Description: WALTHERS HO Scale Ready-To-Run SET OF 6 in the BURGUNDY paint schemeSET CONSISTS Of ONE OF EACH BELOW: WINDOW COACH Car 12-1 SLEEPER Car BAGGAGE EXPRESS CAR 10-1-2 SLEEPER Car 8-1-2 SLEEPER Car 36 seat DINER CAR Interior photos show colored interior detailing Out-Of-Production DISCONTINUED By the ManufacturerFor this week's A Northwoods Moment in History, Gary Entz tells us about the Soo Line Passenger Trains. The Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad, more commonly known as the Soo Line, formed in 1884 and became a significant part of Northwoods history. Although the company was primarily a freight railroad and was never one of the nation’s great passenger railroads. It nonetheless provided passenger service to the Northwoods with a branch of its Laker passenger train. The Soo Line reached Rhinelander in 1886 and pushed on rapidly to Sault Ste. Marie, reaching that terminus late in 1887. In Rhinelander the Soo Line built a depot, water tank, and roundhouse east of Thayer Street. The Soo Line offered Northwoods residents passenger service to Minneapolis-St. Paul with connections available to Chicago. The first passenger train pulled in to Rhinelander from Minneapolis at 3:00 pm on November 23, 1886. It was a special train of two locomotives pulling six Pullman cars and a dining car for 42 dignitaries. The railroad representatives were welcomed by a civic committee, a band, and a crowd of several hundred people and then whisked off by sleigh to view the mills and to a fine reception at the Rapids House. Seventy-four years later, the last Soo Line passenger train passed through Rhinelander, and the contrast with the first train was striking. Automobile culture had overtaken the United States after World War II, and fewer people were relying on passenger trains to get around. In the 1950s small carriers like the Soo Line suffered heavy financial losses on their passenger lines, and by the end of the decade the writing was on the wall. The Soo Line applied to the Interstate Commerce Commission to discontinue its passenger service through the Northwoods, and in 1960 the request was granted. At 1:40 am on March 6, 1960, a small handful of people braved the sub-zero cold to watch the last train pull in from Sault Ste. Marie. Train No. 7 was running late, but when it arrived it consisted of a single locomotive, a mail car, a baggage car, and a single coach. A woman and her daughter got off the train in Rhinelander while a lone man headed for Minnesota boarded. A second ticket out of Rhinelander on this last Soo Line passenger train was punched for Woodboro, but it was never used as it was purchased by a railroad memorabilia collector in Iowa. As the last Soo Line passenger train departed the Thayer Street depot at 1:55 am on that frosty March morning in 1960, there was no civic committee and no band. Only three railyard workers and a few residents were on hand to witness the end of seventy-four years of Northwoods railroad history. This story was written by Gary Entz and produced for radio by Mackenzie Martin. HISTORY of the HEAVYWEIGHTSA passenger railroad car or passenger car is a railroad car that is designed to carry passengers. The term passenger car can also be associated with a sleeping car, a baggage car, a dining car, railway post office and prisoner transport cars. The first passenger cars were built in the early 1800s with the advent of the first railroads, and were small and little more than converted freight cars. Early passenger cars were constructed from wood; in the 1900s construction shifted to steel and later aluminum for improved strength. Passenger cars have increased greatly in size from their earliest versions, with modern bi-level passenger cars capable of carrying over 100 passengers. Amenities for passengers have also improved over time, with developments such as lighting, heating, and air conditioning added for improved passenger comfort. In some systems a choice is given between first- and second-class carriages, with a premium being paid for the former.History 19th century: First passenger cars and early developmentUp until about the end of the 19th century, most passenger cars were constructed of wood. The first passenger trains did not travel very far, but they were able to haul many more passengers for a longer distance than wagons pulled by horses.The first passenger cars in the United States resembled stagecoaches. They were short, often less than 10 ft (3.05 m) long and had two axles.A British company developed the first design for sleeping carriages, called "bed-carriages", which were built