GGD Amtrak

@MountainRail posted:

Has anyone electrically handy figured out how to rewire the cars to replace the "as delivered switch" so that we can switch the red marker lights from one end of the car to the other and a center position that turns all marker lights off?  I totally love these cars and I am ready to order more once Scott opens up the order books, but for the delivered cars, I would definitely like to do a modification to allow for either end marker light operation and center position off.  Any thoughts of ideas would be awesome.   

The seats in Amfleet cars are reversible. They swivel around so that they can be made to always face forward. Thus, the simplest thing to do is open the car and just clip the wires from the end of the car that the seats face.  You really only need to modify one car, as the rest of them are off.

I see the Crescent all the time and they turn the entire train in New Orleans.  It always has the baggage now bagg/dorm at the rear.

@MountainRail posted:

Yes I agree that it is a common switch, but not sure how the wiring would be done from the rectifier and on. (I am assuming there is a rectifier also as somehow we have to go from AC to DC)  Being that there are two sets of opposing end of train marker lights,   it would probably be pretty simple from there.  What I do not know, is once you get the four LEDs separated into two sets of two, with only half the load, will the LEDs be too bright or maybe even burn out?  Forgive me for my lack of knowledge on LED lights, so if what I have said is totally wrong, I plead innocent!  Anyone with real solid knowledge on this, please feel free to jump in and educate me and others that may not know.

Also, I have yet to open one of these new GGD cars, so I really do not know how they are wired, so lots of speculation.   For one thing, the switch may provide AC track power to a rectifier before it goes to the LEDs.   

Thanks

Rory   

First you need to obtsin the on-off-on switch. If there is a circuit board or just s rectifier, the rectifier "power out" would go center switch lead and the leds connect to the corresponding "on" outer switch leads.

@GenesisFan99 posted:

It was my understanding that the baggage is at the rear of the train because Amtrak doesn’t turn the trains around on the east coast, but I could be mistaken.

I think there may be some new Reg or rule that the consists have to be at least “X” cars long. I’ve recently a seen a short consist in the St. Louis area with Two baggage cars in the rear for the St. Louis to KC run. No way these cars are full of Any cargo.

Certain routes have that because a minimum axle count is needed for the crossings. I think that's just on BNSF.

The baggage car on the rear end is apparently a ride quality thing.  The last car on the train supposedly rides worse than the rest of the train, so if its just a glorified boxcar, paying customers (especially if its sleepers), dont have to deal with the car wallowing around.

Amtrak Bi-Level Passenger Car GIFs (kenstransitgifs.com)

@TrainBub posted:

P42s please !!!

Motion has been seconded.  Resolution 2021-GGD-P42 has been unanimously approved.

Hi Scott and Jonathan:

Any idea how close we might be to the second run of slumber coaches?  The Phase III will look fantastic with the Amfleets.  Thank you again for such quality models.

Amtrak 160, the final 50th Anniversary paint scheme.  Hey Scott, bet you would sell a few of these!!!

Unpacking my Viewliner cars today, and of course absolutely thrilled!   I have discovered a paint scheme variation on Sleeping car #62500 "Portage River" that differs from pictures online.   Did Amtrak repaint these after production and remove the "arrow" logo and the word "Amtrak" to the "travelmark" logo?  Amtrak scholars please inform.

I love the car either way but may ask Christine Braden to recreate the look of the car in the picture (link attached) which was at the factory in New York.  Dependent upon info from the knowledge of the forum.  If this was short lived at the factory and redone before revenue use I may reconsider having the car rebranded.

https://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=489036

@VistaDomeScott posted:

Unpacking my Viewliner cars today, and of course absolutely thrilled!   I have discovered a paint scheme variation on Sleeping car #62500 "Portage River" that differs from pictures online.   Did Amtrak repaint these after production and remove the "arrow" logo and the word "Amtrak" to the "travelmark" logo?  Amtrak scholars please inform.

