Prototypes for N scale passenger cars part 3: Streamlined lightweight corrugated cars, Kato

Fred Klein, February 2005

Copyright 2001,2003,2005, except for quotes and photographs whose source books are noted

 

Kato corrugated-side cars

The Kato models of the Amtrak Superliners are pictured in part 6 along with the Con-cor models.  Both companies modeled the same prototype and it is best to treat them together.  In late 2004, Kato issued a special set of California Zephyr cars as a complete train as inaugurated in 1948.  These follow the 1948 prototype very closely.  The cars are included here, but do not require much comment or detective work.  For more information on the California Zephyr and how it evolved through time, see the California Zephyr pages in the “Train models with prototypical consists” section.

 

Business car.  Built by Budd for the Chicago Burlington & Quincy in 1952.  It is a close but not exact match to the Santa Fe business cars built by Budd in 1957.

 

Kato Budd business car decorated for the Santa Fe.

 

Budd business car built for the Chicago Burlington & Quincy in 1952 (from The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q p. 119).

 

Budd business car built for the Santa Fe in 1957 (from ATSF color guide to freight and passenger equipment page 31).

 

Kato did the admirable thing of publishing thorough prototype information for their cars, an example that other manufacturers should follow.  This information greatly facilitates assembling prototype trains.  Kato’s web site says “The cars we're offering now follow Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad prototypes and were built by the Edward G. Budd Company of Philadelphia, PA, between 1938 and 1956. Finding prototypes that are common to a number of railroads proved to be a challenge, as a large share of the prototype cars tended to be custom designed for a particular service on each railroad.”  It appears that Kato and Con-cor mostly have different Budd corrugated cars: the slumbercoaches are nearly identical; the baggage, 10/6 sleepers, coach and dome cars are slightly different, and the observations are very different.

 

Baggage-RPO.  This is actually a baggage-RPO car as seen by the short line of windows in the RPO section and wider 5’ door for the baggage section.  Kato’s web site states “The 72'-8" Railway Post Office is modeled after a car built in 1940 [for the CB&Q] (Silver Sheen for the Silver Streak Zephyr and Silver Mail built for Zephyr Rocket service).  The cars are very close to AT&SF cars and a postwar car built for the Kansas City Zephyr [Silver Pouch, 1952].”  See pages 60 and 125 of Randall’s The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q. 

 

The Kato model is similar to the Budd baggage-RPO cars built for Santa Fe.  The prototype 73’-8” cars were built in 1937-45 and had 3 windows.  The 72'-8" Kato model has two windows.  The Santa Fe cars did not have vertical corrugations on the doors like the CB&Q cars.  See pages 64-68 of Head end cars, Santa Fe railway passenger car reference series volume 1.

 

RPO photo from Kato’s web site.

 

Drawing of Budd RPO delivered to the Burlington in 1940, from page 60 of The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q.

 

Kato’s Budd RPO-baggage car decorated for Burlington’s “Silver Sheen”, opposite side.

 

Baggage.  Kato’s web site states “The 72'-8" Baggage is modeled after a car built [for the CB&Q] in 1940 (‘Silver Light’ for the Silver Streak). It is very close to cars built for the AT&SF.” Only one of these cars was built for the CB&Q.  See page 59 of The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q.  The other Budd baggage cars delivered to the CB&Q in 1948 had a single and double door.  Unlike the Con-cor Budd car with a single and double door, the Kato car has two wide doors. 

 

The Kato model is also similar to the Budd cars built for Santa Fe in 1941 (#3431) and 1942 (#3432-3452).  Number 3431 is very similar to the model in appearance, including doors and single door step in the skirt, but is only 64’ long.  The 1942 cars match the model’s 73’ length, but have unequal width doors and double door steps (page 106 of Head end cars, Santa Fe railway passenger car reference series volume 1).  The later Budd baggage cars of 1953 and 1957 (#3500-3554, #3650-3659) do not have horizontal corrugations near the doors, vertical door corrugations, or skirts (ATSF color guide to freight and passenger equipment page 4).  The horizontal corrugations near the doors were removed because motor trucks backing up to the car would often dent them.

