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This will be my third Pullman that's getting a new interior.  The sleeping cars that have been updated are the K4690-30003 Western Star, K4690-31305 Ocean Sunset, and now the K4690-30002 National Border.  If you have been following this series you may have noticed that K-Line manufactured all their 18" Pullman sleeping cars in this Union Pacific set with windows in the exact same locations.  I read K-Line did this to help lower the manufacturing costs of their aluminum cars.  This made it an interesting challenge to upgrade three different interiors layouts when the window locations in the shell did not match any of the Union Pacific plans.  The first car in the photo below is the Western Star 4-12, then Ocean Sunset, 5-2-2 and finally the National Border 6-4-6.    In the photo below you can see the exact same windows locations with only different names painted on the side cars.

3 Pullman cars

I don't have the fourth 18" Pullman sleeping car in this K-Line Union Pacific series.  It's the 11 bedroom Placid Haven part number K4690-30001.  From the photos I have seen online the Placid Haven has the same exact windows in the shell as the above cars.



So far, I have met the challenge to build the correct amount of rooms in each sleeping car according to the Union Pacific plans by either stretching or shrinking the rooms to match the windows in the semi-scale aluminum shell.

Inside view all three cars



Here are the steps and research trail I followed to upgrade this K-Line K4690-30002, National Border Pullman sleeping car interior.

Step.1, Start by removing the stock K-line interior from the shell.  Then separating the benches and passengers from the plastic base.

Step 1



Step.2, Put down a new basswood floor and mark where the windows are located.  Be careful, sleeping cars have a lot of walls and the rooms can be very small.  On this car I marked the room numbers on the basswood floor per the P.S.C.M plans to keep everything in order.   National series passenger cars have six roomettes marked 1 ~ 6, four bedrooms marked A, B, C, D and then six compartment marked the 7 ~ 12.

national 1



Step.3, Glue the seats in the place so the people can see out the windows.  Then start putting up walls. The existing K-Line bench seats were not long enough to be used as convertible sofas in the bedrooms.  But with a little bit of modification I was able to extend these bench seats to the length of the room.  To do that, I used 1-1/2 bench seats per room.  This can be done by cutting one bench seat in half and attaching it to another full size seat.  To get the smaller seats for the roomettes and open sections I cut about 1/3 off some other K-Line bench seats I had laying around.

national 3



This is the third sleeping car interior I have built using Hennings 21000 Passenger Car LED lighting kit.  Since these LED's give more vertical area for the interior walls I took the walls almost to the top of the K-Line shell in this build.  I'm not sure how this will affect the light coverage compared to my other Pullman interiors with lower walls.  But the walls look real nice with the K-Line shell removed.

IMG_6024



After all the walls were up I added a few Arttista people and repainted some of the K-Line figures that originally came out of this car.   I recommend trimming the bottoms on your figures to make them fit in the seats better.  The sinks and toilets where from ScaleCityDesign.

11



According to the book "The Union Pacific Streamliners" by Ranks and Kratville the National series sleepers didn't allow much area for the sleeping car attendant.  The only place I could find on the P.S.C.M. plans was a folding jump seat in the main hallway.  Also, you can see where I placed the circuit board for the LED kit below.  This circuit board fits nicely just in front of the roomettes.

IMG_6091





Researching the real passenger cars and discovering the little details along the way.  There were a total of twelve National series Pullman sleeping cars owned by the Union Pacific.  All National series interiors were made with 6 roomettes, 4 bedrooms and 6 open sections and several of these sleeping cars are in museums today. The real National Border #1201 Pullman sleeping car is in private hands and its current location and condition are unknown.  But I still managed visit three other National series cars during my quest for more information.  While searching I took lots of photos to help make my new interior and exterior look correct.   I found the National Embassy car number 1205 in Fillmore, CA (see photo below).  It was donated to the Santa Clara River Valley Railroad Historical Society in 2000.  Unfortunately, I was unable to look inside this car but I hope the best towards their long term goal on restoring the National Embassy to its former glory.

Embassy

Even thought I could not look inside the National Embassy I used the exterior photos taken that day to help recreate the small windows for the upper berths.  Union Pacific provided each of the 6 upper berths with 2 small windows so passengers could look outside during the night while in bed.  For my o-gauge reproduction I used a Cricut machine to create these tiny window openings with silver frames and black glass for the window.

open section upper windows





I stepped aboard the National Forum, car number 1207.  The National Forum has been owned by the Pacific Railroad Society since October 1971.  After only 15 years in UP service the National Forum was retired and has been saved for future generation with its original 1956 interior completely in tack.   The Pacific Railroad Society has done an amazing job keeping this 65-year old passenger car up-to-date with current safety standards.  This means they can still take the National Forum out on excursion runs at 90 mph behind Amtrak locomotives.  Besides running excursion trips aboard the National Forum the Pacific Railroad Society also has a museum in San Dimas, CA.  This museum is open several days a week to the public, admission is free and they gave me permission to use this photo below of the National Forum on the garden track at Los Angeles Union Station.

