Walthers released a new batch of superliner I coaches for the California Department of Transportation a while back so I thought I would post some pictures of the two Surfliners I have.
First, these are not California cars (with two lower doors on each side), however they are prototypical cars. California paid for the repairs to these coaches and now they run in both Amtrak California and Pacific Surfliner trains. To my knowledge, the Pacific Surfliner has three:
34951 Redwood Grove
34960 Sequoia Grove (pictured below)
34967 Sycamore Grove (pictured below)
I painted the interiors and added some commuters, painted wheels and couplers rusty brown, and added the decals.
Yeah, there are only 3 painted. They also regularly have non-repainted Superliners still. Or at least they did back in January when I last lived down there.
This is true but they have actually started painting some of those silver cars blue and gray. Still, for some reason you can still tell which ones they are. I get to see them every day pass by my work behind our yard. Yep, I am lucky to work so close to the tracks. Bummer is that other than the UP local powered by green goats there isn’t any freight trains. Beggers can’t be choosers though.
Do these cars come with passengers as per your photos? I better start saving up for my set. Got the engine just not the cars
Walthers cars come with a nice interior in which I painted the seats blue. The passengers were added separately. I did not add the light kits to these cars however. Whenever I see these in the surfliner trains, it is almost as if these cars have no lights compared with the california cars. They are much dimmer from the outside than the rest of the train.
I have 5 Athearn F59PHI’s in the Surfliner scheme numbers 450, 461, 464, 463, and 455 Operation Lifesaver. I am still looking for number 462. I have been waiting for the california cars for a long time! At least these are a step in the right direction.
Union Station products cars look nice but there is no way I will pay $115-$130 for a kit, then go out and buy couplers, grab irons, wheels, and paint. I would do this if the kits were cheaper but my hope is still with Walthers.
FYI USP offers sides, ends and decals for $49. I bought a set of the complete Cali cars and built them while patiently waiting for the Surfliners to come out. I wasn’t thrilled with the TSP shells (bowed length-wise) but the sides were awesome. The idea I have for the Surfliners is I could recycle some of my Con-Cor Superliners and use the sides. I already bought new trucks, diaphrams and other details and just don’t think I can make the CC’s into decent Superliners now that I have the “Plated” ones.
Meanwhile my 2 Cascades F59PHI’s are still lonely…
Oh I see, it’s THAT car. Yes, they are easy to spot. Most of the time running second to last behind the cabcar.
Is the Operation Lifesaver engine still painted in those orange colors? I watch every train that passes my work as they slow down for the Anaheim Station, and I haven’t seen it yet. Okay not EVERY train but most. (don’t tell my boss)
They look pretty good. I saw both Sequoia and Sycamore pass by on two different Surfliner trains while I was in Orange yesterday.
Did you paint the diaphragm ends silver? What paint color did you use for the couplers and wheels? Looks perfect. Nice color choice.
While in a Surfliner trainset, the unpainted silver roofs make these cars easy to spot.
I also saw a Superliner I coach in IVb in another Surfliner tainset yesterday. The number was 34101 if I remember right. Interesting, I think that is the last Superliner I Coach by number.
One other thing I remember seeing on one of the repainted “Surfliner” Superliners (I think it was Sycamore Grove) was a distinct metal patch near one of the upstairs end windows. Probably some of the wreck damage repairs that California paid for to get this car running again.
Yes, I painted the diaphragm ends. Here are the paints:
For the wheels, I wanted a new rust look so I went with just the brown only. For couplers and regular superliner cars (for my coast starlight) I added a drop of black in the mix for a slightly darker color. I bought this paint at Michael’s for 33 cents each. It works great for a base because weathering chalk adheres easily to it. Here are some better pictures showing the trucks and diaphragms.
If you don’t mind me asking, how did you paint the diaphragms, and what colors? I need to paint the ones on my Superliners and haven’t brought myself to do it yet?
I will be posting pictures of my superliners in the near future. What I like to do is apply the silver to the edges of the factory black diaphrams. I used platinum mist, but any silver will work. In this step, I do not worry about overlap on the face of the diaphragm. After that dries thouroughly, I use the cheap black paint that I have a pictured earlier in this thread. I paint the front of the diaphragm black not caring about overlap on the silver rims. While the black paint is still wet, I take my finger along the rim which removes the excess black. This process leaves me with nice crisp silver edges.
