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Post by slowfreight on Dec 24, 2017 23:15:51 GMT -5
MODEL SUGGESTIONS 1) 1971-1981 auto-train 2) 1960s SEABOARD 'SILVER METEOR 3) RTG-RTL Turboliners However if Walthers would spend more time just "finishing" up the trains they produce we would have most of the Amtrak fleet available. For example: Where are the ATSF Hilevels in phase 3 and 4?? Where are the "REGAL" sleepers for the 1971-81 era SUPER CHIEF/SW LMTD?? (also useful for auto-train) They have done none of the CAP LMTD, UP Cities Fleet, ATSF SF CHIEF, or C&O train cars in Amtrak. The MAINLINE Baggage Lounge (WAB/NW/Ap1) was only a phase 1 car, they did it in ph3. PLEASE less fakes: heritage fleet in PH4, EVERYTHING in UP!!Headend SCL Budd stainless cars, but not the PS 52 seat coach?? My $0.02. I agree on the hilevels. They haven't come out in the schemes that actually ran for any length of time. It seems to me that Walthers gets scared about running more of a model that doesn't sell well when they made it in an incorrect scheme. And I can't get over the PH4 RPO! It's great for kitbashing parts, but I don't really need to scrap out any more of them. I have a suspicion that the Turboliners will eventually come from Rapido, so fear not. What's left to do for Auto-Train? I know Walthers did the original ex-CN cars; the U36Bs are here finally(!)...what other cars for either AT or AMTK would be needed? It might be doable to kitbash the modern racks from Walthers bilevel racks, but that would seem to be a good starting point.
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Post by backshophoss on Dec 25, 2017 17:58:36 GMT -5
rfpmodeleditor,Welcome to the board,As Beech Grove did the HEP conversions of the ex-ATSF "El-Cap" Hi-level cars they wound up in ph III paint and ran in mixed Superliner/"El-Cap" cars consists,believe the only major change was the remanufactuer of the Step up/down coaches to Crew dorms untill the Super II trans sleeper was built. Believe only the "Sky Lounges" retained for the "Pacific Parlor" service got ph IV(b) scheme.
Auto-Train was a private ownership operation in the early years of Amtrak, and competed with Amtrak on some car types,the Auto carriers were ex-CN,their U-36B's were built to SCL specs,had a couple of steam loco tenders converted to Steam Generators,had more "Big Domes" in consist. A good chunk of their passenger car fleet were ex-UP
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Post by rails4dmv on Apr 15, 2018 10:18:36 GMT -5
Looks like the Walthers C&O George Washington is about to hit the streets soon. So it's time to start guessing what the next Walthers name train will be.
My guess is the Southern Crescent or Illinois Central Panama Limited.
I personally would prefer the Seaboard Silver Meteor or the EL Phoebe Snow, but God help me if its another UP or Santa Fe train again....
At this point, I'd be happy if Walthers would go back to releasing individual passenger cars again.
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Post by backshophoss on Apr 15, 2018 17:10:16 GMT -5
Walters tends to go to Named trains that have National following,the named regional train tend to get overlooked They might be getting ready to do one of the SCL trains to Florida next,The Silver Meteor or Silver Star,depending on what the licensing fee CSX wants upfront. MY other Pick would be the Southern Cresent,with the New York to LA coach and sleeper that were handed over to SP at New Orleans. If Walters finally got the OK to run the View II HO scale cars,Amtrak versions of the above could be done!
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Post by rails4dmv on Apr 17, 2018 19:52:05 GMT -5
Well, I'm officially done with Walthers!! The next name train is the 1960 Union Pacific City of Los Angeles!
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Post by slowfreight on Apr 18, 2018 0:29:24 GMT -5
Well, I'm officially done with Walthers!! The next name train is the 1960 Union Pacific City of Los Angeles! Yawn. If all they want to do is reuse tooling, I think this group could give a list of 20 or 30 things Walthers could sell if it were just released in correct paint schemes. Often, we wouldn't even need much for detail changes off past releases.
