Passenger Cars

Passenger revenues contributed significantly to the bottom line of the railroads, peaking during and just after World War II. In the early days of the railroads, the public's support for the funding of the expansion of railroads was critical. Spreading the vision of safe, affordable and speedy passenger travel was critical to the railroads. Unfortunately, the early days of passenger service were marked with significant loss of life as the wood passenger cars did not provide much protection in the event of an accident.

To improve the safety record, the railroads introduced a new class of passenger coaches that were made of steel. Obviously, these cars were not only much sturdier - but weighed a lot more. They were generically referred to as "Heavyweights" or Madison coaches. These cars usually had 6 wheel trucks on each end so they're easily recognizable. 

Towards the end of World War II as aluminum became available, the railroads began to utilize lighter weight materials, and the cars remained sturdy, but lost a few pounds and returned to four wheel trucks. These modern cars might be painted, ribbed or plated to look more modern - they had more of an airliner appearance. Generally, these cars are referred to as streamliners.

Our Models

In the history of model railroading, the passenger cars were generally modeled as shorter and not truly in scale with their prototypes. The models have been generally 15". or the equivalent of 60' in length, while most prototype cars actually were in the 72' to 80' range.

MTH began offering cars that ran much closer to scale early in their development, first to match engines offered by Lionel and Weaver, then the line expanded to include their own diesel and steam engines. In 1974 they began by producing 60' aluminum streamline cars and 70' Madison Cars. These 70' Madison car sets have continued to be offered - and our collection has several sets. In 1996, MTH announced 70' Aluminum passenger car sets in either painted, ribbed or plated versions and these 12 sets generally sell for a premium today, though they lacked the rubber diaphragms that were later introduced. In their 1997 Volume 2 catalog they brought out five car sets that were less expensive than the aluminum sets, but had updated details, end diaphragms and were made of ABS plastic. After offering nearly a hundred different sets, these cars continue to be the mainstay of the hobby. 

In addition to the cars offered by MTH, Lionel offers streamliners, still aluminum with gorgeous paint, but generally in the 15" length. They also offer Madison car sets in the scale length that are comparable, if not superior to the MTH offerings. Weaver still makes Aluminum car sets in the 80' scale length, so they are significant and generally expensive, and K-Line has been offering some fabulous car sets - they are a strong competitor in this space as well.    

I terms of our collection, we have been trading in and out cars sets since the get go, and no matter what we do, we seem to still have too many sets. Here are a few and their representative pictures - we'll try to keep this updated with our latest acquisitions.

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Last modified: 05/05/12