It’s great to see those old Amfleet coaches still doing what the Pennsy designed them to do 
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That it is! Those coaches once derisively referred to as “Amcans” seem to be just about ageless. And at eight coaches that train was a bit longer than I expected, around here five to six is pretty much the norm, depending of course on the train and where it’s going.
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They’re a good design. I don’t like Amtrak (long story that I don’t feel like talking about!), but the Amfleet cars held up well and still look pretty decent!
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I’m reminded of something Don Colangelo, the “Alco Doctor” of the Delaware-Lackawanna regional railroad once said:
“Anything’s a piece of junk if you don’t take care of it!”
So it seems to me those Amfleet cars have been well taken care of considering their longevity.
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I expect so–and the same is true of our model trains. Still, they can be quite successfully “unjunked”–and that’s my favorite thing to do!
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I remember a pretty detailed article about Beech Grove awhile back in Trains. Most people think I’m goofy when I tell them Amtrak is my second favorite railroad. #1 is Norfolk and Western Chesapeake and Ohio New York Central Nickel Plate Road Grand Trunk Western Canadian National since all those are my favorites equally. 
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I’ve never even settled on a favorite railroad. Too difficult!
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Most of mine have some kind of Cleveland connection one way or another
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Here is the long-promised video of the coaling ramp.
Hopefully I did this right.
Anyhow, there’s been loads of work on the Subdivision… but I’ve been very busy generally, so no photos of most of it. Some progress has been made on the bottom deck, though. Also, new lot of trains arrived, but I probably can’t get pictures of it until the 6th–because then I won’t be so busy!
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Sorry for the lack of updates. There’s now been two lots of trains, plus a new transformer, and a visit to an antique store that yielded some flanged-wheel fun as well!
So, without further ado, here is the first lot–the one that I mentioned way back in November.
First, there’s this neat Weaver hopper. It was like $20 or something and it just barely does O27 curves!
Then there’s these two ore cars. They look pretty good with the Carbon Coal Company mine train–but I can’t get at it right now (the train room is a spectacular mess), so no photos of the train with the ore cars instead of that random Williams Reading hopper.
This lighted caboose was pretty cheap–I don’t remember how much exactly, but it was under $20. Lionel Lines are the closest I’m able to get to buying a home road, and it had couplers on both ends–a real necessity for me. Every time I see a caboose or locomotive with a coupler on only one end, I want to find the moron who designed it and bash his head in with the lead ingot I have lying around here somewhere. Anyways…
Then I got this nice Amtrak car for $20. I don’t really like Amtrak, but I do need to be able to represent it on my railroad. The real bugger is going to be finding a locomotive to match, unless I can come up with some kind of semi-plausible excuse. The car is lighted and does have the window inserts, but they appear to no longer be seated correctly in there.
I also ordered a bunch of turnouts, some uncoupling track, and a little extra curved track.
Then, after that lot arrived, I visited my favorite Bismarck antique store and found some fun cheap stuffs. I got a bunch of track for a little over ten dollars, and:
This Marx-Tronic switcher (please excuse the abysmal photo) for $10, untested, seemed like a good deal. It works but is missing some of little pegs and so forth that stick out to actuate its mechanism, not to mention the special track.
Then there was a K-Line Pennsylvania hopper for just $5. In the condition it was in, I couldn’t resist.
And then there’s the Type VW that I bought on Ebay. The full details on it are here: The Mobile Railroad! - #6 by Engine_1988
I wound up situating it to run my test track when the Club isn’t using it. More on that later when my workbench doesn’t look like an appliance store blew up.
Then there’s a more recent Trainz lot.
I got an uncoupling track and bunch of turnouts, plus a completely junked 397. I really don’t need another 397, especially one this trashed, but I couldn’t get the turnouts separately. I’ll probably keep it for the four spare parts on it that are still usable. Of course, you already heard about the 18B that shipping trashed. I’m still working on fixing it, but here it is as it was when I opened the box.
Moving on to less depressing acquisitions: a Lionel TCA Bicentennial set! I found this set for just $150 with a functional locomotive, all in very nice condition, and, with the Semiquincentennial coming up, well, it seemed like a good idea. Plus, a U36B will fit in nicely on my railroad. It does run quite well, just as promised–smoothly and quietly. But. For some reason, only in neutral, the E-unit has a horrendous buzz. It’s easily the loudest one that I own. When the locomotive is moving, though, it’s pretty quiet.
And, finally, I bought a #60 trolley for $30. It ran horridly, but a little cleaning and lubrication later, it runs quite well. Of course, now I need to add a trolley line in Menardsville–that’s why there’s track piled up next to the U36B. I do not, unfortunately, have any pictures of the trolley.
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Mark,
The beginning of the Amtrak takeover of most roads’ passenger trains is known as the Rainbow Era because the trains ran with a ,mix of liveries. They assembled trains by the cars needed, not the former roads, so you could find all manner of colors and names mixed together. Eventually, they started to paint and buy their own, but it was some time before the rainbow died out, so you have plenty of reason to run that Amtrak car together with whatever roads you want!
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I kind of wish I was around to see that jumble of road names. But my railroad is set in 2025, for all that’s worth given my eclectic collection…
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Hilarious! . Been there, survived the explosion 
I pull my Amtrak 2400 style cars with my single red stripe silver GG-1. At the moment it’s hard to photograph.
It looks like something that definitely would have occurred on the northeast corridor around 1972/73. My goal is to find the MPC Amtrak Alco FA for a Lake Shore Limited set.
I have 2 coaches, the dome and the observation but one coach is sidelined with a broken truck. Another option is the F3:
Gorgeous Locomotives! Notice Amtrak is misspelled on the sticker. That suggests to me that they started making those labels beforehand. And speaking of F3s I’ve also believed that the Preamble Express F3 would pair well with the red, white and blue stripes on those phase 1 cars.
But it seems to me like you’ve got reason enough to collect these cars and pair them with the U36B!
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It certainly IS a good idea! One-fifty for a vintage Lionel Bicentennial set (It IS 50 years old after all!) is a good deal! And it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than some of the Semi-Quincentennial items Lionel’s putting out now!
I’ve got a Bicentennial U36B myself and yes, the E-unit IS a noisy one, but to me that’s part of the charm. I love that E-unit buzz, it’s like the prelude to a symphony!
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Another one I have to keep an eye out for. From what I’ve learned that while the actual “Preamble Express” had a matching set of passenger cars Lionel never produced any of their own to go with that F3. No problem, I can do my own when the time comes.
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Yeah, my GP7 is like an echo chamber for the E-unit. Gives it a deep throated growl 
PS the Preambles usually show up on the bay for fairly reasonable prices minus shipping, which you have to watch very carefully these days.
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Not just Amtrak, but when the New Jersey Department of Transportation (soon to become NJ Transit Rail) took over commuter operations they utilized a lot of former Burlington Northern passenger cars from the “Empire Builder.” The multi-colored consist became known as “The Jersey Builder!”
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When I used to pair my Pennsylvania silver with a red stripe GG-1 with my silver with red stripe Santa Fe passenger cars I called it the “Pennta Fe Express” 
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Thanks for the tip! I’m in no rush, if my luck holds one’s likely to find ME at a train show!
Personally I prefer to see it before I buy it although I have made exceptions, like this:
I’d been looking for a Public Service (of NJ) PCC for a while and saw one for sale at trainz.com and the price was what I considered very reasonable, that and you just don’t see them anywhere! Trainz is a righteous outfit and I trust them implicitly.
Here’s the Preamble Express story, and it’s an interesting one!
The 1974 Preamble Express
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