What's the history for E Welz Electric Trains

Can't tell you much history first hand.....but I found a 6 car set of SL cars at a show I really like. Guy wanted $300 for the set....seemed like really nice cars....but could not justify the cost. Guy selling them said the company was rather short lived, out of AZ and made some high end, for the time, cars.

The Amfleet cars on ebay do look like Williams cars. After seeing MTH Amfleets I bought them and glad I never found a Williams set I liked.

Is 'E Welz Trains' any kin to Elliot Welz the custom painter?

I had a really nice PW GG1 years ago that was one of his...

Yes, I believe that they are one in the same.  I believe he started with the GG1s.  His work is top notch and sought after.  He has more recently expanded into all forms of pre- and post-war trains.

In addition to the 5-car Amfleet sets, he also did a powered 4-car Amtrak Metroliner (or Capitoliner set as they were also known by).  The Welz cars are much narrower than the Williams cars.  They also have much greater detail with somewhat protptypical tracks, interiors and car lighting.

 

When buying, take notice of the striping along the windows.  Improperly stored cars will have tissue paper residue stuck to the stripes.  This is quite common and not particularly fixable.  Otherwise, they are great models.

 

Enjoy!

I thought Eliot Welz only re-paints.  Never heard that he offers his "own line" of cars.  As far as I know, anything with his name associated with it is simply a re-paint of existing manufacturers' products.

 

Given the location, I wonder if his produced cars were of any relation to the Phoenix

cars once also available?

quote:

My last conversation with Eliot was at York several years ago.  He came up to me and stated he did not like me because I was a Police Officer.  I told him I arrest people selling drugs to kids and he stated I should not do that.  My response to his statement can not be printed

 

Must be the paint fumes.

The Phoenix cars are a different animal.  No connection to Welz.  Phoenix was also a great product.  Click below and see the Phoenix cars.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9...429@N02/11785421805/

 

The photo below is of some Welz cars.

 

 

 

I was wondering the same thing about the connection with Phoenix Railcars myself.
The Welz cars are nice looking my only draw back is the size since they're not scale.
But they would look good behind my MTH Railking Amtrak Dash 8 or GE AMD-103 Genesis. They still might be worth the investment to add to my rolling stock of Amtrak equipment.
Now I have to wonder what cars Phoenix Railcars produced while they where in business.

I have seen Phoenix cars in SP, C&O and N&W.  Perhaps someone has seen more.  I put a short clip above showing my C&O Phoenix cars.

Locomotive Workshop was big in O scale kits and parts.  They did a few locomotive bodies.  This was a big source for drivers and kitbashing parts.  Going on memory it was run by Jan Lorenzen (not sure of correct spelling) and it was located in Englishtown NJ.  This is all from memory and I am sure someone could fine tune the information.

Guys, if you go to stevensonpreservationlines.com. This guy Bob Stevenson bought several companys that made trains, and train parts plus, a few machine shops to boot! If you down load his site, let it play out, then read his introductory story before it starts into the engine kits and detailing parts lists with pictures.

P.S. he also says that might have odd ball stuff from when he bought out these companys. His story said that the 1st one he bought out was pearce tool co, back in 1999. He bought out Jan Lorenzens business in the summer of 2004 after his death. Well anyway check this out as it may help you get some kits or parts that you are looking for. I myself am going to get a sand dome, steam dome, boiler front, air compressors and air tks to kit bash and build a C&O Hudson for 3 rail. He also had another emailing address which is, bobdiesel@aol.com His prices that he has on his parts used for kit bashing seem reasonable to me. Bob also offers machine work but you'll have to call him on that one!  515-292-8469 Ames Iowa......................    Hope this helps you guys out...................Brandy 

Brandy, I have some of those domes that may have come from Locomotive Workshop.  If you want to hit my email tomorrow night I will try to put my hands on them.  They are all soft metal castings.

I've nerver heard of the Locomotive Workshop........But I do remember serveal item from Right of Way. I seam to remember that all of thier locomotive where made from brass and they had a monster of a transformer but I don't know if one was evet built?

 

S. R. Sean:

 

You can read more about Elliot Welz and his Amtrak models if you use the SEARCH tool and put the word "welz" into the box. There have been many discussions here about the man and his products.

 

I have several sets of both his Metroliners and Amtrak passenger cars.  They are great models, with interesting features such as the "almost" 3-dimensional passengers, and the flush window glass.

 

I'm surprised that he criticized a law enforcement person. He has always seemed (to me, at least) not to have any particular anti-social leanings. I believe that he had some health issues a while back.

 

I have a five-car set of Welz cars I picked up from a dealer at one of the Westchester shows. Actually the sale came afterwards--I didn't have quite enough cash for the set at the show, but sent the seller a money order immediately afterwards so he could ship it direct.

 

The cars have non-operating couplers and inboard-bearing trucks that roll surprisingly well. The end caps can be an issue--the ones on mine had shrunk over the years. Eliot was able to supply replacement castings in a better-grade plastic (supposedly the tooling is/was up for sale--he asked if I was interested ) that I'll someday get around to painting and installing.

 

My cars also have the aforementioned issue with paper having stuck to the striping. I did obtain some replacement (leftover) decals, but instead of installing them, I'm considering digitizing them so I can draw the new Amtrak scheme over the originals and print modern stripes on decal film, applying them to a clear plastic strip that would serve as the window "glass" before installing them on the cars, thus modernizing them.

 

Might even do LED lighting if I get that far .

 

---PCJ 

For some reason he turned me off. Just never liked him. Now Len Carparelli, That's a different story. Great guy.

I run 2 ROW transformers and love them.