Here's the next update on this project. I have been working on installing red streamline marker lights on the sides of the shell. The top car in the photo below shows what the original outside shell of a K-Line 8003 dining car looks like. The bottom is my project car that was modified with the new end cap, extra windows, grab bars and red marker lights. The streamline marker lights really help create the look of an original Union Pacific 9000 series observation dome lounge car from 1955.
For this part of the project I wanted to visit a real Union Pacific observation dome lounge car still in its original April 1955 configuration. But all the cars I could find had been modified (some very drastically) by their owners. The closest arrangement to the original 1955 configuration I found was the #9000 UP observation dome lounge car. Like all 9000 series cars, this car went through the Union Pacific’s 1956 mid-train conversation. This car stayed in UP service until it sold to Auto Train in 1972. After Auto Train the #9000 was sold again in 1981 and has been used for static display ever since. Other than the current maroon paint job the rear of the #9000 car does not look like it has been modified since 1956 (that's 63 years). Also, I was excited that it was the very first car in Union Pacific's series of 15 observation dome lounge cars built (#9000 ~ #9014). Last month I visited the #9000 observation dome lounge car at the Main Street Station Casino in Las Vegas and took this photo below. This car sits outside in the parking lot next to the Casino lobby entrance.
In this photo you can see where Union Pacific had the rear window patched over for the 1956 mid train conversation. If you look closer below the patched windows you can find more clues from 1955. The #9000 still retains its original mounting brackets for hanging the neon CoLA tail sign. And below the mounting brackets it still has the power outlets for the neon tail sign! Happy with these findings I left Las Vegas. But, it was not until after I got home that I realized I did not get the location of the red streamline marker lights.
So, last week I made a second trip to Vegas to see the #9000 in the parking lot outside of the Main Street Casino lobby. This time I was able to find the imprints of where the original streamline marker light attached. Even though these streamline marker lights were removed in 1956 the rectangle imprints above the rear window are still there today.
Now that I had these detailed photos I could work my project again. I drilled out a 2mm hole for the red Tower LED's so they would be in the exact location as original marker lights on a 9000 series observation car.
Finally, to get the correct looking chrome streamline housing and red marker lights I purchased an inexpensive 15" K-Line observation car online for its marker lights and used it for donor parts.
Next I want to change the numbers on the side of the car because #8003 is a City of Los Angeles "dome dining" car number. This car needs to be numbered between 9000~9004 to correctly match a real City of Los Angeles observation dome lounge car.
Also, I just completed creating the full interior for this 9000 series car based on Union Pacific plans and photos from 1955. Here's a link to the write up:
https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...-passenger-car-k4690
Thanks,
