RailSmith
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Model Features: Extra fine details, crisp paint & printing, sliding baggage doors {wood, multi-pane, modernized}, nicely weighted for the runner, adjustable draft gear, 6-wheel heavyweight drop-equalizer passenger truck (Type 2410), knuckle couplers, arched roof with Utility vents or clerestory roof, different trim ends, brake wheel or lever. You don't want to miss these!;)
The Prototype: During the "classic" era of streamlined passenger trains, the railroad management did not always spend precious capital on new head end equipment. So right behind the beautiful locomotive set of matching F's, E's, or PA's were heavyweight baggage-express cars. Some were painted up to match the streamlined train and some were left in their original paint - Pullman Green or Dark Olive. While this "marred" the unified appearance, it was practical. It's the best utilization of equipment to bring in much needed revenues to cover ticket sales. Consider this: the Northern Pacific Railway Company posted about $6.2 million in ticket sales, $5.6 million in mail revenue and $1.5 million express revenue for FY1950. The mail & express traffic kept the train afloat and provided more than 50% of the train revenues. Passenger ticket sales only gets worst as we head into the 60's. These revenue producing heavyweight cars carried sealed mail traffic, express traffic, less-than-carload freight (strawberries, publications and coffins to name a few) and as well as passsenger luggages. They were undoubtedly the bread and butter for these modern distinctive streamlined passenger trains.;)
The first run of these special edition cars include: Great Northern, Louisville & Nashville, Saint Louis-San Francisco (FRISCO), New York Central and Chicago Burlington & Quincy. Pr-order directly here on our website, then follow the links by each road name to the RailSmith site for additional RailSmith passenger cars that are being produced for these lines.
These cars will have all new car numbers! No overlap of car numbers from prior productions from Wheels of Time or Lowell Smith (Signature Series).
We are building our orders on your pre-orders. So please order soon. You don't want to miss your train! ETA June 2024.
Click here for PDF brochure.
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GN EB colors
Great Northern assigned their 70-ft heavyweight cars in postal storage mail service after their rebuilding including on the Western Star. Rebuilding are as follows: Car #246 in 8/58, #248 in 12/57, #249 in 2/58. Originally they were built by ACF 1918. When BN inherited these cars, they were assigned new BN Revenue Numbers, however it's not clear if they were actually renumbered. Most were off the roster by 1972. Nominal light weight was 136,000 lbs. Click here for additional GN Western Star cars by RailSmith.
| Item # | Great Northern for the Western Star |
Price |
Pre-Orders |
| RS1-01 | GN Car no. 246, single |
$49 |
|
| RS1-02-2 |
GN Car nos. 248, 249, 2-pack |
$95 |
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L&N Arched Roof w Utility Vents
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L&N Clerestory BE
Louisville & Nashville operated the Pan American No. 98 and No. 99 between Cincinnati, Ohio and New Orleans, Louisiana. L&N heavyweight baggage-express cars were part of the train's consist. Built by Pressed Steel Car Company and weighed over 67 tons. They had 125 of these cars in service by 1958. Some were built with clerestory roof and others were built originally with arched roof. Wheels of Time will roll out these N-scale L&N baggage-express cars: two cars with arched roof & Utility vents and one with the traditional clerestory roof. Star baggage near the car number denotes express agent facilities. Click here for additional L&N Pan American cars by RailSmith.
| Item # | Louisville & Nashville |
Price |
Pre-Orders |
| RS1-04 | L&N Car no. 1473, Arched Roof, single |
$49 |
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| RS1-05-2 |
L&N Car nos. 1486 * (star baggage), Arched Roof; 1456* (star baggage) Clerestory Roof, 2-pack |
$95 |
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StL-SF Arched Roof BE
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SL-SF Clerestory 370
The Saint Louis-San Francisco a.k.a Frisco used their baggage cars in sealed mail, express, and luggage services. You will find them on the Meteor train consist. The Meteor ran overnight between St. Louis, Missouri and Lawton, Oklahoma. Theses baggage-express cars were nominally 74-ft over the buffers and about 70-ft inside length. The clerestory car was built by ACF 1912 and the arched roof car were built by ACF in 1926. 'Star' baggage denotes that the car is equipped with express agent facilities. Click here for additional Frisco Meteor cars by RailSmith.
