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@GG1 4877 posted:

Did anyone on the forum get Phase I, II or IV cars?  I'd love to see some photos of those.

I originally had thought about a Phase II set to go with E60s.  Then Viewliners got announced and E60s got canceled.  Lol.

Here are a some initial pics of my phase 1 and phase 3 sets.    Stunningly pretty cars!20210909_14531420210909_14483120210909_14404420210909_144028

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Last edited by VistaDomeScott

Ok silly question, can someone tell me what those small boards are upper right or left of the vestibule doors. I am aware they are only found on Amfleet I cars and are lit, but NOT with the car number.

I am going from memory here, but I believe they originally had "ENTER" and "EXIT" in the boards.  Those didn't last too long in service and now they are blank.

Jonathan, I remember those Enter and Exit signs.  One of those designer's ideas that does not fit well in the operational world.

On sleepers and coaches the numbers Will shows in his picture are numbers that important for locating your accomodation.   Your ticket displays your car number and room number. The car numbers include the train number and the car number in that consist.    Amtrak #6 The California Zephyr, car 10.   

Last edited by VistaDomeScott

If a re-run of these cars is done, maybe we could get some special interest versions of them in brass. Amtrak has a handful of business cars, some Metroliner, some Amfleet, some heritage, some Viewliner.

There would be no need to do those cars in brass.  The benefit of them being an aluminum extrusion is that the extrusion is the same for Metroliners through Amfleet II cars.  The extrusions are cut to length, the windows are CNC cut, and the end caps can be different. 

As for Heritage Fleet cars, the Slumbercoach 2nd run will be in Phase III.  Several of the B&O Capital Limited and Southern Crescent cars ended up in the Heritage fleet.  With enough requests, it might be possible to get some of those cars painted for Amtrak.  Personally I would like 2-3 10-6 Sleepers, a Heritage Diner, and a Heritage Crew-Dorm, and a 72' baggage in Phase III Paint to finish off my late era Broadway Limited now that I have the Amfleet coaches and Cafe and the MTH Materials Handling Cars for the head end.

If a re-run of these cars is done, maybe we could get some special interest versions of them in brass. Amtrak has a handful of business cars, some Metroliner, some Amfleet, some heritage, some Viewliner.

I already notified Scott M. After his announcement of the Viewliners. I would be in for those converted metroliner cab cars, the American View obs/inspection car [but thats a Viewliner1 car] and the Amtrak 10000 inspection/ observation Amcan car. We can only hope, dream, and squeak!

Here are a some initial pics of my phase 1 and phase 3 sets.    Stunningly pretty cars!20210909_14531420210909_14483120210909_14404420210909_144028

My Phase I set has not arrived yet, so thank you so much for these shots.

As for the other discussion, I'd reserve another batch of Amfleets anyway, but a Metroliner (CapitolLiner to my area) would be a nice touch.  They do not even have to be powered, just have some pans.  If that is to much of a pain, I'd settle for cabcars.

But even stock, I'd go for a few more Amfleets.

@GG1 4877 posted:

There would be no need to do those cars in brass.  The benefit of them being an aluminum extrusion is that the extrusion is the same for Metroliners through Amfleet II cars.  The extrusions are cut to length, the windows are CNC cut, and the end caps can be different.

As for Heritage Fleet cars, the Slumbercoach 2nd run will be in Phase III.  Several of the B&O Capital Limited and Southern Crescent cars ended up in the Heritage fleet.  With enough requests, it might be possible to get some of those cars painted for Amtrak.  Personally I would like 2-3 10-6 Sleepers, a Heritage Diner, and a Heritage Crew-Dorm, and a 72' baggage in Phase III Paint to finish off my late era Broadway Limited now that I have the Amfleet coaches and Cafe and the MTH Materials Handling Cars for the head end.

I guess I just misunderstood what is considered viable and what isn’t. I had thought that the special cars like Beech Grove, American View, Corridor Clipper, 9800, etc wouldn’t get enough orders to be made in aluminum, therefore requiring brass.

I’d definitely order some either way.

I guess I just misunderstood what is considered viable and what isn’t. I had thought that the special cars like Beech Grove, American View, Corridor Clipper, 9800, etc wouldn’t get enough orders to be made in aluminum, therefore requiring brass.

I’d definitely order some either way.

Well you may NOT be that far off. While the basic carbody shell maybe the same, many ends are not so those ends maybe made of brass such as the cab car ends, open platform end on the 10000 Beach Grove, etc. Scott M wouldn't know until advertising and taking orders.

Thanks for this thread and great pics! All of this Amtrak has resulted in my decision that I can no longer hold out on changing my curves to O-54- I’m missing out on too many great Amtrak cars. Already committed to the Budd Amtrak PhIII Slumber Coach and am deciding on the Viewliner II car(s)(on Stand-by???) for which I want to sign up!

