Model Railroading > HO-Intermountain Railway Amtrak Step Up Coach / Dorm

What is your guys take on the Intermoutain coach/dorm car? Is it worth the price or should I wait to see if someone else is going to do this car, I know the car doesn't have a plated finish, I would need the car to finish off my 1980's early 90's Amtrak Capital Limited Phase III paint scheme

I dont think anyone else will do the car. Its a nice starting platform but alot leaves to be desired...and even though I have one its not worth the $47 I paid for it for what you get. Personally I think they can offer better for that price.

Folks;

I liked the exterior look of the IRC High Level cars, however, looking underneath you see a truck mounted coupler. Whoa!!!...I thought those went out with the high button shoe. Has any body heard if Con Cor is really going to do a complete set of high level cars? (El Captain) There have been posts on this board before but Con Cor's web site shows nada. Just wondering....

Regards

Jere Ingram

Yep, with the DW kits you had to fabricate your own frame and add some trucks. It takes some work but it has the right look, also use the add-on retro-windows for the dorm section. The kits can be found in flea markets and older hobby shops, also the many windows and other items. The Sante Fe Historical Society had an article on bashing the product line for the El Capitan era, use that for general ideas, the frame dimensions etc, or beef-up the supplied frame with structural styrene shaped and add some weight in there. The was another article in Rail-Model Journal, or something like that. The shells were originally under 10 bucks, they're out there but are few are very far between.

I did buy the diner from I-Mtn, seemed worth while not having to deal with the seats and tables for starters.
Otherwise it's brass, which is a good option if you can find them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/10 01:04 by TCnR.

It seems to me that the step-up coach/dorm was a very nice model when offered in kit form by Train Station Products / Detail Associates. It gave you the option of a simple kit if you wanted to build it straight out of the box, but a nicely-detailed model if you bought the extra end details, including the HEP detail parts, as well as the inserts for the modified windows. I have one with all the parts that I'll eventually build as an Amtrak Phase III car.

I'm guessing the model wasn't executed as well in RTR form my Intermountain, from what I've heard. Did they include all the additional add-on details that TSP/DA offered? I haven't seen one myself. Are there errors with the original model that I'm not aware of?

I would recommend looking for the old kit so you can build it up to the level of detail that you want. I think it was ahead of its time back then, but should still look good today. It certainly included more detail than the Walthers Superliners it would be running with.

Dave

It really is time for a 'new' model of these cars. The IMRC/DA/TSP version is nice, BUT, when you compare the tooling to current offerings, it comes up lacking. Budd passenger cars have a distinct fluting pattern/design that Walthers, BLI, and Kato have captured very nicely. We need a Budd Hi-level train that at least meets those standards.

Donnell