American & Canadian Passenger Train Operations on your model railroad

[METRO]

It's ALL about moving people on my line. I model two competing commuter lines (GO Transit and the freelance Selenian Lines Commission), Amtrak, VIA, Ontario Northland, Canadian Pacific, and the Toronto Transit Commission! They all run some kind of passenger. Freight really plays seccond string to my streamliners.

I'm also starting a small N-scale shelf layout and it will be purely passenger, based upon Japan's JR West line.

[Anonymous]

Mostly heavyweight varnish on my line (B&O, Southern, Blue Goose, Blue comet, UP Portland Rose, Rio Grande, Burlington Northern,

[Anonymous]

I model Swiss narrow gauge - passenger trains are the rule not the exception. On the RhB (Rhatische Bahn) the rails are kept busy all day long in well into the night with hourly expresses and local services. In the summer season the Glacier Express often runs to 10 or more cars. As I only have a smallish Om scale layout I have to limit mine to 6 cars, but this is also a common length, so I am happy. I do run some freights, but my main love is the Passenger service, so my prototype fits my desires exactly.

[Anonymous]

Antonio--

Glad you liked them! Happy Easter to you as well!

--John

[douginut]

I run TROLLEYS!
a little trolley freight at times and package express but TROLLEYS.
everything I do in MRRing is PASSENGER first.


Doug In Utah

[AntonioFP45]

Fiverings,[:D]

Those Trainsfest videos were outstanding!

Thanks![:)][:D][8D][;)][8)]

Happy Easter!

[Anonymous]

For video clips--some including sound--of passenger trains on a large HO scale club layout go to:

http://www.napmltd.org/napmlttf03.htm

[AntonioFP45]

Does anyone run "Operation Lifesaver" excursion trains?

What's really neat about this is that for the past twenty years these "specials" have been pulled by steamers and diesels. So modelers with 1st, 2nd 3rd generation diesels as well as steamers like the C&O 4-8-4 #614 or the Nickel Plate #765, could run a passenger Operation LIfesaver special on their layout if the theme is dated from the 1980s to today. Streamlined and Heavyweight cars are used depending on the host railroad, sponsers, private car owners, etc. Worth the research. [;)][8D][:)]

Just a thought exploring some neat possibilities. For as long as I've been a modeler, I've never seen pictures of anyone modeling an OLS train.[swg][tup]

Happy Easter!

[CP5415]

Ok, so I'm expanding passenger service by adding a 3 car GO train consist to go help with my Walthers D&H + VIA Dome Cars, my IHC CPR Coaches & my Kato Obs car.

Gordon

[joseph2]

dxr8007,the UP and BNSF share the Tehachapi Loop and the Cajon Pass as far as I know anyhow. Unsure who was there first the Southern Pacific or the Santa Fe.But the SP was bought by the UP and the ATSF merged with the BN.

[Anonymous]

Well, as I model the Rio Grande, I have the RG Zypher, and the Prospector. I also have a KCS bussiness train. No AMTRAK.

[Anonymous]

Amtrak for me

DOGGY

[Anonymous]

I do not have a layout yet, but when I do I'd like to have a set of Rivarossi or Branchline heavyweights pulled by a steamer. Once I get the money, I think I will also detail a set of WAlthers Budd cars to look like the Denver Zephyr.

[Anonymous]

I personally enjoy running mainly Amtrak passenger operations on my work in progress layout. Mine is set so the Amtrak equipment is very much like that of 1997-2000 eastern operations, and the freight on the line is Conrail. I mainly run the Lake Shore Limited, and at times my consists can reach 14 cars in length, making a quite impressive train in my opinion. Gotta love the looks of the Athearn AMD-103s, they look awesome at the head of my Amtrak trains.

[Anonymous]

I am deaf student
I come from New Zealand (Auckland)
My vote is passenger (pre-Amtrak) & Frieght Trains
I just start new layout 4 feet & 9 feet n scale

any body know about tehachapi pass which company they use BNSF or UP or other company railroad ?


I would like to share information
Thank you
cheer
dxr8007

[CBQ_Guy]

I will be modeling part of the CB&Q double track mainline between Galesburg and Chicago in late 1969, so some of the name trains - Zephyrs and a couple locals - will be plying the rails. Some of these will be carrying head end cars, some of which will be dropped and picked on the layout at my city area freight house and REA facility.

The rest of the basement is to be a fictional, proto-lanced Burlington, rural brancline. I am toying with using a Burlington "Doodlebug" pulling a heavyweight coach possibly, as a "commuter" run for workers at the mine at the end of the branch. I will also have an accomondation/commuter type train consisting of a Chinese Red and Gray SD-7/9 pulling an Athearn too short passenger car or two with maybe a shortie heavyweight combine or coach. Haven't worked all this out to finally say for sure, yet.

[Anonymous]

Passenger trains have never done anything for me, so I have no passenger models. I don't know why I've never cared for passenger trains, but perhaps because they just appear so bland to my eyes. I've always been a freight guy.

That, and as a prototype modeler whose prototype line has had no passenger trains on it since 1929, it is rather hard to justify having Amtrak or whatever on it.

[Anonymous]

I run mainly 4-5 car business/excursion trains. Not much into freight trains.
Ch

[Anonymous]

We have two passenger lines on our N-scale layout. There is a B & O passenger terminal and a "Woodstock Railway Co." (member's personal roadname). But the biggest use of the layout by far is the coal hauling from two separate mines. I believe plans are to use both the B & O and the WRR locomotives to haul each other's passenger cars. My dad told me that when he would ride the B & O up to Detroit, the train would disengage from the B & O loco in Toledo and a Pere Marquette loco would take the B & O cars the rest of the way to Detroit.

