SuperChief car recommendations?

[PatOC]

Hi - do any of you have an opinion on good cars for a Santa Fe Chief/SuperChief layout? I'm aware that Walther's sells a set but I read elsewhere that they're not the greatest (I should mention that the poster was comparing them to Broadway Limited's Zephyr cars). It looks like ConCor has some as well, but at $10 a car, I'm guessing they're pretty barebones.

Might be too late since I already put the Walther's ones on my Christmas list but who knows, maybe I wasn't a good boy this year!

Thanks for any recommendations,
-Pat

PS If it makes a diff, I plan on pulling them behind an EMD F7 A-B set from Broadway Limited.

 

[UP2CSX]

The Walthers cars are perfectly fine. I haven't seen anything bad about them except for some people who seem to have trouble keeping them on the track. They do require at least a 26" radius to operate reliably despite anything that Walthers might say to the contrary.

If you want an "authentic" Super Chief consist, Con-Cor has the only dome-lounge and diner that is based on the Santa Fe prototype. IHC also makes a dome-lounge that's very close to prototype as well as a 4DR-1BR observaton car. Athearn still makes the closest to prototype 70' baggage car and it's been around for about 40 years now. Bachmann makes the only correct full length dome. So, if you really want it to be as authentic as possible, you need cars from several different manufacturers. In addition, the Chief/Super Chief was almost never powered by less than an A-B-B-A set until the late 50's so you don't have enough locomotives. Given all this, just be happy if you get the Walthers set and don't worry about it.

 

[PatOC]

Jim - thanks for your time and expertise. Funny you mention needing the A-B-B-A set to be authentic. I bought a picture book on the Super Chiefs and noticed the same thing. I think I'll put my $ toward building my layout for the time being and worry about being 100% authentic later!

Thanks again,
-Pat