Well I broke down and got a 8 car Kato set Superliner in phase 2... I realized after it was opened that the F40's are in ph3 but The 2's go so so with a ph4 dash8 32BHw... Would have bought an F40 but I haven't been able to find any...
Remember though that Amtrak doesn't standardize so different phase engines and cars are not unusual. I see Kato F40s periodically on ebay.
Yeah, PhII would look fine with the PhIII engines, but PhII paint was gone pretty much by 1980, when the Heritage program kicked off. So, keep the F40's and don't run the P32 or redecal the Superliners. The lettering is fairly easy to remove from Kato pass cars with Polly Scale ELO and a Q-Tip. Just rub some on the stripes and let it sit, then swab it off. I've done most of my Kato conversions the same way. Didn't do much to the paint. Art
Useless indeed. I would bet they have to have someone stationed in those cars the whole time, but likewise on the Amfleet cars, which means they have to have a crew of 9-10 people for a 5 car train, compared to the 4-5 people on the California cars. I would recon that passengers won't take kindly to the older equipment however! And if you have luggage, it's a pain to carry stuff up those steps. The last time I tried I just couldn't do it because they're so steep, and I'm really really young!
No, they just don't use the doors at all, tell folks ahead of the station stop to fall back into the train and use another exit....4 person crews on the trains, septin holidays...maybe one extra for then,....as for the new stuff, same thing...though I think they are getting closer..they dropped off portable handicapped lifts at the stations to facilitate getting ADA folks onto the trains.....Cal cars don't need those, they have wheelchair lifts built into the side of them...
Yep the 505 isn't that bad and all I have to do is shave off some grabs and put minimal lift rings and it is picture perfect. Also what color is the interior usually for the superliners the Kato interiors are light tan.
How did you make the marker lights? Do they work? (EDIT: I just saw your answer to my baggage car question.) I truly hope that Kato will make a) the F40PH in Phase II painting and b) the SDP40 in Phase I and Phase II paintig. Kato could use the SD40-2 as a base for this. I still am having a hard time to figure out the right paint schemes for Amtrak passenger cars during 1971 until 1980. Frank
Frank, I think your safe with Phase I through III from 1971 to 1980. Looking through "All Aboard Amtrak - 1971-1991" there are alot of shots on the different paint schemes mixed up till 1981. After that, the Heritage car fleet was rolling, so those Phase I & II cars were rare. Art
