The prototype for Branchline’s new kit is a steel coach introduced on the New York Central in 1912 and duplicated in many subsequent orders from seven different builders until 1930. These cars were 78′-10″ in length (over buffers, the dia-phragm face plates) with 22 single windows on each side. The cars served on all parts of the NYC system, and some even ran under Penn Central ownership.
Similar cars were built for several other railroads, among them the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Erie RR; Great Northern; Louisville & Nashville; Missouri Pacific; Mobile & Ohio; New York, New Haven & Hartford; Nickel Plate Road; Pere Marquette; Rutland; and Southern Ry.
The kit includes close to 200 individual parts. Although several are identified in the instructions as optional, I used nearly everything in building the model for this review. Assembly took about 8 hours, primarily because of the number of parts. None of the work was difficult, except for the safety chains on each side of the coupler yoke, which come as individual links.
The car is built around a core made up of the ends and vestibules with the floor. The sides, interior, and roof attach to the core, with underbody parts to be added to the floor. Most of the parts are underbody and end details – if you use them all the model is very complete.
In general the parts fit very well, but I’ll point out a few trouble spots to watch for. The clear windows are individually molded panes that fit tightly into recesses in the sides. If they lay flat against the inside of the sash, the windows look extremely good on the finished model, but even after cutting the panes of the sprue with flush-cutting nippers, I had to sand the gate edge of each one to get a good fit.
The interior is a one-piece molding including all the seats, and the lavatory and vestibule walls are added to that. It’s a very tight fit after both sides are in place. If I build another of these cars, I’ll file a little off the outer edges and use strips of paper to protect the clear windows from scratches when inserting the interior.
I’d recommend dry-fitting the fishbelly center sills before attaching any details. I didn’t and I had trouble getting one of them to seat fully into its slot in the floor casting.
The roof is supposed to snap in between the sides, but it only rested in place loosely. I sanded the tops of the curved ends for a better fit, but it was still loose, so I eventually secured the roof with a few small spots of cement.
The kit includes pivoting, self-centering arms carrying the pockets for Bachmann E-Z Mate magnetic knuckle couplers. These are meant to allow operation on curves as sharp as 22″ radius, but I’ve found that such arrangements really aren’t needed on larger-radius curves. The optional coupler yokes limit the swing of the coupler arms, and Branchline recommends that they be used on models that will run on 28″-radius or larger curves.
The couplers ride slightly high compared to the Kadee no. 205 height gauge, and with the coupler-arm mounting there’s no good way to lower them.
The diaphragms look nice on the model, but they’re for looks only. They pivot freely but aren’t sprung, so they can’t maintain a closed connection between cars. The couplers keep the diaphragm from touching the diaphragm of the next car – at least it won’t cause any trouble.
Six-wheel, 10′-6″-wheelbase trucks come in kit form, including brake beams and brake shoes. The trucks have individual acetal plastic bearing inserts, a welcome feature. The wheelsets, all correctly gauged, have scale 36″ metal wheels on plastic needle-point axles. The finished trucks look good and roll fairly well, but metal axles would probably roll even better in the slippery bearings.
As the instructions note, many of the prototype cars rode on four-wheel trucks. Although Branchline isn’t offering these yet, the body bolsters have extra kingpin holes for four-wheel trucks.
The Branchline coach looks good and should operate well on layouts engineered to handle its full-scale length. It weighs 6½ ounces, exactly matching National Model Railroad Association recommended practice.
Compared to scale drawings of the prototype published in the September 1949 Model Railroader, the finished model is extremely accurate. Its length over buffers matches the prototype’s exactly, though its coupled length is excessive because the couplers extend so far. It’s 2 scale inches taller than the 14′-2″ height of the actual car.
With all the optional parts installed, the underbody detail of this car compares favorably with the best imported brass models. The coupler yokes, safety chains, and uncoupling levers add realism to the end of the car, and the optional air and steam connections are cleverly mounted on the swinging coupler pocket to minimize coupler interference in operation.
The paint is smoothly applied and the lettering is crisp and opaque. This model has metallic gold printing to simulate the gold leaf lettering originally used on these cars, and it stands out sharply against the dark green sides. The seats are a different shade of dark green, which may be appropriate for the New York Central, but they would be easier to see in a contrasting color.
I knew this model was being developed when issuing that editorial challenge four years ago. I’m happy that Branchline Trains has indeed brought out a passenger car kit as good as the best that HO freight car modelers now enjoy. Branchline has Pullman sleeping cars on the way too. It’s a great time to be modeling passenger trains.
Price: $39.95 (also available
in three-packs for $119.85)
Manufacturer:
Branchline Trains
333 Park Ave.
East Hartford, CT 06108 800-289-4000
www.branchline-trains.com
Description:
Plastic kit with some metal parts
including trucks and couplers
Road names:
Twenty-nine road names or
paint-and-lettering schemes,
plus undecorated