 

Chuck reports “The Kato corrugated baggage matches CB&Q #900 Silver Light, one car only, built in 1940.  Diagram in Burlington Route Passenger Car Diagrams page 34, and picture in the CB&Q color guide page 11.  I think this is a good choice, as it is similar to AT&SF cars.” 

 

Baggage car photo from Kato’s web site.

 

Budd baggage car built for the Santa Fe in 1942.  The car has unequal width doors and double door steps.  Photo from page 106 of Head end cars, Santa Fe railway passenger car reference series volume 1.

 

Santa Fe took delivery of 30 baggage-mail cars from Budd in 1953 (photo from ATSF color guide to freight and passenger equipment page 4).

 

California Zephyr baggage.  Nine cars were delivered in 1948: six for full time service on the California Zephyr (Silver Bear, Buffalo, Stag, Coyote, Antelope and Beaver), two for the Nebraska Zephyr, and a spare for the California Zephyr (Silver Treasure).

 

Baggage car from the Kato California Zephyr train set.

 

Burlington 72’ Budd baggage car, nine made in 1948, two for the Nebraska Zephyr and seven for the California Zephyr.  Photo from page 91 of Randall’s The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q.

 

Coach.  Kato’s web site states “The 79'-8" Coach is modeled after cars built in 1940 [by Budd] (Silver Castle for the Zephyr Rocket and Silver Brook, Cloud, Crest, Crown, Forest, Cascade, and Alchemy for general pool service). The design is a standard deluxe chair car plan, very close to those built for the AT&SF, PRR, NYC, RI, SAL and other lines. The removable roof construction of the model should simplify modeling into the "pattern" first Dome cars as the "Q" kitbashed the Silver Alchemy (renamed Silver Dome) and Silver Castle in their shops in 1945 and 1949 from this series of prototypes” (photo on page 63 of The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q).

 

Eleven of these 52-seat Budd coaches were made for the Burlington in 1940 (pages 61-62 of The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q).  It is not the same design as the Con-cor Budd coach: it is similar but has 8 long windows instead of Con-cors’ 9.  Santa Fe car numbers suggest the Kato model is the 60-seat 1937 Budd coach.  It is similar to (but not exactly) the Santa Fe 1941 Budd 60-seat chair car.  Except for the small windows at either end, the car could be a stand-in for the 16-section sleepers built for the California Zephyr in 1948 and 1952.  These 16-section CZ sleepers are exactly modeled by Con-cor’s Budd coach.

 

Kato Coach decorated for Burlington’s “Silver Cloud”.

 

Burlington’s Silver Dome coach was rebuilt by adding a dome to their Silver Alchemy coach in July of 1945 to become the first modern vista dome car.  The original coach matches the Kato model.  Photo from page 63 of The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q.  The Silver Dome’s dome has flat windows and the Kato dome model has curved windows, so a simple roof switch would not quite make a prototypical car.

 

Kato Coach decorated for Burlington’s “Silver Cloud”, showing the opposite side.

 

Diner.  Kato’s web site states “The 83' 2" Diner follows the Silver Pheasant, Silver Inn and Silver Spoon of 1938.  Being the earliest car modeled it has a different corrugation pattern (Budd Style VI-A) than the rest of the prewar cars (Budd Style VI-B). Again, the car is very similar (except for the lack of small windows in the kitchen) to Santa Fe cars [1937] and is identical to Rock Island [1939] and some eastern road Diners.  Note: The "safety bars" on the inside of the aisle windows are meticulously replicated. The kitchen exhausts are the ‘windvane’ type which should be positioned towards the back of the car while running.”

 

Kato’s Budd diner decorated for Burlington’s “Silver Spoon”.

 

Silver Inn, one of 3 Budd diner cars built in 1938 for Burlington’s Aristocrat that were primarily used as spare Zephyr cars and on the Twin Zephyr.  Photo from page 53 of The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q.

