When Walthers announced the PS 52 seat C&O style coach, I ordered an undecorated one right away to paint and letter for Seaboard. Well, the model arrived and I was disappointed to see that the undec version represents the car with the fluted panels removed. I think the smooth sides were unique to C&O only in the late 1960's. Did either ACL, SAL (or SCL) remove the corregated panels from their ex-C&O cars? If not, Walthers 932-6760 is not suitable.

-- Rick Morrison (eopipes@surfree.com), January 21, 2004

Answers

Walthers recently added several new roadnames to their PS 52-seat coach offerings, including ACL and SAL. I've seen the SAL car in person and it looks quite good. One small matter, the car sides above the fluting are painted solid light gray on the model, whereas in actual service they were more silver-gray...but that's a minor point, hardly worth noting. These cars, based on the C&O, are slightly inaccurate for ACL, who recieved their actual cars from NKP. They had a slightly wider fluting band that extended closer to the window band than the C&O cars (see Michael's earlier posting). Again, a minor difference. SCL currently is not offered, but I have a feeling we'll see Walthers do that road also; they'll look accurate for for the ex-SAL cars.

-- Bob Venditti (bobvend@bellsouth.net), September 26, 2004.

A heads-up...be aware that some of these coaches from Walthers come with skirting, some don't, depending on the roadname. Keep that in mind when deciding specifically which cars you want to model. I've never seen any photos of ACL/SAL/SCL ex-C&O/NKP coaches that didn't have corregated fluting. Painting treatment above the fluting differed between the C&O and NKP cars also. Michael's article will expand on this no doubt. I've currently got a C&O-painted example on back-order...eventually to become SCL.

-- Bob Venditti (bobvend@bellsouth.net), January 24, 2004.

I am not sure about the model, but if the window arrangement is accurate, then you could add a six flute stainless steel panel and the model car would match the Seaboard coaches. Add a seven flute panel and the model car would match the ACL's ex NKP cars. The paint was different, but otherwise the car bodies were similar. The interior is a different story.

-- Michael W. Savchak (Savchak@rcn.com), January 22, 2004.

Does the window panel arrangement match the SAL cars? If so, couldn't the fluting be added to represent the SAL car?

-- Mark Kuehler (qler@cfl.rr.com), January 21, 2004.

I have just finished drafting an article for Lines South on the ex- C&O cars. To the best of my knowledge, the C&O coaches purchased by the SAL kept their stainless steel side panels. The ACL purchased similar cars from the Nickel Plate and they too kept their side stainless steel panels.

-- Michael W. Savchak (Savchak@rcn.com), January 21, 2004.