in 1838 for the London and Birmingham Railway and the Grand Junction Railway. When made up for sleeping, the foot of the bed was extended into a boot section at the end of the carriage. The cars were still too short to allow more than two or three beds to be positioned end to end. Britain's Royal Mail commissioned and built the first travelling post office cars in the late 1840s as well. These cars resembled coaches in their short wheelbase and exterior design, but were equipped with nets on the sides of the cars to catch mail bags while the train was in motion. American RPOs, first appearing in the 1860s, also featured equipment to catch mail bags at speed, but the American design more closely resembled a large hook that would catch the mailbag in its crook. When not in use, the hook would swivel down against the side of the car to prevent it from catching obstacles. As locomotive technology progressed in the mid-19th century, trains grew in length and weight. Passenger cars, particularly in America, grew along with them, first getting longer with the addition of a second truck (one at each end), and wider as their suspensions improved. Cars built for European use featured side door compartments, while American car design favored what was called a train coach, a single long cabin with rows of seats, with doors located at the ends of the car. Early American sleeping cars were not compartmented, but by the end of the 19th century they were. The compartments in the later sleepers were accessed from a side hall running the length of the cars, similar to the design of European cars well into the 20th century.Many American passenger trains, particularly the long distance ones, included a car at the end of the train called an observation car. Until about the 1930s, these had an open-air platform at the rear, the "observation platform". These evolved into the closed end car, usually with a rounded end which was still called an "observation car". The interiors of observation cars varied. Many had special chairs and tables.The end platforms of all passenger cars changed around the turn of the 20th century. Older cars had open platforms between cars. Passengers would enter and leave a car through a door at the end of the car which led to a narrow platform. Steps on either side of the platform were used for getting on or off the train, and one might hop from one car platform to another. Later cars had enclosed platforms called vestibules which together with gangway connections allowed passengers not only to enter and exit the train protected from the elements, but also to move more easily between cars with the same protection.Dining cars first appeared in the late 1870s and into the 1880s. Until this time, the common practice was to stop for meals at restaurants along the way (which led to the rise of Fred Harvey's chain of Harvey House restaurants in America). At first, the dining car was simply a place to serve meals that were picked up en route, but they soon evolved to include galleys in which the meals were prepared. The introduction of vestibuled cars, which for the first time allowed easy movement from car to car, aided the adoption of dining cars, lounge cars, and other specialized cars.1900–1950: Transition from wood to steel, new car typesIn the early 1900s, safety concerns led the railroad industry to transition from wood to steel construction. Steel was heavier but this transition took place simultaneously with a transition to higher-powered locomotives. The Pennsylvania Railroad began building all-steel passenger cars in 1906 due to concerns about fire in the tunnels it was building to access Manhattan's Pennsylvania Station, which opened in 1910. Other railroads followed because steel cars were safer in accidents. During a transition period, some railroads put steel frames underneath wooden cars. By the 1920s, passenger cars on the larger standard gauge railroads were normally between 60 ft (18.3 m) and 70 ft (21.3 m) long. The cars of this time were still quite ornate, many of them being built by experienced coach makers and skilled carpenters. In the United States, the so-called "chair car" with individual seating became commonplace on long-distance routes.With the 1930s came the widespread use of stainless steel for car bodies. The typical passenger car was now much lighter than its carbon-steel cousins of old, though still much heavier than nineteenth-century wooden cars. The new "lightweight" and streamlined cars carried passengers in speed and comfort to an extent that had not been experienced to date. Aluminum and Cor-Ten steel were