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Having a ball with Amtrak!...

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  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,367 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 12:58 PM

dknelson

And remember when Amtrak had its own RoadRailers.   Some of the cross country Amtrak trains got to be really long back then.

Dave Nelson

 

I remember, Dave!

There was a time when the RoadRailers and package express MHCs made up 80% (or more!) of the train!

Bowser makes a pretty respectable RoadRailer suitable for Amtrak use and if you follow it up with a Ring Engineering flashing FRED you have a pretty neat looking train...

Ed

  • Member since
    March 2002
  • From: Milwaukee WI (Fox Point)
  • 11,439 posts
Posted by dknelson on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 12:26 PM

And remember when Amtrak had its own RoadRailers.   Some of the cross country Amtrak trains got to be really long back then.

Dave Nelson

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Central Vermont
  • 4,565 posts
Posted by cowman on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 12:02 PM

Having fun is what it's all about, isn't it?

Though I model the transition era, I drool over Amtrak Phase II or III, F-40's and simple babbage, coaches and cafe.  Not that most folks could notice if there was a sleeper in the group, didn't have many around here.  No domes, couldn't get them through the Bellows Falls undertown tunnel. 

If I was rich instead of (whatever I am) I might have fallen to my desire for an F-40 and some cars at the recent train show.  Wife doesn't object often, but that might have been a bit much with her pending retirement income reduction.

Keep enjoying,

Richard

  • Member since
    December 2011
  • 27 posts
Posted by wigman on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 11:53 AM

I've been collecting Amtrak for about 2 years now - 40 year collector here - mainly because of the vast variety of attractive equipment Amtrak has had in their history, from GG-1's right up to the most modern car and locos.  Amazing the different stuff they have used.

Don't tell my wife.....lol

 

Wig

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,367 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 2:59 AM

I, too, enjoy running an occasional Amtrak train on my empire! It's what I grew up with and am familiar with. Can't believe the 40 year anniversary was already three years ago! I was there when Amtrak (Railpax!) was born.

I just picked up a Walthers proto E-8 (ex SCL) and I have a pair of F-40s and an AEM-7 as well. I have a BUNCH of the first run Superliners and now I want to replace them all with the plated ones.

Don't forget, you can pick up a few pieces of "Private Varnish" since Amtrak will handle Private cars and these will make a colorful and interesting addition to your consist. They can be run "deadheaded" on the head end or "Properly pointed" at the rear. In some ways its nice that Amtrak isn't hauling all those MHCs at the rear anymore.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=186634&nseq=77 One of my favorite shots!

When you see some of the Walthers passenger cars go on sale you can get some to run as PVs on any of your Amtrak trains. Watch some of the YouTube videos and search "Amtrak with private cars"

Have fun, Ed

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: Southeast Texas
  • 2,392 posts
Having a ball with Amtrak!...
Posted by Tracklayer on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 1:16 AM

Hello everyone. As some of you might recall, I recently aquired a complete Amtrak phase III set that included two F-40s, two P-42s, four material handling cars, two baggage cars and both the A and B superliner sets. Then after watching several Amtrak videos and getting new ideas I also purchased the phase IV A & B superliner sets and baggage car. Anyways, up until now I never realized all of the different combinations that Amtrak lashed up their equipment back in the early to late 1990s... Sometimes it would be the F-40s, a few material handling cars, a baggage car and one of each superliner cars and at other times it would be a P-42 and an F-40 with no material handling cars, two baggage cars all in phase III with all phase IV superliners or a mixture of both phases. I always used to think that they always had the coaches up front and the sleepers to the rear but that wasn't always the case. To sum it up, I've really been enjoying myself studying and modeling this particular train. However, I promised myself early on that I wouldn't model past the late 90s but then I saw a photo of two phase V P-42s pulling an all phase IV consist and I had to have them too which brought me up to about 2005 give or take a couple of years but that's okay because it's a great looking train. Not to sound silly with all of this but I just wanted to share my excitement with those that are interested and know where I'm coming from.

Tracklayer  

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