I'm pursuing a project to scratchbuild the Amtrak Metroliner M.U. I have some old Bachmann parts ( Car body & powered car-don't work) as a basis. Can I get some advice on how to pursue this .
Ernie Ern
Ernie Ern I'm pursuing a project to scratchbuild the Amtrak Metroliner M.U. I have some old Bachmann parts ( Car body & powered car-don't work) as a basis. Can I get some advice on how to pursue this . Ernie Ern
I would suggest that you remotor the power car. That will require disassembly and cleaning all of the parts. You may find you'll need to change the gears or at least clean them as well. This is not a job for the feignt at heart so be forwarned.
I have an old Bachman Metroliner in N-scale. I will leave it alone as it never ran well from the day I got some time in the early 1980s. It's been a drawer since I gave up on doing anything with it back then. It's oone of the reasons I won't buy anything with the Bachman name on it anymore.
Irv
I have one of those from my Dad. It's in my rebuild pile. As best I can remember the electrical pick up was bad with one side having rubber tires(which are bad themselves now). My approach was going to be using a NWSL "truck motor" which their new version is now DCC friendly. Flea or Stanton drive on website below:
http://www.nwsl.com/motors-power-drives
My biggest concern with this approach is getting one with enough speed. If this is a problem, you can try to rebuild the current motor/wheels by changing out the wheelset and being careful on electrical pickup/shorts.
The other truck will probably require adding electrical pick up on the other side.
As Corsair7 said, not for the faint of heart.
Richard
Boy, memories. Years ago (like 30) PFM had a self contained powered truck caled SPUD that was perfect for a Metroliner. It made mine into rocketships and was totaly under the body. Worked for me.
Hi, I've been slowly working on a batch of Bachmann Metroliners that I've acquired over the years. Been metalizing them with Alclad 2 #107, and am going to decal them into Penn Central (and one Pennsy unit). I've been taking too long, actually, a plan on jumping back in and finish them up. One car will be powered, but all will have interior lighting. One other dummy car will have headlights as well for realistic running in an opposing direction (a scale "push-pull").
This is how I want my units to look when I'm finished:
For powering options a modeler Green_Elite_Cab on another forum, who hopped up his Metros, suggested to go with an NWSL Stanton Drive. http://www.nwsl.com/motors-power-drives/stanton-drive For Metroliners, you'd need the 9 foot truck with 36" wheels (8ft. 6" wheel base axle center to axle center). At one time the word was out that the Metros had 40" wheels, but Budd diagrams confirm that they used 36" wheels. I was skeptical that this truck motor could efficiently power a Bachmann Metro and haul several cars weighing 10 ounces each. He stated that would not be a problem and that adding weight to the powered car helps. The other, more expensive option is the "Bull Ant" truck
http://www.hollywoodfoundry.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=10&cat=BullAnt+Drive+Mechanisms Using either option is not cheap, but for repowering one unit it seems like a good way to go.
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
For those of you that want the realistic triple headlight cluster on the front, don't forget that the center light is a Gyra-Lite. I plan on going with LEDs.
I have actually started the same project about a year ago and have used Hollywood Foundry drives with great result along with loksound decoders. These are for my future late Penn Central and early Amtrak era NEC layout with a major focus on passenger operations under the wire. Used an un-powered for the powered car with a motor for each truck. Plan on building 3 more power cars in the future and currently have 6 cars that are not powered. None are yet painted but have been stripped of the previous colors. If anyone has any info on the history and details of these cars, I would appreciate it. Especially the later added roof mounted grids from bird's eye view.
I've got mine running again with a good cleaning, reassembly, and tieing the two together electrically. That way I get good pick up.
NECclocker I have actually started the same project about a year ago and have used Hollywood Foundry drives with great result along with loksound decoders. These are for my future late Penn Central and early Amtrak era NEC layout with a major focus on passenger operations under the wire. Used an un-powered for the powered car with a motor for each truck. Plan on building 3 more power cars in the future and currently have 6 cars that are not powered. None are yet painted but have been stripped of the previous colors. If anyone has any info on the history and details of these cars, I would appreciate it. Especially the later added roof mounted grids from bird's eye view.
Welcome Aboard!
If you don't mind, please post some more info and details as I'm always looking for input regarding the Metros.
Which HF drive did you go with and what modificiations did you have to make to the floor for a fit and support of the drive? Which sound scheme did you upload on your Lok Sound?
Do you have photos you can post?
I always liked the Red White and Blue striped version from the 70's around the Bicentennial.
Here's a metroliner car parked at Strasburg RR
Springfield PA
Thanks for the welcome. I will be more than happy to post what was done so far but I will have to back track and see what I used. Unfortunately I did not take photos but I can say that as of now, they are way better than the originals. Smooth running at all speeds. There was and will continue to be much kit-bashing and scratch building as this goes along. When the time comes for the other powered cars the job will be easier. What I can tell you regarding the drives I got from Hollywood Foundry (HF), I used the ready to go mechanisms with the correct wheel base and 36 inch wheel. I emailed Geoff at HF and told him what I wanted. He was very helpful and sent me those drives with extra belts and two motors. One for each truck is what I wanted. Some will only go for one motor per car but that is their choice. I wanted belt drive because it is quieter. That way I could hear my traction motor sounds. Give me a few days to go over what was done and I will post it.
