Ok, I was waiting for my wife and happened to notice the Walthers sale catalog on the table. I usually just toss them because they never have much in N scale or at least anything I’m interested in. This time the HO UP City Train caught my eye and before I realized it, I was dying of envy with all that is available in HO. (another reason why I toss them) I think I want an N scale UP City Train set. I think I looked at them before but thought they would not look right on my ninety’s era layout, but I don’t care anymore. I definitely want this. So now I guess I need to start searching. Any suggestions?
I feel your pain. I am much the same way over the Walther HO scale Hiawatha. What have I done about it? Well, I got some books of prototype shots and I have been doing some research and I am going to build and kitbash a consist together.
Oh wow, I can't wait to see it. I hope you post photos:tb-biggrin: I did a little searching without finding anything yet. I think I'm also going to have to do some research, but I don't think I'm going to be able to build my own. I'm by no means a master modeler.
I am not a master modeler, either. I am trying. Have you considered starting with, say, a Kato set and then modifying or relabeling them to fit what you want?
Yes and I’m probably going to settle for whatever I can get. It doesn't have to be exactly the same as the Walthers UP City. I just like looks of the yellow UP Passenger train with the A&B units. I used to have the KATO UP EMD E8/9 A&B on my wish list at one point, but couldn’t decide until it was too late. I do see a F3 A&B set on eBay, but I’m still looking for more info and I haven't even looked at what's available for cars. I guess I should do that before I get too far into this.
I don't see any reason in the world why you can't have the COLA train. I have a LOT of stuff in HO, I run it at several local clubs out here. I save the N scale for the garage, and do both just nicely...think about it before you limit yourself to N scale...no need to...and above all, have with the hobby...there are no rules....
I capture the flavor of the "City of Someplace" with a lot of Kato cars and Life-Like E6 or E7s. I have powered a couple of B units, so I can actually put powered ABB E-units in front of about 20 cars. Microscale makes decals for "City of..." E units to make the LL units a little more, uh, "life like." I bought some decals a while back to reletter Kato's passenger cars as City of... (I don't remember at the moment if it's LA or SF). The early trains had a square-end observation car. If you are patient you can find one of those on eBay for tolerable amount$. Any obs would benefit from a Tomar illuminated drumhead (Consider Richmond Controls lights to light up the drumhead and markers...) You can build more accurate cars yourself if you want; kits, parts, and brass sides are available from numerous sources. I know I've bought more than I can possibly do at this point. I like the Kato cars. I'd like to add a couple cars that are unique like the round-windowed Hollywood lounge, but I'm not that finicky. I have American Limited Models diaphragms to add to the cars and RCC lights too. (ALM has a kit coming out for a UP sleeper.) Has anyone tried the full-width diaphragms from Desplaines Hobbies? I have a couple sets but haven't done anything with them. Will someone please make a nice E2 A & B unit for me? Please... Terry
Mr Chairman of the board. The gentleman from Barstow wishes to second the motion. All in favor signify with a upraised hand. Ok, whose the wise guy in the back with both hands up? SleeperN06 As already mentioned Kato put out some fine UP passenger cars. You can watch the model rail swap meets and see what shows up. I recently picked up a set from a friend of mine. He was pricey, but worth the price. Have fun!
Russell got me set up with a Kato UP EMD E8/9 A & B Locomotives and a complete set of Kato cars, so I’m good for now. It may not be the same thing, but it’ll work. Now all I got to do is convince my wife to let me build a long shelf layout on the family room wall. :shade:
Thanks, I can’t wait to see them running. I gathered up enough Bachmann EZ track from a couple of old sets I had laying around to make a fairly good sized oval at least until I get my new layout up and running. :tb-biggrin:
Why wouldn't a UP "Streamliner" look OK in a 90's era layout? The UP E-Units were rebuilt by M-K in the late 80's/early 90's and the UP has a sizeable fleet of passenger cars that are maintained in Council Bluffs, IA and travel all over the UP system for shipper specials, Operation Lifesaver, etc. In fact, a group from our N-Trak was privileged to ride with one of our members on a OLS/Shipper special a few months back in the refurbished cars.
Oh thats pretty cool, I did not know that. I guess now that I’m going to have “the train”, I guess I should learn more about it, thanks. :thumbs_up: I found a video similar to what your talking about and I'm going look for more. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7KM2PGd7BI"]YouTube - Vintage Union Pacific Streamliner train in Colorado Springs[/ame] One of the reasons I’m not going to worry about era anymore is that I realized that there are a lot old historic trains still making memorial runs in the 21 century. I watch a lot of YouTube videos and there are even plenty of steamers still running such as in this video of a [FONT="]UP #844 Cheyenne thru Rawlins WY 3 May 2007[/FONT]. I even bought a couple steamers this year after watching some of these. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKFXjldCXsY"]YouTube - Steam Train[/ame]
