Micro-Trains Line Chapel Car

The Prototype

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many hundreds of small communities were hastily established along railroad tracks with the expansion of the American West. These towns dedicated their early resources towards necessities for survival – shelters, shops, warehouses, mills, and saloons! Other communities were either too small, rural, and/or temporary (tent cities) to support even their most basic needs. Thus, these areas often had no dedicated places of worship and clergy members. So, the idea was born to bring religion to the people along the rails…in chapel cars.



The earliest documentation of designing a church inside a rail passenger car shows the Russian Orthodox Church creating three chapel cars around 1880. These chapel cars were adorned with elaborate fixtures as they followed the crews during the construction of both the Trans-Caspian Railroad (1880-1886) and Trans-Siberian Railroad (1891-1916) providing worship for the workers and those living along the route.

There are several stories of who and how the chapel car was introduced in the United States. First, a Baptist missionary from Minnesota, Boston W. Smith, was thought to have developed the idea in the early 1880s after a railroad line loaned him a car to teach Baptist Sunday school during the frigid winter months. He expanded upon this concept to spread the ‘Word of God’ using passenger cars to expand his teachings in later years. Around this same time, the Protestant Church was also known to travel to the remote corners of the nation with their mobile railcar churches.

Next, the Episcopal Church, at least further advanced on the idea, when Bishop Williams David Walker of North Dakota commissioned the Pullman Car Company in 1890 to build the first dedicated American chapel car. Influenced on a trip to Russia in the late 1880s, Bishop Walker ordered a more humble sixty-foot car finished in oak known as The Church of Advent. The same car was later re-named The Cathedral Car of North Dakota and was decommissioned after only ten years of service in 1900.

American industrialist, John D. Rockefeller, Sr. and other wealthy Baptist businessmen, agreed to fund seven railroad chapel cars when Baptist pastor Dr. Wayland Hoyt remarked after his travels through the upper-Midwestern states “that all the little new towns had from one to five saloons, but scores of towns had no place to worship at all.”

The first of these chapel cars, the Evangel, was dedicated on May 23, 1891, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Evangel and the six other Baptist cars were all built by the Barney & Smith Car Company. Barney & Smith was founded in 1849 in Dayton, Ohio and lasted until 1921 – never fully recovering financially after the Great Dayton Flood of 1913 destroyed most of its facilities. Numerous railroad lines allowed chapel cars free movement on American tracks. This free passage allowed cash-strapped denominations to remain financially stable for a period of time. The Evangel was retired in 1924 after spending its time traveling throughout seventeen states.

The Seven Baptist Chapel Cars Built by Barney & Smith Car Company

• The Evangel 1891-1924
• The Emmanuel 1893-1942
• The Glad Tidings 1894-1926
• The Good Will 1896-1938
• The Messenger of Peace 1898-1949
• The Herald of Hope 1900-1935
• The Grace 1915-1946

The first Catholic chapel car was placed into service on June 16,1906 in conjunction with the Catholic Extension Society of America in Chicago. It was a steel, 70-foot-long second-hand car purchased from the Pullman Car Company. Blessed the St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost things, it was retrofitted with a living quarter for the traveling priest, special compartments to hold religious articles, an altar with a crucifix and candles mounted down with bolts to prevent movement, pews for worshippers, and a confessional. The St. Anthony sat sixty-six people for mass services.



Between the years 1890 and 1946 – thirteen chapels cars had traveled around the United States providing religious services to the remote and/or small rural towns of America. Visiting areas that lacked a minister and/or church and engaging with those people unserved in their communities, welcoming minorities and rural farmers. The chapel cars also journeyed to railroad yards and War World II production plants offering religious services and literature to the workers…” Service For Men Noon, Midnight - Come Just As You Are”.

The Three Roman Catholic Chapel Cars

• St. Anthony 1906-1919 (Pullman)
• St. Peter 1912-1946 (Barney & Smith)
• St. Paul 1915-1954 (Barney & Smith)

The Three Episcopal Chapel Cars

• Advent 1890-1902 (Pullman)
• 1st Episcopal 1892-1894 (Pullman Remodel)
• 2nd Episcopal 1894-1903 (Pullman Remodel)

Near the end of Word War II, the days of the chapel car were coming to an end. Railroads began to restrict movements and/or charge rates on the chapel cars. The attention of the American railroads was on the war effort and the priority of moving men and supplies. Also, costly maintenance and repair were needed on the chapel cars, as many were entering 30 to 40 years of rail service. The funds to sustain these cars simply began to dry-up. Furthermore, the advancement of the automobile as a reliable and affordable mode of passage replaced the rail system as the primary means of transportation in America. Lastly, with the housing construction boom after the War, many new churches were being built to serve communities. Thus, the concept of the chapel car was deserted with all remaining cars removed from service by the early 1970s.

Road Names and Pricing

Micro-Trains Line released their introductory line of chapel cars in December 2024 with a suggested retail price of $32.95. The specially decorated Pullman green cars belong to the Micro-Trains #144 body style series – Pullman 3-2 heavyweight observation car. The initial offering included:

• Baptist Church Car - Grace
• Catholic Church Car - St. Peter
• Undecorated Chapel Car with Chapel Façade (represents a heavyweight passenger car converted into a fixed chapel)

My review includes observations of Micro-Train Line 144-00-302 – N Scale Catholic Church Car St. Peter.

