Article by Christopher Baker

My observations regarding Walthers new line of HO-scale Budd passenger cars are based upon some admittedly specific interests. I model the Pennsylvania Railroad and usually attempt to acquire only prototypically correct models that represent equipment used by the Pennsy. I will attempt to relate as much information as possible regarding each of the Walthers models - both in their "as built" configuration and the Amtrak version.

While this is not a true product review, I can report that the Walthers cars do capture the proportions, styling and appearance of classic Budd passenger equipment very well. All of the Walthers models generally reflect the pre-war or post-war characteristics of the prototype cars that inspired the individual models. Additionally, various hardware elements that were added/deleted as part of the Amtrak HEP rebuilding process are represented in those cars produced in the Amtrak livery.

Operationally, these cars are pretty good as HO-scale passenger cars go. They generally track well, have decent weight-to-length ratios (per NMRA standards) and have operating diaphragms, good basic interior fittings and options for interior lighting readily available. The operating diaphragms have been criticized as being too stiff. Superior replacements are available from several detail-parts manufacturers. The same truck is used under all models, regardless of what was actually used on the prototypes. Walthers has provided a respectable representation of a later version of the so-called "Budd truck". Again, replacements are available from a number of manufacturers if you want a more 'correct' truck for a particular car.

Car Type: 63' Railway Post Office Original Owner: AT&SF (also CRI&P, CB&Q)

Car Type: 63' Railway Post Office
This car is definitely inspired by an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe post-WWII prototype (cars #99 - 110)! A mid-1960's photograph of AT&SF car #101 reveals some differences regarding skirting, roof vents, door dimensions and minor letterboard discrepancies. However, these types of details often varied wildly-even between cars of the same builder, class and era. Cars of similar appearance and design were purchased by the Rock Island and the CB&Q railroads.

Railway Post Office cars were occasionally interlined with other railroads but they usually stayed on the owner's rails. In the 1968, the Santa Fe also leased out some excess RPOs to such far away railroads as the New Haven and then sold the cars to one of the Mexican railways. These cars did not make it into Amtrak service.

The 2002 release Walthers Budd RPO is a model of ATSF 89-98 (Budd, 1954). They were 63' cars with 60' RPO areas and were used in general service. Most of these went to Mexico after the formation of Amtrak.

Car Type: 1700-series Baggage Car Original Owner: Amtrak

Car Type: 1700-series Baggage Car
This model represents a car rebuilt recently by Amtrak from a number of Heritage coaches. The Heritage coaches were former PRR 60-seat chair cars with a 14-seat smoking lounge. When in service on the Pennsy, these cars were assigned to the Congressionals and Senators. When originally acquired from the Penn Central by Amtrak, these cars remained in Northeast Corridor service. Eventually Amtrak's "Congo Cars" were downgraded to Keystone and Clocker commuter train services, and then retired.

Amtrak plated over the window areas, removed the interiors and fitted the cars with a roll-up baggage door in the center of the car side. They now see regular service hauling baggage, express and U.S. Mail, primarily in the eastern and mid-western Amtrak long-haul trains.

73' Baggage Car Original Owner: AT&SF (also CRI&P, CB&Q)

73' Baggage Car
This car is also based upon an AT&SF prototype although similar cars operated on a number of other railroads such as Rock Island; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Seaboard Air Line; Atlantic Coast Line and others. The Santa Fe had a large number of Budd-built Baggage-Express cars. Photographs of Santa Fe cars #3527 and #3655 depict post-war cars that are very close to the Walthers model. These cars (#3500 - 3539) were delivered to the Santa Fe in the early 1950's. Overall, this is a dead-on copy of the Santa Fe car and scales out very well compared to the prototype. Although these cars were delivered with full skirting, many cars lost that feature in the 1960's.

These cars were more likely to roam off home-road rails than the RPOs as the baggage cars also were used to handle Railway Express Agency shipments. Thus you could find one of these cars in consists of many of the major railroads' Mail and Express trains of the 1950's and 1960's.

Amtrak acquired a goodly number of these cars and still uses at least fourteen of them today for baggage, mail and express shipments all across the country. These cars can and do appear in virtually all of Amtrak's long-distance train consists. Amtrak's cars do not have skirting and some of the doors have been replaced with corrugated roll-up style doors. Also the diaphragms have been replaced on virtually all of Amtrak's fleet with the newer tubular type.

The 2002 release Walthers Budd Baggage car is a model of ATSF 3500-3539 (Budd, 1953), 3540-3554 (Budd 1957), and 3650-59 (Budd, 1953). These were used in general service on the principal streamlined trains. Most of these went to Amtrak November 1, 1971. The Walthers kit includes number decals for the 3540-3554 series only. However, any of these above numbers would be accurate. The 3650-3659 Baggage-Messenger group is also apparently identical externally except for the addition of two water drains from the sink and water cooler, a waste chute for the toilet and a messenger star on the side.

