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D.A. Mann
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MerrilyWeRollAlongWalthers will soon announce their next passenger train...
Bet you'll have to bake it yourself though...........nothing is ever RTE!!
Mark
WGAS
The latest rumor (which I am just starting now so I know it is the latest rumor) is that if you pre-order, Walthers will throw in a big baked potato.
Dave Nelson
MerrilyWeRollAlong Walthers will soon announce their next passenger train... Rumor has it that it will be Northern Pacific's North Coast Limited that will be tied in together with a Cornerstone Series replica of Chicago's Union Station. Like the Empire Builder, the North Coast Limited will be offered in a variety of paint schemes: Pine Tree paint scheme (pre-1954), the Raymond Lowery two-tone green (post-1954), Burlington Northern, and Amtrak Phase I. The train will be pulled by a Proto 2000 F7 A-B-A set of locomotives with DCC & sound and NP specific details. Ten cars will be offered: PS Baggage Car (car # 400 - 405) PS RPO/Dormintory (car # 425 - 429) PS 56-seat coach (car # 500 - 517) Budd Dome-coach (car # 550 - 558) PS "Traveler's Rest" Lounge (# car 494 - 499) PS Diner (car #450 - 455) Budd 4/4/4 Dome Sleeper (car # 304 - 313) PS 8/6/4 Sleeper (car # 367 - 372) PS 8/6/3/1 Sleeper (car # 350 - 364) PS 4/1 sleeper buffet lounge oberservation (car # 390 - 394) Union Sta)tion would be ideally served by their Broadway Limited and Twin Cities Hiawatha train sets along with the Union Pacific :City" service via their Milwaukee Road connection to Chicago. Union Station is also ideal for Walthers' large selection of Amtrak equipment for modern era modelers. Walther's will tout Union Station as an ideal substitue model for "Any City's" downtown station.
Walthers will soon announce their next passenger train...
Rumor has it that it will be Northern Pacific's North Coast Limited that will be tied in together with a Cornerstone Series replica of Chicago's Union Station. Like the Empire Builder, the North Coast Limited will be offered in a variety of paint schemes: Pine Tree paint scheme (pre-1954), the Raymond Lowery two-tone green (post-1954), Burlington Northern, and Amtrak Phase I. The train will be pulled by a Proto 2000 F7 A-B-A set of locomotives with DCC & sound and NP specific details. Ten cars will be offered:
PS Baggage Car (car # 400 - 405)
PS RPO/Dormintory (car # 425 - 429)
PS 56-seat coach (car # 500 - 517)
Budd Dome-coach (car # 550 - 558)
PS "Traveler's Rest" Lounge (# car 494 - 499)
PS Diner (car #450 - 455)
Budd 4/4/4 Dome Sleeper (car # 304 - 313)
PS 8/6/4 Sleeper (car # 367 - 372)
PS 8/6/3/1 Sleeper (car # 350 - 364)
PS 4/1 sleeper buffet lounge oberservation (car # 390 - 394)
Union Sta)tion would be ideally served by their Broadway Limited and Twin Cities Hiawatha train sets along with the Union Pacific :City" service via their Milwaukee Road connection to Chicago. Union Station is also ideal for Walthers' large selection of Amtrak equipment for modern era modelers. Walther's will tout Union Station as an ideal substitue model for "Any City's" downtown station.
I would be incredibly happy if this was Walthers' next passenger train. I run my HO scale trains at a club in Livingston, Montana at the old Northern Pacific depot. This was the mid point for the North Coast Limited and it changed locomotives here. I hope that Walthers will do it, but I could see a little different lineup. It seems like 1959 would be a better starting point for the train. Some cars could have the Pine Tree scheme, and all could have the BN and Amtrak schemes. Here's my idea for a 11 car North Coast Limited.
1. PS Water-Baggage Car (car # 400 - 405) [1 car on train]
2. PS Mail-Dormintory (car # 425 - 429) [1 car on train]
3. PS 56-seat Day-Night coach (car # 587-599) [2-3 cars on train] Note change from original 56-seat coach-those were termed "day" coaches by the NP
4. Budd Dome-coach (car # 550 - 558) [2 cars on train]
5. PS "Traveler's Rest" Lounge (# car 494 - 499) [1 car on train]
6. Budd 48-seat Diner (car #458-463) [1 car on train] These were the new diners purchased in 1958. The PS diners went to the Mainstreeter and pool trains. Some of these diners are still serving Amtrak after 53 years of service!
7. Budd 4-4-4 Dome Sleeper (car # 304 - 313) [2 cars on train]
8. PS 8-6-4 Sleeper (car # 367 - 372) [1 car on train]
9. PS 8-6-3-1 Sleeper (car # 350 - 364) [1 car on train] Maybe Walthers could do the 8-6-4 sleeper without the 8-6-3-1. They're very similar cars.
