Amtrak’s San Diegan, c1979-2000

Fred Klein, 2013

The San Diegan covers the route along California’s coast between Santa Barbara and San Diego. Amtrak took over this route from the Santa Fe in 1971, and the Amtrak train was replaced in 2000 by the Pacific Surfliner. The Pacific Surfliner is a Caltrans (California-sponsored) train equipped with bi-level Bombardier passenger cars which are similar to superliner cars, but with two doors on each side. In about 1979 Amtrak’s phase III phase scheme became predominant, hence the time period of this model train. The San Diegan made daily trips north to Santa Barbara, but the Los Angeles to San Diego service was more frequent.

 

 

The San Diegan with a baggage, five Amfleet coaches, and one Amcafe food car, pulled by an F40PH.

 

The San Diegan at Ponto, California in April 1988. The end car is a rebuilt metroliner car with a control cab, so the train can operate in push-pull mode and not have to be turned at the terminals. These metroliner cab cars used to serve in the electrified Northeast corridor, but have had their pantographs and motors removed and now serve as unpowered coaches. The Budd Company built the metroliner cars in 1971, and the Amfleet cars of 1975 were built to a similar design, but without motors or a control cab.

 

The San Diegan is north of Los Angeles, next to California state highway 1 between Seacliff and Ventura, on April 26, 1997. The locomotive is an EMD F40PH. The train is a mixture of amfleet and horizon cars with two café cars, but my model train does not have any horizon cars. Don Flynn photo from page 35 of Amtrak by the numbers, by David Warner and Elbert Simon.

 

 

A San Diegan pulled by a GE Dash8-32BWH in the “Pepsi can” paint scheme in December 1991.

 

The prototype consist is from a train in San Diego on June 16, 1981, from page 62 of the Amtrak consists document. The train composition is verified by numerous photographs, and the alternate Dash8-32BWH power, the baggage car, and the rear cab-control coach were added from photographs.

 

 

Alternate power for the San Diegan

 

The San Diegans often were pulled by GE DASH 8-32BWH diesel locomotives in a paint scheme known as the “Pepsi Can”. The model is made by Atlas.

The San Diegan, first part

 

One or two locomotives like the F40PH diesels shown above power the San Diegan. The F40PH’s are Kato models. Photos show that the San Diegan in this era frequently carried a 72’ Budd baggage car. The baggage car is a Kato model. This train has four Amfleet phase I (two door) coaches, which are the second generation (improved) Bachmann models. The coaches are in pase III paint. I added body-mount Microtrains couplers to the Bachmann cars. Bachmann recommends not using the cars on curves tighter than radius 19”: this is not because of coupling problems, but because the lighting contacts indroduce enough rolling friction that the cars can derail on tight curves. The lighting on these cars is excellent and bright, and in my opinion the extra friction is worth it providing you have enough power to pull the model train. Kato makes phase III Amfleet II coaches (one door), which run better than the Bachmann models, but strictly Amfleet II cars were not intruduced until the early 1990s.

 

The San Diegan, second part

 

The Amfleet I (two door) café car and two more Amfleet I coaches are Bachmann models. The last coach is a cab-control car that Amtrak rebuilt from an old Metroliner car. The cab allowed the train to be used in push-pull operation with no turning at the terminals. The cab-control car is an old dummy Bachmann Metroliner modified with an end decal, end-door frame and black-yellow stripe decals. The older Bachmann Metoliner and Amfleet first generation models from the 1970s are crudely molded and run poorly with high friction. I replaced the trucks on the last car with Microtrains passenger trucks.

 

 

 

 

REFERENCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diegan

Amtrak by the numbers, by David Warner and Elbert Simon, White River productions, 2011. An excellent guide with thorough car histories and hundreds of photographs.

 

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