A Couple More Superliners

I've had a number of HO Superliners in my backlog, especially some Walthers Phase IV Superliner IIs from their original run in, I think, the late 1990s. The work has involved applying the car number and name decals where applicable, converting the couplers to Kadees, in some cases adding grab irons, and painting the truck sideframes. The one below is (I think) the only sleeper I have, the 32081 Illinois. Not all the Superliner IIs that were assigned state names had them applied. However, I rode the Illinois to Chicago in 2008 on the Southwest Chief, and it had its name applied and was still in Phase IV paint at the time.

Amtrak 34951, the Redwood Grove, was rebuilt by Amtrak in 2009 with funds from the State of California and painted in Pacific Surfliner colors. I got this in anticipation that Athearn Surfliner cars would arrive fairly soon, but as of now, they're at least a year overdue. Ordinary Superliner coaches in Amtrak Phase IV-IVb have also been used on the Pacific Surfliners from the start. These were originally from a series specifically equipped for push-pull service, but as I understand this, Superliner coaches have gradually had push-pull wiring installed overall.

Amtrak 470 is an original run Athearn RTR F59PHI I think from the early 2000s. This didn't have a DCC socket, but I did a hard-wire conversion with a Digitrax DH126P. I believe that for a time, Amtrak operated Cascades with Superliner coaches and sightseer lounges between the time the F59PHIs were delivered in 1994 and the Talgo Cascade sets arrived in 1996. Cascade-painted F59PHIs have sometimes wandered out of Cascade territory as well.

With the HO Superliners I have, three Phase IV coaches, two Phase III coaches, and a Phase IV sightseer lounge, plus the one sleeper, I'm best equipped to run certain Michigan and Illinois service trains that have periodically used Superliners, or a 1994-1996 Cascade.. This is in many ways just as well, since a full Amtrak long distance Superliner train of baggage, three sleepers (one transition), diner, sightseer lounge, and three coaches, nine cars total, takes up quite a bit of layout.

Progress On The Bare Table T-TRAK Module

I added a Kato crossover to the bare table T-TRAK module I posted about two weeks ago, with the building flat of the Washington DC Morrow Hotel.

In addition to laying track, I added my standard terminal strips beneath the baseboard. This is one plus to T-TRAK that nobody seems to recognize: you can use the Unijoiners to carry the DCC bus through each module and onto the next, but by using terminal strips to carry drops from each track, you can connect individual DCC-driven components like switch machine stationary decoders and NCE Illumimators with JST sockets for NCE Just Plug lighting features without any inter-module wiring.

Visible below the lower terminal strip in the photo is a tiny Digitrax DS51K1 stationary decoder that drives the Kato crossover.

It's worth pointing out once more that a crossover between the mains is simply not practical for normal T-TRAK standards. It would require a level of dispatching and discipline in a large T-TRAK meet, even with DCC, that I don't think ordinary model railroaders would be capable of. On the other hand, if T-TRAK is done at least partly for home use, it adds a great deal of flexibility and operating potential to a small layout configuration, temporary or semi-permanent. On the other hand, you can take your standard T-TRAK modules to a meet and leave the one with the crossover home.

Here I've begun to incorporate the module with the crossover into an L-shaped temporary arrangement with the building flat I mocked up two weeks ago back on it. This shows that it's possible to operate a home-use T-TRAK layout even without a full oval that can incorporate push-pull style passenger operation at minimum, but I'm still playing with other ideas.

Walthers Phase IV Superliners

I got several Walthers Phase IV Amtrak Superliners from their original run more than 20 years ago. As best I can tell, I never got a complete set of them for a long-distance train, but I find I do have three coaches, a lounge, and a sleeper. In their original release, they were more like a starting point than a finished model, and I worked on them in spurts now and then over subsequent years. The biggest obstacle was having to drill for and add grab irons and handrails. I never completed this task, but I did finish it on three of them, including a coach and the lounge below:

Among the uncompleted tasks that came with those original cars was the need to add numbers from decal sets supplied. I finally finished this with all the cars, and in addition, I painted the trucks and added Kadee couplers. Some of the Superliner II cars had silver trucks, which I copied on my models.

More recent Walthers Superliner runs have more complete paint jobs on the cars in Phase IV and IVb, and later still metal plating and interiors. The original-run cars didn't have interiors. I'm inclined to question whether metal plating adds a whole lot to Superliner models, as the finish on the prototype isn't really shiny, as you can see below:

Amtrak 32078 was a Superliner II still in Phase IV paint on the Southwest Chief in 2008. As far as I can tell, the Superliner IIs were delivered in Phase IV paint and ran with Superliner Is in Phase II and III for some time after delivery. Here are the two schemes on the Coast Starlight in 1995:

If you compare these photos with the early Walthers models, the silver/platinum mist paint on the models doesn't look all that bad.

Still Playing Around With Photo Building Flats

I ran across this YouTube video that was taken from a great new railfan vantage point, the Rhode Island Avenue station platform on the Washington, DC Metro.

This viewpoint is just north of Union Station, and in addition to showing the full schedule of Amtrak and MARC trains headed to and from points north, it also shows switchers and deadhead equipment of Amtrak, MARC, and Virginia Rail Express running back and forth to the Ivy City coach yard. Beyond that, it has a diorama-like background. The building closest to the camera behind the track is, I think, the Morrow Hotel.

