MTH premier Amtrak Amfleets: Recent vs Early 2000s

They got a little better over time, but but they were basically the same. Some of them have the shiny "chrome" finish and others are painted silver. They went back and forth, even with the recent runs. The biggest issue is the 1999 runs having crumbling couplers. I think I have like 3 sets of these things from varying vintages and dont have any issues with them.

One thing.... there was a point where they finally realized the blue was wrong (it was the more modern dark blue) and fixed it. So if you have a recent version of Phase II or III cars, dont buy the old ones. Anything with a 5 stripe scheme is fine, the blue is right.

I don't see a lot of difference, I have some of the earlier vintage.  I gave them LED lighting and some passengers and the passenger ticket revenue comes streaming in.

The ones from 1999 (20-6519) are absolutely awful because of the zinc pest contributing to couplers rotting on me.  I replaced all 8 couplers through the years, and on top of it, they don't really look nice.  They're the most common of the Amfleets, and I'd assume that every set sold has at least one coupler broken.

I have about 20 of MTH's Amfleets from a variety of runs.  The chrome plating is the way to go. They look absolutely awesome and it closely mimics the stainless steel finish of the prototypes.  Take note that each run of the chrome plating is slightly different.  I have 8 chrome plated Amfleets from 2008 that are finished slightly differently from the Capstone cars I have that were released within the the last few years.  Both runs look great.  I run cars from both production runs at the same time and they still look fine together. The quality is there for sure.

There were a run of non-plated somewhere between 2008 and now.  I wouldn't recommend mixing non-plated and plated cars together. 

I concur with @P42Amtrak83, The plated ones are the way to go, starting with the 2018 catalog.  The very early ones had neither LED lighting (interior and tail lights) nor people already installed.  Those from the later painted silver run are better, but still lack populated interiors.  The most recent versions, from the 2018 & 2019 catalog are plated, with LED lighting and interior people.  One thing often overlooked that I found when working on mine, are the newer ones also have an extra set of screws inboard of the trucks that greatly help the support.  The first run indeed has coupler problems.

@StevefromPA, I see you have the Phase IVb set and Nicholas Smith's fantastic custom run of the Acela Regional (What is commonly called Capstone) scheme and I’ve ordered them, and are on their way!

There are some other details, as the early ones have gray interiors, and the later ones have tan.

One last thing to look at is the color of the Amtrak Heritage blue for the Phase III scheme... the early runs have a darker blue, which looks good with MTH stainless cars and also matches their F40PHs and MHCs of the same vintage, but at least my collection from both the 2018 and 2019 ( I can't say about the silver painted 2017 catalog) have the correct lighter blue, and these also carried over to the F40PHs as well.

Please look at Amtrak's own painting diagram here: Amtrak Paint Scheme & Logo Branding Guide.

In a nutshell...

The 2018 & 2019 ones are plated and have a lighter Phase III Heritage Blue that match the MHC and F40PHs from those catalogs.  This blue hue matches the Atlas AEM-7.

The Phase IVb looks great and did change over the years, with the original Phase IV scheme had a dark blue while the later (modern) Phase IVb has the blue that matches the modern Genesis units.  This is correct... the early MTH Phase IV, like the ones you own, Steve, are the correct darker blue for that time period and the new catalog runs are correct for the Phase IVb, and the box label reflects this.

If you have any other questions, please let me know, I also have 20+ Amfleets from different years.

Atlas O AEM-7 and 2019 Amfleet Phase III:

MTH AEM-7 and 2019 Amfleet Phase IVb:

Early MTH Amfleet and 2019 F40PH:

Thanks,

- Mario

Guys- thanks for all your help. I’ve attempted to make 2 posts from my phone in the last 2 weeks to respond only to switch tabs and have my post wiped away b/c the page reloaded.

@Boilermaker1 thanks for the heads up regardingthe 1999 versions! Since my initially post, I’ve basically been focusing on anything plated( thanks @P42Amtrak83 for that hint and the rest of the info in your post!) that’s 2000 or later.

i initially bought two Phase 4 NE Direct cars and one phase 3 on eBay. I did some research on the the product number given by the seller and it turned out 2 of which were labeled as belonging to a different set.....from 1999!!! Luckily, I never had to broach the subject with him b/c after he didn’t answer my first very general question regarding the cars, and when they didn’t ship within a week and I questioned that- the seller cancelled the orders.

@CentralFan1976 thanks for the heads up regarding the shade of blue for Phase III and the pics! Also- did you recently buy the Phase V(Capstone) 4 pack from Nick Smith- if so lucky you!!! After striking out on the above I went to buy that and it was sold out!! Also- 2 years ago I printed out that guide you listed and have had it hanging above one of my work tables😁- very helpful!!

But all worked out and now it’s just a matter of patience. I was able to score a NIB 2 pack of 20-60415 Phase III Amfleets- there plenty of MTH Phase I(most recent release) out there but I run Phase III and up(some Phase II, only PH I is heritage baggage)

I have a great K-line TMCC, RS, Cruise F40PH Phase 3(blue is darker, though not as darker as MTH) and recently bought the Legacy system and a Legacy Phase III F40PH( blue is on point) So these Phase IIIs could likely go with either. That said, I’ve fallen in love with the Legacy system and the F40PH- So they’ll likely run behind that.

definjtely looking to acquire more Phase III, IV, or IVB MTH as thoss mix and match better with a Phase III F40PH.

will try to post pics when the new cars arrive!

thanks again!

