Amtrak ACS-64 Sprinter

I think they came fro Seimens.  From what I understand, MTH has a contract with them.  Also, some S70 LRT cars would be nice!

I hit up Scott Mann on the Siemens S70s like 3 weeks ago.

I go for a ACS 64, I see them in DC. neat looking engine. I think it is made in California by Siemens.

For what it's worth, I'd be in for an ACS-64 as well. MTH having some sort of "contract" with Siemens seems a little farfetched though. Perhaps they know someone in the company who can supply official information.

Having heard the way they got Wick Moorman to do voices on the Veterans/First Responders SD60E's, and now that he's the new CEO of Amtrak, does get the imagination whirring though.

Is MTH's accountant still rolling his eyes* whenever Mike looks at anything involving new tooling ?

---PCJ

*(something MW referred to one York when he subbed for Andy E. at the OGR grandstand meeting)

Nicholas Smith pushing for the model and hes contracting to buy the whole run, something like 1000 locos. It buy at least one

The Taurus ES 64 Electric Locomotive that MTH has been showing in their past catalogs is very similar to the Amtrak ACS 64 Electric Locomotive. Note the model numbers are the same. MTH produced the TRAXX Electric Locomotive which is also very similar to the New Jersey Transit ALP 46 which MTH also produced so a model of the Amtrak ACS 64 is certainly a model that MTH can and should produce. I see them pass my home daily.

Ed G.  Along The New Haven Line Of Metro-North And Amtrak In Westchester County, NY.

I would like to have at least one of these current Amtrak loco's, getting tired of old stuff they keep reproducing.

I would certainly buy an Amtrak ACS 64 locomotive if either MTH or Lionel produced it. I already have the MTH Amfleet cars to go with it since I have three versions of the MTH AEM-7's.

Well off the bat MTH will have 3 paint schemes to work with - Amtrak Phase V livery (standard), The Veterans #642 (sure to be a slam dunk) and Septa (although Septa's won't be delivered until 2018). There's also the speciality schemes worn by 601 with the Siemens timeline and logo on it, and the 602 with the large American flag.

From what I hear MTH had issues with Amtrak getting to the license but now that it's been resolved from what I'm told, you can look for lots of Amtrak items in this new book. I would guess ACS-64s and a rerun of the P42s with the Veterans scheme among others .

I wish they would do view liners in phase lll

Yes with the new Viewliner cars now either in Amtrak service namely the baggage cars and the dining cars coming next some by the end of the year Amtrak predicts these cars would be very popular with us passenger car operators.

Ed G.  Along The North East Corridor And The New Haven Line In Westchester County, NY.

Matt Makens posted:

Nicholas Smith pushing for the model and hes contracting to buy the whole run, something like 1000 locos. It buy at least one

Well, if he's truly willing to foot the bill for a thousand units, that sounds interesting.

K-Line's top people told me way back in the day, that they'd make anything you could come to them with a thousand-piece paid-up order for. I imagine that would still be a powerful incentive for anybody.

---PCJ

I hope someone other than MTH makes these. I am just concerned that they would reuse the 1:45 scale parts from their Taurus models. I can’t justify spending close to $500 for a model that is not in American O-Scale (1:48).

From reading their “5 or less” In-Stock lists on the past few Wednesdays it seems like they still haven’t sold many of their 1:45 scale Taurus & Traxx models in both 2-rail or 3-rail even though some of them were available over 6 years ago. I was interested in their NJ Transit ALP46 models when they first announced it but lost interest when I found out that it was going to be made in 1:45, not 1:48 scale.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

Something tells me that if the story about a thousand unit order has any substance, it would be sufficient to  pay for completely new 1:48 tooling. After all, there is another US prototype that some of the hypothetical 1:48 Sprinter parts could be used for--the Charger diesel. (which supposedly Siemens has a variant already lined up to pitch to Amtrak for long-distance service)

---PCJ

To: Naveen Rajan

How much different is size is 1:45 vs 1:48. Very little I would think. It's the same body. I would ok if MTH produced the Amtrak ACS-64 using the die from Taurus model that they already produced and modify the die to better represent the ACS-64 where necessary. The cost to produce a new metal die has increased in cost a lot in recent years. I own their NJT ALP-46 and it looks fine to me. MTH had such a large response to the model that it was sold out very fast and they ran off another run of them. The reason that MTH hasn't sold many of the Taurus and Traxx models is that you are looking at their in-stock inventory here in the U.S. Most of these models were shipped to their European wholesaler when they were first released leaving a small quantity here in the U.S. since they did not expect to sell many here. Your opinion is always important and I welcome the information that you provide here.

Ed G.  Along the New Haven Line And The Northeast Corridor Of Metro-North And Amtrak In Westchester County, NY.

So what tells you "the story of a thousand unit order" doesn't have any substance?

