Bevis King posted:...., plus I picked up the recent MTH F40PH in Phase IV livery. I actually ordered both road numbers in 2-rail, but MTH had insufficient orders to produce both numbers. The only one I actually got was rd#409.
Regards, Bevis.
doesn't the color bother you?
The blue maybe a bit bright, but it really doesn't bother me that much. I was pleasantly surprised how much better the detailing on the finished model was than I was expecting from the original catalogue photograph. The big thing for me was to have a second serviceable Amtrak loco for my O-scale layout project. In O-scale, especially 2-rail, one doesn't get that many options...
Regards, Bevis.
I just wish MTH knew that the official Amtrak paint and logo guide was publicly available. Would help get colors right.
I profess ignorance.....does anybody have pictures of the 21" Lionel cars that people are talking about?
VGN64 posted:I profess ignorance.....does anybody have pictures of the 21" Lionel cars that people are talking about?
There have been all sorts of photos of the various Lionel 21" cars, posted on the 3-Rail 027 Trains Forum. You may have to use the Forum Search feature to find the various threads.
Nighttrain posted:Morning Joe; I have a set of the Lionel 21" cars that I converted to 2 rail. While you can use NWSL wheel sets I choose to use MTH streamline 2 Rail trucks. The reason was the trucks were not expensive and I did not have to fabricate a 2 Rail electrical pickup. I did have to drill a new mounting hole for the MTH trucks as they are different from the Lionel trucks.
It's a simple matter of disassembling the car and removing the trucks. The wiring attaches to each side of the pickups on the MTH trucks and the installation of Kadee couplers will require the drilling of new screw holes. While I had my cars apart I dressed up the interiors with a bit of paint work and craft paper carpets, the car was then detailed out with seated passengers.
The LED lighting system is nice, beware it will take a minute or so for the system to charge and reach full brightness. I am even considering using the Lionel LED system in other brands of passenger cars to eliminate incandescent lighting.
The set I have are the "Texas Special" cars and are nicely done. I believe these cars are of the Budd prototype. The one exception is these cars have the full body end diaphrams which are incorrect but can be easily modified to the correct walk way type. I also converted a "Southern " set using the same process for a friend.
These are nice cars at a fair price and can easily be converted for 2 rail operation. One last note, the dinner sound car is set up for TMCC control and operation so it's operation will depend on your control system. I hope this will give you a heads up on your conversion. Best Regards: Gene
I finally got a set. I have the MTH trucks already. They were for another car though. So I'll be buying more I think.
I want to look at the precision scale version as they say they have bearings inside?
They are more expensive and maybe I'd use them on my GGD cars.
---->RDUNNIII,
I have all the 3D drawings for those who are interessed in adding interiors to their superliner coach and sleeper....
Everybody can contact me by mail, no problem.
jpv in France
Thanks, John!
Cost of the seats: about 25 € (more or less $30) for one whole coach car! that's the price of the guy who made them for me. I have only made the design (I don't yet own a 3D printer).
jpv in France
Hey @Engineer-Joe,
Did your conversion with the MTH trucks work out? Which kadee's did you use? Did you need to use a spacer to get the coupler height right? Do you have any photos you can share with us? What radius will the cars take after the conversion?
Sorry if these questions have been answered in another thread, but I can't seem to find much discussion about 2 railing these cars.
I forgot all about these. They are down in the clutter somewhere. I have a train of Atlas 2 rail Horizon pass cars.
I also have a train of Sunset NYC '38 pass cars. They started tripping the breakers and I put those on the shelf.
I had so many issues popping up, that I went into another hobby. I still dabble with trains when I have the energy.
First, a background on the Lionel 21" Budd Passenger Cars. The cars were originally in the New York Central Empire State Express set with a dome car that's been added. For all of the cars they have the skirting between the trucks which is wrong for the Amtrak versions - they were de-skirted prior to Amtrak The Baggage Lounge is correct for Amtrak, but was not used for an extended period and mostly on short haul trains. The Coach is also correct and saw general service mostly in the east. The Diner is also correct and is a very close cousin to a Seaboard Air Line Diner (different roof vents). The Sleeper is also correct, but was not used past 1976 or so. New York Central was unique in the 10-6 Budd Sleepers were built for vestibule to the rear operation vs. the other railroads opting for the vestibule to the head-end. The Dome is not correct and is an off shot of something I've not seen. The Observation is not correct for Amtrak, as the Penn Central sold the Empire State Express observations to Mexico before Amtrak.
I did an experiment of converting the Lionel trucks on a Pennsy Car (same trucks as the Amtrak ones) it they came out fine. I also used a Shapeways coupler pad to get the Kadee Coupler height precise.
As for the Sunset Models Amfleet I cars, they are hands down the best Amtrak cars out of the box on the market. The challenge, at least in the short term is the right power to pull them for their 1976 to 80ish early time period i.e. high quality P30CH or F40PH. The E60s were a great idea, but only for the NEC modelers. Personally the P30CH would be neat as they've never been done before in O Scale.
Enjoy some photo mock ups I took a while back on the O Scale layout in progress.
Okay, thanks for letting me know, @Engineer-Joe.
@Railthunder thanks for the prototype information and the photos of the Amfleet I's. They look great!
I'll have to see if @Nighttrain will pop in here and answer some of my questions.
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