[Anonymous]

I'll run mostly freights with some commuter, busness, and Amtrak trains. I'll run railfan trips with PRR K4 #1361. I hope to find two E8s I could paint for the PRR.

[Bobwright]

I run a Short Amtrak passing The Amtrak station at South Bend, my home town. I include one Standard passenger car from the "Hoosier Line".
The Erie has six passenger cars including "Pride of Youngstown", My High school town
Eight Pullman Standard cars follow a GG1 for my Pennsylvania runs.
On the B&O a president Washington 2-6-2 pulls 5 to 8 cars.
The UP has a Big Boy to pull about 16 freight cars.
My present task is to put together the Ford Stamping plant, the assembly plant and the head quarters building, Louisville my college town. These will be served by 5 automoble cars, 4 L & N historical society cars. Working on the Louisville Slugger Museum.
I is almost too much fun for one household.[:D]

[ShaunCN]

I run a Amtrack pasenger train on my layout as well as the many frieght trains . My passenger trains stay short due to a small layout (11x4 feet) I have a Amtrack F7 a & b unit for power and 2 observation cars and a car with a curved end.(only one coupler on it so I guesse it goes on the end)????

ShaunCN

[Anonymous]

Since I am free-lancing with no particular era, (1930's and up), I have a mixed bag of both, although I am careful not to pull a combine. That just wouldn't look right now would it?

[Big_Boy_4005]

Amtrak is what my layout is designed around. The route of the Amtrak Empire Builder through the Twin Cities, makes for an interesting setting. Fron Chicago to St Paul Amtrak uses CP tracks, and from St Paul to Seattle it uses BNSF. Of course there is only one Empire Builder each way each day, but then most places in the US don't even have that much passenger rail service these days. But with 2 class 1 railroads, there's plenty of freight.

I hope its alright if I answered this one, I run O guage trains.[:D]

[AntonioFP45]

Great responses and what a nice varitety!

I like a mix of freight and passenger. Mainly southeastern US, 1960s. Seaboard Coast LIne. All Rivorossi cars. Got rid of the Athearns. Planning to model 12 car versions of the "Champion" and the "Silver" series trains. I also own a 4 car Bachmann Metroliner set. The little 3-pole motor is a factory "junker" but the cars look great. I'm stripping them with 90% alcohol and repainting them into the all stainless steel Penn Central scheme using the "Alclad" method (check out the JUNE 2003 issue of MRR on painting pass cars to look more like stainless steel). I'm remotoring one of the Metroliner cars with a NWSL motor. I've like old MU Metroliner trains as they were known for running at 100 mph plus on the Northeast corrider under Penn Central and later Amtrak ownership. It saddened me when Amtrak retired and scrapped most of them. Their is supposedly one preserved somewhere up north, thankfully.

After having read some of your threads, I realize that I too like a variety of pass. trains. I've decided to get New York Central, New Haven, Southern Railway, and Santa Fe cars for short local type trains. I'm not rich, I'll just buy one at a time.

All cars will have interiors and lighting. Will be using white LEDs with the blue hue to represent flourescent lighting. They don't get as hot as bulbs and have very long life spans.

[Anonymous]

Although I voted pre-Amtrak and freight, I run a superliner set along with my Burlington Zephyr traain and am working on a MIlwaukee Road Hiawatha train (in N Scale). I just like seeing those trains stretch out on the layout. I alternate their movements with the freights, so there is always something moving.

[AggroJones]

QUOTE: Originally posted by 4884bigboy

My UP layout will have passenger trains, but will be mostly frieght. the era is 1940-1960, and I think that's before Amtrak was around.

If you have some curves at least 24" radius, you should check out the new Rivarossi smoothsider sets. (If cash permits you) They are quite lovely, especially the 2-tone gray ones. [^] Headed up by an FEF-3, makes a spectacular train.

[Anonymous]

For the present, mine are totally passenger.

[cnw4001]

I operate on a club layout and have a variety of passenger trains. I have a complete L&N Hummingbird or the Pan-American, depends upon what you want to call same. I have a CNW 400 with a pair of E's on the point, a CNW Bi-level commuter set pulled by an F. I can run the California Zepher (Superliners) or the Capitol Limited (Superliners again), Three Rivers complete with Road Railers and express cars, pick any Heritage (single level) Amtrak. Power for the Amtrak stuff varies from the SDF45's with the red nose to P40/42's or P 32's or F40PH's. If I'm in a nostalgia mood, out comes the Powhatan Arrow pulled by an N&W J. Just so our friends up north aren't left out I have a pair of VIA F40PH's pulling the smooth side (ex-CN) Continental with the all blue and yellow trim cars. To keep the Canadians on their way to work in Toronto there are a pair of six car Bombardier GO Trains, one pulled by an F40 and the other a GP40T. (Also in GO livery) I may have missed something here but If I'm not clogging up the line enough my wife can roll by with her NKP Passenger train pulled by a pair of PA's or perhaps a NKP Berkshire. Rest of the club folks have a combination of PRR and B&O passenger which occasionally come out on the line but they're the freight haulers who are always holding somewhere for a varni***o pass them. Oh, almost forgot, from time to time we have a SNCF engine pulling a LePost demonstration train over the main and in addtion to the postal cars there are a couple of SNCF coaches on the rear.

The benefits of having a club layout as your "basement."

[rf16a]

I usually ran freight about 97% of the time with occasional passenger trains pulled by a Pennsy K-4s or a PRSL AS-16, however, I just purchased a Broadway Limited Imports Pennsylvania Railroad T-1, so I'm dusting off my passenger cars and instituting additional passenger service.

I'd also like to eventually add PRSL RDCs and a Doodlebug to the passenger fleet.

Someday I may add an Amtrak train with lots of roadrailers and MHC's, but for now my limited hobby budget will go to PRR equipment.