SWCS Budd Style Hi Level Cars

SWCS Budd Style Hi Level Cars V1. 2

V1. 2: Updated the Text to no longer be forced Black on all cars. Now cars default to the Vanilla Gold text, but can be changed by the User.

From the Southwest Car Shops we bring you a set of 10 Budd Style Hi Level Passenger Cars. These cars are based on Fluted Budd Prototypes for the Santa Fe Railroad. They are not 100% accurate, but hopefully give the feel of Hi Level Cars.

The Hi Level cars were designed and built by the Budd Company for the Santa Fe Railroad in the 1950's. After a successful run of 2 prototype cars on the Santa Fe's El Capitan in 1954, Budd built more cars and they were officially introduced to the Santa Fe's El Capitan service in 1956 and later the San Francisco Chief and Combine Super Chief/El Capitan.

Budd built 5 car types for the Santa Fe 3 coaches, transition coaches with doors on the forward or rear end of the cars to allow for movement from Single Level to Hi Level heights, along with a Coach with doors at the Hi Level height on both ends. Additionally, Budd built a Dining Car and Lounge with Doors at Hi Level heights. Finally, the Santa Fe converted 6 of their baggage cars and turned them into baggage-dormitory cars with a spoiler added at one end to create a visual transition from Single Level to Hi Level Height.

After the fall of Passenger Service in the United States, these cars were transferred over to Amtrak. In Amtrak service, they saw service all over the country and were the precursors to the famous Superliner cars. Hi Levels and Superliners were commonly used together, and while Superliners outlived the Hi Levels, Hi Levels were still in service on Amtrak until 2018. Making these cars perfect for use in-game period saves, or completely modded modern saves.

REQUIRES LEGOMANS BETTER PASSENGER + BETTER ROLLING STOCK + V2 LOGOS AND DECALS MODS and SWCS BUDD STYLE TRUCKS to work correctly

Included in this pack are representations of the original 6 car types as built from Budd and the Santa Fe, along with 4 Freelanced Versions. The Freelanced Versions include 3 coach variants adding 16 extra seats to the bottom level of the car, similar to modern Superliner Coaches today. Additionally, I have included a Freelanced Observation car, loosely based on the design for a Hi Level Business car drawn up but never produced by the Santa Fe, though this version features coach seating, along with lounge space and observation windows.

Passenger Cars