The
Pennsylvanian is a day train mostly within Pennsylvania from New York to
Pittsburgh via Philadelphia. It travels 444 miles in 9 hours, one daily train
in each direction. Before Amtrak, the Pennsylvania Railroad train over the same
route was the Keystone or Duquesne. Amtrak operated the Pennsylvanian train
between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh starting in 1980, partly with a state
subsidy. The Pennsylvanian train with its present endpoints and operating with Amfleet II cars (1 door) started in 2005. The route between
Harrisburg and Pittsburg is not electrified and draws on different diesel
locomotives, but the New York to Philadelphia run is electrically powered.
After 2005, it is a good example of a regional Amtrak train running with Amfleet cars with the phase VI “wave” paint scheme. Model
locomotives and cars for this train are readily available in N scale, and it is
an easy short train to assemble and run while being prototypical.
The Pennsylvanian powered by a GE Dash8-32BWH in Lancaster PA on April 12,
2013. Four of five coaches plus a café car are typical. The coaches are the
amfleet II (1 door) type in phase VI paint. Photo from Trains magazine.
The Pennsylvanian powered by a GE P42 in the phase I 2011 anniversary
paint scheme on March 20, 2011.
The Amfleet I coaches are in the phase VI (wave)
paint scheme used after 2005. One can mix the Amfleet
I (2 door) and Amfleet II (1 door) coaches in
modeling this and other Amtrak coach trains, but the amfleet
I coaches tend to be on short distance and commuter trains.
The
Pennsylvanian at Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania. Even though the line west of
Philadelphia (through Bryn Mawr) is electrified as
far as Harrisburg, self-powered diesels are used west of Philadelphia for the
run to Pittsburgh. Photo from Wikipedia.
The Pennsylvanian,
first part
Two of the
typical diesels powering the Pennsylvanian are shown: the GE P42 in phase I anniversary colors is sometimes used starting in
2011. The P42 is a factory painted Kato model. The GE dash-8 32BWH locomotive in phase VI paint is more common
power for post-2005 trains. The dash-8 locomotive is an Atlas model. The
Pennsylvanian has 4 or 5 amfleet coaches. The two Amfleet II coaches (single
door) above are Kato models. Now (2016) amfleet I (2 door) coaches in phase VI
paint are available from Kato.
The
Pennsylvanian, second part
The Amfleet café car and first two Amfleet
coaches are Amfleet II cars (single door, Kato
models) in phase VI (wave) paint. The last coach is an Amfleet
I (2 door) car in the phase VI scheme, a Bachmann model. It is necessary to
body-mount Microtrains couplers (replacing the Rapido couplers) to combine Kato and Bachmann models.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvanian_(train)
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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