Amtrak's California Zephyr, HO scale, CIRC layout - Equipment test

An equipment test for a train that may run at this year's state fair: a representation of some of the Superliner-equipped trains that ran through Iowa in the mid '90s. The locomotives and head-end cars are veterans of many years of operation, and some have even appeared in other videos here, but the Walthers Superliners are new, and many of them haven't ever been out of the box before tonight. These are the older style cars, not the new ones with the "plated" finish; I've had a lot of these stored away and never used them before now. I'm not planning on replacing them with the new ones as I don't care for the new ones, for a number of reasons.

Tonight, these cars ran pretty much as they come out of the box- unnumbered and with the original plastic couplers. In spite of this, they ran almost perfectly, even handling a number of freshly-installed turnouts and diamonds that still need some tweaking. After mechanical and cosmetic upgrades to make them show-ready, these cars, along with others in the fleet, may operate at this year's state fair.

The Iowa State Fair this year will take place August 13-23.

This was recorded with my Canon A590IS compact camera rather than the camcorder I normally use, hence the lower quality and lack of widescreen aspect ratio.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• trains
• models
• model railroading
• amtrak
• HO
• california
• zephyr
• superliner

[RandomFilmsSgf]

Just out of curiosity, How tall are those Superliner cars, im planning on buying some for my layout, and I need to know if my tunnels are tall enough. Thanks.

[araquan]

@RandomFilmsSgf Well, the real ones are 16 ft 2 in tall... The models might vary somewhat from the correct scale height (2.2"; mine are all packed away right now so I can't easily get one out to measure) but I'd say if the tunnel clearance is at least 2.75" you'd probably be okay.

[araquan]

@RandomFilmsSgf Oh, I should note- that's measured from the top of the rail.

[pineapplepete45]

how fast is that in scale MPH?

[araquan]

@pineapplepete45 I usually tend to run my passenger stuff at around 60-70 scale miles per hour, but actual speed can depend on how big a train it is, how many units are pulling it, whether it's on a hill or not (back-EMF from the DCC decoder helps here but can't always keep the speed uniform) and what other trains are running.

[angelinaramon]

Beautiful

[araquan]

Thanks!

[crazytaxi1000]

very nice!

[TheSd90mac]

Cool train set!

[BNforever2009]

not bad. 4 sleepers, and 4 coaches and the regular, sightseer/lounge and diner car. Its nice.

[LegoMovieMan44]

AL RIGHT I RODE THIS!

[MSNWindows7]

thats a lot of baggage cars

[TallSky]

Nice work! But I have to say, that car at 0:08, in real life where I live, and no flashing gates? Very dangerous. Plus, here in San Diego, the signs need to be in SPANISH!

Seriously though, nice work.