Kato N scale 1949 Broadway Limited passenger cars

The Broadway Limited was the Pennsylvania RR’s most prestigious train, running overnight between New York and Chicago for more than six decades. These newly tooled N scale passenger cars from Kato depict the 1949 version of the train and look great behind the firm’s N scale GG1. [See the review in the January 2009 Model Railroader. – Ed.]

Equipment. The wood cars assigned to the Broadway Limited at its launch in 1902 were soon replaced by steel heavyweights, which in turn gave way to streamlined lightweight cars in 1938. Pennsy re-equipped the train for the final time in March 1949 with new cars from Pullman-Standard, American Car & Foundry, and the Budd Co. There were eight car configurations (plus a rebuilt 1910-vintage Railway Post Office) containing six different types of sleeping rooms, including two rare and spacious “master rooms.”

All cars were painted in the PRR’s distinctive Tuscan red livery and remained in the train for its entire 906-mile run. The postwar Broadway’s appearance changed little in its 21-year history, although, apart from seasonal spikes, train length gradually decreased (in 1949, it might be 15 cars; by late ’67, after the RPO had been taken off, it was down to 8).

An exception to the Broadway’s uniform look was a transcontinental sleeper operated daily between 1946 and 1957 in conjunction with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry., which handled it between Chicago and Los Angeles. Prewar stainless-steel or two-tone gray cars initially covered the service, but beginning in 1953 a Santa Fe Regal-series stainless-steel car was used.

In the electrified territory east of Harrisburg, Pa., a single GG1 motor hauled the Broadway Limited. Motive power west of Harrisburg usually consisted of Electro-Motive Division E7 diesels (A and B units) and/or EMD E8 diesels (A units only).

The model. The passenger cars in the Kato 10-car Broadway Limited set are excellent, free-rolling N scale representations of their prototypes. The set consists of seven of the 1949 Broadway Limited car types. These include BM70m Railway Post Office (RPO) no. 6579, 12-duplex-room/4-double-bedroom sleeper College Creek, 5-double-bedroom/bar-lounge car Harbor Cove, 68-seat dining-room car no. 4608 with kitchen/crew-dorm car 4609 (operated as a “twin-unit diner”), four 10-roomette/6-double-bedroom sleepers (Octoraro Rapids, Raccoon Rapids, Schuylkill Rapids, Turtle Rapids), and sleeper/lounge/observation car Mountain View.

Observation car Mountain View represents one of two unique double-bedroom/master-room cars built for the ’49 Broadway Limited. The model sports the illuminated keystone-shaped, red-white-and-blue tail sign that both these cars carried when new. This design was replaced with a rectangular, black-and-white sign circa 1956.

Two 1949 Broadway car types missing from Kato’s basic 10-car set – the Imperial-series 4-double-bedroom/4-compartment/2-drawing-room (4-4-2) sleeper and the Inn-series 21-roomette sleeper – are included in a four-car add-on set. These cars (two of each type) are of the same high quality as those in the main set. Also available from Kato, separately, is Santa Fe 4-4-2 sleeper Regal Spa.

Included with the 10-car set are nine straight sections of Kato Unitrack that measure a total of 87¾” in length, plus a single bumping-post section. The 10-car set measures 65 inches; with the four add-on cars, it’s 91 inches.

All cars match in detail and overall dimensions the prototype drawings published in the October 1994 Model Railroader. Paint, lettering, and striping are crisp and evenly applied, although the numerals on the two dining-car units are not the correct font.

The car bodies are smoothly painted in the correct shade of PRR Tuscan. The striping and lettering are the correct shade of PRR Buff.

Model construction. The cars have press-fit plastic body shells with clear window glazing. The interior floors have molded wall, seat, and other details. A metal weight is sandwiched between the floor and car chassis.

Each car is .2 ounces too light according to National Model Railroad Association RP-20.1. (The RPO is .3 ounces too light.)

Although only the observation car has factory-installed lighting, the trucks on each car have metal contacts installed. Kato offers separate interior lighting kits for these cars.

From the truck sideframes to each car’s rooftop, the attention to detail here is considerable. Notable examples include the carefully rendered tail sign on the observation car, the RPO’s unique-to-PRR trucks, rooftop antennas on the Harbor Cove and Mountain View cars, side panels on the Budd-built Inn cars, and the full-width diaphragms between the diner’s two units. With all the add-on cars included, this is an impressive, accurate representation of the mid-1950s Broadway Limited.

The Pennsylvania RR called its family of East Coast-Midwest limiteds the “Blue Ribbon Fleet,” and this fine offering from Kato also is deserving of that title.

N scale Broadway Limited
Price: $250 (10-car set), $100 (4-car add-on set), $25 (Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry. 4-4-2 sleeper)
Manufacturer
Kato U.S.A. Inc.
100 Remington Rd.
Schaumburg, IL 60173
www.katousa.com
Features
Prototype-specific interiors
Illuminated tail sign and marker lights on observation car
Kato knuckle couplers at correct height
Low-profile metal wheels in gauge
Minimum radius: 11″
Weight: 1.25 ounces (RPO weighs 1 ounce)