Micro-Trains - 143 51 XXX - Passenger Car, Heavyweight, Pullman Parlor 28-1 - Napa Valley Wine Train - Le Gourmet

Model Information: The prototype for this model was built between 1924 and 1926 by Pullman Standard (PS). As typical for heavyweight cars of this era, riding on two 3-axle trucks, these cars are of riveted steel construction.

Prototype History: These cars were reserved seating for day passengers. They featured 28 parlor sofa chairs and 1 drawing room for day use. Many day time trains on the NYC and PRR used 4-5 Parlor cars for their first class passengers. In the west, Pullman Pool Parlor cars would be used on special trains requiring extra lounge space, which was sometimes in short supply. These cars therefore would often be run near the Dining and Lounge cars for passengers to ride in during the daylight hours and let them get out of their private rooms.

Pullman retained a number of these cars in their 6100-series, some of which were painted in a dark purple color with Pullman on the letterboard and only a car number centered on the car side below the belt rail.

Road Name History: The Napa Valley Wine Train located in northern California is operated by the Napa Valley Railroad which is a privately owned excursion train that runs 36-miles round trip between Napa and St. Helena. The wine train has been in operation since 1989 and now has 4 engines and 10 heavyweight passenger cars. The majority of the cars used by the train were originally built in 1915 by Pullman Standard for Northern Pacific Railway. The train has a capacity of 370 passengers and has carried over two million passengers since 1989!

Read more on Wikipedia.

Brand/Importer Information: Micro-Trains is the brand name used by both Kadee Quality Products and Micro-Trains Line. For a history of the relationship between the brand and the two companies, please consult our Micro-Trains Collector's Guide.

Manufacturer Information: Micro-Trains Line split off from Kadee Quality Products in 1990. Kadee Quality Products originally got involved in N-Scale by producing a scaled-down version of their successful HO Magne-Matic knuckle coupler system. This coupler was superior to the ubiquitous 'Rapido' style coupler due to two primary factors: superior realistic appearance and the ability to automatically uncouple when stopped over a magnet embedded in a section of track. The success of these couplers in N-Scale quickly translated to the production of trucks, wheels and in 1972 a release of ready-to-run box cars.

Micro-Trains Line Co. split off from Kadee in 1990 to form a completely independent company. For this reason, products from this company can appear with labels from both enterprises. Due to the nature of production idiosyncrasies and various random factors, the rolling stock from Micro-Trains can have all sorts of interesting variations in both their packaging as well as the products themselves. When acquiring an MTL product it is very important to understand these important production variations that can greatly enhance (or decrease) the value of your purchase.

Please consult our Micro-Trains Collector's Guide