New products of note
From time to time, we will post information on new products announced by producers that may be of interest to the Membership. These posts may include general information on the products. If the Society Store is planning to carry the product, we will note accordingly.
Rapido Trains – HO scale
Budd Manor Series Sleeper and Budd Baggage Dormitory
Orders Due: February 15, 2021 (some may be available after that date)
Delivery: not announced, probably second half of 2021
Order At: Rapido Trains or through your favorite dealer (the Society will not stock)
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Budd Manor Series Sleeper
HO Scale Budd Manor Sleeper | Rapido Trains Inc.
Rapido is retooling and rereleasing their Budd built CP Manor sleeper, also known as a 4-4-5-1 (four sections, four roomettes, five double bedrooms, and one compartment). All 42 Manor sleepers were delivered to Canadian Pacific in 1954 and 1955. In November 1955, Budd delivered 6 sleepers with the same accommodations and general plan and appearance to the Seaboard Air Line. They were Pullman Plan 9537, built in lot 9658-168. These cars were named Bay Pines, Southern Pines, Pinehurst, Camden, Henderson, and Cedartown. For those modeling SAL or SCL passenger trains (or Auto-Train), this car is a must-buy!
Rapido is releasing this car in Seaboard Air Line livery (cars Bay Pines, Cedartown, Pinehurst, and Southern Pines). At the suggestion of the ACL & SAL HS, they are also releasing the car plated silver, but un-lettered. This will allow you to do the car in Seaboard (other names), Seaboard Coast Line (Society decals available), and Auto-Train Corp (perhaps a future Society decal project?). We are still researching the history of these cars, but it appears one was wrecked prior to the SCL merger (we believe Southern Pines; Camden was wrecked after the merger). Four of the six Seaboard cars were still on the SCL roster in 1970 when they received 6XXX series numbers (Bay Pines, Cedartown, Henderson, and Pinehurst). Here are photos of the SAL Bay Pines and Cedartown. We have not found a photo of any of these cars in Seaboard Coast Line lettering yet - please let us know if you have one!
Henderson went to Amtrak as their 2105 (Rapido is doing that car) which operated primarily on the Washingtonian/Montrealer where the sections were used a crew-dorm space (see this picture of Amtrak Henderson on the Montrealer). The other three went to Auto-Train Corporation as their cars 602, 604, and 606. Auto-Train replaced the sections with additional bedrooms and a honeymoon suite (see these photos of the Auto-Train cars).
The Rapido model is an exact match for the CP Manor series. The Seaboard cars are essentially the same car, but just like any Budd 10-6, there are railroad-specific differences. There is one window that is different, the CP letterboards are full length, the trucks are different, as is the underbody equipment. Barring an exact model of the Seaboard car, this is a close as you’ll get! Auto-Train’s modifications changed a couple other windows. On the Seaboard, these cars were usually used on the Silver Star, usually covering New York – Miami, New York – St. Petersburg and Richmond – Miami sleeper lines, depending upon the year and the season. At most, there were two per train during the peak season (to Miami and St. Petersburg). While sections were rare on U.S. streamlined cars post-World War II, they were acquired by some roads to cover government travel as they were often only reimbursed for the cost of a lower berth in a section, and not in roomettes. With all of the military bases on the Seaboard, and the Savannah River Laboratory, there was a still a market in the 1950s for this kind of accommodation. These cars generally replaced heavyweight sleepers still running on Silver Star in 1955.
Of note, Atlantic Coast Line had two sleepers with the same accommodations, basic floor plan, and similar window plan (these cars and CP’s also had the same trucks). ACL cars Camellia and Gardenia were built by Pullman-Standard, outshopped in December 1954 for the Chicago – Miami Dixieland to Plan 4196. Seven more cars of this type were owned by NC&StL, C&EI, L&N, and FEC for this train (see this photo of C&EI car Florida Flowers). With the Dixieland’s demise, the cars were then used on the Chicago – Miami South Wind until 1971. In September of 1968, the ACL cars were renamed Everglades and Okefenokee by Seaboard Coast Line and were eventually passed on to Amtrak in 1971, where they ran with the ex-SAL Henderson primarily on the Washingtonian/Montrealer. While a bit of stretch, this model is a quality car that could be considered as a stand-in for the ACL cars.
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Budd Baggage-Dormitory
Rapido is also retooling and rereleasing their Budd built CP Baggage-Dormitory. All 18 were delivered to Canadian Pacific in 1954 and 1955. Rapido is releasing this car in Seaboard Air Line colors as cars 6050 and 6052, as well as Atlantic Coast Line cars 103 and 104. At the suggestion of the ACL & SAL HS, they are also releasing the car plated silver, but un-lettered. This will allow you to do the car in Seaboard Coast Line, later Atlantic Coast Line schemes, or other roads (Society decals available). Seaboard Budd-built baggage-dormitory cars 6050, 6051, and 6052 were delivered in June of 1947, and the ACL cars were built in the same time period as Budd order 96808. These cars all went to SCL in 1967 and to Amtrak in 1971.
The Rapido model is an exact match for the CP cars of this type. For SAL and ACL, well, it’s a good model and at least a post-war Budd! The CP cars did not have a vestibule, and the baggage door was nearer to the center. All ACL and SAL baggage-dormitory cars had a vestibule, including those acquired by SAL second hand from the Florida East Coast, and with the exception of one ex-FEC car, the baggage doors were near the end of the car (see this photo of real ex-SAL 6050 as Amtrak 1522). For those modeling SAL, ACL, FEC, and SCL passenger trains, this is an excellent model that is a reasonable stand-in.
Of note, Rapido is doing this car in Southern Pacific, Amtrak Phase 1 (ex-Southern Pacific), and Silver-unlettered (which would allow you to do it in Amtrak Phase III). These models are very close to the real Southern Pacific Budd baggage-dormitory cars, which became a fixture on Amtrak passenger trains running over Seaboard Coast Line from 1972 through to their retirement in the mid-1990s running in SP, Amtrak Phase 1, perhaps Amtrak Phase 2, and even Amtrak Phase 3 paint with HEP.