GGD Amtrak Heritage Cars

@VistaDomeScott posted:

Jonathan, so what do we call Amtrak cars prior to the head end power rebuilds? These cars did wear Amtrak phase One paint. HEP rebuild started in 1977 and took several years to complete.  The 7+ year period of Amtrak  rebranded passenger cars from private railroads pre-HEP are called what?

That is a great question and I really don't have a good answer for it.  I have always referred to that era as Amtrak's transition era, or the steam heated era.  I will need to do more research on that topic.  I suppose technically they are all heritage cars, but the Heritage Fleet is a specific program of rebuilding. 

One resource for cars that ended up in the Heritage Fleet is this wiki page.

@GG1 4877 posted:

That is a great question and I really don't have a good answer for it.  I have always referred to that era as Amtrak's transition era, or the steam heated era.  I will need to do more research on that topic.  I suppose technically they are all heritage cars, but the Heritage Fleet is a specific program of rebuilding.

One resource for cars that ended up in the Heritage Fleet is this wiki page.

I second calling it steam heat era or transition era. Describes it perfectly

@GenesisFan99 posted:

I second calling it steam heat era or transition era. Describes it perfectly

I've got a book here that concurs with this.

The table of contents calls them "Steam heated cars". The term "heritage fleet" doesnt come up until they're converted to HEP.

@GG1 4877 posted:

Again to clarify, the Heritage Fleet is a specific set of Amtrak cars that were upgraded to head end power and had other rebuild work done to retire the remaining steam heated cars they had in the fleet from predecessor roads.  The Heritage Fleet was mostly painted in Phase III, IV and some in phase VI paint while some of the early rebuilds were in Phase II paint.

The only true Heritage Fleet car GGD has done was the Big Dome in Phase III Paint.

GGD Amtrak cars done to date include the following:

• Pullman Standard smooth side 4-4-2 & 10-6 Sleepers
• Pullman Standard smooth side coaches
• Various builders "finish sets" based on the cars from the B&O Columbian that included an observation, diner, baggage car, and baggage dorm (this is a really rare set I'm not sure how many were made or if it was even made - I just did the drawings for it)
• Budd Slumbercoach
• El Capitan with 72' baggage and 85' Budd hi-level / low-level transition baggage dorm.  The baggage was not made available as a separate sale car.
• The just delivered Amfleet and Viewliner cars.

Upcoming GGD cars include:

• Budd Heritage Fleet Slumbercoach - Phase III Paint
• Former SP 3/4 dome in phase I paint.

Locomotives done in Amtrak include:

• The FL9 in late Phase III paint
• E8/E9s in Phase I (A units only)

While I wish I could say I have an example of all of these, I had to skip out on the dome cars as they were out of my budget, and I didn't get the "finish" set for the Pullman Standard cars as I honestly was looking for Budd cars at the time.  On a lighter note, I have been reorganizing my collection so that all my passenger cars end up in the same closet and can't find my Slumbercoach ... I know it is my house, but where is a really good question now!

You forgot the GGD full dome!

@GG14877 posted: I got a great price on Lionel's 21" dome car and they nailed the colors dead on for the exterior. 

FYI, be VERY careful on how you handle that dome car! There is NO Lionel part for it and many get easily broken!

I would love a transitional Amtrak set.  Coaches, various sleeper configurations, diner, lounge, etc.  To model the Crescent.  The Crescent's first Amfleet was the lounge if I recall and a coach or two mixed in the the transitional/heritage fleet.  We also need a MHC for the rear.  Crescent often had 2.

MHC is a must... Talk about something that would sell like crazy!

@BigJohn&theWork posted:

MHC is a must... Talk about something that would sell like crazy!

Only if it has the "big wheel" lock on the side doors. I would want something a little different from the MTH version.