“Heads Up!” – Be Alert – was a constant warning to trackmen that labored along the mainline in the unrelenting battle to maintain the right of way. The need to be fully vigilant about the total condition of the mainline prompted regular track inspections by the army of senior operating personnel and civil engineers that governed our railroads. Initially, several chairs were attached to the front of a steam locomotive, above the pilot or cowcatcher, for routine inspections. But such arrangements were unsafe and offered limited seating capacity.
In the 1870s, the Pennsylvania Railroad adapted an early cabin car design (the PRR term for “caboose”) to feature one open end with tiered seating within, that afforded a larger group of occupants a virtually unobstructed view railroad. Those “inspection cars” were pushed by a locomotive with the open observation end facing forward. The arrangement facilitated more informative inspection sessions but the open end also allowed dirt and dust to fly back into the car and cover the occupants with grime.
The New York Central improved the concept by building and placing a small coach body over the boiler of 4-2-4 and 4-4-0 steam locomotives. Those “inspection locomotives” featured two rows of wicker seats alongside the boiler to accommodate officials and engineers. While those specialty locomotives proved to be superior in terms of cleanliness, accommodations above the boiler in that small coach body could be uncomfortably hot during the warmest months of summer – despite the use of wicker seating, then thought to be cooler in hot spells. The greater railroad industry experimented with both styles but most settled on normal railroad business cars, with larger rear windows and observation platforms for track inspections. By 1930 most railroads retired “inspection locomotives”, in part because of the advancing age of the older 4-4-0 locomotives and also the need to embrace new designs and practices. The NYC scrapped one of the their last – Ulster & Delaware #20 in Brook Park, Ohio in July of 1932 but eastern coal-hauler Lehigh Valley retained #1 the “Dorothy” until 1940.
Further refinement of inspection cars and processes was hampered during the economic downturn of the 1930s, since most railroads spent capital only on revenue-producing equipment but toward the end of the decade, the need to step up maintenance practices and procedures revived the concept of specialized inspection cars with tiered seating and other instrumentation to record track conditions. The 1930s also saw the explosive popularity of movies and elaborate movie palaces (with spacious interiors that featured broadly tiered seating) and soon the inspection cars that featured tired seating gradually acquired the name “theater cars” – a name that reflects the broad value of the design and practical application of the cars in the service they perform.
Contemporary theater cars offer expansive, theater seating that faces the rear that is protected by large plate glass windows. The rear window is protected when in regular transit or storage by a roll down door that covers the window. The cars are fully air conditioned and many have more opulent seating and interior furnishing that make them a valuable tool for hosting investors and regulators during informational tours of the railroad. Many of the cars in service today are late 1940s and 1950s lightweight cars that have been specially modified for that purpose. Since the pool of first-generation lightweight cars is thinning, some totally new cars are being constructed. No matter, seeing a theater car in service is a rewarding trackside experience and underscores an often-overlooked side of railroading.
Broadway Limited Imports now offers a contemporary theater car for those model railroaders that wish to add that exciting element of mainline railroading to their own model empire. The BLI model features:
Precision paint, color and lettering schemes
Properly colored interiors
Many separately applied parts including hand rails, grab irons, antenna and conduit arrangement and underbody details
Detailed interiors and underbody details
Finger-touch control of lights and spotlights where applicable
Marker and tail lights where applicable
Interior lights that are dimmable
Two operating Kadee-compatible couplers
Compatible tracks: Code 70, 83 and 100 rial
Minimum operating radius: 18”
Don’t miss this opportunity to add one of these superbly-crafted cars to your fleet – and enjoy the added dimension of unique, prototype railroad practice.
Frank Wrabel
modeltrainstuff.com