Amtrak E8

Billy, I just purchased the Phase II Amtrak E8 A & B units yesterday from Just Trains, I'll post pics and details as soon as I get them in.

"A Subway is like the circulatory system of a big city, they never stop and without it most jobs wouldn't function well." - Me

I also have the E8 AA and B-Unit setup but MTH makes two different versions of it. The one that I have is MTH #30-20438-1 (for the AA set). They also have MTH #20-20849-1 (A unit only) which is more expensive. I'm not sure which one you are looking at but if you want the less expensive AA set I can take some pics of it for you.

Upon request, Here it is guys the Premier MTH Amtrak Phase II E8 A & B locomotives on my Executive train!! (Images Attached Below) I just received it yesterday.

A Quick Review:

The paint scheme looks more accurate to the Phase II heritage Genesis locomotive (I am not sure if the light blue was used on phase II locos back then or not). Either way the locomotives are great pullers. The engines come with the dummy wheels at the end of the trucks, I might replace it in the near future. All LED lighting, of course. 2 Crew cab figures in the A unit. The A powered unit trucks are indeed 3 to 2 Rail convertible (pic also below), however the B unit trucks are not. They have an accurate Amtrak E8 K5 horn, I had to look on Youtube to make sure it was right. The PFA announcements are the Amtrak Minuteman service, probably just taken from the older run of AEM-7 locomotives. The locomotives are a solid 9.8 out of 10 in my book. I hope this helps, if you have any questions let me know.

Congrats on the great looking engines. Thanks for the pics!

Looks awesome! I have the Metra E8 and matching B-Unit (fantasy) from the same catalog. MTH does a great job on their E8s in my opinion.

SubwayLover posted:

Upon request, Here it is guys the Premier MTH Amtrak Phase II E8 A & B locomotives on my Executive train!! (Images Attached Below) I just received it yesterday.

A Quick Review:

The paint scheme looks more accurate to the Phase II heritage Genesis locomotive (I am not sure if the light blue was used on phase II locos back then or not). Either way the locomotives are great pullers. The engines come with the dummy wheels at the end of the trucks, I might replace it in the near future. All LED lighting, of course. 2 Crew cab figures in the A unit. The A powered unit trucks are indeed 3 to 2 Rail convertible (pic also below), however the B unit trucks are not. They have an accurate Amtrak E8 K5 horn, I had to look on Youtube to make sure it was right. The PFA announcements are the Amtrak Minuteman service, probably just taken from the older run of AEM-7 locomotives. The locomotives are a solid 9.8 out of 10 in my book. I hope this helps, if you have any questions let me know.

Beautiful set. I was thinking of trying to get this set together myself. I think it's the closest to my childhood amtrak set but the premier mth version. Would be cool if mth made the 3 stripe FA-2's.

Thank you. I actually sent in a request for an Amtrak F7 to be made by MTH sometime ago.

Engineer-Joe posted:

 

SubwayLover

Could you also post pics of the bottom of the trucks. They were supposed to be 3/2 capable.

For some reason these letters are stuck as capitals, SORRY!

They’re not 3-2.  Same old blind inner wheel as all the E-8s.

I can take pics later tonight of the underside.

I'm betting Lionel is due to put some Amtrak E8 power in a catalog.  Just a hunch.  ;-)

VistaDomeScott posted:

I can take pics later tonight of the underside.

I'm betting Lionel is due to put some Amtrak E8 power in a catalog.  Just a hunch.  ;-)

Unfortunately the Lionel E8 nose is a bit funky for my tastes.

SubwayLover posted:

Thank you. I actually sent in a request for an Amtrak F7 to be made by MTH sometime ago.

Looks like my Lionel Amttak 8466 and 8467...

This looksl

I love the picture of the  F7.  That's how I remember them. BTW does anyone model the early days of Amtrak with its Heinz 57 consists?  They weren't pretty , but they sure were colorful.      

Conductor Earl posted:

I love the picture of the  F7.  That's how I remember them. BTW does anyone model the early days of Amtrak with its Heinz 57 consists?  They weren't pretty , but they sure were colorful.      

Rainbow trains.  Yes I do.  I have a mix of all the roads and early Amtrak cars.  Heavy on GN, BN, SP, PC, cars.  I would love to see Lionel or MTH make the first E8 paint scheme which was a proposed paint scheme for the railroad. The one off E8 was black with a large Amtrak arrow on the sides which the blue stripes from the arrow extended around the front of the locomotive.   There were white safety stripes angled across the blue stripes in front. There was a coach also painted with scheme that was not adopted, TYCO used this on their HO trains of the 70s.  The coach had only a blue window band with an arrow logo on a white painted area on the end of the car.