Since I gave the first run Centralia Car Shops/Intermountain passenger cars a very poor review, it seems only fair that I give the new run a review. The first new release was a Pullman built 6-6-4 sleeper. I never saw one of the earlier releases, so I do not know how bad or good it was. The new release is well done. The undercarriage detail appears to be reasonably accurate. The roof detail is correct except for one thing, it is backwards. Since the roof is removable, it is easily corrected. This error is deliberate and not just the luck of the draw, for the diagram in the box showing how to activate the interior lighting, shows the roof exactly as delivered, namely backwards. The second release is a Pullman built pre-war 4-4-2 sleeper. Pullman also built this type of car after the war, but the window sizes and spacing were slightly different. The easiest way to tell the two apart is that the pre-war cars have small upper berth windows above the four compartment windows and the post-war cars were built without any upper berth windows. The first run cars had both the undercarriage and roof details horribly wrong. The new cars have the roof close if not correct, but the undercarriage appears to be as wrong as ever. I can not find any info on any 4-4-2 that comes close to what they produced, though it is not too far off from some of the post-war cars. Except for the undercarriage, these cars are also well done. General observations applying to both car types: The interior lighting system is very nice and superior to Kato's. The first run came with American Model Builder trucks which have an MTL 1025 body mount coupler attached with a screw. For some reason the screw used was too large a diameter, and since it went into the center boss of the coupler, the coupler was deformed and worked poorly. Now the cars come with MTL passenger trucks. For some reason the coupler is not attached with the screws supplied by MTL, but with the same oversized screw used before. The screw clearly deforms the parts, but since it does not go thru a functioning part of the coupler it does not appear to effect performance. The cars originally had no interior detail, allowing you to see right thru the car in places where that was ridiculous. The new cars have proper interiors, not as detailed as Kato or Panorama, but sufficient to do the job. One of the most amazing things to me was just how much retooling was done. The old cars were done using American Model Builder car core kits. The roof vents have been redone to a higher standard and the undercarriage details have been redone with small pegs that go into holes in the floor, which means they are assembled more accurately (not counting the fact that whoever designed the 4-4-2 has it all wrong). This also means that the car floor is different for each type of car. The roofs now have plate seams instead of being perfectly smooth. All in all a very considerable effort. The paint work is exquisite and nor marred by glue or finger prints like many of the older cars. A curious short coming to me is that while there is a diagram showing how to activate the lighting, there are no instructions on how to remove the roof. Trial and error should not have been necessary. (If you grasp the roof in the middle of the car and wiggle it while gently trying to lift, it should pop off) Finally I have to say that with the new lower price and all the improvements, these cars are now a good buy and I am looking forward to their future releases. I now have five and several more reserved.