| Item # | Frisco |
Price |
Pre-Orders |
| RS1-07 | Frisco Car no. 384, Arched Roof with Utility Vents, single |
$49 |
|
| RS1-08-2 |
Frisco Car nos. 382 * (star baggage), Arched Roof; 370 Clerestory Roof, 2-pack |
$95 |
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NP NCL
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In 1947, the Northern Pacific upgraded the North Coast Limited (NCL) with streamlined lightweight cars. However, the NCL still carried heavy weight cars in it’s consist until Nov. 1952. The NCL was painted in what rail fans now called ‘Pine Tree’ scheme - which includes the heavyweight baggage cars. These baggage cars were built by Pullman in 1915, measured 74’-2-1/2” over the buffers and weighed in about 64 to 70 tons. Click here for additional NP NCL cars by RailSmith.
| Item # | Northern Pacific |
Price |
Pre-Orders |
| RS1-010 | NP Car no. 1501, single |
$49 |
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| RS1-11-2 |
NP Car nos. 1571 & 1590, 2-pack |
$95 |
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NYC Clerestory BE
The New York Central's No. 17 and No. 8 the Wolverine linked New York City and Chicago through Ontario, Canada. It transit internationally using Michigan Central tracks. Until Jan. 17, 1957, the Wolverine used the IC's Central Station in Chicago before switching to LaSalle Street Station. These New York Central heavyweight baggage cars were part of Wolverine's consist and carried express packages & baggages. They were built by ACF in 20's as Lot 2136 and rebuilt at Beech Grove Shops in 1940. They measured 72’-10 3/4” over coupler faces. Click here for additional NYC Wolverine cars by RailSmith.
Here are some prototype photos of NYC 70-ft Heavyweight Baggage-Express Cars. Clicking on it takes you to photos on the NYCHS Archives: NYC 8099, NYC 8730, NYC 9069
| Item # | New York Central |
Price |
Pre-Orders |
| RS1-13 | NYC Car no. 8730, clerestory, single |
$49 |
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| RS1-14-2 |
NYC Car nos. 8732 & 8733, 2-pack |
$95 |
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CB&Q (revised 9-1-23)
One of the U.S. Postal Office key regional mail and distribution center was right on the Chicago Burlington & Quincy's (CB&Q) main line at Omaha. Here the mail was sorted, redistributed and added to railroad cars including storage mail cars (i.e. baggage cars) on CB&Q trains. These CB&Q trains headed west to Denver, north to Minneapolis, south to Kansas City, east to Chicago. These CB&Q cars were found on almost every connecting railroad including NP, GN, CB&Q's Calif. Zephyr, UP, SP, MILW, PRR, NYC. Here is a personal account which including unloading coins from the Denver mint at Postal facility at Omaha. Did you say CZ? Yes, theses heavyweights head end cars were in CZ's consist right behind the locomotives from Omaha to Denver!#
These Burlington heavyweight baggage cars were built by ACF in 1918. Originally, Class BA-11 were equipped with an engine-generator set for train power. It was removed during rebuilding. Measured 70’-81/2” over end frame and equipped with CB&Q class 5H trucks (Pullman 2410). They carried storage mail, baggage and express shipments. Click here for additional cars by RailSmith which carried CB&Q cars. #Twilight of the Great Trains by Fred Frailey pg. 110. Prototype photo of CB&Q 1530 70-ft Heavyweight Baggage-Express Car.
| Item # |
Chicago Burlington & Quincy |
Price |
Pre-Orders |
| RS1-16 | CB&Q Car no. 1527, single |
$49 |
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| RS1-17-2 |
CB&Q Car nos. 1534 & 1539, 2-pack |
$95 |
