Amtrak's Empire Builder, HO scale, CIRC layout

[wsp162]

Ditto the comments regarding the Amtrak "rainbow" period. My first passenger train rides were on the Empire Builder/North Coast Hiawatha out of Seattle in the early 1970's. Nicely done!

[BlackWolfessUSCM]

That is an amazing setup. I'll have to post a video of my 7 Car Micro Empire Builder that BN Ran (Found a photo of it in a book) when I'm finished. I honestly Love Rainbow Era passenger trains. Their so colorful and rarely modeled in any scale.

[araquan]

@BlackWolfessUSCM You should see what the layout looks like now! And yeah, the rainbow era is fascinating. Since this train was filmed, more cars have been added to my Empire Builder pool- GN, BN, and IC diners; Amtrak and GN versions of the dome-lounge; BN, NP, and SP&S dome coaches (the latter still in orange and green, just like the real SP&S dome when it went to Amtrak); and even a MILW Super Dome. Plans for the future include a NP dome sleeper kitbash and GN (two schemes!) F units.

[BNforever2009]

nice train. i was born adn raised up in Chgo an d lived on the west side. I was 2 blocks north of the BN's famous racetrack. What made me not concentrate on my school work in grammar school was the BN trains just half a block down from the school and i could see them from the window. I remember seeing the different colors of the early Amtrak trains and those loud and fast E units. This was in the late 60's and early 70's. I was 7 yrs old in "70.

[Amtrak1194]

This is my favorite amtrak period

the early 70's

[araquan]

@Amtrak1194 It's an interesting period, to be sure. Since this was shot I've added more cars and alternate cars so I can vary the consist quite a bit now. My particular favorites are the SP&S dome coach (the real thing went to Amtrak still in the Builder scheme) and the small fleet of "Great" dome lounges I now have- BN, GN blue, Amtrak Ph. 1, GN blue with Amtrak over-lettering, etc.

[JIMBOSKI58]

Nice Amtrak, Phase I, "rainbow" consist.

[araquan]

@JIMBOSKI58 Thanks! I've got more cars now than what showed up in that video- additional alternate versions of the diner and lounges, sleepers, etc. I can mix it up even more than I could back then! :)

[justkiddin08]

Nice video!!

[skinnyshit8888]

Good one!

[A10PANG]

Always loved this era!

[ConrailForeverNJ]

Great train, just needed a Conrail to make it totlaly 70's!

[araquan]

Heh. Alas, in the period this train represents, Conrail was a couple years away. But as soon as I outshop a few more Penn Central cars (and maybe an E8A too...) they'll make appearances in the early Amtrak fleet. That's about as close as I can get, realistically. :)

[ConrailForeverNJ]

Oh sorry about that, I thought Amtrak was After Conrail not before it, just shows old age LOL

[araquan]

Heh, yeah- Amtrak was '71, the train in the vid is from around '74ish, and Conrail was '76 or so. The fun thing is that since Penn Central was only formed in '68, a lot of their stuff went to Amtrak with just a logo patched over the original Pennsy or NYC colors... Lots of interesting modeling possibilities I need to explore there. :)

[bugsplatt1]

i live in boone where is this at and is there a website

[araquan]

I there. The club is located on the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines and is there year-round. The club's website URL is going to be added to this video's information text momentarily- check it out.

[chadden24]

how do i determine the radius i just got the 10 car great northern set.

[Amtrakroadmaster]

Great display of the 1974 Empire Builder as it did appear in that year. You have captured that era very well... Great!

[araquan]

Thanks!

[Zedthirtyone]

Also, what minimum radius track can you run on?

My Walthers run just on 22"

Recommended is 24"

[araquan]

The old club layout had a minimum curve of 30" on the mainline... I'm not sure exactly what it is on the new layout (I'm out of state right now so I can't get in to check) but it's probably in excess of 40" at this point.

[Zedthirtyone]

"Yay" the Rainbow Train.

What about an IC car?

Hard to get that Swallow Tail.

Any info on the Consists of these early Amtrak trains anywhere? Or were they just all over the show?

Goodstuff.

[araquan]

I've thought about getting some IC equipment for the early Amtrak pool, but so far I've not found a car that's a realy good representation of a true IC car.

Milwaukee yellow and gray will make occasional appearances, as I plan to get one of the Hiawatha cars (of which Amtrak used a few) when they're available in the proper scheme.

I based some of this train on photos in books, and partly on Pentrex's "Early Amtrak Across Wisconsin" and "Empire Builders to Milwaukee," both available on DVD.

[araquan]

Yeah, that was a very colorful period, wasn't it. As soon as Walthers gets the yellow and gray Hiawatha cars out, I'll probably add one of those to the Empire Builder/North Coast Hiawatha pool as well. Amtrak did end up with a few of those, however briefly.

[araquan]

Thanks! That was one of our other members' ideas. There's also a speaker set up so that people in the viewing aisle can hear what's going on in the movie.

[jazzlife1]

This is kool; the drive in movie is neat!!!