Alexander cast fluted streamline passenger car

[Carey Williams]

Hello all

One of the prizes ( in my opinion) from the Indy meet was the acquisition of an Alexander cast fluted passenger car ... ( I had no idea they made one) .

An ex- Seacrest piece ... cast roof and sides ( seems to be one piece---slot inside for window material to be inserted ) ends with doors separate castings , wood floor ...rod full length of car holding both ends to body ... nice open area inside for scale bowling alley or roller skating rink .

End castings.. (poor photo sorry) have "EPA" (Ed P Alexander) cast in them ... no AMRC ( American Model Railroad Co) ... can we assume this is post war ? ....does any one out there have any postwar literature that may list this car from Alexander ? .....
Thank you

Cheers Carey

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[Jay Criswell]

Gonna need a bigger bulb!

Jay

[R.K. Maroon]

Yes -- these are post-war. I have a new-in-the-box kit for one of these with Alexander letterhead on the instructions. I don't believe I have ever found any marketing material for them (ads or catalogs), but I'd have to double-check the archives. The product line eventually passed to Midland Reproductions, which made them for a lot longer and are more common (I have accumulated a full train's worth one or two cars at a time as they have appeared on eBay). The sides pieces below the windows and the roof (with integral letterboard area above the windows) are aluminum extrusions. The ends are cast, including the vestibule door. These cars are often compared to and mistaken for Mac Shops cars. The tell for these is the window insert. I think it is a better design than the Mac Shops cars (which I think otherwise are the bomb), in this respect: The Mac Shops shells are one-piece extrusion. Once you cut the windows, the car is what it is. With Alexander / Midland Reproductions, you can often re-purpose the car simply by replacing the window strip -- unless of course the extrusion pieces have been cut for a diner or baggage door or whatever. You can generally tell an Alexander from a Midland Reproductions this way: The former have aluminum window strips and the latter have brass.

Jim

[Carey Williams]

Hello world
Jay the small build is for romatic riding

Jim thank you very much for the back story . Is there a date on the Alexander paperwork?
Any possibily of posting or emailing a copy of the paperwork ? (Please)
Thank you
Cheers Carey

[R.K. Maroon]

I was rooting around in my closet a few nights ago and ran across the Alexander kit for the Budd streamlined passenger car. The instructions consist of a single large page. It's all warped from sitting in the box for decades but it shows the essentials. I plan to get the kit into the photo booth someday -- it's for a very unusual conference room / telephone car for the PRR Congressional -- very cool.

[stephen neill]

On all of the ones I have the roofs including the sides above the window strip are one piece and the sides below the window strips are separate pieces. I always thought that all of them were like this. Does anybody have one, preferably a kit, where the roof and the complete sides (other than the window strips) were made as one piece (not fabricated from separate pieces)?

Thanks. Steve

[bob turner]

I was always bothered by the interface between window strips and extrusions. I'll stick with Mac's extrusions. I would love to find two more truck castings from the original mold; most are knockoffs and too small.

[Carey Williams]

Thank you Jim for posting the instructions for Alexander's streamline fluted car ...look forward to your photos of the car after the photo session

Cheers Carey