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Walthers HO scale Budd RPO car
The New Haven bought some of these cars from the Santa Fe, but I’m not sure it ever used them, let alone put its own name on them.
Once again, comparison with other models of the same real cars in the same scale would be very useful. Athearn has produced a reasonably accurate, though notably less finely detailed – no separate grab irons, for instance – and decorated model of these cars since the 1950’s; despite price increases over the decades, it’s still much less expensive. Walthers itself has also offered sold earlier versions of this model (with grab irons provided but not installed and finished with different degrees of shininess) at lower list prices than that of the new model.
Can anyone comment on the ride quality of the Santa Fe’s and other lightweight RPO cars compared to the older heavier ones? I know at least some heavyweight coaches (including the ones the Erie modernized) rode better than some lightweights. Since the postal workers did much of their job standing, they may have been especially conscious of how various cars rode.
Reading the review you get the impression this is a new model. But isn’t this RPO exactly the same car that was released with the initial run of the Super Chief? Did Walthers change the molds or did they just install the grabs and steps?
I love it, no so much the car itself, but the fact that Walthers is providing the El Capitan for the large number of Santa Fe modelers.
I ordered the complete set on May 6th last, the first day they we announced.