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Post by backshophoss on Apr 18, 2018 2:35:48 GMT -5
UP,Should make the Club president happy. Didn't this train become the "City of Everywhere" with section to Portland getting cutoff at Ogden Ut?
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Post by rails4dmv on May 9, 2018 10:00:39 GMT -5
Since many of these cars made it into the Amtrak pool after the merger, wouldn't it have been a good idea to release these same UP cars in Amtrak Phase 1, 2 & 3?
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Post by backshophoss on May 9, 2018 17:41:58 GMT -5
Most of UP's passenger fleet wound up in the Auto Train fleet when it was a pvt company,Amtrak "cherry-picked" the best cars from the UP fleet. A mixed bag consist was possible in the "Rainbow Era" with Amtrak ph I and what ever cars were available to use.
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Post by backshophoss on Dec 14, 2018 2:21:58 GMT -5
Again the Next "Named train" from Walters "wish list" has started again, pleading for Phoebe Snow, Lake Cities or The Blue Comet. They are well known in the eastern US but not Nationally or Internationally. UP should be played out by now. Hopefully Walters will pick the SR Southern Crescent, that joined Amtrak years later, OR One of the SCL/ACL Florida "Silver service" trains during peak season, OR The Montrealer,PRR,NH ,CV international train from Wash DC to Montreal, OR SP's Coast Daylight,LA-SFO, OR SP's Sunset LTD with the Transconn Sleeper from NYC off the Crescent at New Orleans to LAUPT.
We can only hope.
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Post by slowfreight on Dec 15, 2018 17:32:41 GMT -5
Did the Jersey Builder count as a named train?
I think it's clear all creativity and/or market understanding has fled Walthers.
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Post by backshophoss on Dec 15, 2018 20:07:45 GMT -5
Jersey Builder or Bay Head Builder were names given by local Railfans as the influx of ex GN or BN coaches made their way to the NY & Long Branch as it was known back then. One of the last major purchases done by NJDOT, before NJT was created, and the CR spin off of Commuter services.
There was 1 train that got tagged the Bay Head Comet that had a commuter club owned HW OBS that was CNJ owned at one point in time,
After NJT was created,became it's "Biz" car for a while and painted in the Disco scheme!
The "New York & Long Branch" was a joint commuter operation shared by CNJ and PRR, then CNJ and PC, combined by CR,
then handed over to NJT.
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Post by backshophoss on Dec 16, 2018 17:33:46 GMT -5
This is most likely a waay outside chance,how about IC's City of New Orleans,well known thru a song authored by Arlo Guthrie.
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Post by backshophoss on Mar 4, 2019 16:48:48 GMT -5
Well,this is a way to get known on a "National basis",re: "The Blue Comet" CNJ's Jersey City - Atlantic City,after a connecting Ferry from Manhattan,was part of an episode of HBO's "Sopranos" tv series. Credit for this gem goes to British "Model Rail's" editor Richard Foster,on the Jan'19 issue pg 146 Backscene column. Not sure of season/episode # ,mobster/Tin-plate modeler"Bobby Baccalieri" while at the LHS to buy a Lionel Blue Comet model. While discussion of the "Blue Comet's" history continues,the "hit" is done and the remains fall on the store's display layout! There's a spoiler alert here,watch that episode. The Tin-plate layout still lives! www.tmbmodeltrainclub.com for details. At least it's not the "Gomez Addams" tin-plate Cornfield meet!
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Post by backshophoss on Apr 14, 2019 16:38:50 GMT -5
Well,Walters will "announce" it's pick on Wed 04/17/19 on Facebook,around 1:00 PM CDT. From a "hint" posted,it might be MILW's Olympian Hiawatha,which allows Walters to reuse some of the original tooling for the Skytop OBS and MILW's big domes. May have eithor E-8's or F-7's as power,would allow the use of the MILW Boxcab Motors or "Little Joe's" under their DC powered Wire in the west. Well it turns out to be a "re-run" of the Twin Cities Hi in Orange/Brown and UP yellow/grey schemes AND a "NEW" Proto FP-7 has been selected to be the power of this name train.
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