Good evening all:
As most of us know, Atlas O has put out models of Comet I and II coaches over the years. They are excellent models, with spot-on paint schemes, or so I thought.
One of their first runs saw a single set for MARC, (6213, as seen here and here) with the usual two-coaches and a cab-coach. I have always had a soft spot for MARC, and I jumped on the set when I saw it cheap a while back. However, I am often a stickler for prototypicality, and it became rapidly apparent that they are not models of the ribbed Sumitomo single-level coaches they current run. After recovering from another wave of "rivet-counter's disappointment", subsequent extensive research has not yielded any evidence that MARC ever rostered any Comets. However, that doesn't necessarily mean they didn't order them and even had them painted before dumping them elsewhere. At the time, the MTA (MD Transit Authority) licensed them and the Atlas O AEM7s, which in itself doesn't mean much except that transit groups do not typically license scale models of trains that never existed in their respective paint schemes, (obviously any toy can be 'officially licensed'). Additionally, Atlas O was not into fantasy paint in the late 90s that I am aware of; I am not sure they ever were, (they did some fantasy HO in recent years, which were dismal failures as I understand).
Are there any MARC fans out there that can confirm / deny that they ever dabbled with Comet coaches? Thanks.
