Local modeler, publisher, artist and promoter, Stephen Priest tells me that if I can come up with scans of Frisco Passenger car drawings (say like a complete set of cars for the Sunnyland, or other Frisco trains) that he has a couple of model manufacturers (including an exciting new one) that are interested in producing models in HO and N scale. In case you were not aware Steve produces the artwork for a significant number of model manufacturers and some of the stuff we have received recently was the result of his artwork. Can we get this stuff together to make this happen?
I have the Randall book that shows the cars built for the lightweight Meteor and TXSP if those would help. GS
The official Frisco passenger car diagram book is mostly made up of partial skeletal drawings. And there aren't sufficient full drawings that a model could be designed from, e.g. no actual "blueprint" style engineering drawings. Nothing that compares to the quality in the Randall books. Tom G.
I believe Steve Priest is assisting on a project I am working on with White River Productions, so if he thinks the Randall book will help (remember, these only cover the streamlined cars), he is welcome to borrow them. GS
Were these passenger car drawing requests for streamliner or heavyweight cars? The Sunnyland for example, was almost exclusively a heavyweight train. The Randall book would be great for the lightweight equipment, the drawings are the official Pullman plans. Tom G.
Greg, Steve and I talked at length and he did mention the Randall book, but we are trying to find the materials necessary to do something with the heavyweights such as for the Sunnyland and others. Does anyone know if the Frisco Museum had heavyweight drawings other than the Passenger Car Diagrams which are useful only for identifying the car types.
PSC must have gotten detailed drawings somewhere in order to have produced the Firefly's cars which certainly seem to me to be accurate. Don, can you ask about that? Gordon
That is unfortunate, because what we really need (and so do fans of the MP, Katy, B&O, Wabash and New Haven) is a 14-4 lightweight sleeper. For some reason, nobody wants to make this car. GS
I used to haunt the Frisco Museum and train shows, etc. for ANYTHING related to Frisco passenger cars and I never saw any drawings of Frisco heavyweight cars that were anything much more than just diagrams. But maybe a skilled draftsman could scale some drawings from photos that models could be made from?? Also, I'm with Greg: Why not a 14-4?? Tom G.
Oh, don't be mistaken that all they want to do is heavyweights - that is not the case. Steve indicated if we can get him drawings, he will do the artwork to get the manufacturers to build the cars and he indicated that HO/N could/would be done.
Right you are, Gordon. I knew there was one I had missed but was too lazy to go and look up which. Thanks for plugging that hole. GS
To clarify, Frisco, MKT, MP, KCS, B&O, New Haven and Southern all operated 14-4 sleepers (116 altogether). I realize this roster does not include UP, Santa Fe, PRR and NYC, which are the gold standard for manufacturers of model railroad equipment, but it would be nice if they'd throw us just this one bone, wouldn't it? GS
Sides for the Texas Special are available in N-scale from M&R Models. Unfortunately he doesn't offer anything like this in HO.
Union Station Products offers car sides for all the Meteor/TXSP cars, but I really would prefer a RTR car. GS http://unionstationproducts.com/_4153.html