also used in lightweight car construction, but stainless steel was the preferred material for car bodies. Stainless steel cars could be and often were, left unpainted except for the car's reporting marks that were required by law.By the end of the 1930s, railroads and car builders were debuting car body and interior styles that could only be dreamed of before. In 1937, the Pullman Company delivered the first cars equipped with roomettes – that is, the car's interior was sectioned off into compartments, much like the coaches that were still in widespread use across Europe. Pullman's roomettes, however, were designed with a single traveler in mind. The roomette featured a large picture window, a privacy door, a single fold-away bed, a sink and a small toilet. The roomette's floor space was barely larger than the space taken up by the bed, but it allowed the traveler to ride in luxury compared to the multilevel semiprivate berths of old.Now that passenger cars were lighter, they were able to carry heavier loads, but the size of the average passenger that rode in them didn't increase to match the cars' new capacities. The average passenger car could not be made any wider or longer due to side clearances along the railroad lines, but they generally could get taller because they were still lower than many freight cars and locomotives. The railroads soon began building and buying dome and bilevel cars to carry more passengersCars Feature:Decals with additional car numbers are provided to expand your fleet. A Great View and a Comfortable Ride * COLORED INTERIOR SEATING & DETAILING* Completely New Car * Superbly Detailed Inside & Out * Authentic Paint & Lettering * Car Name & Number Decals * Correct Truck Sideframes * Metal RP-25 Wheels * Factory-installed Electrical Pickups * Easy Interior Lighting Installation * Working Diaphragms * Knuckle Couplers PLEASE NOTE: As these cars are the correct prototype length and feature full underbody detail to match the prototypes, a minimum 24" radius is recommended for operation. Car Features:Accurately scaled from engineering drawingsScaled Dimensions & Rivet DetailComplete End, Roof & Underbody Detailing Scale set-back windowsCorrect Trucks with RP-25 Metal Wheels Detailed Full InteriorsFull Decal SetRemovable Roof Standard Drawbar GearboxLight pick ups installed (accepts light bar - sold separately) Crisp detailed, realistic lettering, matched to prototype photographs Realistic satin paint finish, great for weatheringGreat for weathering with chalks or airbrushDetailed truck side frames Low-friction, nonmagnetic, needlepoint metal axles, no lubrication required.Minimum Radius 24 inches recommended HARD TO FIND ITEM We do combine shipping on multiple purchases. If you do a Buy It Now the transaction requires immediate payment for each item separately. What you need to do is put it in the shopping cart and then when you go to checkout it will recalculate the shipping and combine the items for you. If you pay first I am unable to make any adjustment because ebay has then taken its fees on the shipping as well. If you have a concern message me and I can work something out for you. THIS IS AN ASSEMBLED Item The item is NEW in the original box from old stock PERSONAL INVENTORY: Many of these unique items are from my personal inventory which was accumulated over the years. They are hard to part with but due to downsizing in retirement they too are looking for a good home which can appreciate and enjoy them. STORE INVENTORY: Having discontinued my Hobby Store and left frigid “Minne-Snow-Da” I have relocated and retired to the warmer part of the country, Down to Sunny TEXAS. I will be Liquidating the remaining stock. I will be listing items over the next year or so clearing them out. Please see the photos we take actual photos of each item Most of these items are New in the box removed only to take photos of them.
Price: 749.89 USD
Location: Van, Texas
End Time: 2024-10-25T19:59:12.000Z
Shipping Cost: N/A USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Seller
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Assembly Status: Ready to Go/Pre-built
Color: Multicolor
Replica of: HEAVYWEIGHT
Material: Plastic
Scale: 1:87
Grade: C-10 Mint-Brand New
Year Manufactured: 2010
MPN: 1212
Control System: DC / DCC
Age Level: 17 Years & Up
Franchise: PULLMAN HEAVYWEIGHT
Gauge: HO
Vintage: Yes
Brand: Walthers
Type: Passenger Car
Rail System: Two-Rail System
Corporate Roadname: SOO LINE
Theme: RAILROADING
Features: Limited Edition, Painted, INTERIOR SEATS
Time Period Manufactured: 2000-2009
Country/Region of Manufacture: China