Andy Miller (PRR_Talk list) shares his thoughts on the HO scale Pullman Sleeper offered by Bachmann Spectrum:
I finally got a Bachmann Pullman today. Why does B do these things?? Its terribly frustrating to see them do such a fine job of mold making, include interiors, metal truck, lights, Kadee-compatible couplers; and then just ignore the prototype!
I did some research. This very rare car did exist. For those interested here's what I dug up in the Wayner reprint of the Pullman Co's 1950 list of cars:
The car is a 10 section, 1 drawing room, 2 double bedroom; plan 4074, diagram 67.
It was owned by seven roads with names as follows:
C&O (far and away the most prolific owner - 10 cars)
Chancellor Livingston
Charles Thomas
Governor Nelson
Isaac Shelby
Jack Jouett
Meriwether Lewis
Pierre L'Enfant
Sam Houston
Simon Kenton
William Clark
DL&W 5 cars
Scenic Falls
Scenic Highlands
Scenic Slope
Scenic Trail
Scenic Valley
Erie 1 car
Scenic Island
L&N 4 cars
Andrew Pickens
James Lane Allen
John Trotwood Moore
Sidney Lanier
LV 3 cars
Scenic Forest
Scenic Rapids
Scenic Ravine
Southern 3 cars
Fuller E. Calloway
George Poindexter
Thomas Ruffin
Pullman Pool 1 car
Scenic Glade
Bachmann offers their car painted for UP, SF, PRR, B&O, and GN. Notice something funny? These are what mathematicians call mutually exclusive lists. Bachmann offers them only for roads which DID NOT OWN THEM!
With little effort in research Bachmann could have made the far more common 10 sec, 1 dr, 2 COMPARTMENT car (LAKE series); used by many roads. A kit bash, however, is almost impossible because the compartments are at the same end of the car as the dr; while the 2 dblbrs are at the other end of the car.
Two other very common modernized, single vestibule configurations were in existence: the 6sec-6 dbr (POPLAR series), and the 8sec-5dbr (CLOVER Series). But Bachmann probably just went with the first photo they found.
Now about the roof! Its not the roof for this car!! The A/C duct covers the corridors and completely misses the bedrooms! It even has a drip strip over the blind end where there is no vestibule!! I can't begin to guess what they were looking at when they did the roof!
Being a PRR fan, I will re-letter my car for Southern. These cars did get into Penn Station on the Birmingham Special connection as through cars from Knoxville and Chattanooga (ref. NIGHT TRAINS)
