I would like to detail the interior of a Spectrum heavyweight passenger by painting the seats, interior walls, etc. and adding figures. How can I best get the car opened up so that I can do the detailing?   Thank you in advance for helping me with my problem.

Woody,

Thank you for your reply.

Good question! Until the 1940s, all of the Pullman cars were owned and staffed by Pullman. In the 1940s, the U.S. Supreme Court made Pullman give up ownership of the cars to the various roads. Most roads in turn then leased back the cars back to Pullman, which maintained the status quo except for who held title to the cars. For the roads that leased back the cars to Pullman, it would appear that the actual ownership of the cars would not make any difference. However, I do not know if UP was one of the roads that leased their cars back to Pullman or not. Nor, do I know of a good way of making a determination.

As a point of reference, my layout is transition era, 1940s, early 1950s.

As least one UP train had a distinctive interior color, the City of Portland had a rose color color scheme; Portland is the "City of Roses." One would guess that the blankets for that train would be a rose color. The general color scheme in the UP heavyweights appears to be blue. So my thought was that the blankets would also be a blue. However, neither blue nor rose may be the proper color since as was pointed out in the first reply, there are brown Pullman blankets out there.

However, I am unable to verify the above. As a youngster, I traveled in Pullman cars with my parents, but I do not for the most part remember the interior colors, let alone the color of the blanket. (I do remember curtains in the open section cars being dark, most likely a dark blue - but that was on the PRR not UP.) 

A problem is that any photos that I can find are black and white, not color.  I am interested in making as accurate interiors that I can for the cars. In frustration, I posted my question.

As to quite a project...I am a builder of scale model airplanes...I am finding that detailing the interiors appears to be a lot easier for the railway cars than the interior of an aircraft! As to research for the detailing, so far not any different from what I faced when I started detailing the interiors of aircraft.

knotman

If you are thinking of modeling the CNW Kate Shelley, there is a 1971 photo and some commentary on the Kate Shelley in the Model Rairoader's Guide to Passenger Equipment & Operation by Andy Sperandeo, a soft cover book by Model Railroader!

I am in the process of detailing the interiors of my Union Pacific Pullman cars. Does anyone know the color of the blankets used by the Pullman cars of the Union Pacific? Thank you!