Prototype. The N5c cabin car was a refinement of the more numerous N5, introduced in 1914 as the PRR’s first steel cabin car design. The railroad built an even 200 N5c cabins, numbered from 477820 through 478019, at its Altoona (Pa.) Works, all in the war year of 1942. The N5c was easy to spot thanks to its large, centered cupola with angled ends and four porthole windows on each side of the body. The car’s overall length was 30′-7½”.
The N5c model has a detailed plastic body with a die-cast metal floor, an interior, and separately applied brake system, ladders, and other details. Dimensionally, the car is faithful to the prototype in every respect but wheel diameter, which should be 33″ inches, not 36″. The trucks are accurate models of the correct PRR 2A-F5 type with nickel-silver RP-25 contour wheelsets that match the National Model Railroad Association standards. Individual grab irons are neatly applied and properly painted yellow.
This Trix model is decorated as no. 477938 in a livery applied from December 1955 until December 1961. The sans serif car numbers were used only from August 1960 on; prior to that, a slightly larger roman font was used. Cabins in this paint scheme served into the 1960s. The paint and lettering are beautifully applied to the model.
Our sample is about an ounce under the NMRA’s recommendation that calls for 1 ounce plus ½ ounce per inch of length. The N5c is fitted with magnetic knuckle couplers mounted at the correct height on a Trix close-coupling mechanism.
One feature that’s missing is the handrail-style Trainphone antenna on the roof, a PRR hallmark that no. 477938 carried during the time it wore this livery. Antenna add-on kits are available from Bowser. On the other hand, not all cabins, N5c and otherwise, had the antennas.
Railroad records show that the 200 N5c cabin cars cost the PRR $1,010,226. That’s fitting, for this model truly looks like a million bucks.
Price: $39.95
Manufacturer
Trix Trains
P.O. Box 510559
New Berlin, WI 53151
www.trixtrains.com
Description
Ready-to-run caboose
Road name
Pennsylvania no. 477938
