Passengers

[RJasonB]

Anyone have insights on which passengers work well and which are to be avoided? I recall reading somewhere out there in internetland that 1:87 scale seated passengers work well in passenger cars only if you amputate the legs. The same person suggested 1:100 scale seated passengers. I've been told that the Bachmann seated passengers do not work at all without serious modifications. I have a set of Spectrum cars on their way and want to add passengers, but would like to get it "right" the first time.

Jason - northern Colorado

 

[Motley]

Jason,

I ended up getting the Prieser passengers, they come in 36 people, seated passengers. And I didn't have to cut their legs off.

http://www.caboosehobbies.com/catalog/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=782&products_id=68240

This was in all my Walthers Streamline passenger cars. I have Rapidos, but haven't put passengers in them yet.

 

[otiscnj]

Over the last 2 years or so, I've been putting passengers into the Walther's Hiawatha, + some IHC cars, with the seperate interior kits from the late 90's, early 2000's.

I've found found that the Prieser figures, that come in a small box of about 30, need only 'minor plastic surgery,' to fit in most of these seats, not major amputations. [Middle of the foot and toes removed.]

In the past, I've put Bachmann people into Life-Like Full Domes, and they've pretty much fit as is. I also have some of the Rix 'seat strips,' and put people in them without major amputations. I did have some problems with my older Bachmann Amfleet cars. The floor is to high as I recall. I made cut outs in the molded floor, instead of performing amputations. These I found the most frustrating to put passengers into, and maybe one reason Amtrak needs such a large subsidy.

 

[USMC6770]

Hi! All, Ok! do to the fact that I'm new to this passenager thing can some one help me out? These cars weight 7.58 oz. each and 11" long which I need to add about 4.5oz for good running, but with the seating I haven"t figured out to where to put these weights. These cars are Bachman Spectrum. Someone HELP!!!!!!

 

[Espeefan]

Are you sure they need that extra weight? The NMRA weight standards are intended to make different cars fom different manufacturers work and play well together. You could for example add the necessary weight and couple one of your Spectrum cars into the middle fo a brass consist without any trouble assuming the brass cars are properly weighted, coupler heigth is correct, and so on. If OTOH you are just going to run a train of 4-5 Spectrum cars, you might be just fine out of the box. Fox Valley models made the passenger cars in their nice little Hiawatha train significantly lighter than the NMRA standard, mostly so that little Atlantic would be able to pull the train. Run as a unit, the train operates quite well (there are three or four such sets ay my club). Bottom line: It all depends on how you intend to run them. Remain calm! Test them and see if you have any actual problems.

 

[Motley]

Listen to Alan. He knows what he's talking about.

 

[USMC6770]

Ok! I am going to take Motleys' advice and listen to Alans' wisdom about this. I do have 35 cars that I will be working on all year, but before I add the new lighting, people and weathering I,m going to hook all of them up just to see how they run. Pulling all this will be 2 F7s and two powered dummies with all hex super motors. Thinks for the advice. I'll will let you know how it turns out. Once again I thank You both.

 

[Dave S]

Ok! I am going to take Motleys' advice and listen to Alans' wisdom about this. I do have 35 cars that I will be working on all year, but before I add the new lighting, people and weathering I,m going to hook all of them up just to see how they run. Pulling all this will be 2 F7s and two powered dummies with all hex super motors. Thinks for the advice. I'll will let you know how it turns out. Once again I thank You both.

Thirty five cars? That's gonna be a pretty long train!

 

[Espeefan]

I do have 35 cars that I will be working on all year, but before I add the new lighting, people and weathering I,m going to hook all of them up just to see how they run. Pulling all this will be 2 F7s and two powered dummies with all hex super motors.

That's a heck of a train! You must belong to a large club or have a HUGE home layout. That's a 37 foot long train plus or minus a little!

I have an SP Daylight, which is 16 cars long + the GS-3 (correct for 1941) an SP Lark which is 19 cars long + ABA PA-1s, a Santa Fe Super Chief which is 10 cars + F7 ABBA, and a Walthers COLA which is 11 cars long plus ABA E's. They are all long trains and I couldn't run them anyplace but my club. I envy you your space!

Passenger trains are my weakness as you may have noticed . For Spectrum cars, check the coupler height. Thiose swinging coupler boxes can be a pain. I removed them on my Spectrum cars and replaced them with standard body mounts. That needs a generous minimum radius though, so be careful.

 

[USMC6770]

Just one big empty basement, except for the wifes washer and dryer, other than that its my man cave. Have already changed all the couplers to K-D #118 with .090 spacers. checked all the height and I believe I am go to go, and I did remove all the old linkage. Spent all of my S.S money, for the last two months on my train, glad the wife is still working, she still has at lest 8 years before she can retire. I need to by myself a good camera for I can post some pictures for you guys. Curves are 40% so the 72ft cars should run good. I did own the house before the wife and I married, so I only have one comment about that MINE. LOL

 

[tootnkumin]

If you put lighting in all those cars (if they weigh as much as the strips in my Rapido cars) you'll achieve the extra ballast you're looking for, but then you might need a couple of more helpers as well haha.