Model Railroading > Bombardier Commuter Cars

I was looking at the Athearn Bombardier cars and noticed that they have rather pronounced rivets, do the real cars have the same thing or is this a case of them getting exaggerated?
Andre

Early commuter cars from Bombardier have those rivets as Athearn offered in HO. Later production cars from Bombardier are instead of a welded design. Athearn chose to go with the riveted version on their HO versions, while Athearn's N scale versions are of the later "welded" design.

I wish Athearn would upgrade the HO versions with working headlights/strobes/car lighting and an updated welded shell.

Cheers,
Harry

I see many of the riveted cars on Metrolink in Southern California and ACE (Altamont Commuter Express) in the Bay Area. Caltrain ones are smooth-sided.

I think it's funny Athearn got the HO ones wrong for Caltrain, because there are rivets for the rivet counters to count. :-)

tracktime Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> I wish Athearn would upgrade the HO versions with
> working headlights/strobes/car lighting and an
> updated welded shell.
>

I concur Harry! Having both prototypes separated by different scale releases is kinda strange isn't it...

Thanks for the information on the Bombardier cars regarding the rivets. Which brings up a second question, are the New Mexico Rail Runners smooth or riveted?

Andre

Andre Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the information on the Bombardier cars
> regarding the rivets. Which brings up a second
> question, are the New Mexico Rail Runners smooth
> or riveted?
>
> Andre


Andre: the UTA FrontRunner cars I know are of the welded variety. I have two sets of the UTA cars, and this is the first time I've noticed the rivets. When they are on the layout, you don't really notice them.
I believe that the Rial Runners are also of the welded type. The TRE in Texas, the GO units in Canada, the Coaster units in California, the Tri-Rail units in Florida, in fact all the newer Bombardier cars would be welded. There are rivets on the ends of the cars, but not like the HO model has throughout the car.
But Like I said, you don't really notice them when they are running.

Paul, a FrontRunner Engineer.

Paul Liddiard
Spanish Fork, UT



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/10 07:56 by lizzard_45.

A quick comment - GO Transit's bilevels are split between riveted 'First Generation' Types I - V and welded 'Second Generation' Types VI - VII. I'm fairly certain any riveted cars operated elsewhere are ex-GO. On the production line, the last Type V car was selected to be the prototype welded car and received the number 2499 in lieu of 2459 as originally intended. Among other changes (i.e. accessible washroom on the lower level), it and all future GO cars received taller windows on the side doors. I'd consider this a customer option as the Caltrain and FrontRunner cars have the same shorter windows as the riveted cars.

Doug Stark

lizzard_45 Wrote:
> Andre: the UTA FrontRunner cars I know are of the
> welded variety. I have two sets of the UTA cars,
> and this is the first time I've noticed the
> rivets. When they are on the layout, you don't
> really notice them.
> I believe that the Rial Runners are also of the
> welded type. The TRE in Texas, the GO units in
> Canada, the Coaster units in California, the
> Tri-Rail units in Florida, in fact all the newer
> Bombardier cars would be welded. There are rivets
> on the ends of the cars, but not like the HO model
> has throughout the car.
> But Like I said, you don't really notice them when
> they are running.
>
> Paul, a FrontRunner Engineer.