This morning I noticed this posted by Feather River. (my underlining) Kato Has Changed the El Capitan Passenger Set Consist. See Below June 23 10 Car Set Will Now Consist of: Baggage/Dormitory #3477 - Step Down Coach # 528 & 532 - Coach # 700, 704, 716 & 719 - Diner #652, Lounge #576 - Baggage #3513 2 Car Add-On Set Will Now Consist of Storage Mail # 3527 and Coach # 723 F7 A & B Units Are Unchanged When the El Cap was first announced with the storage mail/baggage add-on, I thought, "Wow, I can get as many baggage cars as I want without getting any extra cars I don't need", but now, sadly it isn't so. I guess Kato's thinking is that with only baggage cars people who only buy the train because they like the look of it will pass on the add-on set, but if the add-on set has a coach in it they will be more likely to think they need it. However they have lost some sales from me as I have told them in the e-mail below that I have left on the suggestions page of their website. "I have just received word from my dealer that the make up of the two car add-on set for the N scale El Capitan train has been changed from 'storage mail/baggage' to 'storage mail/coach'. I am disappointed by this decision as I was looking forward to at last being able to get extra baggage cars without having to get other cars I don't need. I had ordered two add-on sets and had planned increasing my order to four, but in light of your decision to change the consist have reduced it to one."
But...they didnt change the original 10 car set (consist)...they only changed the 'add-on'. If I read that right...JMO. .
N Scale Suppply still has the original consist up, it contained 5 700 series coaches instead of the current four and no baggage car.
If anyone wants the baggage only I will take the add-on coach off your hands. PM me if you are interested. By the way, did or does Ammtrak use a baggage like the ones in the set? Kevin
In talking with the Kato rep at the show in Portland I got the impression that they changed because of an awful lot of feed back from people complaining that they could not buy add on coaches to lengthen the main consist or make up trains like the Chief, San Francisco Chief and Texas Chief when they had high level coaches in those consists. So it goes that if you cave into one set of folks, you will disappoint another. I guess there will be a lot of trading and wheeling and dealing as always.
The way for them to please everyone would be to have both baggage cars and coaches available as single items as well as the main sets so you could buy as many of each as you wanted, simple.
I stand corrected. I thought the original 10 car set was the same. Teach me to think huh? :tb-nerd: .
The "storage mail" car and the "baggage" car are identical. They are 1953 Budd fluted stainless steel baggage cars.
The Santa Fe called them "Baggage & Express" cars. They were just assigned different duties in the consist that Kato used to create their trainset.
Seems to me it would have made more sense to have the add-on set consist of a baggage and the second step-down coach, but I agree that making cars available as singles would be even better. Q. If you didn't run the two trains at the same time (and ignored the road number of the car), could you use the baggage car from the Super Chief set?
Yes, the Santa Fe did not assign Baggage & Express cars to any particular train. The ACF cars that came with the Super Chief were just as likely to show up on the El Cap and the Budd cars that come with the El Cap would be correct for the Super Chief.
This is the contents of the two sets The “El Capitan” 10 car passenger train consists of: Baggage Dormitory #3477 Step Down Coach #528 Coach #700 Coach #704 Diner #652 Lounge #576 Coach #716 Coach #719 Step Down Coach #532 Baggage #3513 The 2 car add on set consists of: Storage Mail #3527 Coach #723
Additional baggage cars can be purchased from Kato parts, $21 including diaphragms. There are no trucks available for these but MT 4-wheel silver trucks can be used. Ben
I hope these baggage cars will have the flutting on the roof too. Y'all don't think Kato would use the baggage cars they used on the Super Chief do you? Chris
Both Budd (fluting) and ACF (no fluting) were used. No clue as to which will come with the Kato sets but either would be correct. Ben
Reply from Kato USA In all fairness to the people at Kato USA I have already received a reply from a gentleman there to my email in the first post of this thread. It states, "Believe me, you aren't as disappointed as I am, and it wasn't our decision." Maybe the decision was made in Japan. My reason for wanting several extra baggage cars was not to make up an extra consist but to put together a full mail/express train. The main set as it was would give the cars I need to do a reasonable facsimile of the Texas Chief. Are the shells available as parts painted though, it doesn't seem to say on the parts list? It's a tough job matching Kato's magnificent finish on the factory painted cars, and using MT trucks in place of Kato's is a step backwards IMHO as well.
Mr. Straw, You are one of the most amazing Santa Fe facts man, I know. From the land of Barstow, I believe we would call you, A true Santa Fe Man! You really do have it down-pat. Enquiring minds: An insiders view exposed to all who have a need to know. Russell, You are one of the few guys I will yield to when it comes to Santa Fe information and data. That's because you are right 99.9% of the time. It's that .1% that is unknown and most of us would like to nail down and you don't hesitate to admit that. Doing the math, a little addition, making you RIGHT, 100% of the time. You can't beat that. Salute! Westfallen you wouldn't be offended if I included you on my list of, Men Of The Santa Fe? We are lucky to have a number of well read Santa Fe Men and Women on line here. Now that's enough buttering and sugaring. I know...I heard you! baffled: Moving on to the subject at hand: Glad to see a Lounge and Diner included in the Kato Set of El Cap's. I'm not worried about the mix and match, and/or the single car issue. Give it a few month's and the RoundHouse Gang will have another swap meet and we will all be swapping and exchanging out all kinds of neat deals. I'm sure that will be true of most MR swap meets.