I love the car either way but may ask Christine Braden to recreate the look of the car in the picture (link attached) which was at the factory in New York.  Dependent upon info from the knowledge of the forum.  If this was short lived at the factory and redone before revenue use I may reconsider having the car rebranded.

https://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=489036

Yes, I believe the first two cars of each variety received the old Amtrak logo. (At least the first two sleepers and the first two bags...not sure if the first two bag-dorms received the old logo)

They were eventually rebranded to match the rest of the fleet.

None of them entered revenue service with the old logo. It was just for promotional purposes.

P42,  thanks

@VistaDomeScott posted:

P42,  thanks

Email Scott to support P42 offering !!!!

Took a few quick snaps of one of the Phase I coaches and the Phase III Viewliner baggage. Please excuse the mess on my table 😁.

Simply put, I am in love with these things. They make me wish I could literally get one of everything that was offered in regards to these cars. Every car type, phase, numbers, everything... I took quite a gamble on you Scott, and I'd say I hit the jackpot! 👍

@TrainBub posted:

Email Scott to support 042 offering !!!!

Well with Atlas acquiring the MTH Premier P42 tooling I’m sure we’ll see an offering from them soon, especially given the wide variety of paint schemes available now with the Amtrak 50th anniversary units among other operators too.

@M J Breen posted:

Well with Atlas acquiring the MTH Premier P42 tooling I’m sure we’ll see an offering from them soon, especially given the wide variety of paint schemes available now with the Amtrak 50th anniversary units among other operators too.

If so - you get a bonus of Typical huge daylight between body and swinging pilot. 👎😖      
And I don’t think there’s been a 2 rail MTH version either. To each his own I guess.    Id be a buyer of a 3rd Rail model with a fixed pilot available in 2 Or 3 rail.

@VGN64 posted:

Amtrak 160, the final 50th Anniversary paint scheme.  Hey Scott, bet you would sell a few of these!!!

The "Pepsi Can" paint job was one of Amtrak's best IMHO.

Rusty

I would support the company that brought us the Viewliners and Amfleet in scale!!!  Scott’s doing some great stuff for us at SUNSET-3RD RAIL-GOLDEN GATE DEPOT.

If Golden Gate were to make Amtrak diesels...or any future diesels, would GGD license Proto 3 from MTH (since that's an option now)

That option would clinch the deal for me.  To my knowledge, there aren't any TMCC sounds that resemble modern Amtrak locomotives.

I apologize if it's slightly off topic, but I don't know if it's ever been discussed.

If certainly prefer GGD P42s with fixed pilots,  but if Atlas offers then first I need something to pull my train... I certainly prefer TMCC but I figure eventually I'll have to buy DCS.

Call Atlas trains and request the MTH P42 Genesis. They answer the phone.  The pilot has the holes for the Kadee couplers, just need to make a spacer. Also has the 2/3 rail trucks.   If enough people ask maybe it will happen.

well call me a monkey’s uncle - P42s were announced by Sunset this morning

@M J Breen posted:

well call me a monkey’s uncle - P42s were announced by Sunset this morning

Holy cow! Can’t wait to run a phase 5 with amfleets behind it. Flanked by an Acela…

Very good  Scott !!!

Thankyou

Ummmmm.... someone please tell me that wont all come in the same shipping container?

I had a confab with Jonathan and Richard over the weekend and ironed out these projects. Thanks guys. No, they will not all come at the same time, and you should know by now, we hold models for customers making layaway payments if they do come too close together. Point being, we are in business to serve our customers, not to shove models down their throats. Relax, enjoy the offering and reserve the one's you want, so we can plan our production accordingly. We'll take care of the rest. THANK YOU ALL AGAIN!!!

Regarding Amfleet and Viewliner Run#2: We will now take your reservations for a 2nd run. It can take a year or more to produce, so if you couldn't get all you wanted from these, please put in your new reservations now. We'll transfer them to the new run.  We are now sold out of the first run of Amfleets and Viewliners.  Yes, we will be offering Amfleet IIs in the future.

Just ordered four P42s and eight Superliners. Time to add more Viewliners. Thank you Scott for listening to your customers!!!!!

This is huge. Scott, if there's any hope of putting DCS in these via a licensing agreement, that would seal the deal for me, as only DCS has authentic P42 sounds.