10. PS 4-1 sleeper buffet lounge observation (car # 390 - 394) [1 car on train]
11. New Car: Budd 24-8 Slumbercoach (car # 325-334) This could be an optional car for those who want to model before 1959 or after.
This would represent the North Coast Limited's peak operation period from 1959-1962 and the consist until about 1967. I know I would buy one, as would many NP modelers. I think that Walthers has done well with its named trains and this would be a unique and colorful train to do.
The best reference about the North Coast Limited is Bill Kuebler's Vista Dome North Coast Limited. It's a very strong and comprehensive treatment of the NP's finest train.
Not an NP guy, but I would LOVE to get my mits on a Trveller's Rest, soley because the Friends of 4449 are restoring one and I'd like to toss it behind my model of 4449. I have a Kitbash someone did of her Aux Tender, and working on the cars. Slowly...
-Morgan
I still think they're gonna liscense the "Packer's Train" from Franklin Mint
Mine doesn't move.......it's at the station!!!
My understanding is that the next passenger train set will be the late-1968 version Penn Central Cincinnati Limited:
Locos: 4291, 4309Mail car ACL: 1669Sleeping car: Little Miami RapidsCoach: 4006.
All locos will feature Walthers new Lead-Plated Finishes, complete with XTREME!1! pre-weathering (twice the dirt, rust, and grime as the competitors) and extra randomly applied handrails & antennas.The interior of the coach will come compete with detailed worn-out seats, broken shades, and torn carpet. Preiser will offer an exclusive trash/rubbish/paper littering detail set for this coach.The Sleeping Car interior...will not be for the faint of heart.
Reserve NOW at your local Walthers dealer!
I picked up a rumor it was going to be The Panama Limited . . . . . . . . . . I'm not an IC-fan but for some reason or another everytime this subject comes up the first thing that comes to mind is The Panama Limited.
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
That is a very nice "rumor." RichHOTrain should be as happy as a pig in mud (if it's true.)
Walthers always tried to put their latest kits onto a 4x8 sheet mainly for shows. I wonder how they are going to handle the massive stub ended Chicago station. They will require a lot of WYE turnouts which are considerable space hogs.
I keep hoping for a "George Washington" Richmond VA station. (Serviced by the Seaboard, C&O, and Amtrak) But I'm not holding my breath. The station is actually quite compact for a large city station, but depends entirely on elevated trestles above city streets. Just to the South was the Southern RR.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
Usually it is the advance peeks at next year's catalog cover that starts the rumor mill going, but I know that the research team at Walthers also beats the bushes pretty thoroughly casting around for photos and info for their trains. Some folks get wind of this kind of info pretty early on.
Somewhat OT but years ago I was railfanning the BN at Wataga IL (north and east of Galesburg on the old CB&Q main) and there were two BN work train MOW baggage cars on a siding. One was clearly an old Burlington "Havelock" baggage car. The other was a mystery, until we looked closely at the inner rounded corner of the frame around a baggage door -- and saw the classic Lowey two toned paint scheme for the NP! Some NP stencils on the underbody air brake reservoir confirmed the identification. This was a couple of years before the BNSF merger or takeover or whatever you want to call it.
Nice Rumor,
The 'Pine Tree' edition never had the Budd Domes, Diner, or Slumbercoach. The 'Lowey' scheme had those new cars. If they are going to do a mid-50's or later train(as they did with the EB and Hiawatha), then they will have a train. IIRC, some of the original NCL equipment went to the Mainstreeter when the NCL go re-equipped.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Sounds great! I like Walther's passenger cars ad hope they will eventually offer Missouri Pacific "Eagles" or a selection of cars to make up one of the several "Eagle" consists. Maybe offer a kit of the Little Rock,Arkansas,Kansas City or Dallas Union Station. Or even...we can dream.. the St.Louis Union station?
Rick
Santa Fe - All the way! Missouri Pacific - Route of the Eagles!
It's nice of Walthers to keep producing these sets, but how many of us can really run them? These are all very long trains, requiring large-radius curves. I, for one, don't have the acreage needed to support passenger operations of this magnitude.
My relatively short Rivarossi cars - 3 coaches and a baggage car typically run with one or two Railway Express reefers on the head end, is about the most I can handle. Even then, as I look in the windows, I see that most of the seats are empty.
"Sixteen cars, and sixteen restless riders, 3 conductors and 45 sacks of mail...."
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Union Station will have two tracks and be two stories high. The station itself will be 2" x 2" square so that it doesn't overwhelm all the layouts with 18" radius curves. The two platforms will be 4" long. Walthers will call it massive and charge an estimated $200 for it.
Surprisingly detailed rumor. . . . for a rumor. . . .