 

Kato’s Budd diner decorated for Burlington’s “Silver Spoon”, opposite side.

 

Rock Island’s Budd diner “Centennial,” built for the Rocky Mountain Rocket in 1939.  This shows the opposite side of the diners above.  Photo from page 218 of Dubin’s Some Classic Trains.

 

California Zephyr diner.  Eight were delivered in 1948.  Six were for the California Zephyr  (3 were for the CB&Q, 2 for the WP and one for the D&RGW), and two nearly identical diners were for the Twin Zephyr.

 

Diner from the Kato California Zephyr train set.

 

Diner “Silver Platter” from the 1948 California Zephyr order.  Photo from page 105 of Randall’s The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q.

 

Slumbercoach.  Kato’s web site states “The 85'-0" Slumbercoach recreates the Burlington version of this car built in 1956 for the re-equipped Denver Zephyr. Other railroads operated this type of car (New York Central, Baltimore & Ohio, Missouri Pacific, Northern Pacific) although they lacked the skirts of the Burlington cars. The full underbody detail behind removed skirts would make a striking simple kitbash.”  The car has 24 duplex single rooms and eight double bedrooms and was designed by Budd.  Four cars were built for the DZ, typically two were used in each consist.  A photo of the Burlington slumbercoach is on page 281 of Some Classic Trains, and photos of the NP and B&O versions are on page 177 of The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q.

 

The Kato car is not exactly identical to the Con-cor model.  The Kato car has full skirts like the Burlington prototype.  The Con-cor slumbercoach has partial skirts with openings over the trucks, and thus exactly matches neither the CB&Q nor the non-skirted cars built for other railroads.  Also the spacing of the longer windows on one side of the Con-cor car is uneven and probably non-prototypical.

 

Kato model of Burlington’s “Silver Siesta”.

 

The Burlington 1956 slumbercoach from page 281 of Some Classic Trains.

 

Dome coach.  Kato’s web site states “The 85'-0" Dome is modeled after the [six 54-seat] Dome coaches from the Twin Cities Zephyr of 1947 (Silver Island, River, Stream, Wave, Scene and Vision). The California Zephyr [46-seat] dome coaches [of 1948] were almost identical, with small variations in window placement.”  Wabash had three of these 1950 Budd cars for use on the Blue Bird train between Chicago and St Louis starting in 1950.  It is also similar to the Canadian Pacific and Missouri Pacific Budd Domes. The basic pattern is similar to the Great Northern and Northern Pacific cars, which had "slab panel" sides rather than corrugations.  Budd’s California Zephyr 46-seat dome coaches of 1948 modeled by Con-cor were similar to but not an exact match to those of the Twin Zephyr modeled by Kato. 

 

Kato Budd dome coach decorated for Burlington’s “Silver Island” of 1947.

 

The Budd 54-seat Burlington coach of 1947 “Silver Island” made for the Twin Cities Zephyr (from The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q page 73).

 

Kato Budd dome coach decorated for Burlington’s “Silver Vision” of 1947 (opposite side).

 

Drawing of the Budd 54-seat Burlington coach of 1947, opposite side (from The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q page 73).

 

Dome coach for the California Zephyr.  Twelve 46-seat dome coaches were delivered in 1948.

 

Dome coach from the Kato California Zephyr train set.

 

The Budd 46-seat California Zephyr dome-coach of 1948 (from Randall’s The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q page 97).

 

Dome coach with conductor’s cubicle for the California Zephyr.  Six 46-seat dome coaches with a conductor’s window were delivered in 1948.  The conductor’s coach stood between the two other dome coaches in the train.

 

Dome coach with conductor’s window from the Kato California Zephyr train set.

 

Drawing of the Budd 46-seat California Zephyr dome-coach of 1948 with conductor’s window (from Randall’s The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q page 99).

 

Dome lounge for the California Zephyr.  Six dome dormitory-lounges were delivered in 1948.  The long end of the car had bunks and bedrooms for the crew, the dome sat 24 passengers, the kitchen and a small lounge area for 7 passengers was under the dome, and a coffee shop/ lounge for 19 passengers was in the short section.