Thanks
Also, the windows are fairly strongly glued in, or they are on the two I own now, so good luck getting them out if a repaint becomes neccesary. Mine are heading into Cab-Car and into one of the FRA's private cars though. T-16 I belice it is.
-Morgan
NECclocker Thanks for the welcome. I will be more than happy to post what was done so far but I will have to back track and see what I used. Unfortunately I did not take photos but I can say that as of now, they are way better than the originals. Smooth running at all speeds. There was and will continue to be much kit-bashing and scratch building as this goes along. When the time comes for the other powered cars the job will be easier. What I can tell you regarding the drives I got from Hollywood Foundry (HF), I used the ready to go mechanisms with the correct wheel base and 36 inch wheel. I emailed Geoff at HF and told him what I wanted. He was very helpful and sent me those drives with extra belts and two motors. One for each truck is what I wanted. Some will only go for one motor per car but that is their choice. I wanted belt drive because it is quieter. That way I could hear my traction motor sounds. Give me a few days to go over what was done and I will post it. Thanks
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Flashwave,
You're so right! The one piece "window shell" was a bear to get out! The factory glue has a good bite on the ceilings. Only on one of my Metros did the window shell come out intact. On the rest of them I had to break them out in pieces using a pair of cutting pliers.
I have gotten mine out with a bit of strength and creativity so repainting is no problem at all. Now it is only a matter of detailing them the way I want before painting.
It depends what version of the metro you have. There are three different original powered versions and slight body differences. If you use the stanton,flea or what ever drive keep in mind that you might need two or more to power a 3 or more car train. Metro Protypical ran with 3 or more cars. I have about twenty metro cars with two operating sets, which operate off Live DCC catenary. The phase 1 set is the generation 2 metroliner with seperate motor and flywheel. Phase 2 set is the Rebuilt Metroliner with the Roof Humps and It has Two power cars with Pancake motors and a Cafe car. Both sets are wired with all wheel electrical pick up and are permanetly mated together in 4 car sets. Each set has LED headlights and working Marklin or Somefedt pantographs wired through the train. Using DCC with the pancakes allows them to run at slow speed, But you still have the super speed( if you need it) that you might not get from a stanton or other drives. Its my hot rod of the layout. I need to redo the roof humps and apply the correct phase 2 stripping. But I think I finally mastered the oversize Amtrak Logo on the Front. I am also looking for Aerial details for the GE rebuilts They seem simular to the GE Silverliner V with Roof Blister but the Housing starts further down the car. The metros had 2 versions of roof Blistering... for the real Juice jacks
Steve Smith 1:1 Railroad Architect 1:87 Railroad Architect Certified PRR foamer
Visit www.prrnortheastcorridor.com
Movies http://www.youtube.com/user/ac0catenary
Live DCC catenary in Ho scale
Urban/City Modeler
A Real Juice Jack .. IF its not electric Its not running on my layout.
Sorry for taking a while to get back to you. Work schedule is strange and erratic since I play with real trains for a living. Regarding the metros, I used the HF "ready to go mechanism" totaling 4 axles, 36 inch wheels, 15:1 ratio (none faster but hope for one soon), belt drive for quiet operation and two motors (one for each truck). The reason for two motors is that I wanted the metros to have that quick acceleration that a MU would have over a locomotive hauled train while pulling 5 unpowered cars. MU trains can accelerate faster because each car has at least one traction motor and can brake faster if utilizing dynamic braking. I am not sure if the metros had dynamic braking but each car had motors. Believe me regarding the MU's, I would know. I used a Loksound ESU decoder and windows software based programmer by the same company. The sound files I used were assorted. I do not remember exactly which ones but to help me along, I bought a CD someone made of metros and other PC electrics at stations and grade crossing in Maryland back in the early 70's. I tried to replicate what I heard. You can listen to the electrics on the ESU site. I have gotten my metros on Ebay but only get the ones now with the full front pilot. I do have the other version which is mostly available but they required me to do more work since I want a close to or exact replica of the PC metros. Other parts and items used are Train station products trucks (732-420), detail associates mu receptacles-3 packs per car for a certain size (229-1507), Reboxx wheel sets for great rolling qualities (ws3-1015), evergreen styrene (189) for making new bolsters and sheet styrene on the under body for bringing it all up to height and Sommerfeldt pantographs (968) since the original ones are horrible and Sommerfeldt makes the closest copy. I did most of my work from photos (lots and lots and lots of photos) and had to be creative. This is just a start but there is way more I can post as time goes on. I am still not finished but a lot closer to the goal. Someone is even casting the roof humps for me. I hope this helps.
