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As there are several folks on here like me that are rabid passenger fans I wanted to share some pictures of several cars from the latest Northern Pacific North Coast Limited production.  My layout room is a big mess at the moment due to a remodeling project so the display track was the stage.  

Overall my first impression is these are gorgeous models.  Scott and the Sunset crew continue to make improvements with each new passenger run.  I really like the diaphragms and ends.  

Enjoy and Happy Railroading!

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Images (10)
  • IMG_3996: NCL Dome Sleeper
  • IMG_3997: NCL Coach
  • IMG_3998: NCL Coach
  • IMG_3999: NCL Lewis & Clark Lounge
  • IMG_4001: NCL Lewis & Clark Lounge
  • IMG_4002: NP Monad
  • IMG_4004: NCL Dome Coach
  • IMG_4005: NCL Observation
  • IMG_4003: Another view of NCL Dome Coach
  • IMG_4006: NCL Observation
Last edited by Railthunder
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@Railthunder posted:

As there are several folks on here like me that are rabid passenger fans I wanted to share some pictures of several cars from the latest Northern Pacific North Coast Limited production.  My layout room is a big mess at the moment due to a remodeling project so the display track was the stage.  

Overall my first impression is these are gorgeous models.  Scott and the Sunset crew continue to make improvements with each new passenger run.  I really like the diaphragms and ends.  

Enjoy and Happy Railroading!

Simply beautiful--Thanks for the photos.

I'm particularly interested in the Lewis and Clark Traveller's Rest car.  I am not sure how you would  accomplish this, but a photograph or two of the interior would be greatly appreciated.  These lounge cars were heavily marketed by NP at the time, and became quite well known for their distinctive interiors.  I'd like to see how Scott and crew captured that uniqueness.

Thank you, again, for the fine photographs.

Railthunder, thanks for sharing the pix of a truly beautiful train.  Indeed, Northern Pacific knew how to run passenger trains and the North Coast Limited was a Train deLuxe if there ever was one!  The NP also knew how to professionally promote the territory it served including Yellowstone National Park. 

It's a tragedy that the NP route through Montana was sold to Montana Rail Link, thus severing part of the NP's mainline to the Pacific Northwest.  Of course,  MRL has become a modern railroad success story in itself, considering how much track in the U.S. has disappeared over the last say 50 years or so.  Much of this track came up as a result of the Merger Madness that for the most part originated in the 60s. 

Not to forget that the creation of Burlington Northern in 1970 saw a lot of track removed too.  Not without blunders of course, which included the NP's line over Stampede Pass, which was sold and became a Washington State regional.  Then came the abandonment of the SP&S in Eastern Washington, and not to forget the sale of the NP Montana track to MRL.  Even Great Northern's former Hillyard in Spokane came up as a resulf of perhaps (?) another smart move which can be credited to "Big Nothin" (as some railfans came to call BN) gross mismanagement.  

Of course, it must be remembered that BN was forced to swallow one of their big blunders big time on a silver platter, when it reached the decision that it was in the best interest of the railroad to repurchase the NP Stampede Pass line back, not to forget at a fancy inflated price as well.  Most railfans remember this was due to the unexpected overnight explosive traffic growth as it began to emerge from the Asian Pacific market.   As a result, it litterally taxed the former GN, as well as the remander of the SP&S, to the limit.

Fast Forward to Century 21:  It's a pity a privately owned North Coast Limited Cruise Train can't emerge from the ashes of what had become one of the most popular elegant passenger trains in North America.  Picture with me if you will, P40s in the two-tone green and powering a set of brand spanking new cars, built from the plans of the original cars?

ALL ABOARRRRRRD! ... as you prepare to take the ride of a lifetime, to enjoy the splender of the Great Pacific Northwest and sheer beauty of Yellowstone National Park along the way, on the all new North Coast Limited!

 

 

They were a class act for sure.  My inspiration for the NCL purchase is my father's family moved to Montana in the early 1900s, but had to move to Florida account an illness in the family.   Aside from my southeast roots, the NP has a lot to offer modeling wise and I love the semaphore signals.  

