Bicentennial railroad stuff

[PR19_Kit]

I figured that railroad models should be in this section as they fall under 'other stuff' as defined in the sub-forum's title. 

In 1976 many of the US railroads went WELL over the top with their special colour schemes for the Bicentennial Year celebrations. See below for just a few of them....



For reasons best known to themselves Amtrak, the partially American government funded railroad passenger service, didn't get into the Bicentennial thing, maybe because they'd only been in existence a few years by the time it was upon them. I decided to change that policy, at least as far as the Amtrak train on my Smalltown-USA N gauge layout was concerned. 

I run a 9 coach Amtrak Superliner train on the layout, well short of the real world train lengths but then UK houses aren't large enough to contain an N gauge layout for 14-16 car train! The Superliners, the huge double decked passenger cars that Amtrak run on their transcontinental trains west of Chicago, were first built in 1978, so I time-warped them a year or two earlier into 1976 and sorted out my own scheme for a Bicentennial Superliner.

One of my Superliner cars had the paint on one end wrecked when the superglue zapper I was using oversprayed onto the top of the model so I designed up a scheme that covered over the wreckage of the paint job and made up some decals for the rest as well.

The standard car is the top pic and the Bicentennial version is below.

[McColm]

Great work, flags-that's an idea

[PR19_Kit]

Glad you like it, thanks. 

If you're looking at the underside and wonder why a] there's no underframe detail and b] why it looks so rough, it's because the entire underside between the trucks is filled with Blu-Tak! The darn things are so light and so tall that they sway alarmingly (just like the real ones do....  ) and threaten to de-rail. As the roofs are glued in place  the only way to add weight is the Blu-Tak method.

[zenrat]

Any train can be improved by adding flags.

[PR19_Kit]

Any train can be improved by adding flags.

Hehehe, I'll make a note of that, thanks. 

[Rheged]

Any train can be improved by adding flags.

Hehehe, I'll make a note of that, thanks. 

APT  with Union Jack ?

[PR19_Kit]

Any train can be improved by adding flags.

Hehehe, I'll make a note of that, thanks. 

APT  with Union Jack ?

An N gauge APT is so tiny you'd be pushed to get a visible flag on it! I've built one so I know how small it is!

[Captain Canada]

Great ideas ! I love the one with the eagles beak. Railroading has always been a part of life over here....great stuff. Ever hear the Canadian Railroad Trilogy by Gordon Lightfoot ? Great song. Thanks for these posts kit they really get me to thinking.

[kerick]

I remember some of those decorated locos going by my house!

The Superliner scheme looks great!