Amtrak Turbo Train video.

Great video.We used to take the Amtrak turbine train from Albany to NYC  and back, but it did not look like this one.

It was very fast, back in the eighties

Fred.

Johnny,

Thanks for posting the video-that's a nice paint scheme.   I hope you continue to have better luck with yours than I have had with mine.   Earlier this year,  I purchased the Via Rail Turbotrain 20-20347-1 brand new from Mario's Trains  and it's on time track record(pun intended) is miserable.   Before operating the train,  I performed the "fixes" for this train as described by a couple of the forum members.   The train ran great for about 20 minutes on a club members layout,  but 2 weeks later after a couple minutes of running,  the motor in the rear power unit quit working and the lead power unit tried to drag the train by itself which wasn't too successful.   Made a call to Joe at Mario's(who was very willing to help me out) and shipped the train back to him,  after which he personally delivered the train back to MTH for warranty repair.   I got the train back from MTH about 3 weeks later,  repaired with the MTH invoice noting that they had replaced a slave board(there are tethers connecting the 3 unit train).    So,  I again operated the train for about 15 minutes or so without problems.   Then,  once again a couple weeks later while operating the train at a club setup at the Greenberg Monroeville show,   after about 20-25 minutes of running,  the exact same thing happened as before-the motor in the rear power unit stopped working.   I shipped the train back to MTH myself for warranty repair again and it's been there for about a month now.   There have been no other problems with derailments,  sound,  lights-those all still work after the motor quits.   So right now the train has maybe a little over an hour of run time and 2 months in the roundhouse-maybe the third time's the charm.   Just thought others would like to know my adventures with TURBO.

Nick

Nice video and layout......

the one last item I feel like I NEED!!!!

Very nice. Nice layout. You were fortunate to get it operational.

Hi Johnny,

What a great video, enjoyed it very much. The layout looks beautiful, thanks for posting see you next week

Alex

wmtrainnut09 posted:

Here's a little video I put together featuring the MTH Premier Amtrak Turbo Train that came out about two years ago.  I picked this unit up about 18 months ago and it is suppose to run on 0-72 curves.  It was binding just a tad on the curves.  Checking out a post by forum member Marty Fitzhenry showing how to fix this little issue did the trick.  She runs like a charm.  After running on the layout for a couple of months, I thought it was time to do a video of it.  Hope you all enjoy!

https://youtu.be/mRRtIsDC4rI

Thanks for posting, a "success story" on this model no many others have been as lucky as you!

machinist posted:

Johnny,

Thanks for posting the video-that's a nice paint scheme.   I hope you continue to have better luck with yours than I have had with mine.   Earlier this year,  I purchased the Via Rail Turbotrain 20-20347-1 brand new from Mario's Trains  and it's on time track record(pun intended) is miserable.   Before operating the train,  I performed the "fixes" for this train as described by a couple of the forum members.   The train ran great for about 20 minutes on a club members layout,  but 2 weeks later after a couple minutes of running,  the motor in the rear power unit quit working and the lead power unit tried to drag the train by itself which wasn't too successful.   Made a call to Joe at Mario's(who was very willing to help me out) and shipped the train back to him,  after which he personally delivered the train back to MTH for warranty repair.   I got the train back from MTH about 3 weeks later,  repaired with the MTH invoice noting that they had replaced a slave board(there are tethers connecting the 3 unit train).    So,  I again operated the train for about 15 minutes or so without problems.   Then,  once again a couple weeks later while operating the train at a club setup at the Greenberg Monroeville show,   after about 20-25 minutes of running,  the exact same thing happened as before-the motor in the rear power unit stopped working.   I shipped the train back to MTH myself for warranty repair again and it's been there for about a month now.   There have been no other problems with derailments,  sound,  lights-those all still work after the motor quits.   So right now the train has maybe a little over an hour of run time and 2 months in the roundhouse-maybe the third time's the charm.   Just thought others would like to know my adventures with TURBO.

Nick

You are not alone - several have posted about problems - makes me not want to bring mine out from {"under the bed" and take ,a chance o functioning as advertised. 

+Great video.  The Turbo is a great train.  Put it together properly and let her run.

Wow! Like all of the previous comments, that is a very beautiful set, makes me wish I had picked one up when they came out a couple of years ago, I thought about it, but had other life items that took priority. Great set and beautiful layout! Enjoy!!

Nice video. I like mine. I have the DOT Amtrak set and the Amtrak late shown in the video, each with two extra cars for the prototypical five-unit trainset. Unfortunately both of them managed to crack gears on one of the power trucks. I just removed the broken gear from the second unit and run one of the locomotives on one powered axle. I suspect zinc rot in the castings and MTH doesn't show a separate sale part.

Despite the gear mishaps, I do like the trains as they run well and look great, and represent a train design of historical significance. What I'd really like to do is convert the slave locomotives over to individual units and consist them, eliminating the tethers and use batteries to light the coaches, but that's a long-term plan.

Johnny

 Just enjoyed watching your video again, these are the best threads !!!!!!

Thanks, Alex

Thanks everyone for all for the comments!

Nick - Sorry to hear about your turbo.  Hopefully the third time will be the charm.

Alex -  Thanks buddy.  See you Saturday!

Matt - Let us know if you do that conversion and how it worked out.  Would be interesting to see if it works out.

Hey Johnny......great video, great layout, great train set.....thank you!

Peter

Very cool to see the Amtrak turbo train running on such a nice layout!