The
Pennsylvania and New York Central rail roads merged in 1968 and the new entity
was called the Penn Central rail road. Soon after, it was decided that to
remain competitive, the Penn Central had to launch its own commuter/feeder
airline. A short to mid-range aircraft was needed that could make use of the
runways at smaller airports. Convair came to the rescue by offering it's new
Convairail 888 which was the old 880 model with beefed up landing gear and flaps
and its four jets replaced by two 5500 h.p. Pratt & Whitney R 5500 engines.
The new engines gave the Convairail 888 very economical performance and they
could be put in reverse which, when coupled with the modified flaps, provided
excellent short-field capability.
Click on
images below to see larger images
The
new Convairail 888 (dubbed the "8-8-8" in railroad fashion by
Penn Central crews) went into service on the Sharon to Pittsburgh and
Elmira to Buffalo run in November, 1969. Business travellers appreciated
the speed with which they were able to travel from small hamlets along the
Penn Central line to major eastern cities.
Unfortunately, nothing could keep most railroads viable and the Penn
Central folded in 1976, its passenger service being taken over by AmTrak.
The Convairail 8-8-8s were retired except for three which were used by
AmTrak commissioners. The last 8-8-8 was sent to the scrap heap in 1979
after having been bought at auction by the Buffalo Springfield and flown
on their North American tour. The only remnant of that once graceful
aircraft is this travel agent's desk model found at the Saratoga Springs
Summer Swap Meet and Buffalo Wing festival.
The basis for this
project was the ancient box-scale Glencoe Convair 880. I replaced the kit's four
jet engines with two piston engines made from spare parts. The cockpit
"glass" was made using Elmer's Glue and the passenger windows and
the rest of the model were brush-painted by hand with acrylics. The Penn Central
decals are from an N scale sheet from Microscale. If you look close, you
can see boxcar weight tables and electric access panels. The shot at the bottom
was a bit of photoshopping done for me by a good friend.
Bri2k
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