In September 1997 I rode the AOE as an onboard carman ,In the great northwest That train was maintained for awhile here in Texas in Texas where I worked it. Seeing those cars brings back some good memories.
I have a 90s example of the 12-1 Pullman which came with metal axles and an interior. I managed to add lighting and figures to it. I do have some of the streamlined cars as well. An American Railroads (Golden Spike train to match 759) observation car, Rock Island red and yellow dome car, Daylight duplex sleeper, N&W chair coach, RF&P baggage, GM&O Roomette, and Northern Pacific brown and green roomette. All ranging from the 70s to the 90s (one in an IHC box) and lack interior detail. I do plan to add interiors to the observation and roomettes. This mixture was chosen to form a steam excursion consist.
I recently bought a bunch of Rivarossi PRR N scale heavyweight cars for roughly $10-$15 per car and it’s quite worth it. They were all equipped with stick metal wheels and roll quite well. The observation car is the only one with a weight
I do have the 1994 release of the Milwaukee Road Hiawatha 5 coach set (one observation, two standard, one postage / mail, and a diner) with the F7 4-6-4 Hudson locomotive. The loco still works flawlessly and pulls it easily. Yesterday (4/18/24), I purchased two Proto 2000 EMD E6-A diesels in the Hiawatha paint scheme to also pull that set. The diesels are a A-A pair (15A and 15B) with DCC and sound. Hopefully I can find more Rivarossi Hiawatha passenger cars for the diesels to pull.
I personally have about fifteen Rivarossi passenger cars in various states of condition. I have about four active Pullman heavyweights and three active Pullman Standard lightweight cars in active service on my railroad. I mainly roster their Crescent Limited passenger cars on my heavyweight fleet, but I do have an RPO car that I’ve painted into my railroad’s “Redliner” paint scheme (black roof, Pullman green body, and red bridges between the windows). The three lightweights in my fleet are all lettered for the Union Pacific Railroad, and have been upgraded with modern Kadee couplers and metal wheels with contacts for LED lights. They all run very good, and they have a good amount of detail for the price tag.
I like the historical background about Rivarossi in the video. My view is that the cars make a great budget purchase for a generalized passenger train in both the heavyweight and streamlined passenger cars (as long as the price is right). There are more detailed passenger cars in both types today from other manufactures, but, from a budget view, Rivarossi passenger cars along with Con-Cor and IHC fill the gap of a generalized passenger train as long as the purchase price is reasonable. Also, these cars do lend themselves to detailing and modifications of the car which may discourage others from more expensive cars from other manufactures.
i have two sets of these. the FULL original set of new york central lightweight stuff, incuding the streamlined hudson, and the National Limited (B&O) Heavyweight set.
Good review of both; the heavyweights and lightweights. A few corrections on your heritage to the heavyweights and lightweights: The Heavyweight Duplex was based on an experimental Pullman design, of which only two cars existed: Eventide and Nocturne were the car names. Both were owned by Pullman and operated on the Pennsy. Eventually they found their way back to Pullman. In the lightweights: - The RPO was a Pennsylvania Design (mix of a BM70n and BM70m Series car) - 85' Diner was based off a Union Pacific diner for the "City Of" trains - 85' Roomette was a Pennsylvania "Rapids" Series 10-6 Sleeper - 85' Observation was a PRR "View Series" Buffet Lounge Observation (built for the 1949 Broadway Limited) Always liked the American Orient Express, going as far as to get a brochure from them.
I got an Amtrak lightweight set in the 90s. It had warped trucks from the factory, and the wheels fall out. I think all the cars are actually PRR designs except the baggage and dome which are UP.
The diner is UP and CNW- the train phone roof antenna made me think PRR. The coach is CN but Rivarrossi also apparently made a 44 seat ACF coach used by UP, CNW, GN and GTW and ANOTHER UP style ACF dome-lounge.