Baggage - Dormitory Car Original Owner: NYC

Baggage - Dormitory Car
Many of Budd's customers ordered baggage-dormitory cars similar to the Walthers model. This car however appears to be closest to a New York Central prototype. Budd delivered twelve Baggage-Dormitory cars (numbered 8970 - 8981) to the NYC in late 1947 for general service in the "Great Steel Fleet". These cars appeared in such Budd-equipped NYC trains as the New England States, Empire State Express and such other overnighters. Almost all NYC Budd cars were delivered without side skirts. Walthers has captured this car's features very well.

Although Amtrak did acquire a few Bag-Dorms as part of its "rainbow fleet", most were American Car & Foundry or Pullman models that possessed smooth steel sides. Those were retired by the mid-1990's or rebuilt into straight baggage cars. The Budd-built NYC cars were likely converted for work train service or retired.

1 Drawing Room, 29 Seat-Lounge Car Original Owner: PRR (transferred to PC, then Amtrak)

1 Drawing Room, 29 Seat-Lounge Car
This inspiration for this car is pure Pennsy! Budd built the sixteen prototype cars in 1951-52 for assignment to the PRR Congressionals and the joint PRR/New Haven Senators. They contained 29 swiveling parlor seats in a one-one configuration. Walthers model captures the dimensions and styling of the prototypes completely - right down to the partial skirting.

Amtrak did inherit all but one of these cars for use in parlor car service on its Northeast Corridor trains. Some were converted to lounges but most were retired by the early 1990's.

46-Seat Coach Original Owner: ACL (transferred to Amtrak)

46-Seat Coach
In all of my Budd Company documentation I could not find many 46-seat coaches. There are many 50-seat cars, a number of 40- and 44-seat cars, lots of 52-seat cars and a healthy dose of 46-seat dome/coaches. There were only three 46-seat coaches listed, all belonging to the Atlantic Coast Line (cars #221 - 223), and also containing a stewardess' room. These cars were built by Budd in 1946-47 and used in New York-to-Florida service on the road's Champion trains.

Amtrak did acquire the three ACL coaches but they were retired and scrapped by the mid-1970's.

The 2002 release Walthers Budd 46-seat Coach is a model of ATSF 2816-2860 leg rest chair cars (Budd, 1953). These were built for the El Capitan. These were the last equipment purchased before the change to Hilevel equipment. After the Hilevel cars arrived, they saw service on The Chief and San Francisco Chief. Most of these went to Amtrak November 1, 1971, becoming 4810-4828 (2816-2836), 4850-4872 (2837-2860).

52-Seat Coach Original Owners: SAL, SCL, PRR, RF&P (later to Amtrak)

52-Seat Coach
Here we have a car that saw service on several railroads. Many railroads had similar (but not identical) cars. The prototype for the Walthers model is a 1947 product that was owned by the Seaboard Air Line; Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac; and the Pennsylvania Railroad. The PRR, RF&P and SAL cars were originally used in joint New York-to-Florida service, although some of them later migrated to other services on the routes of their owner railroads. The Walthers model is right on for these cars!

Amtrak got all but one of these thirty cars and eventually converted them to head-end power. They operated on many long-distance trains until the arrival of the Amfleet II coaches. Virtually all of these cars are currently retired or else held in reserve for such runs as Clocker Service in the NEC.

24-8 Slumbercoach Original Owners: CB&Q, NP, MP, NYC, B&O (later Amtrak)

24-8 Slumbercoach
H ere we have a car that saw service on a goodly number of railroads beginning in the mid-1950's. The CB&Q, Missouri Pacific, Northern Pacific, New York Central and B&O were among the earliest and largest purchasers of these innovative cars. Some roads leased these cars to Pullman for operation in the owner's trains. Additionally, the cars were leased to other railroads during certain seasons where they were in less demand on their home roads. These cars were seen in trains from Miami to Seattle and lots of places in between! The Walthers model captures the elements of the prototype cars very nicely, although the CB&Q cars had California Zephyr-styled skirting that Walthers does not offer.

Virtually all of these cars made it into the Amtrak equipment pool, with many being converted to HEP. They lasted through the later 1990's -- almost until the end of the Heritage Fleet sleeping car era on Amtrak.

