While at the National Train Show, I saw my friend Fred Hill.  He produces amazing HO models under the brand of ’The Coach Yard’.  If you know him, you know he is very knowledgeable about most all things Southern Pacific (ESPEE).  As I described the ‘City’ train, I was building and announcing to release, he pointed out several errors in some of the books that I was relying on.

It seems that the UP was quite strict about keeping their city trains in their yellow and gray scheme and although it happened, that it was an exception for other paint schemes, specifically the silver and red ESPEE cars to be seen in the train I announced to build as The City of San Francisco.

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Specifically, my plan to run the silver and red ESPEE cars, along with NYC Two-Tone Gray, Daylight red and orange, Wabash blue and maybe Pennsy’s tuscan, Pennsy yellow & gray, all along with the UP yellow and gray was not the COSF as I had understood, but rather the San Francisco Overland.

Fred produced actual ESPEE consist reports from several different years showing the cars that were assigned to that train and sure enough, he was right.  He also has the resources of the SPHTS and is generally known to be an authority on such things.  His encouragement has led me to confess that my train plans are actually for the eclectic train, the San Francisco Overland.  But for you COSF fans, do not despair, there are many ESPEE yellow cars that we plan to produce and so, I suppose, we will have both of these famous overland trains of the Southern Pacific Lines!

Here is a short clip with some of the very first RailSmith cars rolling in a quickly put together San Francisco Overland while I was at the RPM Chicagoland event. The Consist line up here shows four of the cars to be KATO’s cars. On the RailSmith description of this train, explaining that KATO’s cars will help build these Southern Pacific classics!

Thank you to my friends of the N Scale Modutrak group for letting me run this train on their spectacular layout.

Consist- ‘SF Overland’
BLI – PA & PB
Walthers ESPEE Baggage
Walthers ESPEE Baggage
Kato ESPEE Coach
Kato ESPEE Sleeper
Kato ESPEE (Daylight) Lounge
Kato UP Diner
RailSmith Sleeper UP Promontory Summit
RailSmith Sleeper NYC Salmon River
RailSmith ESPEE Sleeper 9030
RailSmith ESPEE Sleeper 9031
Lowell Smith Sig. Series ESPEE Obs. ‘Sacramento’

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