in honor of my upcoming trip to Chicago on the Lake Shore Limited. I am looking for Amfleet Viewliner equipment with modern Amtrak markings in HO sscale. I have the locomotive but I am not finding the rolling stock to go with it. Any ideas where I should look.
Joe Staten Island West
Good luck with that, Joe. Your best bet is going to be Walthers, or brass. Do some searching and see what you find.
You might also have to keep a vigil on Ebay. I'm not even sure if Walthers has any thing still on the market, but worth the look.
They are usually gone as soon as they come out, or go up for sale. If you find any, they are going to be pricey.
Mike.
EDIT: I had to a look at Ebay, nothing in HO, and a few in N.
EDIT: Just checked Walthers, discountinued, and two others, from Precision Scale and Overland sold out.
Maybe your search will yield different results.
My You Tube
HO Viewliner are a white whale. You will spend your life hunting for one then die, because of sticker shock.
They pop up on the bay occasionally.
And command one very large, very shiny, very pretty penny.
So my version of "Lakeshore" has Budd sleepers and coach's instead. (But in the current Phase IV-B scheme.) These stand-in's are much more reasonably priced. (I have a 5 car set for under the price of the locomotive to pull them.)
After all, it's my railroad, so in my little world (Bob Ross proved you can have your own little world and not be clinically insane.) the Budd's were never replaced.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
It seems like a hassle but a good move to make is for you (and to get other modern Amtrak modelers) to contact Walthers and request that another run of Viewliners be produced.
If you are on Facebook, join the Amtrak Modelers group. From my understanding, the majority of the modelers there are "modern era" so you can post a request that fellow Amtrak modelers contact Walthers regarding their interest in the "Viewcans". You'll likely get support.
Imho, it's worth the effort. Athearn came around after receiving plenty of feedback regarding the potential for the SDP40f, which has been a good seller. There has been a mini-campaign for a P30CH. Looks like a manufacturer may be listening.
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
Since this thread started, I've watching Ebay. Even Horizon fleet cars, what few there are, are at least $100.
I think it's time for some manufacturers to step up here. Why is this stuff NOT on a regular re-issue statis?
You can't convince me it would'nt be a constant seller.
EDIT: OH, thats right, thats not the way it works any more. They want to make you a promise of things to come, and get you to pre-order. Lovely.
mbinsewiI think it's time for some manufacturers to step up here. Why is this stuff NOT on a regular re-issue statis?
I was watching the passenger car stock, mainly from Walthers and a few others over the years. In some cases I was replacing older "first-run" Budd and Pullman HO cars with the "plated" equivalents when Walthers made those available.
Seems like it was about two years ago you could really get some bargains — some directly from Walthers in their monthly "flyer" and others from MB Klein, TrainWorld and such.
I bought many Superliner and Amfleet cars along with some of the UP City-of, B&O Capitol, Broadway Limited and others at half price or in some cases around $25. each.
Just about a week ago TrainWorld sent an email with more Walthers passenger car closeouts. The pickings are pretty slim now. I don't see Walthers re-running many of these cars as it seems like it took them forever to sell what they did have.
Whomever decides what cars to produce in what quantity sometimes misses the mark. You can still find 2o th Century Limited Diners and RPOs pretty cheap but the "Creek" series observation cars will fetch close to $200.
Look at the BLI Southern Pacific articulated cars. Twin and Triple unit cars are in the Refurb Depot for, well... cheap! Tons of the Milwaukee Road cars from Fox Valley were gathering dust even at $25 apice.
mbinsewiEDIT: OH, thats right, thats not the way it works any more. They want to make you a promise of things to come, and get you to pre-order.
Yep. Sign of the times. Inventory became a bad word in business circles. Stock sitting on shelves is money that is not "working" for you. Preorder is a way manufacturers can test the waters to see how much interest is out there before a manufacturer ties up investment dollars in R&D, tooling, sourcing, etc. Then add the uncertainty of "will my factory be there tomorrow?" and you can see how fragile the product cycle becomes.
Sad but true. Right now I'm buying up old-stock, new-in-box, Life-Like Proto kits for less than ten dollars. The trucks alone are worth at least that! Talk about over-production.
Imagine walking into a new car showroom and they still had twenty-year old car inventory sitting on the floor?
Cheers, Ed
I guess I will have to settlle for the older scheme cars for now behind my P42 Veterans scheme locomotive that I bought a few years back from the Amtrak store. I am not paying $100 for a car.
For those of you that know manufacturing, invintory has always been a bad word. Used to be that companys had to guess at what would sell and always had a problem with surveys as many who said they wanted something, never came to the plate once it was offered (may, or may not have been their fault). Now with pre-orders, companys know (within reason) if the numbers make sense. Funny thing about investing, those buying always say you are doing it wrong but never cough up the money to do it themselves.
joe323 I am not paying $100 for a car.
Bargains can still be found if you are patient:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Walthers-Proto-HO-Scale-Amtrak-Phase-I-85-Budd-Amfleet-1-Amcafe-920-11242/233150236436?hash=item3648d64714:g:YhAAAOSw~jJcdv7I
These are later run plated cars. This seller has a few other Walthers Amtrak cars.
This is only one example, there are others, or if you use the"saved search" function you will get email notifications of available items.
Good Luck, Ed
Good info, Ed, which made me look. Once in HO scale, I searched for amtrak amfleet, and there are 3 pages. Some of the "plated" cars, and some in the phase 4. A good selection with great starting bid prices.
I watch a few different train cams, when I'm in my office, and you see a few trains that are solid Superliners. A lot of those, in various phases can be found, too.