Has Athearn ever done their F59 in Amtrak California? I've seen it in HO, but never in N. Has anyone done the cars?
Not sure about the engine, thought that was in the original release way back when. Maybe not? The cars might be available from Look Model (Brass), I know they did the blue and silver Surfliner cars for sure.
in a word: nevah. Besides, the n scale one is a typically noisy jetlike jackrabbit and is DIY for DCC. If/when Athearn decides to run an upgraded version in N, we might see one in Amtrak California colors. But what about appropriate cars? There would be much wailing and gnashing of teeth if Athearn did Bombardier cars in a fantasy Amtrak Cali scheme. I don't think they would, based on Athearn's earlier runs. EDIT: American Z Line did engine and cars in Z scale. Hmmm, should I change scales?
Look Model definatally did them, but not all the cars are available right now. I sent him an email about a year or two ago and he will also paint up the Athearn F59. There use to be a picture on the his site with one (but I can’t seem to find the site now, I have it bookmarked at home). I will look up the link when I get home and post it here. You can shoot him an email and he will lprobably et you know when he is planning on doing a run. He does good work, I have the Surfliner set and am very satisfied! I plan on getting the California cars one day too. Chris
There is an upgraded version on the way - two runs in advance reservation stage now. No sign of Amtrak Cali yet though....
I have looked too. There is a company that sells sides for the Surfliner/AMTK-CA cars but they aren't cheap. I haven't ordered any yet but might. http://unionstationproducts.com/ The Athearn unit Jim pictured is a Amtrak Surfliner, not Amtrak California per se. Amtrak California does have some regular Superliners for service in the LA/SF area. I believe they are in normal P-IV paint but could be wrong.
They're in Amtrak Calif colors. There's also a couple in Surfliner paint as well. The Union Station sides have me interested as well. I'm thinking of using a set of Kato Superliners for cores.
Union Station Products makes a variety of car sides but one has to remember that these are "Craftsman" level kits and if you are not use to putting tiny details on you will run into trouble. The sides are milled in very thin styrene that are applied to a clear piece of plastic. I know of several folks who have said that they have built cars from this company but have never seen a finished car. He also offers them built up, but, as mentioned, they are not cheap largely because they are Craftsman kits. But you get what you pay for and I'll bet they are really nice.
i just ordered my amtrak california car sides from union station. when i have time to model and paint them up ill be sure to post here. there is definitely a lack of info and finished union station sides on the net. i havent found pics of anyone who has ordered or finished them. if someone gets theres done and up first, more power to them and better for me so i can copy and get tips =P. i hope to get them in this coming week and begin some work on them asap. i got some concor cores for the wheels...no cash for kato stuff! some superliners on the amtrak california consists are the regular IV scheme, 2 of them are in amtrak california colors. ive sat in all of them since i ride amtrak cali so much. and for railfans...heres a shot of 2051 pulling my train at emeryville! this atlas loco in this # seems hard to find nowadays. i got one and it will be pulling my california cars whenever i finish them. hoping for an atlas f59 too!!! they did a fantasy caltrain one!
If you're modelling a few years ago, you can get away with running a few Superliners in their regular amtrak paint as it took a while for Amtrak California to paint the cars they bought. Also, they occasionally used to get cars out of the LA Union pool as needed. At least the Surfliner did.
You can also use a Phase V P42 as your locomotive. They have two that run on the Capitol Corridor circuit along with a few Superliner coach cars. I have only been on the Cap Corridor when they would use only one Superliner per train. I am no longer a daily rider so I am not sure if that has changed.
ah yes that is right, they do use p42s on the line. its not always theres a superliner in the consist. i dunno about you guys but i like seeing train pics. some more decently recent shots from my cameraphone =). these were taken at davis station this one in sac station, both dash8 and f59phi!
Not that his as anything to do with the topic, but I wonder what the P42 would look like on in California colors????????????? ok, off the the drawing board Vince
For the Engine you had originally asked about you might want to buy another road and contact one of the TB Sponsors called "Emperor of the North" to paint the Amtrak Scheme you desire. He does great work and is quite reasonable as well. You'll find his link toward the bottom of the TB home page. PS; he's paint a few Locos for me and I'm Very please with the results.
tread revival..... any 1 finished their unionstation cars? got my surfliner kit (they sent set of HO decals as bonus, not gonna use except gonna scan...) but gonna use con cor / kato superliner for base.... any pics? pointers?
That would be interesting, though CalTrans never ordered any P42s (The Amtrak California cars are owned by CalTrans and operated by Amtrak).
