I bougght my first one the “Silver Colt” and I must say I am impressed with the detail. Very well done. I rode the “Silver Colt” when it was part of the Rio Grande Zephyr between Salt Lake City and Denver in 1981.
The California Zephyr cars by BLI are excellent. I have a twelve car train. The 14 section sleeper is used as a coach right behind the baggage in my train.
The Rio Grande Zephyr was a great train. I rode it in May of 1975. When I bought the CZ ctrain I bought the cars I had actually been in. The cars of the CZ were mixed so there would be cars from all three roads in a train.
Both Athearn & Intermountain make EMD FP7’s for the WP Athearn makes the F9’s in D&RGW P2K makes the Alco PA’s. P2K makes the CB&Q E7 & E9 units.
Agreed. All of mine are first release and they are very impressive.
Now that the new release is hitting the stores, I am amazed to see first release cars still being listed at insane price levels on ebay. Why? It’s not like they are superior or in limited supply.
They were in demand for several years and some just wanted them so bad they would pay over the price that they were worth.
The prices should get back to normal since the 2nd release has some improvements. The window shades are now on the inside. My set is the first release also, but they are very nice.
The major defect that stands out is the dome glass that does not fit almost flush to the dome, but the new ones did not correct this error. Overall, they are great and look fantastic on a layout. My power is a set of the Genesis F3ABB with Soundtraxx installed. The new FP7A will replace the F3A when the new Genesis model is available.
CZ
I heard the window shades were on the outside - which was weird. But when I looked at my cars, they don’t really look like it. It would bug me if they did look on the outside, a lot.
Like it was said, they are nice looking. I have 15 of them: bought all the RGZ versions offered in the early run(s) 3 Dome-coaches, 1 Dome-obs, Diner, 16 section sleeper/flat top coach, Dome-lounge. AFAIK, those were the only RGZ cars offered before this fall. I filled in another 8 cars sleeper, domes, baggage etc of other names for a full CZ trainset. Real nice.
If the windows were flush they would make the cars even more outstanding, only thing I didnt like was that they glued the wheel axle shaft to the wheels not all the wheels were in gauge…
Recently I bought the cb&q observation, its simply amazing. Finally my first HO car with illuminated drum head, markers and tail light. [tup]
BLI makes the best cars, if only they would make the Fleet of Modernism. [8D]
I would like that Fleet of Modernism and the S1 big engine along with the turbine S2. Lets request BLI to do them.
CZ
I’m in!! [:D]
Ol’ Fred down by the Hysterical Society would love a set like that with both S1 and S2. Could we see something like that in N scale too please[^]
So has anyone bought the Broadway Imports Blueline Burlington E7’s to go with the CZ set? If so were they as good?
Based on comparisons I’ve seen with the BLI and Walthers new E8’s I’d go with Walthers if and when they do a CB&Q.
I should be receiving my Blueline PRR E7 units shortly, I’ll let you know when I get them how they compare to the Paragon series.
I really want to get the Burlington E7, maybe I will soon. I can’t decide between that or the far more expenseive PCM Burlington F3 A-B-A set, which looks absolutely amazing.
Oh, btw. My Zephyr car squeals badly right out of the box, does anybody know where to lube exactly? I’ve never oiled passenger car wheels before and I don’t want to mess up the car or cause too much oil to get on the track.
The “California Zephyr” here is pulled by:
CB&Q-P2K E9a (2)
D&RGW- Athearn Genesis F9a-b-b-b-a
WP- Intermountain FP7a-F7b(2)
AS to the squeeky wheels I suggest using Labelle 108 oil very sparingly on the bearings in the trucks.
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I also have an out of gauge wheel set on my obs but I set it aside after the test run. Anything special about bringing into standards?
Be prepared to replace the plastic axle, my cars from this run havent shown up yet but the first run had the axles glued to the wheel shafts. I destroyed the axle trying to get it apart.
I ended up replacing all the axles with the axles from the older athearn genesis “working” roller bearing cars since the axle have the same internal size as the broadway cars.
I’m also using the Athearn Genesis F9ABBBA set, but after 1968, one of the F9A’s and two of the B units were off the roster having been wrecked. If you want a 69-70 power set, buy the #5764 F7A offered by Genesis. That F7A and #5761 pulled the Zephyr to the end, and was mixed with the F9A #5771 sometimes. We also need #5571 and 5574, F7A units which also pulled the Z in latter days.
Thanks for the feedback everyone, I left Model Railroading in 1984, trying to get back into it. I am familiar with Athearn as thats what I used extensively when I was younger so I might go with that and I like the F7 or F9 idea. So one more question on these cars I realize it states a minimum radius curve on the advertisement but has anyone operated on a tight radius with these cars? Just curious.
To me, there are two critical considerations. First will it physically go around a lessor radius, and second, how will it look, i.e. prototypical or toy-ish? Why spend $60 plus on a car and then run it on a radius that is too tight to the point of appearing grotesque? Reminds me of the way Lionel passenger cars looked going around a basic circle when I was a child.
It’s your money and layout, so the decisions and opions are yours alone.
Well, to that point. Curves can be hidden from view or in plain view. If the curve is hidden from view, I’m not particular about how it looks as long as it does not derail. For operational consderations I would rather have a closed loop layout versus stub end terminal to stub end terminal. I have space considerations to contend with at some point. It’s nice to have 22 inch radius curves everywhere though and I presume your layout is in your basement.
Where I live here in Texas they have expansive soils which means no basement because it would be crushed when the soil expanded so the houses are floating foundation where I live. Therefore the layout has to reside in a bedroom of the house or the recreational room of the house. The recreation room of my house is already in use with a theatre system. So that leaves a spare bedroom. Now while it is true I can buy another house, maybe 3500-4000 sq foot this time with a much larger TV room that would accomodate 22" curves. Thats a lot of money to pay for a HO Scale layout. I’d also probably need to have it ceramic tile instead of carpeting.
$60 is not a lot of money for me. I’m happy to own them just to have them on display. Wher