5:38 that why I prefer Rivarossi. While they are dated. However they can hold their own in many cases. Considering that my Rivarossi Hudson out pull my bother Bachman Berkshire at 40% power.
You have the smooth side streamliner set. I did not know Rivarrossi also made a Budd stainless steel "fluted" set with NYC coach, diner, and sleeper and Reading observation. The first three would cover a lot of late Heritage fleet cars on Amtrak. Someone made a Google Doc for HO-Scale Passenger Car Prototypes by model manufacturer, listing correct railroads for each body style including secondhand owners (even Mexico). It might be out of date by now with more models but it's dope!
The lightweight observation car is based off of a PRR prototype. I had a few of the Rivarossi cars sold through AHM successor IHC and a couple of IHC's own tooled cars that were produced after IHC and Rivarossi parted ways but sold them off.
I have several of those passenger cars. I mainly have their Pullman heavyweight passenger cars, but I do have about seven Pullman Standard lightweight coaches.
Excellent video! Though I must admit, I'd like to know where you're finding Rivarossi cars for $5. Even back when I was a kid in the 90's, I always thought of Rivarossi as "The Good Stuff"; not full on brass super detail, but better than the Athearn kits my parents' very patient wallets could afford. And now that most of their stock is out of production, it's always a surprise when I can find most anything Rivarossi on Ebay for less than $50. Also worth mentioning was a specific subgroup of their heavyweight line: The 60-footers. Based on C&NW commuter stock, these were sold in a coach, combine, baggage, and RPO, often as a 4-car set with 1 of each. In recent years these cars in particular have become crazy popular with modellers specializing in smaller layouts with 18-22in radius curves as the shorter cars don't look as weird going around such tight curves as their larger prototypical 70-80ft brethren. That said, it seems the line wasn't all that popular as these shorty cars only seem to pop up for sale infrequently and can fetch a hefty price; $50-75 seems to be the Ebay norm.
I have full 1930's Canadian National green set and It's absolutely fantastic to run. Mine have no interior in mine and I added about 4 ounces of weight to each to make them more stable on my clubs layout. Mine were bought used, 5 of them for 130 bucks canadian with metal wheels already so they are a later release. I'm currently converting the couplers as well . They hold up well and being pulled by my mehano Steam trains (DCC conversions) they always turn heads and start conversation. If you can find these cheap, they are always a good buy.
Cool video about Rivarossi Passenger cars. I have the Rivarossi R6995, R6996, R6997, and R6998. These are the most "Modern" Rivarossi passenger cars with flush windows, more details, crisp lettering, and full interiors. It was called the "Waltherossi" cars because they had Walthers style trucks and coupler mounts.
Bobby Baccalla, Jr. would love riding the Parlor Car, sipping in a Negroni, on the Blue Comet. If that train still ran, Atlantic City would be a much better place, with much better people.
Its fair not to underestimate Rivarossi. Its Italian Quality. In europe that sounds ridiculous. Like what. competing Made In Germany. Eh yeah.. As you mentioned the details are good. Then superb. but today 5,6 or even 7 decades later still good. just as you show well there is some progress. like variants, weights wheels. Its quality, and no that is not expected from italy. My personal fav? the 1976 set of the Holland Venezia Express.
Not necessarily true. Red boxes were the standard throughout the whole rivarossi run. The box for an 80s production car would be very similar looking to a 60s one.
@@cobramerciless I talking about the big boy. Considering I own a red box challenger (both are similar) and it is a great runner/puller. But yeah the passenger cars are good
Very nice review !!! I did get the American Orient Express and some Pennsylvania Heavyweights and they see to run OK: -Orient Express: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PY_VQQ-Eq7c.htmlsi=WQLP9v3_ymjPjyEo - PRR: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lrtupDS_qfk.htmlsi=_uCPlU07HflCHZbZ
Somebody has to say it: They are cars, not coaches. A coach is a car, but a diner, baggage car, sleeping car, observation car, etc., are not referred to as coaches. A coach provides seating and little else.