National Forum on Garden Track at Union Station LA

My favorite photo while aboard the National Forum was of their Pullman "Welcome to Travel Comfort" poster.  This 1950's era poster was meant to tell other passengers on the train all the benefits of riding in a Pullman car instead of traveling in coach.  The Pacific Railroad Society was the only museum I found that had this original poster still mounted in the hallway of a Pullman sleeping car.

National Forum_1644thumbnail_IMG_6068





I toured the National Scene, car number 1210 in Perris, CA.  It's at the Southern California Railway Museum and they have owned the National Scene since 1997.  The museum is open to the public daily and the National Scene still has its original interior.  On special occasions they even take the National Scene out for rides on the museum's track.

National Scene_1797



Interesting little details not seen on paper plans can be found when examining the real Pullman passenger cars.  Here’s my photo of the metal handrails from inside the National Forum.  Once I found out these handrails were supposed to be in the main hallway next to the four bedrooms I was able to include them inside my National Border car.

Hand rail



All the bathrooms doors inside the National Forum are locked so the public cannot get in and use them.  These bathrooms were dusty from many years of being locked but they unlocked them so I could take photos.  The National Forum had a single toilet on a black rubber floor, surrounded by a stainless steel kickboard in a room with a triangle shaped rear wall.  Here's my photo from the dusty bathroom inside the National Forum next to my National Border replica.

Before after toliet



Here's my photo of the open section area inside the National Forum.  The open section upholstery was green and these passengers sat facing each other during the day.  Next to it is my National Border replica with overhead berths and the women's restroom.

Open section before and after


Fully assembled with the K-Line ABA's in the lead my Union Pacific passenger train is now over 18 feet long.  Because of this very long length I normally run it as a Pullman only train and don't include my 7000 or 7009 coach cars.    I hope this write-up helps others who want to upgrade their Union Pacific National Border Pullman sleeping cars.  I will attach the original National Border plan view that's ready to print on 11" x 17" paper.

Thanks,



To look at the other interior builds in this series click on the links below. They are listed in the order I run them on my layout:

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...-an-e-8-cab-interior

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...interior-upgrade-rpo

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...6327-k4690#lastReply

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...car-interior-upgrade

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...enger-car-8003-k4690

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...lounge-car#lastReply

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...enger-car-1305-k4690

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...upgrade-k-line-k4690

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...upgrade-k-line-k4690

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...senger-car#lastReply

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...upgrade-placid-haven

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...oenix-aluminum-shell

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...pullman-sleeping-car

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...c-passenger-car-1575

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...-passenger-car-k4690

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Images (18)
  • 3 Pullman cars
  • Placid Haven 2
  • Embassy
  • National Scene_1797
  • national 1
  • national 3
  • IMG_6024
  • National Forum on Garden Track at Union Station LA
  • Step 1
  • IMG_6091
  • Inside view all three cars
  • 11
  • Hand rail
  • Before after toliet
  • Open section before and after
  • National Forum_1644
  • open section upper windows
  • thumbnail_IMG_6068
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Last edited by T.Albers
Original Post

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WOW again. I think that your work is going from strength to strength; same applies to the historical research.

Seeing those small upper berth windows reminded me that I have one UP car that has them. It's an MTH car that I think came as part of a Dealer Appreciation Program set when the PS2 version of MTH's monster DDA40X was first issued, which I think was about 10 years ago. This is the only streamliner car I have with what are "clerestory" windows but I was too lazy/unmotivated before now to look up the car and see what they were for. As you can see, this is named/numbered Green River #1602:

IMG_9577IMG_9578

As you can also see as a result of the interior lights being on, in the model the upper windows are in fact molded straight through the body shell although I can't see that there are berths represented behind them.

This car is listed in the UP records as a sleeper and I think that the model represents it in an early and maybe the "as built" configuration. The car, which seems to have been rebuilt extensively at least twice, is still in the UP Historical Fleet but the upper widows are gone and the lower windows have been totally reconfigured. Details of the current version of this car are here: https://www.up.com/aboutup/spe..._equipment/index.htm

GreenRiverToday

I was particularly interested in the Pullman Travel Comfort poster you photographed. That must be very rare; I certainly have not seen an image of it before and I have researched a literally huge number of streamliner posters.

Thanks again. 

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  • IMG_9577
  • IMG_9578
  • GreenRiverToday
Last edited by Hancock52

I just bought the K Line National National Border car to add to my Union Pacific "City of St. Louis" consist.  If my research is correct the National Border was one of four passenger cars painted in UP livery that were owned by the Wabash and used on the "City of St. Louis".  Do you have any suggestions for my attempts to discover what the name National Border and the other three cars means or refers to?

