K-Line RPO Interior Upgrade

Outstanding work! The green cubby holes, how did you do those? 

Pete

That is some tremendous work!

Very nice, excellent work.

Hi Pete, 

Thank you.  I created the green mail slots by glueing a flat row of "Plastruct ST-4 traditional ABS Square Tubing" side by side.  Once the first flat row dried, I cut off the backs and they looked like the bottom row of mail boxes.   From there I glued another row of ST-4 on top and repeated the process until I got the height of mail boxes needed.  It took the whole bag of ST-4 to create the effect.  It probably would be easier if you know someone with a 3D printer.  

Thank you for the explanation. I like your way better. I have that same car, looks like a good winter project.

Pete

That is a superb job; thanks for sharing it including the historical material and plans. I think that for the sub-scale interiors of most Lionel, MTH and K-Line cars, scratch-building interior details like you have done is the only way to go.

I am not sure that anyone has produced anything in the way of 3D printed details for 3rail RPO cars but Delta Models makes kits and components in cast resin. Problem is that these are intended for cars with scale-size interiors - more like Golden Gate Depot or brass 2rail models than the main manufacturers’ products. An example is the Delta RPO overhead bin (like the ones shown in your third photo above):

This is a nice replica of the real thing but would have to be cut down with some difficulty to fit in a standard Lionel etc. RPO. I see how you have tackled this part in your car and bearing in mind what can actually be seen through the windows I think it works great.

Delta make other parts and indeed whole RPO interior sets. I’m only showing a few here for comparison purposes:

Very nice. How did you make the floor and subfloor? Did you rest the floor and subfloor on one of the shell extrusions?

Very nice planning and workmanship!

Thank you for the compliment Hancock52.  I agree with you on true 1/48 scale vs. compressed scale for passenger cars.   The Arttista figures #1181, #1324, #1325 seem to fit well to add some action.  And I found the wooden chair from Scale City Designs.

PRRHorseshoe, to make the subfloor I used a thin sheet of 1/32” x 3” x 24” basswood.  Then cut it to the same width as metal K-Line base (the ends of the subfloor were cut slightly shorter due to the clearance for cars end caps).  I elevated the basswood subfloor on 1/4” x 1/8” wooden strips to gain clearance above the existing power and ground wires from the trucks.  This small clearance space under the subfloor can be seen in the photos with the doors open.  The subfloor with stained horizontal slats was then mounted on top of the metal K-line base using the same exact screw locations that held the plastic interior. The trick is to line up your 1/4 x 1/8 wooden strips with the factory screw hole locations.  I did not connect anything to the outer shell or it’s extrusions.  

One side note, since the interior floor gets elevated to clear the wires running underneath your standing figures will be too tall.  Their feet will need to be removed to bring them back down to normal size.

Wow, that is very cool!  It's truly a shame that the casual viewer can't see the great work in there.

Hello...I have the same car.  I need to remove the shell and can't figure how to get it off.  I've removed every screw that I could, but it still doesn't want to come of.  Any suggestions?

Thanks GunrunnerJohn, you are correct.  Even though the my guests viewer won’t be able to see all the details I found I really enjoyed the process of researching and building the interior.  And now as the RPO rolls past me down the track, its interior lights pick up the warm colors of the cars stained wood floor and I smile knowing the details that went inside.  :-)

When I did a video for the Golden Gate Railroad Museum they had just finished their RPO. They got some of the old timers that worked in these cars. They called the little boxes that the mail was sorted in, pigeon holes. Here a few shots of their car. Don

Hi KingFish,

Here’s how to remove the shell off a K-Line K4690 RPO or passenger car.  

1st:  Remove the 2 Phillips screws on each end that hold on the end caps (sounds like you did this step already).

2nd: With the screws removed your end caps are pressed in place and held by a single small channel on the top inside of the shell.  This is the hard part, start by gently wiggling the end cap until they start to loosen on the sides.  At the same time pull the end cap away from the shell.  You will see the sides pull away first, this will give you a place to get a fingernail under.  Keep pulling the end cap “straight” away from the shell and wiggling until it completely pulls away off the top channel.  Let me know if this helps!

T.Albers posted:

Thanks GunrunnerJohn, you are correct.  Even though the my guests viewer won’t be able to see all the details I found I really enjoyed the process of researching and building the interior.  And now as the RPO rolls past me down the track, its interior lights pick up the warm colors of the cars stained wood floor and I smile knowing the details that went inside.  :-)

Also you have a fine photographic record of the interior and the work you did on it. I have kept a photo album of the few cars where I have put in detailed interiors, including the historical research I did on the prototypes.

