I want to model an Amtrak Trainset that ran on the surf line in the 90's, but am unsure how many variations there were. I know Superliners in the phase III scheme were used for a little bit until the Surfliner sets entered service.
Any photos would be a helpful refrence.
Pentrex has a DVD that combines two videos shot by Video Rails in the mid 90's. One video details the Surfline station by station with lots of arrivals/ departures/ runbys. The other video is a cab ride in a General Electric P32-8BWH operating the route. Equipment was Amfleet in Phase III scheme. The DVD is a available from Pentrex's website.
From 1990 to mid-1996, I was working right next to the AT&SF Surf Line through Sorrento Valley. Amrak equipment in that era was typically Amfleet running push-pull with the de-motored Metroliner cars as the cab car. The cab car would almost invariably have flat spots on the wheels. This was quite a contrast to the Coaster service starting up in that era where the trains were almost always free of flat spots.
- Erik
I remember riding in a Superliner coach on the surfline in the 1990's. Were they used in the forth quarter of 1996 onward?
I don't remember seeing Superliner transets on the surfline - which is emphatically not to say they weren't used on the surfline. FWIW, as of the end of 2014 there was one Amfleet/horizon trainset used on the Surfline. At that time, the trainsets with Pacific Surfliner cars usually had one Superliner coach.
I think F40PH and Amfleet cars on the San Diego service date back to September 1977 at least and I have a photo (somewhere) of one of the first ten F40PH (ie numbered 20x) on an Amfleet train in the old ATSF depot. I was pretty impressed at the time by this brand new equipment.
I also recall riding a train to San Diego which had an Ex Metroliner cab car (I think on the south end) in 1988, not sure of the month.
I'd be surprised if this had changed by 1990.
M636C
Amtrak's San Diegan's were using Amfleet cars in 1976, but not sure if the had the F40PH or generator equipped SDP40F. The Ex Metroliner cab cars were running well into the 1990's, could hear the flat spots while at work - the tracks were about 50 to 60 feet from the door to the high bay.
erikem Amtrak's San Diegan's were using Amfleet cars in 1976, but not sure if the had the F40PH or generator equipped SDP40F. The Ex Metroliner cab cars were running well into the 1990's, could hear the flat spots while at work - the tracks were about 50 to 60 feet from the door to the high bay.
I don't think SDP40Fs were ever actually fitted with generator sets. I've seen drawings, but later in 1977 I rode the Empire Builder east to Chicago with four SDP40F units, two of which were destined to be "rebuilt" as F40PHR units. I think we saw SDP40Fs out the back at EMD, where only the engine and alternator were used.
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