Walthers Milwaukee Road 72’ Express Cars

Express Car #2; #1317-29
Walthers Part # 932-9209
HO scale, $44.98

 

Walthers has released the sixth car in the Milwaukee Road Hiawatha series, a 72’ 10” (75’ over pulling faces) express car, item No. 932-9209.  This car is a model of the thirteen cars in the 1317-29 series constructed in late 1947 for general service on the Milwaukee Road.  Except for the lack of the conductor’s room window, these cars are identical to the earlier release Walthers Hiawatha express car item No. 932-9202.  The seven cars with the conductor’s window were numbered 1330-36 and were also constructed in late 1947.  These cars were originally specifically intended for use on the Twin Cities Hiawathas.

 

These RPO cars use the same construction features Walthers has used on the other cars in the Hiawatha series, except that these express cars do not have any interior partitions.  As on the other cars, the modeler is provided with unpainted pre-shaped wire handrails and matching locating dimples on the car.  The car comes in the 1950-paint scheme with black roof instead of gray and without the earlier maroon letter board.  The car rides on the same 8’ wheelbase Nystrom trucks Walthers uses on other the other cars in the Hiawatha series.  When new in 1947, all of these cars rode on 7’ wheelbase Nystrom trucks.

Some of the 1330-36 series express cars were among the first Milwaukee Road cars repainted to the UP yellow and gray scheme in 1955.  They still had the conductor’s windows at that time but later had these windows plated over.  The Walthers model of the 1317-29 series cars could be used to model the 1330-36 series late in life after this change.  When wear or damage necessitated replacing the baggage doors on the cars in both groups, they received new doors with a single window.

 These express cars are a useful addition to the Hiawatha series by Walthers that will be useful in modeling many other Milwaukee Road and Union Pacific trains.

 Reviewed by Gary Quale