N Guage Chicago

A question for all of you here.

I am getting back into things and going back to N Gauge

I am looking though for things Chicago

CTA Cars 6000 or 2000 series
Amtrak Turboliners

Saw a company on line that seemed very expensive and the cars were not powered, as far as the CTA cars go

Any help or info would be greatly appreciated

Thankx

CTG

 

Welcome back!

I'm not aware of any CTA cars being offered by any of the major N-scale manufacturers. The only "Chicago" things I know of are the Bi-level CNW/Metra cars are made by Con-cor:

http://all-railroads.com/instock/nbilevel.htm

They are also made by a smaller vendor called "Wheels of Time":

http://www.wheelsotime.com/num114.html

I follow these because I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and the C&NW commuter trains always ran through our town.

You can also search through the Walthers on-line catalog to see what's available. They tend to have a record of most items made in N-scale:

http://www.walthers.com/

I'm not sure about the Amtrak turboliners. I don't think they have been done in N-scale (or at least lately). Someone else who models Amtrak will have to fill you in on this.

Hope this helped...

 

CTA Cars (but you might want to sit down for this)
http://ihphobby.tripod.com/npages/ncta6000.html

I think Bachmann made a Turboliner, not sure though.

 

Bachmann Turbo liners came out in the early seventies. I still have mine from then. It would fly down the track faster than a concord flies . By todays standards I would not wast any time or money on the beast. The detailing is very crude to todays standards, the spacing between coaches is too far apart and power pick up was poor.

You would be better off spending some money on some lifelike or kato e8's and a good set of bilevel commuter coaches. Burlington, CNW and the Rock Island.

 

Thankx all,

Yeah the IHP page is what I saw and while it looks like apretty good model it is quite pricey!

The Bachman Turboliner can be found here see the link below

But it is not at all close to the Amtrak trains

CTG bachman turboliner

 

I too grew up in the suburbs of the Windy City!
Tomy or Tomix made a line of N scale interurbans - series 415-1500 that are fashioned after 1980's L trains. They probably are not easy to get. You might want to go to Al's Hobby shop in Elmhurst and DesPlaines Hobby. Al's used to carry a lot of Chicago related locos and rolling stock. I haven't been back there in a couple years though.

Good luck!

 

Kestutis, nice herald!

I'd like to vouch for the Wheels of Time CNW gallery cars. They are excellent models, already equipped with MT trucks and couplers, plus low profile wheelsets.

ChicagoTrainGuy, are you going to model anything in specific, or just go for the Chicago feel?

 

Interestingly, the webpage that you mention lists the cars at $195. If you look at the menu page for the cars, they are listed at $120.

Still high, but getting closer.

Have a look.

http://ihphobby.tripod.com/ntransitmenu.html

 

Specific no nothing too specific just going for the chicago feel

Yeah i saw the difference in price as well but either way the price is high

if I was a modeler and didnt want to tun them maybe but what is the fun in that?

Do either of the stores mentioned have web sites? I am not local any more so I would have to visit them remotely

CTG

 

Sorry I didn't notice and it would be quite a drive for you!

www.alshobbyshop.com

For sure they would have the dbl deck CNW and RTA cars. There's another shop in Lombard Illinois that I will do some research on and see if they have a website. Depending on the era, there is so much and many rail lines that have been apart of Chicago. Electrics - Chicago Aurora&Elgin, South Shore Line, North Shore Line, The elevated, CNW, Soo, BN, UP, Sanat Fe.........I miss the variety. Living in San Diego; you don't see much.

I will get the other websites - have fun!

 

I knew I forgot an important one - Chicago Great Western.

Hey Mike, was that the one that crossed Schmale and Bloomingdale Road?

Would you happen to know where Churchill School is in Glen Ellyn? Pretty close to that line eh? Old stomping grounds.....

 

That's the one that crossed Bloomingdale. I don't know Churchill school though...

 

The Bachman Turbo Liner was made by United Aircraft and originally ran between Boston and NYC. It was later sold or leased to VIA in Canada. The other turbo train was built by Rohr and ran between NYC and Albany and later to Buffalo. This was a copy of the French turbo which ran in the Chicago area. Can't remember where. The Rohr turbos are being remodeled and 2 are ready to run NYC to Albany.

 

Turboliners from chicago went to milwaukee for sure and I think also detroit but I might be wrong about detroit

Yup thats them any idea's on n gauge of these trains?

CTG