Superliner Question

Stan...there is a set on the for sale forum that is a good price....you may want to take a look!

Alan

I bought a set of Williams 60 ft cars not long ago. The six car set is aluminum and has the older R/W/B scheme and not the current 'V' scheme. But the 6 cars and two Williams Amtrak locos make a nice looking train.

I bought my set because of a number of trips cross country on Superliners.....

http://www.mthtrains.com/search/apachesolr_search?page=1&filters=type%3Aitem%20ss_cck_field_category%3A%22Passenger%20Car%22%20ss_cck_field_road_name%3A%22Amtrak%22

Take a look at the MTH website says Super liners coming out Feb 2014

at the link above.

Acording to the website they will do 0-42 curves.

Lionel did some Super liners a few years back.

I really like my MTH premier cars. I think there are 7 different cars to the set. A 4 pack, a 2 pack and a single, in a few different paint schemes. Mine are the more modern 5 stripe version. I also have 2 sets of Williams luxury liners from 20 years ago. These are full length aluminum cars, but are somewhat lacking in detail.

For power I have 2 sets of Williams Genesis locos, upgraded to TMCC, and a Lionel Dash 8. I think the Genesis engines look much better with the Superliners.

I have the MTH cars, courtesy of my mad ambition to re-create (most of) the Amtrak Auto-Train. After tracking down a four-car coach set in Long Island and a transition sleeper at York, I got lucky and found a 4+2 car set here on the Forum purely as a result of an offhand comment I made on a Buy/Sell forum post offering a Phase III set (I was looking for Phase IV, the five-stripe version). Someone who had two of the five-stripe sets was looking to sell one of them at an upcoming train show and spotted my comment and contacted me off-forum. A couple of emails later and the deal was made.

Actually I have 13 MTH, 4 K-Line and 4 Lionel Superliners. Those last two sets were pure luck at two consecutive York shows after acquiring the MTH sets.

Almost forgot the 6 Williams 60-footers. They have the old Phase II stripes, but because they're just stick-on decals, I hope to redecorate them as close to Phase IVb as my skills will allow. I think they have assigned power, but I haven't actually run them yet--and anyone who knows Williams' history knows it's been a looong time since they've offered a 6-car sets of those.

Ohe humorous discovery came when I was upgrading my MTH cars to LED lighting (if you run more than 6, the amperage draw quickly gets out of hand). The Chinese engineers working on the interior tooling put squat toilets in the lower-level restrooms instead of the raised-seat versions us Westerners are accustomed to. This oddity is invisible to almost everyone owning these cars since that section of the car is hidden from view. I don't know if the Lionel or K-Line cars escaped that oversight.

---PCJ

There are several good choices for making a decent and believable Superliner train.  If you can find them, Kline made great correct length 21" cars, but they are hard to come by these days and most common in the Amtrak California scheme.  MTH made 18" and 15" Superliner cars in the Premier and Railking Line respectively.  Also Williams made both 20" and 16" Superliner cars that you can find from time to time.  Most of the paint schemes you will find are in the Phase III equal red, white and blue stripes.  That has always been my favorite, but the photos you posted are in the Phase IV scheme.  

Typically the Superliner trains after the turn of the century featured a single baggage car that was converted from a Heritage Fleet coach with the single door in the middle and were full 85' cars.  They were all painted in the Phase IV scheme.  However, it is your railroad so any Amtrak baggage car would do.  Most baggage cars used by Amtrak historically were 72' so any 18" car would work.  16" cars handed down from the Santa Fe are also prototypical as they had 63' baggage cars.   

As to motive power, the Atlas B32-8W is the correct GE hood unit to pull Amtrak trains.  When I was riding the Southwest Chief in the early 90's, one would often be either trailing or pulling an F40PH.  The Atlas model has TMCC and is the only accurate 3 rail model of that locomotive.  The MTH model is too long and the dash 9 GE's were never purchased by Amtrak.  The P42, Genesis units of course do most of the work now and were painted in Phase III, IV and Phase V paint.  MTH makes an accurate one, while the Williams ones are a few inches short, but great values. 

Having said all that, it is your train so you can do whatever you like.  The Lionel engine you mentioned would look good at the point.  I purchased a Williams SD90 in the Phase III "Pepsi Can" scheme because when I am running for the public it can pull all day without quitting.  Personally most of my Amtrak experience was behind the F40PH, so that is my preference, but that is a different era than you appear to be looking for. 

Good luck in your search!  I hope you are able to put together a great looking train.

Here is the Amtrak I am currently running.  It is not completely accurate, but has the right collection of cars at least.  The power is an FL9 with Horizon coaches and cafe followed by a Budd diner and two Pullman Standard sleepers.  I'm in the process of repainting a few cars for my baggage car and crew / dorm car.  Not Superliners, but reminiscent of the trains I rode on as a kid.  Looking for either a dummy F40PH or FL9 to trail my powered unit.

Thanks all for your replys.

Bill - thanks for the offer, but I think I am leaning toward the MTH scale cars.

Stan

The only correct P32 (the Dash 8) is the Atlas version. Both MTH and Lionel's 4 axle dash 8s are too long and have the wrong cab. Atlas has done the Pepsi Can scheme, Phase IV and Phase V.

MTH has made just about every scheme of P40 and P42 (Genesis) that ever existed, starting with the Fade Stripe P40s, all the way through the Walthers run of Phase V. I've got a 4 of them, the detail gets a little better with each run, but at this point, the model is overdue for a total re-tool, IMO.

The Williams genesis probably runs like any williams engine, but its too short, has the very short lived "eyebrow" strobes above the cab windows on all the models (the strobes were on the very early engines as delivered, and were quickly removed), and strangely, there's a circle "R" trademark behind the Amtrak logo on the side of the loco, which seems kinda odd.

The F40PH would be the "right" choice for a Phase III train, by the time Phase IV came around, you may see an F40 as a trailing unit, the Genesis had pretty much taken over by then.  K-line made F40's with TMCC, the Atlas diesels come with TMCC, the version depends on when they were made (the early ones were SAW boards, they picked up EOB somewhere along the way). The MTH Genesis' with PS1 have gotten pretty cheap ($150ish), it might be worth it to pick one up and convert it to TMCC.

If you can find and afford a set, the K line 21" cars are the best ones you can get.

The MTH 18" ones are quite nice, but as discussed above, suck a lot of amperage (11 bulbs per car I think). The lionel ones arent bad, but they have those horrible windows that stick out from the body. The railking cars are just as nice as the premier ones but shorter, I dont think I've ever seen the williams ones first hand.

No problem, Stan.  The MTH cars are very nice.

Again, thanks to all for the very helpful and informative replies!

I am putting together the following Amtrak Superliner train:

Though not exactly prototypical,  I think it will work for me:

In the lead will be (purchased from a forum member - not yet received) a (dummy) though lighted Williams Phase III Genesis unit, followed by a Lionel Amtrak Legacy Dash 9 (purchased from Nicholas Smith for a discounted price), followed by an MTH Amtrak Phase III mail / baggage car (purchased on Ebay) followed by a set of 4 MTH Premier Phase III Superliners (purchased from a forum member)- not yet received.

When all members of this new team from three different manufacturers are assembled I plan to attach photos.

Happy railroading!

Stan