 

Dome dormitory-lounge from the Kato California Zephyr train set.

 

Drawing of the Budd California Zephyr dome dormitory-lounge of 1948 (from Randall’s The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q page 102).

 

Sleeper.  Kato’s web site states “The 85’-0" 10 Roomette-6 Bedroom Sleeper follows a 1952 order for additional cars for the California Zephyr and for general pool service (both "Burlington" and "California Zephyr" lettered cars are offered). This car was picked [because] the window arrangement is common to the Santa Fe Pine series cars [27 cars in 1950], the Union Pacific ‘Pacific’ series … and several other railroad's Budd 10-6 cars. KATO has provided full detail on underbody equipment on all the cars in this series behind the skirting, so a modeler wishing to recreate a de-skirted prototype will not have to re-detail the battery boxes, air conditioners, etc.  Reviewer's note [Charlie Vlk]: The prototype for this car is different from the Con-Cor car, which follows the 1948 original order for the California Zephyr. ”   

 

The drawings on pages 108 and 154 of Randall’s The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q indicate the 1948 (Con-cor) and 1952 (Kato) cars had a different number of windows along the hallway side of the 6-bedroom half of the car.  The difference is clearest on the side of the car with the door at the left end: the Con-cor 1948 CZ cars have 6+6 closely spaced windows and the Kato 1952 CZ-DZ cars have 6+3 with the 3 windows widely spaced.  Also, the roof vents are slightly different on the two 10/6 sleepers.  The 1948 CZ (Con-cor) was the first (and slightly more elaborate) design with a window positioned opposite each bedroom doorway.  The 1949 Seaboard car cuts the number of hallway windows in half to 3.  The Seaboard car has the three aisle windows positioned between the doors of the opposite rooms, but the 1952 CB&Q car has windows directly opposite the doors of every second room.

 

The Kato model nearly matches the Budd UP prototype except for the smooth letterboard on the prototype.  UP bought 50 Pacific series 10/6 sleepers from Budd in 1950 (photo on page 195 of Some Classic Trains).

 

The Kato model matches the Santa Fe “Pine” series 10/6 sleepers purchased from Budd in 1950.  Photos and drawings of this car were published in Model Railroader in July 1994.

 

Other railroads purchasing this 10/6 sleeper from Budd were the Southern Pacific (30 stainless steel cars with red letterboard in 1950 for the Sunset Limited, five of which were built for rear-end operation, see photo on page 161 of Randall’s From Zephyr to Amtrak, which verifies this as the later 10/6 car from the roof vent pattern), Seaboard Air Line (12 cars in 1949 for the Silver Meteor and Silver Comet), Pennsylvania Railroad (two in 1949), Norfolk and Western (20 in 1950), New York Central (40 in the “Valley” series, 1949), Union Pacific (50 in 1950) in the “Pacific” series for the City trains, and Missouri Pacific (4 in 1949).  It is an exercise for the reader to determine the hallway window arrangement of each railroads’ Budd 10/6 sleeper.

 

The N&W 10/6 Budd sleepers did not have side corrugations, and thus are not close prototypes for the Kato model.  Jerry LaBoda reports “…Norfolk & Western had Budd 10-6 sleepers but it should be noted that these cars also had the full-length letterboards and a single flat panel the entire length of the lower side in place of the standard corrugation instead of the typical three section "slab panels", a feature also found on a few P.R.R. Budd-built sleeper cars. These N.&W. cars and some of the similar P.R.R. cars were later rebuilt to commuter coaches with little to no changes in the window patterns, with some later finding use on M.A.R.C. out of Baltimore.”

 

Photo of Burlington’s 1952 10/6 sleeper “Silver Feather” from Kato’s web site.

 

Drawing of Budd 10/6 sleeper built for the CB&Q in 1952.  From page 154 of The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q.