Ed,

You may be fine with 1:45 scale models but I am not. I will continue to vote with my wallet. I was careful with the words in chose in my previous post as I said “I can’t justify”. I only have 1 MTH locomotive & another on preorder, only because no one else makes 2-rail models of modern locomotives. I only have a temporary loop on the floor & I have more 2-rail models than I have track. So these details (1:45 vs 1:48) are important to me in making a purchasing decision.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

ed new haven line posted:

To: Naveen Rajan

How much different is size is 1:45 vs 1:48. Very little I would think.

Let us take a NW-2 switcher engine since the prototype locomotive is roughly 48 feet long (makes math a little easier). 

In 1:48 scale the locomotive is:

48 feet multiplied by one then follow by dividing by 4 and  that equals 12. 1:48 scale works out to be 1/4 inch to the foot, so the scale model is 12 inches long which is 48 scale feet in 1:48 scale. 

In 1:45 scale the locomotive is:

48 feet multiplied by 17 and the followed by dividing by 64 and that equals 12.75. 1:45 scale works out to be 17/64 inch to the foot so the scale model is 12.75 inches long which equals 48 scale feet in 1:45 scale.

So a NW-2 switcher locomotive is 3/4 inch longer in 1:45 scale than it is in 1:48 scale.

Now we look at "O" gauge track. "O" gauge track is 1 and 1/4 inch between the rails. In 1:48 scale that works out to be 5 scale feet. In 1:45 scale "O" gauge track works out to be 4 feet 8 7/16 inches.

Prototype trains operate on standard gauge track which is 4 feet 8 1/2 inches in gauge.  Therefore, 1:45 scale is more prototypical for "O" gauge track than is 1:48 scale.   

If it was a 3/4 of an inch difference then so what. You have MTH making a scale GG1 about a half inch shorter than the scale Lionel GG1 and it not a problem. Do we have to count how many welds or rivets are on the loco too? Thanks for the info Naveen.

Odd design, it would seem, given that it appears there is no front quarter vision at all provided for the engineers.

Odd design, it would seem, given that it appears there is no front quarter vision at all provided for the engineers. Can't even look forward out the side window because the rearview mirror is in the way. 

Matt Makens posted:

So what tells you "the story of a thousand unit order" doesn't have any substance?

Nothing.

But I'm not the one who heard the news first-hand, so I'm just trying not to act like it's a done deal.

Yet.

---PCJ

It's not a done deal, if they're smart it will be. Not only is it a chance to get make some money off the model but you also get your tool paid for with minimal risk and you get an opportunity to sell some much needed passenger cars to the guys who buy them. Joey is confident he will get it done, sounds like it just needs some finessing

Prototype trains operate on standard gauge track which is 4 feet 8 1/2 inches in gauge.  Therefore, 1:45 scale is more prototypical for "O" gauge track than is 1:48 scale.   

While there might be an argument that 1:45 might be more prototypical, I think the concern for some modelers (including myself) is that the trains just look a little funny when they are sitting on the layout with trains of another scale.

Jim

I didn't know that about the different length in GG1s from MTH and Lionel. So which one is correct?

Clem

jd-train posted:

Prototype trains operate on standard gauge track which is 4 feet 8 1/2 inches in gauge.  Therefore, 1:45 scale is more prototypical for "O" gauge track than is 1:48 scale.   

While there might be an argument that 1:45 might be more prototypical, I think the concern for some modelers (including myself) is that the trains just look a little funny when they are sitting on the layout with trains of another scale.

Jim

Jim,

Well stated. I buy 1:50 scale construction equipment, containers & occasionally 1:43 scale cars but I wouldn’t want trains in either of those scales when all my trains are 1:48 scale.

Look at the following photos comparing 1:48 scale containers with 1:50 scale containers. Either of them look good by themselves or with other models of the same scale but I am sure many can notice that they don’t match the dimensions of similar models of another scale. For locomotive models where the length is much greater than either the width or the height, this is where the differences are very evident.

Compare the sizes of the 1:48 scale 20’ Atlas-O (Weaver) Triton container with a 1:50 scale diecast 20’ WSI Mammoet Ambulance container. Both of them are accurate in their respective scales. The differences in width or height are barely noticeable but look at the obvious differences in length.

Now compare a 1:48 scale 40’ Atlas-O Maersk container with a 1:50 scale 40’ Tekno Ocean Trader flat-rack container. Since this is a longer model, the differences in length are even more noticeable.

So an ACS-64 in 1:45 would be a little longer than an inch compared to a 1:48 model. Which may not seem much to some but what if I had my 1:48 scale GE Evolution that MTH made next to a 1:45 scale model of the ACS-64. The GE would only look ½” longer than this ACS-64 whereas in real life, the GE Evolution is 6 ½’ longer than the ACS-64.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

OK, enough speculation about how theyre going to do it wrong