It only took three years of emails and a letter to the CEO but I finally see Walthers has announced the release of HO Superliner I and II cars in the current Amtrak Phase IVb livery.
The SI & SII coaches and sleepers are slated to come out 28 October; the SI & SII lounge and diner are to follow on 28 November. For now, there do not seem to be any release of the Transition Dorm/Sleepers (which are rumored to be phased out soon) and the old Coach-Baggages (which now serve other purposes).
Hopefully also Microscale can work a deal with Walthers to release decals.
Although I’ve too heard the rumors about the TransDorm drop, I really doubt Amtrak will drop these cars on the longer distance Superliner trains. There’s not enough operational sleepers to handle passengers and the crew, and it would be a really bad idea to drop sleeper space for crew.
Let’s hope Walthers releases an IVb Dorm, and Coach Bag too. I’m also hoping for phase II, III, and IV with the new interior and lighting ready equipped shells.
Sorry for such a late reply, but better late than never!
The Superliner I Coach-Baggages (or at least some of them) saw service as Coach Smokers, where the lower level was used as a smoking section until Amtrak banned all smoking on its trains. Some of the Coach-Baggages were converted to Family Coaches on the Coast Starlight, where the lower level is set up for kids. The last time I road the Starlight, this past July, I think they had set up some arcade games down there. Some also have snack bar sections and I’ve seen these fill in on Amtrak California routes when the consist does not have a normal California or Surfliner Cafe or Dining Car.
And actually quite timely in a way. I just received the latest Walthers buyers guide in the mail and in book #2 on page 12 are the new IVb Superliners. First published ad I’ve seen for these.
The last train I was on(Empire Builder) in August of this year they had coah baggages, and when we were unloading our bags from them there was a sing on the wall that said smokeing room and there were serveral vents on the celing. Both of these suggest that this use to be a coach smokeing, and on the outside of the car I could see the marks where they took off or painted over the old coach smokeing wich was on either side of the door where the phase V logo is now
it looked kinda like this but I dont think it had the windows covered up(or windows at all) although it would be nice to model the windows covered up like that
notice the outline of coach smokeing under the phase V logo
but I think what you saw were they were converted for is much beter then baggage space although it is convient for the Amtrak crews to just throw your baggs into a coach/baggage car then put it in the baggage car. But its a good idea to put baggage going from origin to destination in a baggage car.
(image from