A few questions, if you don't mind:

-Are any of the 50th Anniversary liveries part of this run?
-Would you consider adding dummy units as an option? I'd love to doublehead some of these, but I don't necessarily need the power in both units.

Thanks!
Rafi

Scott, Genesis and Superliners, guess I get to tap my retirement fund once again.  At last!   But a question, I don't see a dummy listed for the Genesis.  I hope there will be one.

I woke up this morning and couldn’t believe my eyes. I immediately reserved a 5 car set of Superliners. Thank you so much for doing this Scott!

This announcement is still a little bit in its infancy in that we only discussed all of this Saturday. 

• Dummies are a funny animal.  Some people want them and some don't.  For this project though dummies might be possible. Traditionally they are not a lot cheaper to build than a powered unit, but for 3 rail if there are enough orders for them, anything is possible. 
• We did discuss 50th anniversary schemes.  I would expect that they will be offered.  
• DCS is not going to be an option.  Scott has the license for ERR boards.  I would expect that the cost to license it and put it in the 20-30 locomotives that might be ordered with it would be offset by purchasing one with a factory ERR board and replacing it with DCS.  The ERR board has the ability to accept different sounds and I expect we will get a good GE sound set for it. 

I have the same challenge as everyone else on the overall announcement.  I will want three FP45s for my EL Capitan, three SDP40Fs for my Southwest Limited, and at least two P42s of which one is the "Pepsi-Can" 50th Anniversary scheme for my Viewliner / Amfleet Consist.

Add to that a set of Superliners too.  Probably Phase III paint for me, but some in Phase II paint might be interesting to mix with my former El Cap cars.  Then again, I have some K-Line Superliner IIs in phase IV paint.  This could be quite the challenge!  

@sdmann posted:

Regarding Amfleet and Viewliner Run#2: We will now take your reservations for a 2nd run. It can take a year or more to produce, so if you couldn't get all you wanted from these, please put in your new reservations now. We'll transfer them to the new run.  We are now sold out of the first run of Amfleets and Viewliners.  Yes, we will be offering Amfleet IIs in the future.

So if we were already on Standy By for Viewliners, should we put in a new reservation?

Amtrak car stand-by orders will be automatically transferred to a 2nd Run and we will send an email notice describing it.

@The GN Man posted:

Scott & Jonathan, are you considering a Superliner transition sleeper? It’s the “missing car” on your list of Superliners. I will definitely be a buyer!

Bingo--if at all possible, a transition sleeper is vital for a prototypical consist. We need something to connect the Superliners vestibule-to-vestibule to a Viewliner Baggage car.

Transition cars are Superliner IIs, we are doing Superliner Is this round. IIs in the future.

Sound reasonable?

Regarding Dummy Diesels, we will never do them as they cost almost as much to make and very hard to sell if left over. FL9s taught us a big lesson.

Regarding DCS: If an MTH Licensed Repair / Dealer wants to offer some of these post production, converted to DCS, that would be the way to get that done. There are few dealers that are interested in doing that.

Regarding Further Schemes: We consider them when we see enough orders in general. E-60s showed promise on the forum regarding  enthusiasm, but only resulted in 60 reservation after 1 year on the reservation page. Amtrak (Matt) said, if your not going to make it, take it down, so we did.

Hi Scott:

Just to confirm, Amfleets on the reservation page are still listed as 'Stand By', though I see 'Possible Second Run' on the main page.  All new reservations from today and on will go to the second run list, even if the reservation page says 'Stand By'?  Thanks.

@sdmann posted:

Transition cars are Superliner IIs, we are doing Superliner Is this round. IIs in the future.

Sound reasonable?

Sounds very reasonable. Looking forward to II's and El Capitan.

I know we're already diving head first into the Amtrak offerings, but would there be any interest in the autoracks used on the Autotrain? They could also be offered in CP/ CN.

Until I move the current part numbers to OLD part numbers for Amfleet / Viewliners, we will record new reservations as Stand-By and transfer them all at one time to a 2nd Run. This takes time as things are still in flux with stand-by orders that we are in the process of filling. A couple weeks and we can do this with confidence.

I'll let the experts discuss / comment on further offerings.