Flashing by at 100+mph, Metroliners symbolized American high-speed rail service for over 25 years, serving business travelers on Penn Central and later Amtrak as the fastest scheduled trains in the western hemisphere!
Now these history-making trains are back in authentic HO Scale as only Walthers can, with the all-new WalthersProto Metroliner.
Just as the prototypes broke new ground in style and technology, so do our Metroliners! Completely new from roof to rails, we’ve captured the unique shape of the Coach, Snack Bar Coach and Parlor Car in all-new tooling.
Each comes fully assembled with Walthers real metal stainless steel finish complimented by ultra-sharp Amfleet Phase I paint and lettering now including factory-printed car numbers too. Fine details, from a full underbody to installed grab irons, from prototypically tinted windows to sprung General Electric or Westinghouse pantographs as appropriate, are all included. Powered by the proven technology of WalthersProto locos, each car has its own high torque motor, driving a powered truck with helical gears, and comes in dual
Why not? I don’t think they’ve really been done before, other than a cheapy Bachmann model. And something Penn Central that actually worked. Too new for me, but hey.
I bet a lot of Metroliner fans will be thrilled. Way to new for me as well, but given Walthers usually does a good job with passenger car models, I see them selling quite a few and many people hopefully being happy with the models as a whole.
The one thing about the “cheapy Bachmann”, which I own is that it can make it to a prototype speed, unlike most new passenger locos which are too slow. I look forward to finding out if this one has prototype speed.
BTW, I “MU’d” my Bachmann set and it works great–lights and all.
A little surprising isn’t it? Not so many US modelers that has catenarys on their layouts? Otherwise it’s a very nice release from the good people at Walthers.
Very nice move from Walthers and it makes sense. Modelers have been wanting retooled Amfleet cars for some years now and logically, Walthers will be able to tool Amfleet units from the Metroliner dies. Additionally, some of us “seasoned” guys (ok, over the age of 40) have been hoping that someone would eventually produce the “Metros”.
The prototype Budd Metroliner came first, introduced in the late 60s. Units were “tested” on the Pennsylvania Railroad, but by the time they went into revenue service it was on the Penn Central. Amtrak took them over in 1971.
Amfleet cars, IIRC, were introduced in 1974. Smart move on Budd’s part in reusing the Metroliner shell to create cars designed for medium distance service. Years later Amfleet II units were introduced to supplement Amtrak’s rebuilt Heritage cars for long distance service.
I’ve been a fan of the Budd Metroliners since my teen years and have a collection of the HO Bachmann versions. When produced in the 70s, we viewed them as very nice looking units. They’re crude by today’s standards, but look decent once you hop them up. These are a few Bachmann Metro shells that I metalized with Alclad a few years ago. Here they have not been toned down with clear yet.
I think Walthers’ management may be concerned that units in the Penn Central scheme might not sell, inspite of the fact that a good number of Metroliners stayed in the Penn Central scheme well into the Amtrak era. But that’s just my assumption as perhaps Walthers may be planning to issue units in PC afterwards, especially
Not to diminish Walthers efforts, but a suggestion I wish they would consider:
The Pennsylvania and Penn Central versions are basically the same paint scheme: Stainless Steel finish with white cab sides and red stripes on the window row.
Walthers…offer the decals separately! For the Pennsy version, it’s the Keystone Herald while for PC, the worms.
I understand that by selling the “Pennsy” version as a limited edition set Walthers will recoup on its investment, but as a service to customers it seems that offering the decal option would generate quite a number of sales as well.
I guess this announcement was timed for National Train Day because this flyer was being handled out at the National Train Day event at Grand Central Terminal in New York.
I have NO catenary (no space for it) but it doesn’t prevent me from primarily modeling the NEC.
If the model is available, I’m getting it. I’m not going to let my space constraints dictate what model I buy. As long as a have a layout that can support the train itself (all of which can be powered through the rails), I’ll get what I want. It irks me every time that argument is made about modeling the NEC. If I waited until I had catenary before I bought a single peice of NEC equipment I’d be screwed trying to find an AEM7, E60, amfleets, etc. by the time I was able to install catenary.
(sorry for the rant)
Thanks Walthers for making these available! Although these are out of my particular era, I am thrilled for Metro fans out there. Since I likely won’t be a participant in this release (if I had more disposable income I’d contribute to the cause), I’ll make up for it with the re-tooled amfleets [;)].