Martin Dougherty posted:

I just bought the K Line National National Border car to add to my Union Pacific "City of St. Louis" consist.  If my research is correct the National Border was one of four passenger cars painted in UP livery that were owned by the Wabash and used on the "City of St. Louis".  Do you have any suggestions for my attempts to discover what the name National Border and the other three cars means or refers to?

Hi Martin,

On the Utah rails website  https://utahrails.net/pass/nam...eper-national-border  they list all the sleeping cars built in the National series.  

National BorderUP 1201
National Colors (Wabash) 
National CommandUP 1202
National ConsulateUP 1203
National DomainUP 1204
National EmbassyUP 1205
National EmblemUP 1206
National ForumUP 1207
National FrontierUP 1208
National Homes (Wabash) 
National ProgressUP 1209
National SceneUP 1210
National ShoresUP 1211
National Unity (Wabash) 
National ViewUP 1212

 

According to the book "The Union Pacific Streamliners" by Ranks and Kratville these Union Pacific sleeping car names were meant to fill a person with National pride.  National Border did not referred to a specific place, but more of a feeling. 


The Union Pacific did that same style of naming with the 10 sleeping cars that started with the word Placid.  Like: Placid Bay, Placid Harbor, Placid Valley, Placid Meadow etc...  They probably hoped by naming the sleeping cars "Placid" it would make a person feel more peaceful. 

Last edited by T.Albers
Hancock52 posted:

WOW again. I think that your work is going from strength to strength; same applies to the historical research.

Seeing those small upper berth windows reminded me that I have one UP car that has them. It's an MTH car that I think came as part of a Dealer Appreciation Program set when the PS2 version of MTH's monster DDA40X was first issued, which I think was about 10 years ago. This is the only streamliner car I have with what are "clerestory" windows but I was too lazy/unmotivated before now to look up the car and see what they were for. As you can see, this is named/numbered Green River #1602:

IMG_9577IMG_9578

As you can also see as a result of the interior lights being on, in the model the upper windows are in fact molded straight through the body shell although I can't see that there are berths represented behind them.

This car is listed in the UP records as a sleeper and I think that the model represents it in an early and maybe the "as built" configuration. The car, which seems to have been rebuilt extensively at least twice, is still in the UP Historical Fleet but the upper widows are gone and the lower windows have been totally reconfigured. Details of the current version of this car are here: https://www.up.com/aboutup/spe..._equipment/index.htm

GreenRiverToday

I was particularly interested in the Pullman Travel Comfort poster you photographed. That must be very rare; I certainly have not seen an image of it before and I have researched a literally huge number of streamliner posters.

Thanks again. 

Thank you Hancock.  This was a fun build because I got to visit 3 of these National series cars in person.

After posting this topic the other day and only showing 3 of the sleeping cars it made me want to finish the set and built the 4th missing car.  Since I run my trains (a lot) I really wasn't looking for a perfect mint condition example of the Placid Haven in an unopened box.  So, I dug into some old posts in this forum and I made up my mind on how to do the missing Placid Haven sleeping car. 

There were several older posts about how to use ELO to remove painted names off the sides of a car.  I even found a old post where you wrote a step-by-step on how this could be done.  So, I purchased a used Ocean Sunset K-Line sleeping car and then bought the Union Pacific O-Scale Microscale decal kit 48-198.  The big test in the next few weeks is going to be if I can successfully remove the red "Ocean Sunset" paint from the side of this used K-Line sleeping car without messing up the factory Amour Yellow paint underneath.  If I can manage the ELO, there will be one last interior build in this series!      

 

By the way that exact window arrangement on your MTH car is from the Union Pacific's Alpine series of sleeping cars.  The Alpine series of cars were originally built for Union Pacific in 1953 as 14 section sleepers.  Then in 1965 all the Alpine cars were converted to 44 seat coaches by Pullman Standard.  

Hi Martin,

Here's more information from the museum I visited regarding your question above.  You wanted to know which of the National series cars ran on the Union Pacific's "City of St. Louis" consist.  According to the last paragraph of museum's sign (that was taped to the side of the National Scene) they said all 12 of National series cars were originally used on the City of St. Louis train. 

IMG_5804

Thanks,

 

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Last edited by T.Albers

I appreciate your providing the information as it has been helpful in my efforts to at least partially recreate the "City of St. Louis" and the "City of Los Angeles" consists.  

My train club has a very large layout each Christmas at the B&O RR Museum in Baltimore.  Last year when I set up the MTH Wabash E-8 A&B units and the L Kine UP aluminum cars, one of the club members immediately stated the with the Wabash diesels and the UP cars the train could only be the City of St. Louis.  I have to admit that it was nice to have someone this far east of St. Louis recognize the train.

Your admirable work on the K Line UP rightfully gained many compliments and I agree with the comments.  I have two Western Star and two Ocean Scene cars.  The National Border that I recently purchased should arrive in the next few days.  After reviewing your project I am going to start planning a conversion of one of the cars similar to your project.  This will be my first attempt and I will carefully review your excellent instructional posting.

Thanks again

Martin Dougherty

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