1970's Amtrak train consists

Martyn Read Sep 8, 2004

  1. Martyn Read

    Martyn Read TrainBoard Supporter

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    I'm considering modelling a 1970's Amtrak train for our layout, spurred on by Walthers having the passenger cars on sale!

    I'm having a problem trying to work out what sort of train consists ran then, how many coaches, diners, baggage cars, to dome or not to dome, do I want my sleepers with 10-6 or 6-6-4 or 4-4-2 rooms, how many of them, did they run with RPO's or had they all gone,.....etc...etc...

    I've been trying to find out if there is any train consist information on the web, to help work out what would be a reasonably plausible consist for my (fictitious) train, but can't find much out there at all. :(

    Anyone know of anything, or can help directly?
     
  2. Doug A.

    Doug A. TrainBoard Supporter

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    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amtrakmodeler and do a search for "consist" and you'll get a lot of results. I think the archives are public, and if you can't find what you want I'd join and post your question there.
     
  3. randgust

    randgust TrainBoard Member

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    RPO's were entirely gone.

    I think I read somewhere that 60% of the original long-distance Amtrak fleet was ex-Santa Fe - primarily because the Budd cars were stainless on a stainless frame and those had held up well.

    I rode Amtrak in the early 70's, and the only good part was stumbling into cars you'd only heard about but never seen. I rode in a Burlington Zephyr dome on the Santa Fe "Chief", slept in a UP (yellow) 10-6 pullman, ate in an ex-C&O diner, and was pulled by leased warbonnet F7's! If you actually LIKE that kind of rainbow stuff, it was great, but I draw the line on my own layout that it at least has to be all silver. No UP yellow allowed....!

    The Phase 1 cars got some of the god-awfullest colored interiors, but I always thought the Phase 1 striping was just fine. It showed up relatively early but the entire fleet wasn't painted for years.

    Train consists were relatively consistent in length by train, but substitutions ran rampant due to equipment failures. Nothing like the formalized setups today, or the cookie-cutter cars. One day a lounge, then a dome, then a cafe-lounge and no diner, a 10-6, replaced by an all-roomette......

    Amcoaches were the first to arrive, displacing all the older PS (mostly steel) coaches, and working their way through the ranks. Domes hung on until every train was Superliner, and the last surviving Amtrak dome (ex-MILW, full length) was in North Carolina until two years ago - since retired. I've seen a handful of 'heritage' diners floating around, and a handful of 'heritage' sleepers working as crew dormitories, but the number of surviving original Amtrak cars (non-baggage) can't be much more than about 25 by now.
     
  4. Stourbridge Lion

    Stourbridge Lion TrainBoard Supporter

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    If I recall, each of the Amtrak routes have different looks and have used different "Phases" of the equipment so you might have to decide which of the several trains you are thinking of.

    Saw this URL that might be of some interest
    AMTRAK - The Early Years
     
  5. Martyn Read

    Martyn Read TrainBoard Supporter

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    Thanks guys. [​IMG]

    Doug, i'll give that group a go, sounds useful.

    Randgust, I do retain the option to occasionally go 'rainbow' on it! [​IMG] We already have a bunch of passenger trains for older era's, so it would be pulling a couple of cars out of those to mix in.
    The other info is very useful, so if I can find a rough train formation, I only have to get 'somewhere close' to the right mix of cars to be plausible, I don't neccesarily need the exact 'right' cars, I can substitute other types if I can't obtain them (or they aren't included in the Walthers sale prices! :D ).

    Darren, the future layout will be midwest (nominally Illinois) based, so theoretically it could be almost any train that hits Chicagoland. The current layout is set in Arizona, but I don't want to get into route-specific cars like the Santa Fe hilevels they seem to have used on the Santa Fe main line (was it the Southwest Limited back then?)
    Ideally something that looks 'passable' for just about anywhere would be the ideal.

    The other issue is power, there are resin kits out there for those cool SDP40F's, but they are almost $300 each :eek: . So for budgeting reasons I think this train's going to have to suffer old E units for power!
     
  6. Stourbridge Lion

    Stourbridge Lion TrainBoard Supporter

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    To some "Modeling Matters" and want to be 100% but I'm not one of them either. I just knew that the Zepher that comes through Denver is amoung the oldest of the Phases used where the Lake Shore Limited is very moderen and both go to/from Chicago.
     

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