The Pennsylvania Limited in HO scale by Roundhouse

One of the many luxury trains of the early 20th century was the Pennsylvania Limited, which ran between New York City and Chicago.

The luxury express passenger service began in the summer of 1887, which according to Mark Wegman’s book American Passenger Trains and Locomotives Illustrated was the first vestibuled train in the US.

After facing increased competition from the New York Central & Hudson River, the service was updated in 1897 with new palace cars in an eye-catching color scheme of cream, dark green and red. That earned the service the nickname ‘Yellow Kid’.

A normal train between New York and Chicago would consist of three sleepers for the 20-hour ride, a combined parlor-smoking-library car, a dining car and an observation car. Baths and a barbershop were available onboard as well as a personal maid and manicurist for the ladies.

For the convenience of the business traveller, stock quotes would be telegraphed to stations along the line, so updated data constantly could be displayed in the train!

The special train ran until 1902, when it was replaced by the Pennsylvania Special with cars in tuscan red.

Some time ago, Roundhouse relased a number of palace cars decorated in the beautiful old color scheme of the Pennsylvania Limited. I found four of them on the US eBay and got the winning bid for about $80 – quite a steal in my opinion.

The cars arrived safely in brand new boxes, that looked like the cars was produced recently. Each car is about 27 centimeters long.

The car above is marked London and is one of the sleeper cars, of which three are needed for a whole train. I wonder if two more with different markings are available?

The next car is the Magdelin, the diner car.

With the large windows, it is unfortunately quite clear that the interior is missing and that the silhouttes of passengers in era-relevant clothing are just window-dressing.

All the cars supposedly have lights installed – I look forward to seeing how the passenger silhouettes look with light from within.

The observation car, Veritas, provides an excellent view of the landscape from the rear platform.

 

Finally the combine Cassius must represent the combined parlor-smoking-library car mentioned by Wegman.

The cars will look great as a whole train, but I need two sleepers more as well as a locomotive. I wonder what headed the Pennsylvania Limited around the year 1900? Perhaps a 4-6-2? And is it available as a model somewhere?

The only photo of the train I have been able find comes from the great site of Railroad Heritage.org. Here the Pennsylvania Limited have stopped for a photo at the Rockwell Bridge in Pennsylvania in 1898, headed by a 4-4-0 D16.

The D16 was the final development of the Amrican type of locomotive by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the strongest and fastest type of passenger locomotive in the late 19th century. Above, another D16 is shown more clearly in 1902.

But where to find this as a model?

Thanks for any input 🙂