Recently, a number of people have expressed interest in streamlined,
smooth-sided passenger cars. The comment came up that it is hard to get cars
that fit a particular road because most cars were custom built to plans created
by the railroads. Do we still have the man, Sautters was the name I think, in
Ohio who will laser cut any given window pattern if we furnish the scale
drawings? He apparently even has a repertoire of plans that he could laser cut
right now if one were to notify him.
It appears that any mention of wood is a cardinal sin in the modeling world
these days. At the risk of being kicked out of "church," I suggest that the
streamlined wood roofs are available from various--probably obscure--sources.
One might inquire among the readers of this list, for example. Certainly
creating an prototypical end in the form of a styrene overlay is not beyond the
skills of modelers on this list. If Mr. Sautters could laser cut the correct
window pattern, if one could get the wood roof based on the old Northeastern
pattern, one could certainly cut support blocks and a floor.
Of course, if one wants the Twentieth-Century Limited, one might have to wait
some time and lay out a heavy chunk of change. It could be done. For many of
us the long, sleek limiteds of the Forties and Fifties are too much for the
space we have. The secondary trains and locals fit much better into most
spaces. To wit, the Great Northern "Red River" is a better choice than the
"Empire Builder," and the Soo Line--well--that outfit had three and four-car
trains all over the map in the Upper Midwest. Certainly, roads in other
regions of the country had shorter trains as well.
For shorter trains, the wood, laser-cut sides should work.
Tom
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