spray to check all was OK. The test piece dried normally so I went ahead and sprayed the four cars. More than a week later I masked off one car to spray the roof. Upon removing the masking the newspaper had stuck to the paint in several places necessitating a respray as the paint had not completely dried (even after more than a week).

Thus I have overcoated all four cars with a more recent can of spray newly purchased. The old cans are now landfill. I now need to await another week or so before I can finish them.

 

[Tim Brien]

First cab off the rank. As these are intended as generic cars then the car numbering and naming are fictional. No doubt a car load of happy tourists would be an improvement.

 

[Tim Brien]

First sightseeing coach completed. These are intended as generic cars. I have purchased numerous seated figures to fit so hopefully it will not be too many weeks before they arrive. The other two cars are ready to assemble however, I was awaiting the arrival of the figures.

 

[Tim Brien]

This is the observation coach. I will fit passengers when they arrive.

 

[Tim Brien]

The final car, the "refreshment" car.

 

[Tim Brien]

It must be tourist season.

 

[trammayo]

It must be tourist season.

View attachment 223336 View attachment 223337

I do hope that, when you finally complete this magnum opus project of conversions, the new owners will furnish you with photographs of the stocks' new homes running on their lines! Then you could post them on this thread?

 

[Tim Brien]

Mick,
the journey for me has been the joy building them. At one time I felt that I would see them running on my railway but alas with my railway now completely dismantled and me not having the enthusiasm I once felt, perhaps someone else will be able to enjoy them.

I have now fitted a few tourists to the remainder of the sightseeing coaches.