WP Cailifornia Zephyr-HO models

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Texas Zepher

QUOTE: Originally posted by bnsf97
I think Im going to dive right in and "invest" in some BLI!!!!!! Hopefully they dont run out of stock or stop producing them before I have a chance to purchase them all!!!!

Almost every place I know of is already out of stock from the first run. There is supposed to be a second run but from what I can tell everyone who missed out on the first run has already pre-ordered from the second. It will probably go quicker than the first.

I am normally in the "never pre-order" camp of consumerism, but in this case probably that was wrong. My LHS currently has about six of the "Silver Mustang" dome car left on the shelf. Thats it. 95% of the stock they ordered never got to the shelf. They ordered more of the CZ cars than any other LHS and even sucked some of the equipment from other hobby stores. While I still got two whole 12 car trains, I still didn't get the exact cars I wanted.

My only hope to collect the complete set (38 lettered, 9x2 unlettered) is that because they sold so well, BLI will continue to produce them.

I preordered the sixteen cars that I wanted from Caboose Hobbies and they delivered them as requested. The second set of cars should allow you to preorder what you need even if you have to order from more than one dealer to get them.

[Texas Zepher]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bnsf97
I think Im going to dive right in and "invest" in some BLI!!!!!! Hopefully they dont run out of stock or stop producing them before I have a chance to purchase them all!!!!

Almost every place I know of is already out of stock from the first run. There is supposed to be a second run but from what I can tell everyone who missed out on the first run has already pre-ordered from the second. It will probably go quicker than the first.

I am normally in the "never pre-order" camp of consumerism, but in this case probably that was wrong. My LHS currently has about six of the "Silver Mustang" dome car left on the shelf. Thats it. 95% of the stock they ordered never got to the shelf. They ordered more of the CZ cars than any other LHS and even sucked some of the equipment from other hobby stores. While I still got two whole 12 car trains, I still didn't get the exact cars I wanted.

My only hope to collect the complete set (38 lettered, 9x2 unlettered) is that because they sold so well, BLI will continue to produce them.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by newusername

Athearn produced their 72' streamliner passenger cars in a California Zephyr paint scheme as part of their "blue box" series in 1996 that sold for around $10.50 each. The kit numbers were 2111 = baggage, 2121 = diner, 2131 = 67' RPO, 2141 = coach, 2151 = vista dome, and 2161 = observation. Bev-Bel also produced a set of Athearn's streamliner cars for the CZ and that was probably in the late 1980's or early 1990's.

The Athearn cars were generic, but might be available at train shows when individuals sell used items. They should be rather cheap at shows if you can find any.

The BLI cars are probably the best available by today's standards and compared to any of the brass ones made prior to this, the BLI cars are a bargain. I noticed that many of the brass Zephyr cars and complete train sets have become available since the BLI cars hit the market. They are still priced at $400 plus per car for the latest brass with interiors and great detail in most cases but are not selling like hot cakes for sure. Getting back to BLI cars, they are high today for the plastic market and like any other used train items, will not hold their price over the years. I visited a dealer recently and list price was the standard price for the BLI locally. It seems they sold so well, the price was not discounted any of the usual amount.

BLI will continue to bring in other passenger cars and these will be run again in smaller groups as demand warrants the need for more cars.

[Anonymous]

Ok, thanks again for the info

[newusername]

Athearn produced their 72' streamliner passenger cars in a California Zephyr paint scheme as part of their "blue box" series in 1996 that sold for around $10.50 each. The kit numbers were 2111 = baggage, 2121 = diner, 2131 = 67' RPO, 2141 = coach, 2151 = vista dome, and 2161 = observation. Bev-Bel also produced a set of Athearn's streamliner cars for the CZ and that was probably in the late 1980's or early 1990's.

[mlehman]

Ben,
I heard from my dealer that the next shipment of BLI CZ cars should be arriving anytime. These will help fill the remainder of those ordered previously, as the first round of shipments was shorted to many dealers.

There is lots of demand for these cars. If you can't find some that aren't spoken for, there will likely be more, given the warm reception they have received by modelers.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL

[Anonymous]

Well Mike, as you put it "my investment" sounds about right to me. I think Im going to dive right in and "invest" in some BLI!!!!!! Hopefully they dont run out of stock or stop producing them before I have a chance to purchase them all!!!! Thanks alot guys, Ben

[mlehman]

Hi Ben,
Well, expensive is all relative. The BLI CZ cars cost about a fifth of what new brass would run. I'm very happy with my investment in them, but yes, it's not chicken-feed on my tight modeling budget. But I also realize that others may be less fortunate than I.

IHC produced cars lettered for the CZ. I have some, which are in the 666X part# range. I located four of mine -- I may have more stashed somewhere -- that are these part numbers: 6660 (grill), 6661(coach), 6662(roomette), and 6663(obs).

Unfortunately, these are generic cars that have been lettered for the CZ. If you know what a CZ car looks like, you can kind of squint at them and imagine they might be the CZ, but it's really not even close.

That said, these should be showing up on Ebay with the BLI CZ cars being out as modelers who can afford it upgrade to the BLI models. I'll likely be selling most of my stock of surplus miscellaneous DRGW IHC and Rivarossi passenger cars as soon as I get a chance -- which will unfortunately be at least mid-May, since I'm a grad student. I'll keep a few of the closer-to-prototype ones as stand-ins.

So keep your eye open and you should be able to pick up the IHC cars relatively cheap, since these weren't expensive cars to begin with. I've seen similar 8-car sets of IHC and Rivarossi passenger cars going for well under $100 on Ebay, so patient checking by saving the stuff you're looking for under Ebay's "search" feature will probably yield you an inexpensive although somewhat unprototypical CZ set. Some of these cars may also still be on dealer shops, so look around and you can probably find a budget CZ.

Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL

[Texas Zepher]

Con-cor has produced the Budd dome, but you will have to fabricate skirts for it. The reason the CZ cars look so different from other corregated side cars is the skirts. Other railroads often discarded the skirts after one or two times in the shop. The CZ kept them.

[Don Gibson]

ConCor made Generic Budd obs., 10-6, Domes, and Baggage, but Diner and Coaches weren't Kosher, but had 'California Zephyr' on them. They had plastic wheels, Talgo mounted horn-hook's, and sold for $20 a car, too.

Mine have JB wheels, body mount KD's, and NMRA weight's, and Mar's and marker light's added, and make a good running and looking train with my WP FP-7's.

[Anonymous]

Are there any other Cal Zephyr models besides the BLI???
Those are very nice but VERY expensive! Does Walthers plan on making any? Athearn RTR? Anyone? Thanks-Ben