Athearn Caltrain Bombardier coaches/cab control cars
Athearn ACE Bombardier coaches/cab control cars
Athearn/Atlas Amtrak California F59PHI or P32BWH locomotives.
For the Bombardier cars, if you are running them on your layout, what are you using to haul them? As far as I know, no one’s done up an appropriate locomotive for them. Are you kitbashing? Doing up an undecorated locomotive? Using something else?
As for the Amtrak California motive power, I believe that Overland did a brass series of cars but they are out of production and you don’t see them much for sale on consignment. So what are you hauling instead?
I just recently picked up a set of the Caltrain cars. Normally these run behind MP36’s but while shooting our Caltrain video I did see a lone Bombardier cab car behind an F40. Unfortunately we didn’t get any footage of that, as we had the cameras set for another train. I’m not sure what they were doing with that train. It was parked in SF and ran down to Bayshore and then went back.
Anyway, you could use an F40 as a substitute although this is not something you’d normally see. I have thought I might just use my SP Mt-4 for the Bombardier cars as a kind of joke, until I can figure out a way to model an MP36.
I have both the Atheran F59 and Atlas P32 in Amtrak California. I figured I could always use these as substitute or additonal power on my Superliner train, not too much of a stretch. I have seen Superliner cars in Capitol consists, and I’ve also seen Capitols pulled by P42s in regular Amtrak colors. I do wish someone would come out with some California cars though.
I’d like to get some of the Athearn ACE cars but they’re hard to find. An ACE F40 would take some work to do right, too, as they’re not standard F40s. I’m not sure anyone makes decals for these, either.
Funny, I never used to think much of commute rail, but now that I’ve been around it so much filming Caltrain and now ACE it’s kind of grown on me.
That is correct–you will find Superliner I Coach/Baggages or Superilner II coaches in Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin consists (seemingly with growing frequency) (and also in Surfliners). But I have yet to see more than one.
Like you, I bought the motive power in the hopes someone makes California cars. I found one cab car from Overland on Consignment but the interior lighting/ditch lights were shot and I could not get Overland to fix it (I guess they no longer had the parts).
There was a company called Absolute Scale Models that was supposed to produce California/Surfliner cars and F40PH-2C/3C motive power for Caltrain and ACE. But then they went bankrupt and that was the end of that.
Once again, more frustration of hobby companies that produce motive power but not the corresponding rolling stock and vice-versa!