 

Union Pacific’s “Pacific Guard” 10/6 sleeper built by Budd in 1950.  Note that these UP cars did not have skirting except at the car ends, and did not have corrugations on the letterboard.  Photo from the article on this car on page 88 in the March 2001 issue of Model Railroader.

 

Seaboard’s 10/6 Budd sleeper of 1949 from page 228 of Some Classic Trains.  Note the different window size and placement between the Burlington (correctly modeled by Kato) version and the Seaboard version.  The Seaboard car has the three aisle windows positioned between the doors of the opposite rooms, but the CB&Q car has windows directly opposite the doors of every second room. (Photo from page 228 of More Classic Trains).

 

Kato 10/6 sleeper decorated for Santa Fe “Pine Arroyo” (opposite side).

 

Santa Fe 10 Roomette-6 Bedroom sleeper “Pine Gorge” delivered from Budd in 1950.  This series matches the window and roof vent pattern of the Kato, not the Con-cor cars.  Photo from page 13 of ATSF color guide to freight and passenger equipment.

 

Union Pacific 10/6 sleeper “Pacific Beauty” from the 50-car Budd order of 1950.  The stainless steel is painted and the car has a smooth letterboard to match cars from other makers.  Photo from page 194 of Some Classic Trains.

 

Sleeper (10/6) for the California Zephyr.  Budd built 19 6-bedroom 10-roomette cars for California Zephyr the in 1948.  Six were for the CB&Q, 5 for the D&RGW, 7 for the WP and one for the PRR.

 

10-roomette/ 6-bedroom 1948 sleeper from the Kato California Zephyr train set.

 

Budd California Zephyr 10/6 sleeper of 1948 (from Randall’s The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q page 109).

 

16-section Sleeper for the California Zephyr.  Budd built 6 16-section sleeper cars for California Zephyr the in 1948.  Two were for the CB&Q, 2 for the D&RGW, and 2 were for the WP.

 

16-section sleeper from the Kato California Zephyr train set.

 

Budd California Zephyr 16-section sleeper of 1948 (from Randall’s The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q page 111).

 

Observation.  Kato’s web site states “The 88'-7" Observation Car is one of four cars built for the Burlington in 1940 (Silver Star for the General Pershing Zephyr, Silver Spirit for the Silver Streak, Silver Hours for the Sam Houston Zephyr, and Silver Fountain for general pool service). The Observation was the most difficult car to select as they are signature cars for each train and vary in design and accommodations even within one railroad. These cars had a lounge section aft of the middle entrance vestibule and a small dining area and kitchen forward of it. The flat top Observation was chosen as Budd Dome-Observations were limited to the CB&Q, CP, Wabash and C&O/DR&GW with no eastern roads operating them.”  This Kato observation car is the Budd 22-seat parlor /24-seat dining car, of which four were delivered to the Burlington during 1939-40.  See page 57 of Randall’s The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q.  It is not a California Zephyr car, which had a dome-observation.  The car numbers suggest it may correspond to the Budd observation / parlor-diner lounges (series 3240 to 3244) built for the Santa Fe in 1938.  Could it also be the Budd observation lounge/tavern cars built for the Seaboard’s Silver Meteor in 1940?  It is not Seaboard’s 1947 observation car.

 

Photo of Budd Parlor-Dining-Observation car from Kato’s web site.

 

Drawing of Burlington’s Parlor-Dining-Observation car, four of which were delivered from Budd in 1939-40.  From page 57 of Randall’s The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q.  Apparently, the tail light differed among the four cars of the order.

 

Kato model of Burlington’s parlor-dining-observation car “Silver Fountain”, opposite side.

 

Dome-observation car for the California Zephyr.  Budd built six dome-observation 3-bedroom/ 1-drawing room cars in 1948.  Three were for the CB&Q, 1 for the D&RGW, and 2 were for the WP.

 

Dome-observation car from the Kato California Zephyr train set.

 

Budd California Zephyr dome-observation of 1948 (from Randall’s The Passenger Car Library vol. 1 – CB&Q page 113).

 

For a list of the books referred to, see part 1.