I have seen true O (full) scale passenger cars where the roof is removable and so the interior can be seen complete. But realistically that isn’t possible with the vast majority of 3rail cars. 

T.ALBERS...Thx for the insight into removing the shell. I'll give it a shot and hopefully won't scratch the paint or break something...

K-Line made both this 15" car and a 21" RPO. They differ only in length. Height and width are the same. Same with their 18" cars but no RPOs in 18".

Pete

KingFish, 

Here’s a overhead photo showing the what the channels look like on the top of the end caps.  Once you remove the bottom screws from the black frame only the channels are holding the end caps in place.  Good luck.

Great attention to details and a beautiful job.  As GRJ points out very few visitors can really appreciate the work that went into creating this car.

Norton posted:

K-Line made both this 15" car and a 21" RPO. They differ only in length. Height and width are the same. Same with their 18" cars but no RPOs in 18".

Pete

I'd be very interested in that 21" RPO if only just to see how it was made. I think that generally K-Line (and Lionel) did not alter the lengths of the metal frames on their aluminum 21" cars - they used the same length frames as for 18" cars and the extra body length over the frame was compensated for by lengthening the plastic vestibule/end cap assemblies at each end.

Anyway a 21" RPO would provide lots of room for interior details. I have an 18" aluminum Lionel Shasta Daylight RPO car that is very nicely detailed inside, including mail sacks. It's an all plastic interior of course but the attention to detail it represents is not duplicated in any of Lionel's current offerings.

scale rail posted:

When I did a video for the Golden Gate Railroad Museum they had just finished their RPO. They got some of the old timers that worked in these cars. They called the little boxes that the mail was sorted in, pigeon holes. Here a few shots of their car. Don

Hi Don,

Luckily, Golden Gate Railway Museum has saved the 5901 RPO and posted color photos online because all the other UP photos of this set of cars I found were in black & white.  A.C.F. made 3 sister cars (5900, 5901 & 5902) that match this exact floor plan and you are correct.  Out of that group of 3 cars only the 5901 has its original RPO interior intact today. 

According to UtahRails.net here’s the current status of those 3 Union Pacific RPO cars:

1. UP 5900 was renumbered to UP 903682 in 1973; stored at Seymour, Nebraska; moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming, as on-ground storage shed.
2. UP 5901 was renumbered to UP 903683 in 1973; sold to private individual; moved for preservation to Golden Gate Railroad Museum, San Francisco, California.
3. UP 5902 was renumbered to UP 903684 in 1973; sold to Ringling Bros., in 1989, used as parts source; traded to MARC (Maryland Railroad Commuter) for parts in May 1992; refurbished and painted as MARC 199, located at Camden Yards, used as on-track storage.

Hancock52 posted:

Norton posted:

K-Line made both this 15" car and a 21" RPO. They differ only in length. Height and width are the same. Same with their 18" cars but no RPOs in 18".

Pete

I'd be very interested in that 21" RPO if only just to see how it was made.I think that generally K-Line (and Lionel) did not alter the lengths of the metal frames on their aluminum 21" cars - they used the same length frames as for 18" cars and the extra body length over the frame was compensated for by lengthening the plastic vestibule/end cap assemblies at each end.

Wouldn't using the 18" car frame for 21" cars then place the trucks in the wrong location on the car?

BobbyD posted:

Hancock52 posted:

I'd be very interested in that 21" RPO if only just to see how it was made.I think that generally K-Line (and Lionel) did not alter the lengths of the metal frames on their aluminum 21" cars - they used the same length frames as for 18" cars and the extra body length over the frame was compensated for by lengthening the plastic vestibule/end cap assemblies at each end.

Wouldn't using the 18" car frame for 21" cars then place the trucks in the wrong location on the car?

Of course it would. Not sure where that idea came from. AFAIK K-Line was the only manufacturer to use the same extrusion for their 15, 18, and 21" cars. The frame length and location of the trucks and wheel wells are different.

Pete

I did deliberately say the length of the frame and not where the truck mounting holes were placed in it. I've compared a number of K-Line and Lionel models, got replacement metal frames for the latter and found that they were identical in length as between 21" and 18" aluminum body models.