Home Page › Forums › Modeling the Missouri Pacific, Texas & Pacific, etc › HO Scale › MoPac 70′ Mail Storage Model › Reply To: MoPac 70′ Mail Storage Model
Yes, the Microscale set would be good for these cars, or any blue passenger cars with the buzzsaw, with one exception, and that is I think the numbers in that set are the 8″ numbers that were used on locomotives after the late 60s. Earlier Jenks blue engines, and all passenger cars as far as I know, would have had 5″ numbers. That’s the size that was in the old Champ set.
Looking at other photos, for instance the ones in the Kinkaid book, there do not seem to be any end numbers, which were 3″ as on the B ends of F units.
The photos I’ve found so far don’t show the capacity marking on these cars clearly, or at all. MP wasn’t in a real hurry to apply that stenciling. The capacity markings visible on that photo above are stenciled on a 250 car. The 1970 SoE shows light weight of the 135 series as 67000, and the 200 and 250 series as 77800.
The correct truck for this car, and the 200 express cars, is the Athearn BX truck with 5′-10″ wheelbase, modified by removing the outer portions of the sideframe that would have held outside brake shoes. There are two similar trucks available, you want the one that has the shock absorber at the truck centerline. The truck under the 250 cars is longer wheelbase, and has outside brake hangers on one end only.
RG7
