Re: PC: Re: PC MU's

[Mester123@xxxxxxx]

It's interesting that those cars made it into the PC years.  

I've heard from others that they had rattan seats like the old New York City
Transit IRT Low-V's.  Is this true?  If so, did the rattan seats last into the
PC days?  I know that this question may seem ridiculous to some, but does
anyone know what the interiors of the PC's 1000 series (ex-NYC 4500's) were
painted?  

I too would like to find out if there are models of these PC, ex-NYC MU cars
which we're are all talking about.  When I find out if anyone like Bachmann
makes models of these, I'll let everyone know.

After all of our conversation about these cars, it shows one thing;  there are
interesting things about the Penn Central that some others just don't see.
The renumbering of the NYC MU's into a whole new series is one of the
interesting things.  

If PC had the money to do things most major railroads including the PRR, NYC,
and NH did in the early part of this century, then PC would have a lot of fans
today.  Here's the thing.  When PC was created, it was created in a time when
RR's weren't the big thing anymore.  They were the business that was falling
apart.  If PC had the money to through together all its operations into one
big system as its predecessors had previously done, PC could have been a
system no different than the NYC.  Today, when we look at a station or a line
that PC used briefly though, we say, "Oh, that's the old New Haven station
that's being restored over there that Penn Central let fall apart," or, "The
PRR's Whatever Division tracks passed right where that rail-trail is now until
PC tore it up."

Very few railfans including myself refer to railroad lines and stations and
bridges that PC used as ex-PC holdings.  Had PC existed for 20 or 30 years
things would have been different.  If by the time it was taken over by some
other RR there was no evidence of paint schemes from NYC, NH, or PRR on any of
the PC's equipment or structures, if overpasses had been painted PC green and
had PENN CENTRAL written on them with the speed lettering for example, and if
PC had had the time to purchase new passenger cars and diesels of its own if
times were different then and RR's prospering, then there would be more PC
fans today then there are.  If PC had built actual stations that bore the PENN
CENTRAL name in concrete and had PC left a good historic mark in communities
(besides one known for shabbiness) as the Pennsylvania, the New York Central,
and New Haven did, then I'm sure people would feel differently about the PC.  

PC tried but failed.  As far as I'm concerned, CR killed more pituresque
branch lines than PC ever did.  A train consisting of a shabby locomotive with
remains of 4 paint schemes on it is better than no train at all.

Sorry for the long e-mail!  This just shows that when someone gets into it,
they'll find that PC really is an interesting topic!

John Weyhausen