@Pingman posted:

Simply beautiful--Thanks for the photos.

I'm particularly interested in the Lewis and Clark Traveller's Rest car.  I am not sure how you would  accomplish this, but a photograph or two of the interior would be greatly appreciated.  These lounge cars were heavily marketed by NP at the time, and became quite well known for their distinctive interiors.  I'd like to see how Scott and crew captured that uniqueness.

Thank you, again, for the fine photographs.

Hi Carl,  I'm planning to open up the interiors soon and will certainly take some pictures.  I'm going to do window treatments to the green tinted ones that were used and instal more figures.  

Howard

Nice cars. I was torn about spending the money for them, but am satisfied I didn't, just because, (just my opinion - emphasize that), the lighter shade of green isn't the right color to me. Somewhat too green green. Again, just my personal sense of color. For others, it's just fine, I'm sure, and they'll be glad they got the set. Having seen the engines, they match the cars as well, so it'll be a sharp set.

Last edited by breezinup

The Northern Pacific used DuPont Industial Imron 3.5 HG Loewy Light Green for this color, a very resilient paint. I don't think the elements have much to do with it. Can't use copyrighted photos from books I have, but the below pictures of a old NP ad and a very expensive brass HO model generally depict the color. 

2020-08-22 0022020-08-22 006

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Images (2)
  • 2020-08-22 002
  • 2020-08-22 006
Last edited by breezinup

Honestly, I don't know how anyone renders a judgment about color from a color print, magazine, computer image, etc. given the variances in all the devices, as well as the lighting of the subject, camera settings, etc.

And in reference to paint applied 60 years ago, I'm even more reluctant to speak with confidence without benefit of a color drift card from the railroad and/or paint supplier.

This may or may not be helpful.  I took these photos at the NP Depot Museum in Toppenish, WA in 2018.  NH Joe

18 0517 63 Toppenish NP Depot [1)

 

18 0517 02 Toppenish NP Depot

This is the old NP mainline.  I believe it is operated by the BNSF today.  I didn't see any trains while I was there.

This is an excellent museum for NP fans.  It has a wide range of equipment and artifacts inside and outside.  Toppenish is known as the city of murals and is an interesting place to visit.

18 0517 63 Toppenish NP Depot

The Inland Empire.  I don't know if this car is original to the North Coast Limited or not.  Does anyone?

18 0517 18 Toppenish NP Depot18 0517 20 Toppenish NP Depot18 0517 31 Toppenish NP Depot18 0517 38 Toppenish NP Depot

Restored caboose.  I didn't ask but I would imagine that the museum would want to get this as close to the original colors as possible.  The museum probably has the original paint chips.

 I think that this is a fantasy scheme for a caboose.  All the NP cabooses that I saw as a kid were red as far as I can recall.  

18 0517 40 Toppenish NP Depot

 

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Images (8)
  • 18 0517 18 Toppenish NP Depot
  • 18 0517 20 Toppenish NP Depot
  • 18 0517 31 Toppenish NP Depot
  • 18 0517 38 Toppenish NP Depot
  • 18 0517 40 Toppenish NP Depot
  • 18 0517 63 Toppenish NP Depot (1)
  • 18 0517 63 Toppenish NP Depot
  • 18 0517 02 Toppenish NP Depot

I think the set looks VERY good and my opinion is they sweated the respective green shades relative to the as-delivered Loewy designed prototype scheme as best as possible.  So bravo indeed Sunset.

Conversely I believe this scheme is indeed tricky in actual service, especially susceptible to UV oxidation and the harsh climate effect of the service route.  Long term year round weather exposure is especially noticeable on the retired museum cars, but also visible in in-service photos in books (thinking the excellent 4-Ways West color series by Joe Shine) which while subject to source slide and print color shift of course, have shots showing  tint variation between like cars in the same consist. Both shades suffer from going flat too, so part of the variation reflect the degree of gloss (wax) present in the finish at the time sharply, just like on a 50 era automobile in pastel shades. High maintenance scheme.

