Amtrak ACS 64 O-Scale

Yes.

So far nobody has made that unit for O Scale, although there is some speculation that Bachmann will make one for O. But that is still up in the air and not confirmed.

3rd rail may make one also

MichaelB posted:

So far nobody has made that unit for O Scale, although there is some speculation that Bachmann will make one for O. But that is still up in the air and not confirmed.

From whom I asked at the Big E in the Bachmann booth. Nothing anytime soon. It will be up to Lionel or Third Rail at this point. For third rail, it will depend on the sale of the Amtrak  Viewlinersbefore Scott Mann will commit.

I asked the WBB rep at York.  He said the problem for them was Amtrak wanted significant money for the license, on top of the tooling costs.I

It is my opinion that if Lionel makes it, MTH will make it, and vice versa, for competitive reasons.

I would hope that MTH would produce this model.  Fingers crossed.

Lionel has said licensing costs are too high. 

Personally I'd rather have a Charger than a Sprinter. 

I'm kind of curious, why would Amtrak care if companies were to make scale models of their engines?  I mean it would come across to me as a win-win for Amtrak.  More publicity and then maybe more people will want to ride the train?   

But charging high licensing costs seems counter-productive.  If the cost is too high, then companies won't bother paying them and just not make models of the locos and then no more positive publicity for Amtrak.  

Do companies have to secure licensing for all locos out there?  or just full-size ones still in current use?  Or is the licensing mainly for the branding of the loco?

The licensing cost issues were with Siemens, not Amtrak. 

Now that I think of it you are correct  - the issue be mentioned was Siemens not Amtrak.

Lionel makes an HHP-8 set. Does it sell well? If they can't make money on that one, not sure it would make much sense for them to tool up for something so similar. Does anyone here own the HHP?

It's cool as heck.

The real HHP-8 was a flop so I doubt many people wanted to buy it. It was also a strange model not having TMCC. Kind of in between a starter set and a high end model.

Jeff_the_Coaster_Guy posted:

Lionel makes an HHP-8 set. Does it sell well? If they can't make money on that one, not sure it would make much sense for them to tool up for something so similar. Does anyone here own the HHP?

It's cool as heck.

Yes, one of the starter sets; but it died after about an hour and half of running time. Oh, and a friend who worked for Amtrak said to me that Lionel got that part right; the real ones were not that reliable, either. Anyway, I was not all that concerned as I planned to put a modified Atlas two-rail drive from an AEM7 in it; someday.

I also got the two-car add-on set and the cab car; it does make up into a nice train. Two-railing those Amfleets will be a bear, though.

Oddly, even though I prefer scale-length cars, these 18" ones do not look all that bad to me:

On an O-36 curve :

PRRMP54 posted:

 

 

Oddly, even though I prefer scale-length cars, these 18" ones do not look all that bad to me:

 

 

 

That's probably because they're lower and narrower than scale width and height. The MTH ones look chubby next to these since they simply took 3" off a scale 85-footer without changing the width.

---PCJ

Now that the GGD Amtrak  Phase  VI cars  have arrived; Is the ACS-64  in O-scale of interest?

@Will Ebbert posted:

The real HHP-8 was a flop so I doubt many people wanted to buy it. It was also a strange model not having TMCC. Kind of in between a starter set and a high end model.

Actually, the HHP-8 set had TMCC, just a basic horn/bell board.  They also produced a separate sale HHP-8 locomotive that had larger motors, cruise, RailSounds 5, etc.  That's the one I have.

Amtrak HHP-8 Amfleet Passenger Set (TMCC LOCO #656F)

Amtrak TMCC HHP-8 Electric Locomotive #664

I was thinking of grabbing an MTH Taurus and having it custom painted as a Sprinter... But I think that I'd be in for an Amtrak ALC-42; when the time is right.

I guess either the ACS 64, ALC-42 or the HHP-8.

These models are simple smooth symmetrical 3D resin prints.

I could make the shell but it would be in at least 3 pieces.

To make it as one piece I would need a FL-3L printer or have it printed by a Australian  company that has one. That would be very expensive like $350. for the shell.

OR I could just buy the 3D model already made.

@Will Ebbert posted:

The real HHP-8 was a flop so I doubt many people wanted to buy it. It was also a strange model not having TMCC. Kind of in between a starter set and a high end model.

I have one and I do not believe it is full 1:48 scale.  They were not pleasant to ride behind in real life.  You could feel the train lurch for each notch.  The ACS-64 on the other hand was a smooth pulling locomotive.

I am interested in ACS-64, but the ALC-42 is of more interest to me at this point. 

You're right, the Lionel HHP-8 is 15" long, which is a scale 60 feet, and the prototype is 67 feet long.  The height above the rails is 3.375" which is a scale 13.5 feet, and the prototype is 14 feet 2".

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

You're right, the Lionel HHP-8 is 15" long, which is a scale 60 feet, and the prototype is 67 feet long.  The height above the rails is 3.375" which is a scale 13.5 feet, and the prototype is 14 feet 2".

That makes sense as the Amfleet cars and the Cab car done with the set version were in the same approximate reduced proportion.  Nice cars, just a hair small. 

Interesting info on the HHP-8. I would also be interested in the Siemens diesels. I'll want to see what the final paint scheme looks like, but the SC44s certainly look great. I'd hate to see the P42 overlooked though... Wonder if we could pull enough reservations for 3 different types of Amtrak engines?