I keep being intrigued by prototype scenes like this, and I keep playing around with possible ways to incorporate them into a layout, especially given the flexibility of T-TRAK modules. So the first thing I did was print out a screen shot of a scene on the video that comes as close as possible to a 90-degree flat-on view of the building alone. Then I posed it behind an N Amtrak model on a T-TRAK module to see how things shaped up.

I assumed a height of 12 feet between floors, and the printout came pretty close in 1:160 without my needing to adjust the size any further.

I had a bare-table completed T-TRAK module base without track or scenery, so I took things a little farther. I mounted the screen shot I'd printed out onto a sheet of cardboard I liberated from an empty box of Triscuits. Then I built up a full low-relief builing flat using more Triscuit-box cardboard stiffened with used fireplace matches. I added a cheapo plastic N signal bridge to see what it brought to the scene. Kato plastic catenary supports would also work.

From the photos of this flat posed near commercial N photo style building flats, you can see that the appearance and size are generally in proportion. I took a test shot with a Kato ACS-64 like you'd see in Washingto

Well, maybe. I'm still mulling over where to take this idea next.

Atlas Roco CN S-4

CN 8017 is an Atlas Roco HO S-4 from their first run of these models in the late 1980s. It's been on my to-do list for conversion to DCC for quite a while, but this was complicated by the fact that it had been disassembled, parts were in two or three different places, and when I finally gathered them up, one of the coupler mounts had disappeared, and the left side handrail had more or less disintegrated -- I'm not sure why.

What made this more difficult was that this model, both the original Roco version and the subsequent Chinese clone from the 1990s, are discontinued, and Atlas no longer has replacement parts for either. On the other hand, one problem these locos had from the start was they sometimes had cracked axles, but with replacements no longer available, I had one or two locos that became hangar queens, just there for the parts. So I was able to raid a hangar queen for the coupler mount and and left side handrail.

On the other hand, the original Roco coupler mounts had simple plastic plugs to hold the coupler in (which is probably why the mount on this loco disappeared). So I had to drill a new mounting hole #50 and tap 2-56 to use a 2-56 screw to replace the plastic plug. Maybe a little more work than I'd really like to undertake for a 35-year-old loco that shows its age more with each passing year.

I instralled a TCS AS6 decoder, probably the easiest part of the whole project.

More T-TRAK Work

I procrastinated for several years adding a Woodland Scenics built-and-ready N scale Clyde & Dale's Barrel Factory to my double wide depressed-deck T-TRAK module.

I'd given a lot of thought to the industry I wanted to add here, but from the start, I sized it for the Woodland Scenics building. Nevertheless, I kept looking for a potentially better structure, but I kept coming back to this one as the best combination of size and detail. I'll rename it, but I haven't decided what I'll turn it into.

I like all the detail that's included with the building, but I toned the silver bits down with Tamiya brown panel liner.

The building comes with one Just Plug stick-on LED mounted inside. What I've found with the Woodland Scenics buildings that have Just Plug lighting is that they're set up to illuminate only a small partition inside, with the rest of the building's interior taken up with a black construction paper view block. In this case, the LED lights up only a small office area but doesn't light the main building.

I decided I wanted to add a second LED to light the main building's windows. I removed the costruction paper view block from the main interior and covered the interior walls with Woodland Scenics Light Diffusing Window Film. I'll get another stick on LED on my next trip to the train store.

With my T-TRAK modules, I power Just Plug LEDs from NCE Illuminators that work off the DCC bus power that comes in via the Unitrack. The Illuminator then turns the DCC signal back into 12 volt DC that it transmits to the Just Plug LEDs via the JST plugs.

The other device in the lower left is a Digitrax DS52 switch decoder that controls the Unitrack crossover and switch on the module. This is all completely un-kosher for standard T-TRAK and is intended exclusively for my personal home T-TRAK layout.

In the photo, you can see I've provided initial power to the Illuminator, and the indicator LED is lit. Two of the JST plugs will power the LEDs in the Woodland Scenics barrel factory (or whatever it will become). The third JST plug as shown will feed a regular terminal strip that will power other 12 volt DC features like non-Just Plug street or building lights.

Second Try At A Detachable Stage

Back in 2021, I posted on a project to add a detachable stage to one corner of my home T-Trak layout. This started as a scrap piece of white foam that I layered up to match the surface of a T-TRAK module, which would connect to tracks on the module itself. (Of course, this is completely not kosher as far as T-TRAK standards are concerned, it's meant entirely for personal use.)

This gradually morphed into something that reminded me of the Amtrak Springfield, MA station:

Eventually it became a victim of its own success, and I rebuilt it into a full-fledged T-TRAK module that could be fit into the main line. I removed the track and scenery from the foam, remounted them onto a standard module, and discarded the foam, proceeding with the idea of doing more of a Springfield station:

But this eventually left me with the idea that I could still build another stage on some foam. I had a package of Woodland Scenics 1/4" foam handy, so I made up another base, this one slightly larger than the first one, and I'm in the process of roughing in a new stage, this one that at least will be something other than Springfield, MA, but Amtrak has a lot of intriguing operations.