I'm creating a freelance layout with a bit of a TV theme to it (Simpsons mostly)... I'm going to be modeling a passenger rail line (24' long, 18" wide) with 3 tracks, and 5 stations. I'm planning on running an Amtrak Acela Express train, and a "commuter" rail train. The Amtrak is easy - going to go with the Bachmann Acela set. What I'm struggling with is the commuter train... I've purchased an engine (Atlas SD-35) and while this wasn't really a passenger engine (But the SPD-35 was) it is close enough for my purposes. What it had going for it was the name "Springfield Terminal" which, for a Simpson's theme is cool enough... Anyway, I need some commuter cars for it to pull. I'm looking for 3, maybe 4 cars that would look good as commuter cars. I've looked at lots of passenger rolling stock, and I haven't ruled out bilevel cars. They are commuter cars after all... But I'd like it to look a little different - I've seen commuter trains that have both bi-level cars and single level cars, and frankly, I'd be happy to have all single level cars. But that is where I hit the wall... there just aren't good examples of single level commuter cars out there. I've also looked at Kato's RDC cars - with these I could abandon the idea of the engine, but they say nothing about DCC (a must) and I don't think an RDC is right for what I'm looking for - the stations aren't parts of a city, they are "suburbs"... (Springfield will be at the end of the line, Shelbyville will be in the middle, and Capital City will be the other end of the line) So I'm not sure the RDC's are the thing for me... I know that RDC's were okay for even that kind of run, but I like the idea of the engine for some reason. Also, since I'm doing a freelance road, I may want to paint the cars myself and give them a fictitious road name, or I might want to adapt a more generic one like MTA... I'm not enthused by Santa Fe or Penn Central, as no one really knows where Springfield is, and I'd like my railroad to reflect that (and the other two stops are also going to be TV/Movie related and fictitious - Bedford Falls will be one, and Willoughby will be the other - can you guess what they are from?) Anyway, I'm just not sure what I want to run and thought you all might have some suggestions for stuff I may not know about. Thanks in advance! ~Moose
My first thought is a take-off on LIRR's dashing dan. You could modify dan to look like Gomer, and, instead of looking at his watch, he'd be chasing Bart. I'm not too familiar with N scale passenger cars, but you could probably get by with any coach, painted up in LI gray. But, if you want to freelance, use a bi-level car which would give you a larger space for the logo.
Yes, you can just get all coaches, and make it as if the commuter RR bought a bunch of retired Amtrak or other RR coaches and converted them to commuter cars. Or, if you're doing modern era, get a bunch of Athearn Bombardier coaches. Those things are so common, you can even have outside liveries on your railroad as it's very common for commuter railroads to borrow/lease other commuter railroads' Bombardier coaches in times of higher passenger demand and lack of enough cars to fulfill the need. For example, after a major earthquake in the Los Angeles area in the 1990s, Metrolink expanded one of their lines to Lancaster in the northern desert area some 20 years ahead of schedule due to the freeway interchange being destroyed in the quake. So Metrolink had a bunch of green Toronto GO Transit coaches on their trains for a number of years.
I picked up a few Bachmann passenger cars to convert to represent (not exactly) cars used in commutor service on the NYC in their electrified territory in the NYC area. The prototype cars are nolonger in service. I bought some powered chassis that fit in the cars almost perfectly and the're going to look pretty good when i'm finished.
Don't count the RDCs out. Portland's WES system has a pair of former Alaska Railroad RDCs for use as backup when the Colorado Railcar DMUs are down for service. the WES is a completely suburban system From Beaverton Or to Wilsonville Oregon. AND as an added benefit, if you know anything about the Simpsons, you know that Matt Groening patterned Springfield after his Home Town of Portland Oregon. There are references to Portland all through the show. So basing your choice on a Portland area proto type would work. (best example is that Sideshow Bob's last name Terwiliger is named for the Portland St of the same name.)
Some of the prototype cars for the Kato UP 44-seat leg-rest coach were purchased by commuter agencies and modified to remove the large bathrooms, leaving one or two very small ones in their place with around 88-seats. Also the Kato Budd coach (not the California Zephyr coach, the other one) ended up on CNJ under New Jersey D.O.T. ownership and even remained in use until NJ Transit was formed. Both of the above were acquired around the time of Amtrak and would work to your advantage. Also you might consider the former Arnold/Rivarossi/Atlas heavyweight coaches since they would fit the need as well and are better detailed than either the Bachmann or Minitrix/Lima cars. Power could be a GP9 with torpedo tubes since these were used by some lines to power commuters. An SD35 would simply be out of place.
MBTA had a big population of converted RDC's as coaches, pulled by F-units, in the 70's and early 80's. New Jersey Transit had a big fleet of ex-ATSF long distance stainless 54-seat coaches used for commuter service. If you dig around Ebay long enough you may find the Rapido bilevels - the Pullman-Standard ones used by C&NW and Metra.
