and he notes - Those cars were always sold as "Sylvania". When Bill Stewart began production after WWII he wanted them separate from his Midgage freight car line which were wood with cardstock sides. Gene Fletcher ran that operation and later bought the name and inventory when Stewart quit making them. The cars had no separate doors. The window near the vestibule was where the door was located and on the finished kit, the door was a scribed line. The ends were soft metal castings with an opening for the vestibule and the kit usually had a set of diaphragms.
The carbodies were 16 ft Aluminum extrusions and the skirts were extruded 16 ft. lengths of magnesium (cut to length on a band saw with the truck openings punched out on a die). The bodies were cut the same way with the windows punched out (one at a time) on a kick press. The kits had no underbody details since the skirts would hide them anyway. A pair of acrylic window strips fit inside the extruded grooves in the interior. There was a pair of soft metal bolsters and sprung streamline trucks (also soft metal). According to the late Gene Fletcher the cars were not a success and Stewart dropped the line by the early 50's. Incidentally, the cars were meant to be models of Pullman smooth side steel cars. Budd had the patents on stainless cars at that time and all of them were fluted. Pullman did produce some fluted side cars in the fifties but they were overlays on regular (or Cor-Ten) steel sides. The New Haven had a bunch of 'em. An interesting story told to me by Bill Stewart: He unveiled the Sylvania line at a post-war trade show in New York and they caught A. C. Gilbert's eye. After a bit of negotiating, A. C. hired Bill as a consultant for which later became the AF extruded passenger cars. As part payment, Gilbert supplied Stewart with modified boilers, tender shells and pilots, cylinder saddles etc. for his Midgage Pacific. The boiler shells are easily recognized as they had the details under the running board ground off and then painted. Many, many years ago I paid Gene $1.00 for the Sylvania name and artwork for the logo - I've still got it squirled away somewhere... Nuthin' like bein' a packrat! Raleigh in Chilleigh Maineigh... At 01:53 PM 6/22/2011, [email protected] wrote: > > >I have a Midgauge passenger coach for sale. These cars were later >marketed under the "Sylvania" name. > >I think the car is made of extruded aluminum. It has a wooden floor that >has been fitted into a slot on the bottom of the car. There are nine >paired windows on each side of the car, plus a smaller window near >the vestibule >door. The roof is smooth. There is no fluting though there are two belts >or sashes, one above the windows and one below. There is no skirtng. The >car has a stainless steel appearance. There are no trucks or car ends. I >think the metal doors that often come with JC Models or Chester cars will >probably fit this car. > >This is the scale length version, about 15 inches long. > >I am offering this for $19 including shipping within the U.S. > >- Earl Henry, Nashville ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
