I’ve been trying to get my MetroLink together, but I don’t have a loco. I haven’t seen anything in N scale that even comes close to what I see every day. I’ve been looking for a while now and I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to make my own. So what is this? Below is a photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Metrolink_Train_Station.jpg. I’ve been meaning to take a photo myself, but I keep forgetting my camera.
Its an F59PH, not to be confused with the streamlined F59PHI that Athearn produced. Pictures of SCRX 860
Yes that’s it and that’s what I’ve been told but every time I looked I could only find F59PHI, which is very confusing. So is there something available that resembles the actual one that I ride on? Maybe something that I can modify.
It's as Daniel had said. This is the first version of the F59 which later became the F59PHI that got a whole different body design. I like the F59 as it looks more like a F40PHI but has a walkway on the front were the F40PHI didn't. I'm surprised that someone hasn't done this loco yet.
Everyone has properly ID'd it. There are no ready-to-run locomotives available. There is a shell kit available sporadically. It's completely unfinished, and is supposed to fit on an Athearn F59PHI chassis. It's made by Kaslo and sold through George's Trains. Both are Canadian firms. Happy hunting!
Kaslo Shops (Kaslo Shops Distributing) made a very nice resin kit for phase I and II models. Their website appears to be down right now though. These were floating around on ebay a few days back. I am not sure where you can purchase one directly.
I was on eBay earlier, but I don’t know exactly what to search for. I’ve tried MetroLink, F59PH, Athearn, and n-scale shell. What do I look for?
Call or email http://www.georgestrains.com/ The website is still under construction. That's where I got mine. Still in the box. I wonder how much I could get for it in an eBay auction? Hmmmmm.....
OFF TOPIC: Kaslo OFF TOPIC: Their website has been down for some time now (~1 year?). I e-mailed them a while back if they were still in business and they replied with yes and they were updating the website. But I am having second thoughts now.
The locomotive in the picture was involved in a serious accident where it struck a dump truck on a grade crossing. I forget if the driver of the dump truck was killed, but the engineer was seriously injured. She was given an award for calling the accident in, and directing emergency services to her location while trapped in the locomotive. Both she and the engine have been repaired and placed back in service. Metrolink does have 3 F40PH's on their roster, I haven't seen one painted in Metrolink colors yet. You could get a Kato one and use it in Amtrak colors. I found a picture showing all three locomotive types,
They have one... It is numbered 800 and last I heard, was used as fill in power... http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1056553
I think I would rather custom-paint than custom kitbash. I also saw the sister to #861 today, #860. It is painted white with a black roof, and "Metrolink" and "860" in a teal/aqua colored lettering. Pretty simple paint scheme.
I bought the Life-Like N 433-7641 F40PH Amtrak Powered A-unit from woo woo woo. It was on sale for $20, so I figured it will work until I figure out something. What can I say, I’m cheap, the price was right, and I don’t have anything else right now. The only thing is that it has Rapido Couplers. Other than that, I don’t know anything about Life-Like. I hope I can at least change the couplers.
That's only a temporary thing. Apparently the vinyl transfers are delayed, hence the teal lettering on plain white. By the way, the font is almost identical to Nokia phones font. There's some metrolink discussion on socalrailfan.com, including a thread on the new livery (started by me).
I think it'll have truck-mounted couplers, but that's not all bad. I think the Athearn Bombardier cars have truck-mounted couplers as well. There's an MT conversion kit for them, but you could probably use the 1128 couplers for it.
I take the 91 every day to and from work, it parallels the Riverside-Long Beach line for most of the distance I drive. I see (and hear) them from home as well, as I live near the La Sierra station. I saw 860 this afternoon near the Arlington overpass.
