# LGB DRGW combine 3081 accucrate?



## norman (Jan 6, 2008)

Hello:

Did the DRGW have a combine car that looks anything like the LGB DRGW combine 3081 with the window between the baggage door and the open platform ?

Thank you

Norman


----------



## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Norman:

According to my book "Rio Grande Narrow Gauge Varnish" (Colorado Rail Annual No. 25). The answer is no. none of the cars had a window in the baggage compartment. The author mentions that the RGS added a window to one side only, near where the LGB window is located, when they acquired a combine second hand from the Rio Grande.


LGB has also shortened the car. Their combine has only 5 windows, while the pictures of the D&RGW combines in the book have 7 windows on one side and 8 on the other. My guess is that there wasn't a window near where the stove was located.



Chuck


----------



## Ironton (Jan 2, 2008)

As originally built the "combines" (D&RG call them coach & baggage) had windows in the passenger end and equal windows on both sides. After a little while they noticed that people getting on and off with their luggage and accouterments tended to smash the end windows fairly often, so they removed them and boarded up the ends (the same thing was happening on the coaches at the same time). So by the 1890s most of the end windows were gone. 

The next thing to go was the window next to the stove. It was boarded up for the same sort of reasons, plus it really wasn't necessary anyhow. So you get the window at the right end of each side disappearing by 1910. (Hard dates for these changes are hard to come by as they were done when the cars were shopped.) So now you have the type of coach or coach & baggage that Accucraft has modeled. 

Interestingly, the stove in the baggage compartment was not always next to the passenger wall. Then there are the oddities like the one where they extended the baggage compartment by taking out two rows of seats and moving the dividing wall. This gave two windows in the baggage compartment next to the passenger section. They then protected the windows with iron bars. 

And of course there was the modification for the Pagosa branch where they attached a cupola. This was represented in the LGB line also. The combine is still on the Durango and Silverton, you can identify by looking at the Clerestory and noting the missing windows up there. 

Now you have much more info than you wanted to know. But no there were not windows past the baggage door in any pictures I have seen.


----------



## norman (Jan 6, 2008)

Hi Guys: 

Thank you for the information. The LGB designers sure were a strange bunch of folks. All kinds of weird design errors in their models but yet the product was of the highest quality and the paint and graphics were excellent. 

Norman


----------



## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Norman, 
It's a matter of perspective. 
As Toys they are better than one might expect, but as scale models they aren't so much. 
They were making Up-scale Big Boy Toys, the later American market brough fidelity awareness.... somewhat. 

John


----------



## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

The LGB D&RGW passenger cars are odd when it comes to size. I'm guessing this was done so they would work on the tightest of curves. Also they had to look good with the LGB mogul, which is pretty small locomotive.


But they operate and look great, and still make a reasonable rendition of the prototype:


----------



## norman (Jan 6, 2008)

Hi Matt: 

What are the LGB product numbers for the DRGW green cars: 

observation 
coach 
baggage 
RPO 

Thank you 
Norman


----------



## Ted Yarbrough (Jan 2, 2008)

Norman, 
Matt will likely answer, but I love those cars, too. They are custom painted, as LGB did not make the green scheme. I got mine from Shawmut Car Shops, expensive, but he does a GREAT JOB! My favorite consist on my RR and Matt's, too!


----------



## norman (Jan 6, 2008)

Hi Ted and Matt: 

Is the roof colour BLACK ? 

Thank you 
Norman


----------



## Ted Yarbrough (Jan 2, 2008)

Yep! Shawmut and matt did them with airbrush (I don't have one). The letter boards are original on mine. not first class member and can not post photo.


----------



## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Norman,

The LGB coaches were airbrushed with Floquil Pullman Green. The roofs, trucks, and end platforms were airbrushed with Floquil Weathered Black. I think I may have used Polly Scale Steam Power Black (brush painted) for the grabs, handles, etc... I kept the original LGB "D&RGW" letterborads by masking them during painting. CDS dry transfers were used for the rest of the lettering.


I used the following cars to make the trainset you see in the photo:

RPO (two LGB 3081 spliced together) I actually purchased this car prebuilt at a train show. I just repainted it.
Baggage (LGB 30845)
Coach (LGB 3082)
Parlor (LGB 3082 with one end using parts from an LGB 3080) 


The drumhead and marker lights are made by Tomar. 










































And to show just how undersized the LGB cars are, below is a comparison of a true scale (1:22.5) baggage car built by Bary Boggs next to the LGB version. And no that custom built baggage is not 1:20.3, it is the same 1:22.5 scale as the LGB coaches. The LGB coaches have been compressed lengthwise:


----------



## norman (Jan 6, 2008)

Hi Matt: 

Excellent modelling work. Your cars look very realistic on your outdoor layout. 
I like the Bachmann J&S coach design the best. One roof window for each body side window. LGB put too many windows in the roof. 
I understand now why 1:20.3 replaced 1:24 as the wheel gauge just did not look narrow gauge enough for most folks. But 1:20.3 is too large for me (except the Bachmann 4-4-0 loco ) 
Maybe LGB should have made a 1:22.5 C-16 and 1:22.5 C-19 loco to meet the US market demands. I guess the US market may have been too small for LGB in relation to their large European market. I don't know. The nicest LGB loco to me is the Chloe loco. The LGB Mogul looks huge to me, especially compared to the LGB Chloe and the Delton C-16. The LGB single door baggage car design looks realistic. Excellent job of selective compression. The LGB passenger cars should have had 12 windows as per the later Bachmann design. The HLW shortie passenger cars should have had 9 windows instead of 7. These 1:24 and 1:22.5 scale models present the opportunity for indoor layouts. LGB and Delton had a good product. LGB should have been more scale oriented and the original German firm would still be in business today. Rivarossi and Lionel went through many changes of ownership. I guess LGB will survive under a similar series of subsequent owners. 

If you want any LGB Durango and Silverton coaches, some are still available. I was told by one dealer that the D&S roadname will not be produced again as it was not a good seller. 


Norman


----------