No one has offered a true SDP40F, only Williams and MTH Scaleking [squat fuel tank doesn't do these units justice] offered a similar looking FP45.

Here is one of the two numbers offered by MTH of the FP45 in SDP40F phase I paint.  I purchased both numbers and these are Proto-3 locomotives.  There are a lot of issues with this locomotive as mentioned.  The fuel tank is really high.  The MTH model does not even accurately represent a FP45 with the front pilot being completely off.  However, the tooling dates to the early days of MTH and came back in the Railking Scale line.  I can't complain.  I have seven of these in ATSF paint for my GGD El Capitan.   

FP45s are also very different on the carbody over the SDP40F.  When you look at photos the differences are a lot clearer.  I am hoping that Scott will eventually offer scale SDP40Fs as they will work wonderfully with my Southwest Limited set.

20151028_193901

Williams also produced an FP45 that has pronounced horizontal compression.  I have a pair of these that I will be letting go of soon.  The first photo is scanned from a print of "analog" media circa 2003 while the second image is from the 2009 TCA national convention.  As you can see my first set of "scale-ish" Amtrak passenger cars were the Williams 20" aluminum cars.  A subject for a separate topic, but I am reworking some of these cars with scale trucks and actual interiors to upgrade my fleet.  Hopefully progress someday!  The doors on the baggage car will need to be cut lower to be a little more believable. 

scan004

IMGP1668

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Last edited by GG1 4877

This was my first purchase from 3rd Rail; the price points and lack of DCS in the engines (nothing against TMCC/Legacy, of course) had always given me an excuse to not take the plunge. But a Viewliner in O Scale was one of those White Whales that I couldn't resist, and now I'm a believer in 3rd Rail--the build quality and detail are incredible.

I'm on the standby list for extras, but it sounds like quite a few of us are. Does anyone know how long Scott normally needs in order to figure out who made the cut for the standby's? I'm asking mainly out of curiosity, since a second run order, assuming it happens, is a foregone conclusion for me now.

Now if only we can convince Scott to license DCS (like Atlas) and include it as a build-to-order option on future engines so that an after-market PS3 upgrade isn't necessary--that would turn me into a mostly 3rd Rail customer moving forward.

Rafi

P.S. Anyone seen the pictures of the C&O Hudson yet? I haven't seen a post from Scott on that front yet--can't wait to see what it looks like.

@Rafi posted:

This was my first purchase from 3rd Rail; the price points and lack of DCS in the engines (nothing against TMCC/Legacy, of course) had always given me an excuse to not take the plunge. But a Viewliner in O Scale was one of those White Whales that I couldn't resist, and now I'm a believer in 3rd Rail--the build quality and detail are incredible.

I'm on the standby list for extras, but it sounds like quite a few of us are. Does anyone know how long Scott normally needs in order to figure out who made the cut for the standby's? I'm asking mainly out of curiosity, since a second run order, assuming it happens, is a foregone conclusion for me now.

Now if only we can convince Scott to license DCS (like Atlas) and include it as a build-to-order option on future engines so that an after-market PS3 upgrade isn't necessary--that would turn me into a mostly 3rd Rail customer moving forward.

Rafi

P.S. Anyone seen the pictures of the C&O Hudson yet? I haven't seen a post from Scott on that front yet--can't wait to see what it looks like.

I am also eagerly waiting for the C&O Hudson pics.

@GG1 4877 posted:

Here is one of the two numbers offered by MTH of the FP45 in SDP40F phase I paint.  I purchased both numbers and these are Proto-3 locomotives.  There are a lot of issues with this locomotive as mentioned.  The fuel tank is really high.  The MTH model does not even accurately represent a FP45 with the front pilot being completely off.  However, the tooling dates to the early days of MTH and came back in the Railking Scale line.  I can't complain.  I have seven of these in ATSF paint for my GGD El Capitan.  

FP45s are also very different on the carbody over the SDP40F.  When you look at photos the differences are a lot clearer.  I am hoping that Scott will eventually offer scale SDP40Fs as they will work wonderfully with my Southwest Limited set.

20151028_193901

Williams also produced an FP45 that has pronounced horizontal compression.  I have a pair of these that I will be letting go of soon.  The first photo is scanned from a print of "analog" media circa 2003 while the second image is from the 2009 TCA national convention.  As you can see my first set of "scale-ish" Amtrak passenger cars were the Williams 20" aluminum cars.  A subject for a separate topic, but I am reworking some of these cars with scale trucks and actual interiors to upgrade my fleet.  Hopefully progress someday!  The doors on the baggage car will need to be cut lower to be a little more believable.

scan004

IMGP1668

I would like to hear more about your adventures with the Williams 20" Amtrak set.

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