Hi can anyone please tell me how Lionel’s Amfleet Metroliner cab car and the Sunset 3rd Rail’s Amfleet cars compare in body size.
Are they the same body size or are the Lionel cars larger? Fatter?
Thanks Daryl
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3rd rail has not done cab cars yet, im sure the Lionel ones are not scale size like the 3rd rail golden gate depot Amfleet models
The Lionel Amfleets are nice but only 18" in length. The Sunset GGD are probably 21". Note that the ex-Metroliner cab cars have two distinct problems; one is relatively simple to fix, the red markers are lit when the cab car is leading and the headlights when it is trailing. A simple wiring change that involves opening the car up.
The other is the trucks; the prototype uses the de-motored outside frame Metroliner trucks, the Lionel ones use the same inside-bearing trucks as their Amfleet coaches. A very noticeable difference. I once bought a Williams Metroliner for the trucks but never got around to try to see if the truck exchange would work. Now the Williams car has sunk into the morass and I have not seen it in years so I can not see if it would work.
A final thought; even though I am a two-railer and prefer full scale length cars, I am quite pleased with the Lionel product. I must be, after seeing how nice the cars in the HHP-8 set are, I bought the two-car add-on set and the cab car as soon as they became available. My only regret is that Lionel has not (yet) offered a food service car. I did send them a suggestion to do so.
