SOU HW coach from Rivarossi

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I was recently given a diagram that seems to indicate that the Rivarossi heavyweight coach is actually correct for Southern numbers 1491-1504, 1506-1508, and 1510, as well as GS&F 6260-6264. Can anyone confirm this for me? Also, what trains were these cars used on, and were they ever rebuilt or air-conditioned?

-- Marty Flick (Golddenim@insight.rr.com), March 14, 2003

Answers

I’m afraid that I've been a somewhat infrequent visitor here over the last few months, but I hadn't realized it had been as long ago as March since my last visit. Sorry for the slow answer

Yes, these are modeled after a Southern 66 foot car. If you are after the last word in fidelity you may want to make some modifications - they area little to tall in the sides and should have wooden sheathing above the belt rail. In about 1937 most of these cars were fitted with deeper (18”) letter boards above the windows and lost their characteristic arched windows to the toilets and the upper section to the passenger compartment windows. Several were later rebuilt for service with diesel motor cars which changed their appearance rather radically and a further handful were converted to Jim Crow Combines with centre baggage compartments.

Interestingly enough the Southern stayed with the same formula appearance-wise when they went to 69 foot cars and it’s easy enough to model these by splicing to Rivarossi cars together to get an extra bay in the passenger compartment. Again they were modernized in the late thirties with deeper letter boards making them hard to distinguish from later 69’ cars.

Aidrian

-- Aidrian Bridgeman-Sutton (smokeand steam@aol.com), August 23, 2003.


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