10 Roomette - 6 Bedroom Sleeper Original Owner: UP (Pullman), later Amtrak

10 Roomette - 6 Bedroom Sleeper
Here again, we have a car that saw service on a many railroads across the United States. One of the earliest railroads to obtain these cars was the CB&Q. These were the cars that spelled the beginning of the end for the Pullman Company's lock on railroad sleeping car service! There are some very subtle differences between the Budd '10&6' cars used by the various railroads. Walthers model most closely captures the elements of the fifty prototype Union Pacific cars very nicely. The telltale features of its U.P. lineage are the placement of the corridor windows in the car sides, the lack of skirting and the full-length wide letterboard. Five of the Union Pacific's cars were sold to the Milwaukee Road in 1969. These five cars later went to Mexico. One of the remaining forty-five cars was retained by the U.P. and converted to a crew car in 1972. Yet another car was wrecked in 1951.

Forty-three of these cars made it into the Amtrak equipment pool, with thirteen of them receiving HEP conversions in the late 1970's. These cars (along with similar cars from the AT&SF and SCL) were the backbone of Amtrak's sleeper fleet, lasting through the late 1990's. Some have made it into the private car owner fleet. Still, a number of these cars have had their bedrooms removed, the window panels altered and have been placed into dormitory service on Amtrak's single-level eastern long-haul trains.

Dining Car Original Owner: NYC, PC (transferred to Amtrak)

Dining Car
Dining cars were mostly custom jobs for each railroad. The major car builders would cater to the railroads' whims and wants be incorporating all kinds of specialized features like slab sides instead of corrugation, polarized windows, special floor plans and window arrangements, even twin unit configurations. Budd was no exception to this practice. Nonetheless, a number of railroads had cars similar to the Walthers model. The clear inspiration however for the model is a New York Central car - eighteen of them in fact! Representative of the NYC car is 44-seat grill/diner #466. Delivered with its sisters to the NYC in 1947, they served on a number of Great Steel Fleet trains. A number of these cars were retired and scrapped through the 1960's and 1970's. A few were sold to private interests. The Walthers model is a perfect replica of the NYC cars.

Amtrak received an even 10 of these cars, a number of which are still in service on the Crescent, Lake Shore Limited, Cardinal, Silver Meteor and Silver Star. Some of these cars have received several overhauls during their life with Amtrak, and will probably soldier on for a good number of years to come as replacements are not to be found on the horizon!

Tavern-Observation Car Original Owners: ACL, SCL (later Amtrak)

Tavern-Observation Car
The latest offering to come from Walthers (Dec 2002) is a bobtail observation car. The inspiration for the model is a six-car series (#6600 - 6605) of Seaboard Air Line Tavern-Observation cars that were delivered to the railroad in 1947. These six cars were assigned to the Silver Meteor consists when Seaboard took that train to daily departures for both coasts of Florida. The cars survived into the merger between the Seaboard and the Atlantic Coast Line railroads, becoming Seaboard Coast Line cars #5840 - 5845. The SCL made an interesting modification to the rear ends of cars #5850, 5843 and 5844. A special housing and a diaphragm were added to facilitate mid-train operation of those cars. There appears to be some dimensional problems with the Walthers model's roof-mounted taillight -- the fixture seems to be grossly oversized. Walthers will provide alternate roofs with or without the rear taillight, based upon the railroad livery being sold. All of the Seaboard cars did have this fixture. Additionally, the Seaboard cars originally had full skirting. The Walthers cars will either feature or omit this element, again based upon the railroad livery being applied.

All six of these cars were transferred to Amtrak but were all retired by the late 1970's/early 1980's.

Bibliography
By Streamliner New York to Florida, by Joseph M. Welsh
Train Shed Cyclopedia #21, by Newton K. Gregg
Illustrated Treasury of Budd Railway Passenger Cars, Delta Publications
The Passenger Car Library, Volume 4, by W. David Randall
Streamliner Cars, Volume 2 (The Budd Company), by W. David Randall
Car Names, Numbers and Consists, by Robert J. Wayner
Pennsylvania Railroad Passenger & Freight Car Diagrams, by Robert J. Wayner
The Cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad, by Robert J. Wayner
Passenger Equipment of the PRR, Volume 1: Coaches, by Liljestrand/Sweetland
Passenger Equipment of the PRR, Volume 2: Sleepers, by Liljestrand/Sweetland
PRR Color Guide to Freight & Passenger Equipment, by Sweetland/Yanosey
PRR Color Guide to Freight & Passenger Equip, Volume 2, by Ian S. Fischer
PRR Color Guide to Freight & Passenger Equip, Volume 3, by Ian S. Fischer
Pennsylvania Railroad Passenger Car Painting and Lettering, by Blardone/Tilp
More Classic Trains, by Arthur D. Dubin
Railway Express - An Overview, by V. S. Rosema

About the author
Chris Baker, 42, has been in model railroading since age 8. He models passenger operations of the Pennsylvania Railroad in HO, circa 1949-1953. He is a native of Philadelphia, PA and currently lives in the Baltimore area. He has been a member of the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society since 1982. Chris has been employed by Amtrak for the past 13 years, currently managing Amtrak's Tariff Department.