@StevefromPA posted:

…

@CentralFan1976 thanks for the heads up regarding the shade of blue for Phase III and the pics! Also- did you recently buy the Phase V(Capstone) 4 pack from Nick Smith- if so lucky you!!! After striking out on the above I went to buy that and it was sold out!! Also- 2 years ago I printed out that guide you listed and have had it hanging above one of my work tables😁- very helpful!!

thanks again!

Indeed. I was very lucky, and have a great wife for getting them for me!

Here’s the add-on coach (light blue band) and business class (dark blue band) cars, the paint details are exquisite.

The Café has the green mobile.

Thanks!

-Mario

Upon comparison, I found that the older (early 2000s era) amfleet cars have larger rubber diaphragms and do not come factory with the gray outer lining. I realized you could just carefully trace out the silver ends with a silver marker.

Photo is from my train room.

See the video I made about this here - https://youtu.be/Wdp-ThtBxd4

@@T1Titan_ZachF posted:

Upon comparison, I found that the older (early 2000s era) amfleet cars have larger rubber diaphragms and do not come factory with the gray outer lining. I realized you could just carefully trace out the silver ends with a silver marker.

Photo is from my train room.

Genius!

Zinc pest with the early Amfleet cars is very much a hit or miss thing. Not all of them have it, but if you are buying, I would definitely recommend checking for it.

Chris

LVHR

To everyone who participated in this thread- thank you so so much! Without your input, I wouldn’t be able to say that  I’ve achieved my objective.

I just need two more Amfleets to “bridge the gap” so to speak- and thus I’m requesting some help again. This time, the focus is much more narrow. In addition, I believe a new frontier may have been opened....

Thanks to all of your advice and searching all over, I was very lucky to come across a 2 pack of 2018 Phase III coaches(20-60415) and subsequently found a 4 pack of 2019 Phase IIIs(20-64132)

It works out great, as my 2 most Amtrak Motive Power pick-ups are the Legacy F40PH- one in Phase III and one in Phase II.

Lionel Amtrak F40PH Phase III Legacy with consist

As you know, the expansion of your fleet and building of your layout never really stops.

That said, I request your advice/help again. I’m searching for two PremierPhase IV Amfleets that wouldn’t look bad my current Amfleets.  From what I’ve seen, there was a 4 pack( #20-65080) in 2005 or 2013 that didn’t look terrible- although don’t believe it was plated. After exhaustively searching for a Plated Phase IV set , I reached out to Mario ( @CentralFan1976 ) who confirmed that these weren’t ever PHIV plated cars like 2018-2019 versions.  @P42Amtrak83 mentioned 2008 chrome plated cars(unknown Phase Livery) that don’t match the recent ones but work well enough.

So here’s my question-has MTH ever made Phase IV Premier Amfleets that wouldn’t look terrible with my Phase IIIs or Capstones?

Finally, regarding that new frontier. You might’ve picked up on it at the end of one of the consists in the above videos

K-line 18” Amtrak Transitional Sleeper Superliner Phase IV....

I thought if I’m gonna get a Superliner, might as well make it one I can use right away ha. I love this car, it looks great and it’s actually my first superliner. I’ve been looking at a lot of different Superliner from Lionel, MTH and K-line(if I can find them)-mainly in the Phase 3 and Phase IV liveries, as well as the Williams Phase II 20” cars.

If i’d Only want 2 or 3 Superliners in Phase III or IV that would match dimensions with the K-line transitional sleeper above- any suggestions?? (Besides K-line)

thanks again for all your help guys!

I'm glad to see that you found yourself 6 chrome plated Amfleets! That's pretty cool.

The plated Amfleets from 2008 were done in Phase I and Phase VI.  Mario is correct that Phase IV plated Amfleets were never produced.  In fact, there are only two runs of Premier Phase IV Amfleets (20-6531 [1999] Northeast Direct branding and 20-65080 [2005]). I don't think either would look good with plated Amfleets.

My question is why you are looking to mix paint schemes?  Although they did run trans in various paint schemes in the late 90s/ early 2000s, it didn't look as good as a matched set. If I were you, I'd look for more Phase III Amfleets

I don't think it'd be wrong to put Phase VI cars into the mix...if you really want to mix paint schemes. There's two runs of those cars.

As for Superliners, I'd highly recommend not mixing MTH cars from different runs.  Each run seems to use different color striping, and the width of the stripes can vary greatly.

A good starting point is the MTH Superliners from 2006. 20-65123 I believe is the first issue of the newly tooled cars. MTH retooled the Superliners that year.  The cars and subsequent runs feature black window trim with the window blinds, opening doors, and the emergency exit labels which I think are cool.  Later versions likely have some color modifications.  The Phase IV set (20-65123) is correct to my eye with the exception of the black painted trucks.  It's not an issue unless you pair them with other sets.  The trucks in the real life prototypes became dirty rather quickly, and MTH probably assumed that they were painted black.