Scratchbuilt Cars and Buildings with Bill Aldrige

Bill Aldrige, owner of the New York, New Haven and Hartford shows one of the scratchbuilt coaches. Built from brass sheeting, these cars were built by the Pullman Standard company out of Chicago in 1930. The model has complete interior details including roof lights, lamps and activated air conditioning. On the interior, the vestibules operate, the doors will open, and the traps will go up. The restrooms are at both ends, with the hopper is on one side and the washbasin is on the other side. The coaches have very comfortable soft leather seating. On the underbody of the coaches, the trucks are upper equalized, not the standard lower equalized trucks. There are ice box which contained both the ice blocks and the boiler system.

Next, Bill shows the roof of one of the dining cars, which operate on the New Haven, which has a complete underside ceiling with lights in the kitchen and dining section. There were two cars of this type, which were actually old wood framed World War I cars rebuilt in the late 30’s with steel frame, sheeting, and sides with large picture windows. The kitchen has complete detail like a pantry, a stewards area with a colonial sideboard, and the dining section itself. One side had double tables seating four and the other side with single tables seating two. The underbody of the dining car has standard six wheel Pullman trucks, battery boxes, refrigeration units, brake lines, outside electrical conduits for plug ins when the car is in the stations, and belt operated generators. He goes on to show one of the deluxe dining cars.