But again congrats Sunset! 

And yeah, I want to see how they did all that interior wood paneling in that lounge too. 

The two-tone green looks "spot on" to me for the "as delivered" cars. I rode the NCL in '64 and that's real close to what I remember.

Six years later I photographed the NCL section of the BN combined "Afternoon Zephyr-Empire Builder-NCL" departing Chicago's Union Station in June 1970. Three years later I photographed Amtrak's "North Coast Hiawatha" entering the east portal of Bozeman Tunnel on Bozeman Pass in June 1973. As you can see, the two-tone green scheme held up pretty well over almost two decades of service.

As for dinner in the dining on the NCL--Oh! What a baked potato!!NCL section of BN train, Chicago Jun '70North Coast Hiwatha, Bozeman Pass Jun '73

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Images (2)
  • NCL section of BN train, Chicago Jun '70
  • North Coast Hiwatha, Bozeman Pass Jun '73
Last edited by Rick Wright
@Rick Wright posted:

The two-tone green looks "spot on" to me for the "as delivered" cars. I rode the NCL in '64 and that's real close to what I remember.

Six years later I photographed the NCL section of the BN combined "Afternoon Zephyr-Empire Builder-NCL" departing Chicago's Union Station in June 1970. Three years later I photographed Amtrak's "North Coast Hiawatha" entering the east portal of Bozeman Tunnel on Bozeman Pass in June 1973. As you can see, the two-tone green scheme held up pretty well over almost two decades of service.

As for dinner in the dining on the NCL--Oh! What a baked potato!!NCL section of BN train, Chicago Jun '70

Thanks for the memories and the photos, especially the one with the two domes back-to-back.

I'm positive that my readings on the NP NCL said that NP's policy was NEVER to have two domes back-to-back; that they were always to be separated by at least one other car.

Nice to know "there is a prototype" for everything.  In my case, I'll be running four domes in a seven car consist, so a couple of domes will be back-to-back, at least until I paint another pax car.

EDIT:  Misread the original post; it's a BN train, not NP, as Rusty points out below.

Last edited by Pingman
@Pingman posted:

I'm positive that my readings on the NP NCL said that NP's policy was NEVER to have two domes back-to-back; that they were always to be separated by at least one other car.

 

Except, the NCL in the photo no longer NP, it's a BN train.

However, never say never.  There could be several reasons as to why there's no coach or sleeper between domes.  I found at least three photo's via Google of NP's NCL with two consecutive domes.

Rusty

This is a great topic and the Sunset cars are gorgeous.  Another triumph for Scott & Co.

Perhaps someone can explain to me why Rick Wright's photos appear to have been taken through a magenta filter?  He comments that the paint job held up well but with the magenta tint who could tell?  Is that what you see or is it just me?  If it's me, any idea how can I fix it?

I don't have a dog in this controversy, but I note that BN apparently existed in 1970, and Imron did not appear until 1973.

I know nothing of the colors, and did have my hands on a K-Line 21" dome car.  Paint looked good to me - I'da kept it, but the dome itself looked too small and Lionel-like.  I am not a great fan of cool green colors.

K-Line did well on all but a few.  Their Great Northern cars were stunning, as were their B&O.  I think they missed the mark badly on the SPDaylight scheme, and the PRR and Milw cars had brown in place of Tuscan and maroon.  Just me.

I stand corrected, but didn't the Northern Pacific place coaches and sleepers between dome cars, so the passengers views of the landscape wouldn't distract that of their fellow passengers riding in the next dome in front of them?  NP put on a first class show and it's a pity that this level of service began to slide downward after the merger that created BN. 


 

I wouldn't put the blame entirely on BN.  Photo's I've found on Google with no "spacer" car  between domes were taken in the late 1960's.

While it may have been practice for the NP, there could be reasons for occasionally not having a "spacer" car between domes during "the good ol' days.".

Rusty

Last edited by Rusty Traque

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