Referring to Lionel's Amtrak Aluminum Passenger set, (19100 - 19106), which car was the add-on; the full dome (19105) or the dining car (19104)? Thanks.
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Mark, the 19105 full dome car was the add-on.
Thank You!
Nice cars. Which year were they from? Weren't they released in conjunction with the Amtrak GG-1??
Yes - I believe both cars and GG1 were offered only in 1989.
I would like to see Lionel offer another add on for this set. A Duplex Sleeper in same Amtrak colors.
Scott - do you think Lionel would be able to make in a duplex in the same style, esp w/ window silhouettes? Or have they advanced too far beyond that?
Full set of pix here:
This would have been during the Kuhn era, not MPC, though, right?
Mark,
I would think that a lot of operators of 60' aluminum Amtrak cars would add one of these to their sets. They would look good mixed in with Williams cars as well. Whether Lionel could still produce these I have no idea. Perhaps they could run various road names in one production run for those of us still enjoying the 60' aluminum sets. I would buy an Amtrak, Northern Pacific, Atlantic Coast Line, and Southern Pacific colors.
I have a set of these, and posted a video of them to YouTube awhile back. The Lionel cars were done in a plated aluminum finish. I never considered the Williams ones as "matching" since their aluminum cars were all a dull finish.
---PCJ
Originally Posted by RailRide:
I have a set of these, and posted a video of them to YouTube awhile back. The Lionel cars were done in a plated aluminum finish. I never considered the Williams ones as "matching" since their aluminum cars were all a dull finish.
---PCJ
RailRide,
Valid point. But I run long trains of these cars all mixed, including Williams Amfleet cars. I think it adds a bit of authetic Amtrak mixing and differing quality of finish represents similar on 1970's and 1980's Amtrak consists. I recall the smoothside cars on Amtrak's Lakeshore Limited which were very grey looking silver, a paint color Amtrak called "platinum mist." Rather than stripping paint off former Union Pacific, Northern Pacific, or Great Northern cars, Amtrak painted them "platinum mist." Several dome cars had this greyish looking paint as well.
Originally Posted by VistaDomeScott:
Perhaps they could run various road names in one production run for those of us still enjoying the 60' aluminum sets. I would buy an Amtrak, Northern Pacific, Atlantic Coast Line, and Southern Pacific colors.
Of course, all of these lines have already been done by Lionel in the past, and can be found in the secondary market. Reruns with interiors and passenger figures would be nice, though. Many of us don't have room for passenger cars larger than the 60' versions. Even with 15" cars, an A-B-A of F units and six cars is nearly 12 feet long.
Actually, the finish on the Lionel Amtrak cars is called "BrightDipped" with a clear annodizing to protect the finish from oxidizing. This produces a "shinny/chrome like" finish, Williams, MTH, and Weaver all did the "Shinny finish" on their cars at an earlier time with the aluminum extruded bodies.
True, Williams did do some very early "satin Finish" cars in the "Golden Memories" kit series that you had to assemble yourself.
Later, MTH and williams expanded to ABS plastic bodies and painting the cars "Silver"; Williams did then paint their aluminum cars a Silver and also painted on the striping instead of using the metallic colored number board strips.
A special aluminum is needed for the Brightdipped finish to come out real shinny and is costly too. The painted aluminum cars use a different aluminum so that the paint will adhear better.
MTH and Weaver did make a type of sleeper car that had extra tiny windows in the letterboard area between the large windows below. These mix in with the Lionel types quite good.
Lionel did run some real nice duplex sleeper cars for the Santa Fe road name and used pinned on plaques for the lettering. These could be reworked to match the Amtrack cars of the earlier time. Dennis M.
Originally Posted by breezinup:
Originally Posted by VistaDomeScott:
Perhaps they could run various road names in one production run for those of us still enjoying the 60' aluminum sets. I would buy an Amtrak, Northern Pacific, Atlantic Coast Line, and Southern Pacific colors.
Of course, all of these lines have already been done by Lionel in the past, and can be found in the secondary market. Reruns with interiors and passenger figures would be nice, though. Many of us don't have room for passenger cars larger than the 60' versions. Even with 15" cars, an A-B-A of F units and six cars is nearly 12 feet long.
breezinup,
I was not suggesting that Lionel reproduce the entire sets of cars, but just produce the Duplex Sleeper in the road names that were never produced before for these sets. They limited the Duplex Sleepers to a few roads, but never produced a NP, SP, Amtrak for example.
Not sure if they made a GN Duplex, but would be a candidate as well. I believe only NYC, NW, and ATSF were made in the Duplex Sleeper car.
