What cars to purchase

[Anonymous]

i have just purchased an HO Amtrak P40 Diesel (athearn) and I wanted to know which passenger cars are supposed to go with it- to keep it authentic? I have read Phase III and where would be the best place to purchase them? which companies?

[Anonymous]

WELCOME ABOARD!

Don Gibson of this forum is a great source of passenger information.
I'm sure he will respond and I will sit back and learn a thing or two.

You might want to amend your topic to show"Passenger" so Don picks it up sooner

[CP5415]

Welcome to the forums!!

In all the pictures that I've see an Amtrak P40, I've always seen them hauling Superliners.
Walthers is the only manufacturer that I've seen that makes them.
I could be wrong about that, since I'm a Canadian & our long distance trains still uses Budd Cars.

Gordon

[Anonymous]

I'd suggest a few Walthers Superliners in your choice of Amtrak paint scheme - if the loco is Phase III I would suggest Phase III cars, though I've seen Phase III locos with Phase IV cars, so it's up to you.

The Superliners come in two variants - Superliner 1 and Superliner 2. As I understand it, the later Superliner 2s were a slightly modified version to meet new regulations on wheelchair access. They also come in Coach/Baggage, Coach, Lounge, Diner and Sleeper variants. From what I've seen a typical train formation is one of each - Coach/Baggage, Coach, Lounge, Diner, Sleeper. There's also something called a "Transition Sleeper" available with the Superliner 2s - this has one high-level diaphragm and one normal-level, so it can be used to couple Superliners to single-deck cars - not sure where these are used though.

You might also want to take a look at Walthers Material Handling Cars and Express boxcars - these are frequently found in trains with Superliners. Bear in mind that Express boxcars must always be at the back of the formation as they don't have through wiring for Head End Power - if they're marshalled at the front in real life the heating/aircon won't work in the passenger cars! MHCs have this through wiring, so you often see one between the locos and passenger cars in photos.

Best place to figure out a prototypical formation would probably be www.railpictures.net - search for photos of the P40DC. Also check out www.walthers.com as they have reference numbers and photos of their models so you can figure out what you want.

Hope this is of help!
Matt

[Anonymous]

bxpress, what's your track curve radius?

Some cars demand 24"

[Anonymous]

Extra info I've just found while researching something else: take a look at www.trainweb.org/web_lurker/AmtrakSuperliner/ for info on these cars such as running numbers, what cars are in service, etc. Hope there's something of use to you there!