There's always a ton of Model Power "Amtrak" foobies on e-bay that's worth looking at too. You could paint out the Amtrak and use them in commute service,
What radius curves are you planning on using? The packaging for the N scale Bachmann Acela train states that it requires a minimum curve radius of 19". One person has stated you can get by with a somewhat tighter radius, as discussed in this thread: The Bachmann Acela, What do you think about it??? - TrainBoard.com
Thanks everyone for these really thoughtful replies. The question about the Acela radius is pretty much not an issue for me, as I'm not planning on it going around any corners... the extent of it's turns will be to move to the commuter line at the center station (Shelbyville) and then back to the center track. It only stops at the end points and at the center station, so it just needs to be able to turn at a turnout. The whole layout is a really out and back layout... no turns at all other than turnouts. I'm planning on automating it using IR sensors and automation via the JMRI application. Normal operation means I don't do anything but watch and play with variables like maximum speeds, time at stations, etc. My goal is to be able to turn this thing on and just kind of watch it handle all the possible collision points and control the trains accordingly. You've given me some good ideas about the coaches - I'm still mulling it over on whether I want the commuter line loco pulled, or a more RDC or DMU type train. Does anyone know if the Kato RDC's come with DCC out of the box? Their site didn't seem to say it did, so I'm assuming it doesn't I do very much like the idea of the custom paint job - putting the Homer and or Bart on the train itself. I was going to do stuff like that anyway... In Springfield, I plan on setting up Moe's Tavern, as well as the Kwik-e-Mart. Might even put some cooling towers in the background. I'll need to do some research on Shelbyville, but Capital City will definitely have a billboard advertising the baseball team there (In honor of Homer being the mascot there at one time) Bedford Falls (which breaks the Simpsons theme) will be modeled from It's a Wonderful Life, Circa today... But the Bailey Building and Loan will definitely be there... and maybe Martini's Bar and the Gower Drug Store... I'll probably have a cab on the street, and Bert the cop and Ernie the cab driver should be there. Willoughby is a fictional town from a Twilight Zone episode... It featured an idyllic 1880's town, and will be modeled that way... Have to work Rod Serling in somehow... maybe he's standing on the platform... So you can see that I'm mixing a bunch of stuff up here - timeframes and such... but I want fairly modern coaches, and I'm guessing I'm leaning toward a custom paint job on the bi-levels... Those are fairly easy to come by... and I can have fun with the paint job... Thanks again for all the suggestions!
"MBTA had a big population of converted RDC's as coaches, pulled by F-units, in the 70's and early 80's." The MK "Boise" Budds were a 1982 program for the most part.
I've got a pair of the Kato RDC's. Excellent runners. Didn't come with DCC but Digitrax makes a decoder to drop right in. They look best on 19" or larger radius curves.
So here is my current thinking on this saga... I have put 3 Kato RDC's on my birthday list. They have the drop in decoder that retsignalmtr mentioned. I've come to the conclusion that these will give me some additional operational modes for my automated layout. I had planned on there being one commuter train, and still plan on doing that first - I can lash the 3 RDC's together to create one commuter train. BUT... I could also try some alternate schemes... for instance, I could have the 3 RDC's operate independently. That would be a whole different programming scheme, and would give me a manual mode of operation that would be challenging to do if I wanted to try that. I could also lash two together, and have the other one operate independently. So it adds quite a bit of options for me. It will be a little more expensive overall, but worth it for the additional operating flexibility. Oh yeah... and I'll be getting the unlettered ones - Kato apparently paints the unlettered ones but doesn't letter them - so I can choose a name that makes sense for the freelance line, without having to commit to a full paint job. ~Moose
If you end up with locomotives pulling commuter cars, you may want to consider adapting the tailend coach with headlight and cab for push-pull operation. It doesn't look like you will be turning your trains around. Concor makes bilevel "cab" cars that are used in this way. They are in stock (including unlettered) at some dealers now. http://www.some train store.com/v/vspfiles/photos/CCR-0001-004410-2.jpg
Speaking of gallery cars (they were not true bi-levels) Wheels of Time made an earlier version of such, though some are sold out at the present time. Hopefully they will make another run, but when might actually be the answer. http://www.wheelsotime.com/products.php?category=515 Its worth noting that these are of better detail than the Concor cars and there are both examples of ACF and PS cars that have been made, each with distinctive window patterns. Long gone from commuter service these cars could represent acquisitions that were made when the former operators sold them off... you might even be able to run them in their former colors (SP solid gray and Metra stripes), or repaint them for your own use.
If you might be considering older cars consider the new Micro Trains parlor car coming out soon. New Haven took a fair number of these cars and rebuilt them to high capacity commuter coaches. An excellent article in the May 2010 Model Railroader entitled, "Passenger Cars with a lived in look," discusses these converts as well. Considering the work involved in rebuilding the parlor into a coach and what these cars are likely to be going for it could prove to be worthwhile overall to look at.
The RDC's can run as a three unit set for rush hour, and be broken up as individual units of pairs for off hour trains. You could have the full set come into town to handle the morning rush. They would then leave indivually at intervals during the day and return. At evening rush hour, they would be recombined for the outbound train. Frank
