passenger locomotive


Y

yard master

Member
I am thinking of exspanding my layout to enclude high speed rail on the outside of my table kind of a stand alone track radius will be 48" or so. Just wanting some input on who makes good quailty passenger locos? I have diesels & steam in BLI ,Bowser.Intermountain,Kato,and switchers in walthers.I see MTH makes alot in this area but swear I heard something about them not being compatable w/other trhings I might have???/ Anyway any input would be helpful. Oh I am doing mainly Canadian rail road...but AM track ,Santa fee would work too


Thanks ...Jay
 
back in the day the Hiawatha was a high speed steam pulled train, they would run the train, the speedometer at times would run pinned on the max 120mph. Fox Valley might still have sets available. NYC/PRR/NKP all had their competitive trains, for East coast Metroliner trains (electric).
 
yard master said:
Just wanting some input on who makes good quality passenger locos?
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You don't mention a scale but assuming HO based on the other brands you named.... Rapido just did a set of FP9s in Canadian roads that you might be able to find somewhere. The web site "says" you can still order. http://www.rapidotrains.com/fp9_1.html

Seems like BLI just did some E6s in Santa Fe.

Going back in time Proto has done E6s, E8s, and PAs ( I have some of each ).
Walther's Proto recently has done sets of both F3 and F7s to go with the El Capitian and San Francisco Chief.
Athearn Genesis did some F3s that were just on clearance at Trainworld. Looks like they are still on sale just not the great clearance price that they were. And F7s
Here are the Trainworld ones that I bought a few of:
SantaFeFunits.jpg

The Walther's F7s were on the point of the train in the picture I posted to Weekly Photo Fun two weeks ago.
 
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If you do look at MTH locos, their latest ProtoSound3 ones have a switch to change over to a built in DCC decoder(make sure it says so). The earlier models of even PS3 require reprogramming at an MTH service dealer to have them upgraded. Otherwise they do sometimes offer DCC ready without their DCS system that you can fit your own DCC decoders into. Their service dept doesn't seem to have a good rep.
 
How high speed do you want? Several manufacturers have offered various models of different high speed trains from around the world. There's been several versions of the French TGV, the Japanese "Bullet" trains, the ICE trains and Bachmann has a current model of the Acela, Amtrak's NE Corridor train. The Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha, as mentioned earlier is another one.

During the transition era, as steam gave way to diesel, F-3's pulled the Santa Fe's Super Chief, PA's and E units pulled many of the SP's trains. Just about every RR had their own versions of "high speed" passenger trains at one time or another, so you could pick just about any road and model one.
 
Can't say about Canadian railroads, but during the 1940's and '50's a number of U.S. railroads ran their crack passenger trains at speed much higher than allowed today. The Burlington Route's Zephyrs often hit 90+mph and sometimes in the 100's, especially in the Aurora, Illinois, three-track "speedway". I'm not sure if ConCor is still offering their post-War Zephyr, with the 4th car, but that could be one choice. It was available in both DC and DCC. Certainly, such speeds were only practicable on flat, smooth terrain. Those Zephyrs were special articulated trains, but later ones utilized E and some F-unit diesels. Some of the last steam locomotives were built or modified to cause less wear on the track by use of roller bearings and lightened side rods. Burlington O-5's and similar Northern Pacific and Great Northern steamers were capable of higher speeds.
 
trailrider said:
Can't say about Canadian railroads, but during the 1940's and '50's a number of U.S. railroads ran their crack passenger trains at speed much higher than allowed today. The Burlington Route's Zephyrs often hit 90+mph and sometimes in the 100's, especially in the Aurora, Illinois, three-track "speedway".
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This is true. The Santa Fe early E units were geared for 117 mph. The Early passenger F units for 95 mph, and the later F units (300 series) were geared for 85 mph.

All the class 5 rail in the western part of the United States has been downgraded to class 4 or even 3. The old Santa Fe speed way from Lamar Colorado to Dodge City Kansas could probably not support more than 55 mph these days.

And there is another item we have not addressed. If you want a high speed steam locomotive in Santa Fe the BLI 4-8-4 would be hard to beat. Looks good on the front of streamliners or heavyweights.
 
Here are a couple. When I was a kid we rode on both the North Coast Limited and the Hiawatha on a pretty regular basis. I always enjoyed the trip.

6148.1350768498[1].jpgCity of San Francisco.jpg1801.jpgHiawatha Twin Cities.jpg
 
I preorder 2 HO scale trains from Rapido in CP wont be here entill next year. They look great ,honestly doing this blind as I dont know much about Rapido trains at all
 
I got an email from Factory Direct Trains today, letting me know the Milwaukee streamlined steam engine was going to be made again.
 
Since you are looking at a Canadian theme, you should really look at "Rapido", on both the primary - pre order - market and the secondary - evil Bay - market.
Canadian High Speed included the UA Turbo Train, and the LRC trains both offered by Rapido. If you want US HS, then you can look at the current Amtrak Acela, by Bachman, the Rapido UA Turbo in PC or Amtrak, the Atlas AM7 with Walthers Amfleet, or the Walthers Metroliner.

Rapido stuff is Top Shelf when it comes to detail, operation, reliability and price whether in Loonies or Dollars. Walthers is also pricy, and generally well done, while Bachmann is Bachmann.
 
I know it's not Canadian but I had to post a picture of my Bachmann Spectrum series HO Acela set, I love it! More details then my worn out eyes can see and the lighting never blinks. Don't let the DC controller fool you, it is DCC equipped. It even has an interior selector switch for choice between rail and pantograph operation
 
Louis: Bachman used to sell an add on set of three additional Business Class cars to fill out the consist. Good looking train.
 
Thank you Boris I will look for that. If no hobby shop has it eBay is always an option.

I won't be able to use the add on cars until after I move because my HO layout is only 4x5, but I am so happy to have it up and running.

When we moved here I only ran trains for Christmas, now my priorities have changed and we need a bigger basement! I want a warehouse but I have not had any luck talking my wife into that... yet :)
 
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