IHP is at some point going to make a Capitaliner body. He also said that He might Do the Roof Humps as well. I am using the Loksound 3.5 sound/decoder in my Acela set and GG-1s and I am very pleased with all around performance and Sound. Made a sound profile for it. I have a couple of sound projects on my plate: AEM-7 and ALP44 and Metroliner. The ESU site has some promising Sounds for the AEM-7 and ALP44. From what I remember as a Kid the Budd Metroliner and Budd Silverliner II, III & IV series had simular sounds.
@ NEC Clocker Post some Pix Soon. Oh yeah I saw your Youtube Video ..Nice Didnt know it was You until I saw your avatar.
Yeah, I heard that IHP was to make those models but that was some time ago. I am not holding my breath on that one. I have a separate source taking car of the roof humps using the Bachmann car body and also the post 1958 upper vents for my BLI PC/PRR GG1's with the correct numbers. Thanks for watching the video that my friend posted. That scenic 4 track test bed is too small at 7 feet by 21 inches but it is mainly a test/ programming track for what will come when this family of 4 moves. I have some pics that I could post and possibly some videos but it is all with the same scenery. Since My test track is on an office shelf I have mainly been focusing on rolling stock and decoder installs so the videos and pics are really about the features that I wanted.
Ive been urging IHP to start the project of capital liners or cab cars figuring that people would be interested in such a thing since metro bodies on Ebay are selling like crazy. I plan on rehabing my capital liner set with scratchbuilt styrene roof humps and cafe car. equiped with somerfedt. pants. I have a couple of marklin pants on the set now, but the somerfedt look better. I have a number of them on IHP silverliner III's and IV's in my MU fleet and they work well for overhead wire operation.
Yeah the video is cool.. I see your using model memories catenary on your module. I was especially interested in something I saw in the background on a shelf. It looks like you built a 4-5 track signal bridge with latice high tension towers attached. I have a couple of them on my railroad. Do you have any pics of it that you can Post or email to me?
The roof humps will be casts when they are ready and will not be available for a few months. If there is a strong following, that can drive the cost down. I want at least 5 to 10. If others are interested then I can pass the word. I am familiar with the cab car rebuild which I see at Sunnyside, but not the capital liner. Tell me about it if you can. When did it hit the rails..early, mid or late Amtrak? The bridge you saw in the back was one of 5 or 6 signal bridges I kitbashed when I first moved into this apartment. No layout and low funds haunted me at the time and it was a way to develop skills on the cheap. That is one you should know in North Philly. I did it based on photos on the web. The legs are from a Walthers modern Conveyor kit with evergreen and plastruct styrene shapes. I absolutely have no use for it now so it collects dust but was fun at the time. I planned on modeling Zoo interlocking at the time but now things have changed. After seeing Andy's catenary I have changed how I will be doing things when the time to build again comes. But I digress... Let me know about those capital liners.
I would like to have at least 8. The funny thing is that there are two types roof humps one seems to be the early rebuild in the 70's ( concave front) and the other is the later (stealthfighter cockpit front). At first I thought it coincided wit the type of Pant Stemann Vs Faively but thats not the case. And its not a car number thing either. Rebuilt metroliners Got the name capitaliners because they went to the capital DC and in PA Harrisburg. The Harrisburg line was the last line they ran on. This is when most of them got the Phase2 paint and large Amtrak cartoon Logo. When I first started at Amtrak in 2000. A large number of them were in wilmington along with a metroliner which had a freakin Keystone on it. Then One horrible day I went past in a DC bound train and a scrapper was demolishing them on Site.
Yes I know that Signal bridge its actually at Northphilly station northside. Andy Rubbo's layout is very nice But from what I hear his catenary is so fine scale a pantagraph snag will bring it all down. So hes going to fix the pantograph height so it doesnt really touch. What I pride my layout on is the ability to Run off catenary Like the Prototype. What I really like which is different from my setup is that he is able to run at corridor speeds with long tangent track and curves. My layout is more terminal like with interlockings, factories and large Stations. If I had more space I would expand to incorporate that type of setup and expand out to the burbs. If I had a factory space I would build 30th st station to Zoo. Protypically figuring You would need a 36' x 96' space. Its seems that your module is going along the Andy Rubbo Route. Looking forward to seeing more of your Work. Oh yeah.. Some of us NEC juicejacks were thinking about building a Modular NEC layout. Check out
I am going the Andy route in terms of accuracy and the Steven route in terms of pans on the wire. That module idea is something I would not mind doing. I would love to even start a NEC juicejack club one day. I will email you later by this weekend.
There's a set on evil bay that's current:
http://cgi.ebay.com/HO-train-BACHMANN-Amtrak-METROLINER-Set-mint-aacw-/380318615476?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item588cc187b4
I know that they were called metroliners but do you know the class name if they had one?