Just saw the announcement on Feather River, Baggage Car Amfleet II Coach Amfleet II Coach/Cafe 2 Viewliners Delivered in Book-Style Case This ought to be a nice little set...:thumbs_up:
Looks like the set is going to include a P42 and be delievered in Feb. The cost is listed as $187.50.
Although I live right near the Deerfield Beach AMTRAK station, and get to see a lot of trains (actually 2x/day each direction, n and s), I did some railfanning in Orlando with a close friend last week, HermanZGerman, and went to the AMTRAK station in Kissimmee, FL to wait for two AMTRAK trains, one northbound, one southbound. The northbound train, probably headed for CA, included some Viewliners which were always my favorite passenger car, and we got to see and photo them up close. Strange thing for the southbound. We heard it left Winter Park, about 5 miles away, and it never got to us, obviously breaking down between the two stations, not a lot of fun on a train in 90degree plus weather. Nevertheless, those P42's and Viewliners will make a beautiful set, and if I have the $$$$, then, I will go for it, at a discount of course. I have owned 2 P42's and they run beautifully. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
Now that's a passenger set I'd buy. Is that a full length dome first behind the Amfleets? And Horizon cars and a 4-8-4, something for everyone.
Yeah, it'll be nice to see Viewliners and Amfleets from Kato, but I really don't need another P42 and baggage.. I've got enough to run the Three Rivers!! :tb-biggrin: Hopefully, we'll see them come out by themselves. The only drag is I could use them in Phase III instead of the Phase IVb paint. Well, that's what paint remover is for...
So when is Kato going to get around to posting this stuff on their website!?!?! I also hope that they are going to release the cars by themselves. I already have an HHP-8 to pull them; I really don't need more P42's.
And it's up. I seriously hope they're going to sell add-on cars. What train ever only had a baggage car, AmTube coach, AmTube parlor car, and two Viewliners? As for me, I REALLY want AmTubes, but I have absolutely no use for this set, especially in Phase IV.
For all those guys 'hoping' that Kato will sell individual cars..... When the El Capitan came out - decision time. I only use TWO hi-levels on my '72 Chief (that's all that was on the prototype) and both were step-up/down cars. I bit the bullet and got the entire set, preordered, at a very good price from BLW. What I didn't need, I put out on the Auction Site for individual cars, apparently made a lot of people happy, and in the end, I made a slight profit; i.e. I got my two cars for free. The high-level lounge car and the baggage car were bid way, way up. The big problem is, of course, when you have them in your mitts you want to keep them, but I'm telling you, I very much doubt that Kato is going to sell them this way, at least for a while, and the smart thing to do is simply buy a set and break it up. You won't be competing with me, even though Viewliners are probably my favorite modern car to actually ride in. I don't actually need any of them. As a footnote - I was up in Buffalo last Friday picking my son up off the train inbound from NYC. Here's the consist of the Lake Shore headed west - and the train was full to capacity: 2 P42's BOSTON SECTION: 1 heritage baggage 1 viewliner 3 Amfleet coaches 1 Amcafe diner/lounge NEW YORK SECTION 4 amfleet coaches 1 heritage diner 2 viewliner sleepers 1 heritage baggage Total 2 locomotives and 14 cars. Not a bad, or a cheap to model, train. One of the reasons for chronic delays on this train is having to make multiple platform stops to handle the train length, as well as handle baggage cars on opposite ends of the train.
Is there a Viewliner diner/cafe like Concor did? If so, wonder if Kato will make it. Sorry, I don't follow Amtrak much but for some reason I like those Viewliners. There like some kind of retro streamlined Pullman.
Cool! I'm not sure I'll be able to afford them right off but that's very close to the current Cardinal, which runs close enough to my layout's area. That would be a nice addition!!
The Viewliner diners were planned, but never built. Edit: I stand corrected. Evidently, a single prototype was built and is out there riding the rails.
