Tales from the Coach Yard

 Greetings All,

Tales From The Coach Yard

The 2025 Holiday Season has given the New York Central passenger car fleet top billing on the layout. Terminal Yard is functioning as a coach yard with East Bedford Station on track #1 to the right handling passengers. Here are some tales from the coach yard.

I recently added the below two NYC passenger cars to the roster and have been railfanning various passenger trains on the layout ever since.

The New York Central Baggage Lounge fresh out of the box.

The 24-8 is fresh out of the box. This car is aluminum clad and looks slightly different from the traditional silver painted stainless steel passenger car models.

So what exactly is a 24-8 passenger car and a baggage lounge car? For this I turned to this informative book from Geoffrey H. Doughty and the Canada Southern Website. (see link below)

Prototype Info / Budd 8-24 Slumber Coach

In 1959 the New York Central received four new leased 24-roomette / 8-bedroom sleeper coaches numbers 10800-10803 for use on the 20th Century Limited and the New England States passenger trains.

The new economy sleeping car service was expected to draw back passenger traffic by making sleeping car travel more affordable. The prototype cars had been in service on the Burlington Route Denver Zephyr since 1956.

The 24-8s proved to be popular and while reluctant to lease more cars the NYC sent ten 1948 Budd 22 roomette Harbor Series cars back to Budd for rebuilding as 16-roomette 10-bedroom sleeper coaches in 1961. The rebuilt cars saw service on trains like the Wolverine, Ohio State Limited, New England States and other premier long distance NYC passengers. Nine of the ten were conveyed to the Penn Central and then Amtrak.

The four Budd built 24-8s remained in service mostly on the 20th Century Limited until their leases ran out in 1964. The cars were returned to Budd and went to the Northern Pacific Railway.

Prototype Info / Budd Baggage Lounge

When looking at the below passenger car it resembles a combination car or combine that can be found in many trains of this era and in many passenger car model trainsets. The most popular models are the baggage-coach for paying passengers and the baggage-dormitory for the dining car employees. 

Two Baggage-Bar cars are listed in the NYC Great Steel Fleet named Grover Cleveland, car #33 and Martin Van Buren, Car #34. Both were ordered under plan/lot #96208 for the Empire State Express in January 1941 and delivered in November 1941. Both were sold to NdeM in 1961.

Another good source of NYC information, is the Canada Southern website. My search revealed that in 1941 Budd built two Baggage - Tavern - Lounge cars, Lot # 2144, for the New York Central numbered 33 (Grover Cleveland) and number 34 (Martin Van Buren). Both have a similar floor plan to the Baggage Lounge model. The website has these cars retired and sold to the NdeM railway in Mexico 1963.

Model Information

The 24-8 is a Walthers Ready to Run model that comes with an interior, metal wheelsets and body mounted Kadee type knuckle couplers. The couplers aligned with the Kadee Height Gauge when tested. The car is free rolling and lighter than the NMRA Standard for this length of car.

In the below photo the car has been numbered 10800 the first number in the 10800-10803 series for the 24-8s. The model, a used purchase, did not come with a decal sheet which is usually included with the Walthers models so I was without a name and other Slumber Coach decals. I used a Microscale NYC Headend Equipment decal sheet for the numbers.

The Baggage-Bar or Baggage Lounge is a Walthers Mainline model that is equipped with an interior, metal wheelsets and Kadee type couplers that are Talgo mounted. The car rolls freely but is also a bit light. The car came with a decal sheet but the numbers didn't match the prototype so once again I used my Microscale NYC decals.

Other Walthers Passenger Car Models In The Fleet

After getting the new passenger cars running and doing the prototype research I took a look at my other Walthers New York Central passenger car models that I added numbers to over the years.

Baggage Dormitory car #8975 was part of  Budd Pool Car order in December 1945 and delivered in September/October 1947. The Walthers car came with the appropriate decal sheet for the numbers. This car was in passenger service until 1967 when it was converted to MOW service car #X27025.

A Walthers Budd 46 seat coach doesn't match any Budd coaches on the NYC roster. This car was numbered 5904 from the decal sheet included with the model.

10-6 Sleeper Mohawk Valley was a painted and unlettered Walthers model that I lettered for the New York Central and named Mohawk Valley. The prototype was the first car in a very large Budd Sleeper Car order in December 1945 with delivery starting in January 1949. The car served the NYC until 1968 at which time it was sold to NdeM.

New York Central 4-4-2 Sleeper Imperial Fleet was part of a Pullman-Standard 1940 Plan #4069E, Lot #2223 order. The decal sheet included with the model supplied the car name. This car joined the NYC in 1940 and served until June 1962 at which time it was sold to the Illinois Central.

An American Car & Foundry 44 seat coach that I numbered from the decal sheet included with the model. ACF contributed 56 seat coaches, baggage cars, RPOs and baggage coach combines to the NYC but not a 44 seat coach.

IHC Empire State Express 

While I was doing the research with the Great Steel Fleet book my IHC Empire State Express eight car trainset happened to be sitting at Empire City Station so I took a look at the cars comparing them with the book.

Car #61, built by Budd as an observation /10 seat lounge /30 seat parlor car was built by the Budd Company from a March 1944 order that were delivered between April and June 1948.

Built by Budd as a 56 seat coach #2564 for the Empire State Express in 1941 the car was named the Thomas Dewey in 1954. The car remained in service until it was retired in January, 1967

Dining car #692 was built by Budd in 1947. The dining car remained in passenger service until August 1965 when it was converted to MofW service as car #X23475.

Train 29 /30 "The Savoy"

The Walthers passenger cars make up the bulk of my finest looking and running lightweight passenger equipment. Looking for a decent freelanced train name and numbers for a passenger consist that featured coaches, sleepers, plus the baggage lounge and baggage dormitory I liked the name "The Savoy". This train is the premier lightweight train on the layout.

The Savoy will travel west as train #29 and return east as train #30. I'm imagining train #29 traveling as an East Bedford-Empire City-Albany-Buffalo-Cleveland limited and returning as train #30. With the baggage lounge on one end and the baggage dormitory on the other end the train will not need to be turned. 

Final Thoughts and Comments

In reality the Savoy, Train#29, will depart East Bedford Station for Empire City Station on the lower level of the layout dropping and taking on passengers at EC Station. After the train passes RA Tower it can enjoy continuous running until such time I want to send it back to EC Station and East Bedford as Train #30. The engines will go thru the reverse curve and couple onto the other end of the passenger consist for a no hands on equipment move.

Here is the Westbound Savoy, Train #29 leaving East Bedford.

What's in a Name?

The Savoy is an actual region in the Alps but John Wayne fans may remember the base camp in the Viet Nam movie The Green Berets was code named 29er Savoy which is where the train name and number came from.

Disclaimer

The models that have prototypical names and numbers are in no way meant to be considered exact matches for their 1:1 counterparts. For example the Budd 24-8 has minor letterboard differences.

Additional Links, Photos and Information

NYC Budd 24-8 10803.

NYC Budd 24-8 10802 now Amtrak 2092 at Southeastern Railway Museum.

NYC Budd Baggage Lounge 34 "Martin Van Buren" in ESE train.

NYC Budd 10-6 "Mohawk Valley"

NYC ACF 56 Seat Coach 2658. Not a 44 seat coach like the model.

NYC Budd 56 Seat Coach 2902. Not a 46 seat coach like the model.

NYC Budd 56 Seat Coach 2571. Hamilton Fish

NYC Budd Dining Car 696.

NYC Budd Observation Car 61.

Savoy history

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See you Soon!!!