Price: $29.95
Manufacturer:
Micro Trains Line Co.
351 Rogue River Pkwy.
Talent, OR 97540-1200
www.micro-trains.com
Era: 1930s to the 1950s
Comments: This Pennsylvania RR steel dining car represents a prototype that was built in the railroad’s Altoona Shop in the late 1920s and early 1930s for mainline passenger service. The car’s design is similar to heavyweight diners built for other roads.
This Micro-Trains model has a plastic body shell with well-defined rivet detail. Separate brakewheels and rigid diaphragms are mounted on both ends. The plastic underframe includes prototypically placed equipment boxes and tanks. The roof is a separate black plastic casting detailed with electrical conduits, vents, and ice hatches. It snaps into the body to preserve access to the interior in case a modeler wants to add passenger figures.
The model includes interior details cast in beige plastic to represent tables and chairs seating 36 passengers in the dining room. The forward portion of the car is partitioned to represent the pantry and kitchen area.
The model came smoothly painted with clear PRR striping and lettering.
Our sample has accurately detailed 6-wheel PRR roller-bearing trucks with rigid acetal plastic frames and wheelsets with low-profile flanges. All of the wheelsets are in gauge. The Magne- Matic couplers are body mounted at the proper height.
Thanks to a die-cast metal weight under the interior floor, the car weighs 1 ounce, which matches the NMRA Recommended Practice 20.1.
This detailed model would look right at home in a string of Pennsy varnish.
