Passenger car floor height

[Hunkiedoo]

Does anyone know the height of a prototype passenger car floor above top of rail?
I'm sprucing up some Rivarossi heavyweight passenger cars (new trucks, new couplers., etc.) But now I don't know if I need to shim the trucks, what height to put the coupler, etc. Seems it all depends what height the floor is & I fugured it should be as near to prototypical as possible. Any suggestions?

 

[RailRon]

Hi Hunkiedoo,
welcome aboard on 'The Gauge' - now I'm no longer the newest newbie
In the book 'Passenger Car Plans' the floor height of heavyweight passenger cars is given as 3' - 7 1/2" (metric: 1105 mm).
Since you say Rivarossi heavyweights, I guess you are in H0. This would be 12.7 mm or almost exactly 1/2".
In N scale this translates to 6.9 mm (0.27")
Happy sprucing up!

Ron

BTW: The mentioned book was edited by Walthers, and I own the second edition of 1973. I think it is sold out, but perhaps there are newer editions around. It shows all the floor plans (and possible modifications to create cars of other RR lines) of the - unfortunately long gone - Walthers Craft Train Kits. But it still could be useful for a passenger car fan.

 

[shamus]

Hi Hunkiedoo & Ron, welcome both of you to the gauge.

Hunkiedoo
What you really could do with is the Kadee height gauge, this sits on the rails will give you the right height.

Shamus