mP54 Coach & Baggage/Mail Car 2-Pack Assembled

When we started this project we were surprised to find, that while the mP54 series of cars on the Pennsy were one of the largest classes on the Pennsy system for over 50 years, no one had ever made them in plastic. And being mid-westerners and basicly "western railroad" orientated we had to educate ourselves on the Pennsy passenger fleet. What we found out was that while there were over 1,000 cars in the mP54 catagorie(s) there were a huge number of sub-classes. We appreciate all the help that Al Buchan, Bob Johnson,and Bruce Smith of the Pennsy Historical Society gave us, as well as Tom Thompson for his help on the B&M mP54 car that were bought used from the Pennsy. And of course a "Thank You" to Jack LaRussa who suggested this project in the first place.

    The Con-Cor models follows the plans supplied by the Pennsy Historical Society for the mP54/mP54C and mP54T 72 Seat Steam Era Coaches. Some of the early group of cars dated from the 1911/12 ear. But the Pennsy still was building cars of this class well into the 1930's. A lot of these cars survived into the early 1950's and a few into the 1960's having undergone various trips to the shops for reburbishing over time.

    These "Steam Era Coaches" were pulled behind a wide variety of Steam locos's, GG-1's and other Diesels and Electrics from their introduction before World War I, and well into the 1950's and early 1960's.

    As discussed above, there was a wide variety of classes and sub-classes so our car might not match "identically" a photo you might find in a book, or on the web. In fact some of the photos we have found have been mis-identified anyway. Some cars were modified as time went by, so the way they looked one day, was not the way the same car looked a few weeks later, although the Car Number remained the same. (Although in the Pennsy records the cars' Classification number might have changed.)

    Other railroads with mP54 cars: While the mP54 series originated on the Pennsy, the Long Island Railroad had similar cars built new for them. Pennsy sold off used mP54 cars at various times to other railroads, so the roadnames you will find below are not "made up". The Norfolk and Western, Boston and Maine, Erie, Susquehanna, and surprisingly even the Santa Fe bought used mP54 cars from the Pennsy. And this is not the entire list.

    One last thing we discovered, was that while everyone usually thinks of Pennsy Steam Era cars to be "Just" Tucsan Red with black roofs, according the PRR Historical Society the correct "Pre-WWII" paint scheme for these steam era cars was Brown Roof, Light Tuscan Sides, Olive Trucks, gold lettering. So we will be offering both Pre-war and Post war paint schemes. Bruce Smith of the PRR Historical Society was kind enough to give us paint sample references. It would be OK to match both paint schemes on your layout of course, as once the PRR started to change over the paint scheme, they did not go back and re-paint all the older cars until they needed repairs of some kind.