Passenger trains are standardized to the function they do.
Coach: basic passenger car, fitted with seats for riders.
Baggage: special car for carrying passengers' baggage, equivalent to stowed luggage on an airplane. One big difference: railroads handled passengers' luggage far better than airlines do.
Combine: used mainly on commuter or short runs, a combine is half baggage car - half coach.
Railway Post Office - RPO: a rolling post office, armored, where mail is picked up and sorted. Because of train robberies, RPO crews were armed. The post office stopped using RPOs In the 1970s. Note
that they are painted in the railroad's colors, even though they are post office vehicles.
Diner: kitchen-equipped restaurant on wheels
Observation: a car meant for the end of a train. Older versions had a small balcony on the end; newer ones have a round or flat end with windows. This is usually a lounge car. It can be a small
social lounge or a tavern on wheels.
Sleeper: old-style cars had rows of bunks for passengers.
Pullman: better than a sleeper, a Pullman has roomettes and sleeping compartments for overnight passengers.
Vista-dome: a car fitted with a large skylight and upper level, so passengers could enjoy the scenery. Because of low clearances in the East, vista domes were only used in the West. (Despite this
fact, model and toy train makers produce Vista Dome cars in Eastern railroad livery!)
Head-end cars: freight cars painted in the passenger car colors, and placed at the head of the train. These were normally boxcars and reefers. Boxcars handled small freight picked up at local
stations; reefers picked up milk or other perishables en route, for delivery at the terminal. Amtrak has started using them again.
Other Passenger vehicles on the railroad:
Revenue includes self-propelled passenger trains. Examples are:
MU cars: electric-powered coaches with a control cab in front. These draw power from a third rail or overhead wires known as a "catenary."
"Doodlebugs": a gas or diesel powered passenger car, common on short commuter runs in the early part of this century.
RDC: Budd built diesel-powered passenger car sets, used for commuters. (Believe me - they made a LOT of smoke!)
Railbus: a bus-like vehicle running on gas or diesel. Instead of tires it had flanged wheels.
Trolley and Interurban: passenger coaches powered by overhead wires, used between town and, for urban areas, and intra-city public transportation.
What is the purpose of an observation passenger car? I have a coach, diner, and observation car combination on my model railroad and have been wondering what's an observation for.
Well coach is simply a car with rows of seats, and no frills. It would be like the difference between riding coach, and first class on a jet. You get there at the same time, but you are pampered.
Some trains like the Southern Pacific's Lark were considered as all first class.
Larry
The "observation" cars were usually the tail-end car, kinda like when you'd always see a caboose at the end of a freight train.
Al
And since all but a few observation cars were designed so that they couldn't easily be used anywhere by the rear of the train, it made a logical place to put first-class perks, such as lounges for
Pullman passengers. Unless specific operating conditions dictated otherwise, on most railroads, a typical passenger train tended to have the more expensive accommodations at the rear, farther from
the locomotive.
As a generalization, this permitted the sleeper passengers to have drinks and snacks as they watched the scenery retreat behind them, from the open observation platform (mostly on riveted heavyweight
steel cars) or the larger, curved windows (on streamlined cars) designed into such cars, usually free from intrusion by the "riff-raff" from the coaches.
On some all-coach trains, such as the New York Central's "Mercury", there weren't any ticket class distinctions to be made. Likewise, on trains where the only food service provided was provided in
the observation car, such a distinction might not be made. It would ultimately depend upon the railroad, and the way they wanted to equip and market the train.
Fritz Milhaupt
Would you recommend me to add a baggage and/or RPO car to my passenger train?
As for adding a baggage and/or RPO car to your passenger train, add whatever makes you happy. Back in the days of RPO's, most trains had an RPO car and a baggage car. The "observation" cars were
usually the tail-end car, kinda like when you'd always see a caboose at the end of a freight train.
Al
Sure, why not. The stuff has to go somewhere. Not all trains had RPO's, but many trains existed only because of the RPO traffic. After it went away, so did the train.
Larry
Also, does anyone know what passenger cars are in the Athearn Expedition train set?
Athearn's "Expedition" sets contain an RPO car, Vista Dome car and Observation car. Set #1060 is Amtrak, #1061 is Santa Fe, and #1062 is Union Pacific.
Al
