Amtrak took over most of America’s passenger trains in 1971,
and at first ran and gradually repainted the “heritage” cars inherited from
individual railroads in variations of the phase I paint scheme (schemes have red,
white and blue stripes on stainless steel or aluminum). To have a standard
passenger fleet where cars on the western railroads could be interchanged among
different trains, Amtrak ordered “superliner” cars, which were delivered
beginning in 1979. The superliners emulated the success of the high level passenger cars of Santa Fe’s El Capitan
introduced in 1956. The first superliners were delivered in the phase I paint
scheme, but the phase III scheme pictured here appeared in the early 1980s and
lasted into the 2000s. The phase IV scheme began appearing in the late 1990s, and
different schemes were often mixed in trains. The phase III paint scheme on the
model passenger cars is thus correct for c1980-c2000.
The Portland section of the Empire Builder leaves Portland
Oregon, travels eastward on the BNSF (formerly Spokane, Portland and Seattle
tracks) along the north side of the Columbia River, and meets the main section
of the EB in Spokane. This Spokane joining of trains is similar to what the
Empire Builder has been doing back to the 1940s or earlier. As the Portland
section travels east for 381 miles, so does the main EB train go from to
Seattle to Spokane, where the trains are switched together in the wee hours of
the night while passengers sleep. The diner is
typically in the Seattle section and the lounge is in the Portland section, but
they make a complete train for the two day run from
Spokane to Chicago. A box dinner is just fine for Portland passengers.
The locomotive on the model train and prototype train in the
photo is an Electromotive F40PH. It became the standard power on Amtrak starting
in 1976. The train as pictured in the photo in phase III paint is appropriate
for the 1981-mid 1990s era. Phase III paint on the superliner cars became
standard in the early 1980s, though the lounge car behind the locomotive is
still in phase II paint.
Amtrak’s Portland section of the Empire
Builder on the open grasslands of eastern Washington State. The
locomotive is an EMD F40PH. Photo and article from “8 pikesize passenger trains”, Model Railroader’s passenger special. Photo by Ben Bachmann.
Amtrak
superliner passenger cars are truly interchangeable between different trains,
and the modeler needs to assemble the right number of cars of different types
to make almost any train west of Chicago. The train modeled here is a
relatively short one as published by Andy Sperandeo
in Model Railroader’s passenger
special article “8 pikesize passenger trains”. This
is one of the smallest Amtrak superliner trains, and works on smaller layouts
as the word pikesize implies. The model train matches
the consist of the Portland section in the photograph,
except for a different paint scheme on the lounge car. The train can be modeled
with factory decorated cars right out of the box. The
locomotive is from Kato, and all cars are from Kato, though Con cor makes superliner cars also.
The lounge car has large picture
windows, windows in the roof for viewing mountains and forests, and a mini-café
in the lower level. It is followed by a standard coach.
The coach above has a passenger baggage compartment in the lower level. The sleeping car is an Amtrak standard with a family room, luggage storage, rest rooms and showers in the lower level. Material handling cars are added as needed, and positioning on the end of the train makes for easy removal at station stops, or when the train is switched in Spokane.
“Amtrak’s Superliners”, article in Model Railroader. November 1982.
Sperandeo,
Andy. Passenger special article “8 pikesize passenger
trains”, Model Railroader.
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