This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
1.


2.


1. Begin building the side skirting with a spacer strip under the door and a skirting base strip running the length of the carbody. 2. After installing the skirting strips, determine the clearance for the truck cutouts by rotating the trucks and file the truck cutout contour to match the prototype photo. 3. Shape the curved


3.


skirting profile with a file, add the retractable step receptacles, and trim the skirting ends flush with them. 4. The battery box and ice bunker are nearly flush with the surface of the skirting. 5. Note that the centersill has been notched to clear the truck end beams on the completed underbody.


4.


Seaboard, and in 1939 for the Pennsyl- vania, Baltimore & Ohio, Colorado & Southern, and Fort Worth & Denver. In 1940-41,


additional roads receiving


cars included the Burlington, Kansas City Southern, and Missouri Pacific. The Betterment improvement program would then be halted by wartime prior- ities.


The Betterment cars spanned nearly two dozen Pullman floorplans. In some cases, the railroads followed suit by modernizing coaches and diners in their own shops to match the appear- ance of the Betterment sleepers. The Betterment cars blended nicely with the more modern consists of all- room lightweight sleepers, and often provided low cost section sleeper space for families and government employees traveling on a tight budget. Their full- width diaphragms and skirting proved less than convenient in daily opera- tion, and were often partially or fully removed after a few years of service. The Betterments were durable and practical, with many remaining in service well into the 1960’s.


Pennsy’s Betterment Pullmans Pennsy received from Pullman in


RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN 49


1939 about forty Betterment sleepers to augment the consists of a new fleet of premier trains to be known as the Fleet of Modernism. The Fleet of Mod- ernism included the Broadway Limit- ed, Liberty Limited, General, Spirit of St. Louis, Trail Blazer, and Jefferson- ian, and featured lightweight sleepers constructed primarily by Pullman. Completing the consists were coaches and diners modernized in Pennsy’s own shops. There was no mistaking a Fleet of


5.


Modernism consist. Designer Raymond Loewy, already famous for the stream- lined design of Pennsy’s GG1 electrics, had created a special paint scheme of Tuscan Red sides with an oval Dark Tuscan window band, a set of gold stripes arrayed across the lower side, and Futura lettering on the letter- boards. The Betterment heavyweights were grandly painted to match. The unique scheme of the Fleet of Modernism officially lasted until early 1946, when it was superseded by the


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100