The Model

The Micro-Trains Line chapel car is packaged in a clear plastic jewel case with a slip-off cover and a one-piece cradle to secure the model. The model information is labeled on the end of the case for ease to locate when in storage. There is a brief history of the model prototype on the back panel. Furthermore, a thin, rigid plastic sheet covered the exposed side to protect the chapel car surface from scratches.



The chapel railcar displays the recognizable Pullman Car color scheme of a green body with black roof. The paint job is clean along the entire injection molded plastic model. The gold lettering is sharp and neat with correct font and word placement when compared to prototype photographs. It should be noted that the St. Peter chapel car was built by Barney & Smith, not by the Pullman Car Company as represented with this model.

The olive-green passenger car sides exhibit sharp rivet steel panel construction with gold lettering and a white & red Catholic Church shield. All side windows and doors are furnished with see-thru glazing. Molded seating arrangements and partitions are visible when sneaking a peek inside the passenger car and the rear lounge area. Along Side-B, 2/3 of the windows are obstructed with the passenger car corridor walls – the long hallway that allows passengers to walk from one end of the car to the other.



The Micro-Trains Line chapel car is a ‘reimagination’ of their Pullman Heavyweight 3-2 Observation-Lounge car. The 3-2 observation car was a luxury railcar with a kitchen, dining room, three compartments and two drawing rooms. A compartment was a small, enclosed area with its own door that offered privacy from the open seating section on the train. A drawing room was the most expensive, luxurious, and spacious room with private toilet area, sitting section, and sleeping accommodations for three adults – called a triple bedroom on modern trains. The term ‘drawing’ refers to one ‘withdrawing’ to their room after the evening is complete. The 3-2 configuration was the most popular open platform car design.

The end of car features an exterior observation deck with safety railings, side gates and three-step exit platform. In later years, lightweight observation cars often had enclosed vestibule platforms. Brown molded plastic seats are visible in the open lounge area – offering a public meeting space and scenic views for relaxation. The opposite car end features a molded diaphragm and door with NO window glazing. The diaphragm provides protection when passing through car to car. Strong rivet lines are visible. The side doors and steps found on both sides near the diaphragm end are NOT prototypical correct with the real-life St. Peter chapel car.





The black roof features a clerestory design with Garland roof vents. A clerestory roof is characterized by a raised section with windows and/or vents along the sides. Windows provided natural light and ventilation. The heightened roof area allowed hot air to rise and escape through vents. The Garland vent created negative pressure to draw and exhaust the interior air. Exterior air enters the car through the vent. The Micro-Trains Line observation chapel car lacks the clerestory windows displayed on the prototype St. Peter chapel car and exhibits the incorrect roof vent configuration. Clerestory roofs became antiquated with the introduction of modern lighting and ventilation systems, thus eliminated from modern passenger car design.



The black plastic underside features an elaborate configuration with water tanks, service reservoir, emergency reservoir, auxiliary reservoir, and steel battery boxes. Molded brake pipe, cross bearers, and center sill. The fishbelly center girders under the car were originally introduced by the Pullman Car Company and duplicated by other car builders. The heavyweight observation car runs on two 3-axle passenger trucks with black plastic wheels. The railcar is equipped with proper height truck-mounted Magne-Matic knuckle couplers on both ends of the car.



The car measures 6 1/8 inches in length (including the end platform) and weighs 1.2 ounces. While it is light according to the recommended National Model Railroad Association weight of 1.45 ounces, I found it a smooth-running car on Kato Unitrack with no issues around curves or through turnouts at low and medium speeds on the end of train. A minimum operating radius curve of 14” is recommended.

The Micro-Trains Line St. Peter chapel car is not a faithful reproduction of the real St. Peter church railcar. Micro-Trains released a standard Pullman Car Company heavyweight observation car model representing a Barney & Smith constructed passenger car. The Micro-Trains chapel car features the wrong side window configuration and clerestory roof design. A pair of side doors and steps that do NOT exist on the prototype car and a somewhat disappointing discovery of no window glazing on the diaphragm door.

What Micro-Trains Line did offer was the novel idea of a N-scale model chapel car (maybe the first and only time offered in N scale – my research did not reveal any other dedicated church cars released in this scale) …high-quality construction, excellent running with no need to make adjustments, and crisp colors. A heavenly passenger car model from Micro-Trains Line, but they must go to confession and repent for a few errors in judgement.

Photo Credits

Church on Wheels – Come and see it. Rev. E.J. McGuinness, 3/20/23. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/2016826866/ No known restrictions on publication.

Interior St. Paul. Burke, F. P, photographer. "Wheeled cathedral" pays a visit. The interior of the chapel car "St. Paul" which is being exhibited here. photo by F.P. Burke, Chicago. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/90710730/ No known restrictions on publication.

Roman Catholic St. Peter Chapel Car. 1922. The Story of Extension by Father Francis Clement Kelley. This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1929, and if not then due to lack of notice or renewal. www.commons.wikimedia.org