Today the window tinting I ordered from Amazon arrived in the mail.  It was a long trip from China via Los Angeles, Houston, and Detroit before being delivered to my home in Fort Worth.....go figure.  I am not 100% satisfied with the tint finish, however I think it looks much better than without the tint.  I applied it this evening, reassembled the car, and applied the decals I had made by Circus City.

I had considered several ways to decorate the business cars.  Two things were important: 1 - they need to look good and 2 - they need to look unique.  My initial thought was to have them all silver, but many railroads did that and the BNSF business cars are all silver.  I have fond memories from my younger days of Southern Railway lightweight cars that were aluminum with black roofs with the classic Southern Logo on the right end.  For the TGN businees car fleet I decided to go that route, but instead the car roofs, trucks, and under-bodies will be painted a dark green.  

Also seen in the paint shop this evening is what will become TGN 8051 - dome car Pelican Vista.  The Rio Bravo is a Walthers Proto 85' Budd 1 Drawing Room 29-Seat Lounge.  On the upside with the Walthers car, the roof comes off, making it easy to paint the separate colors.  On the downside the windows are glued in and need to be masked if the car is going to be painted.  

For the Pelican View I purchased an undecorated Rapido Trains Budd Dome.  This car came with the windows not installed which is great, however the roof is molded into the one-piece carbody shell.  So I traded having to mask the windows for having to mask the roof.  At least the window tinting will be easier to apply on the Rapido car!

These are the first models I have painted with Badger Model-Flex paint.  I am not sure that I am comfortable with it yet...  I decided to go with a darker green than the shade on my locomotives.  The green is Badger Model-Flex 16-192 Western Pacific Green.  The silver is a mixture of Model-Flex 16-32 Santa Fe Silver and 16-193 CB&Q Imitation Aluminum.  The mixture is approximately 75% Santa Fe Silver and 25% CB&Q Imitation Aluminum.

For the Rio Bravo, I will have to mask the windows again before I clear coat the car.  Not looking forward to that; however, I am excited to get a few business cars in service!

​Chris.

Having decided to make the TGN business car fleet a reality, a roster was made, decals comissioned, and the first car purchased.  A Walthers Proto Rock Island 85' Budd 1-Drawing Room 29-Seat Lounge arrived today.  This car will be one of two club lounge cars in the fleet - TGN 8021 the RIO BRAVO.

I think I have finalized the paint scheme.  The fleet will primarily be stainless steel Budd cars.  The roofs and underbodys will be painted a dark green and the sides and ends will be stainless steel.  This is inspired by Southern Railway lightweight cars which sported a black roof.  I believe this scheme will be unique and not confused with other passenger car owners.

Chris