The Oyster Bay group has 4-6-0 #35, while the RMLI group in Riverhead has 4-6-0 #39, the last LIRR steamer to run in revenue service (1956 end of steam ceremony ?).  I haven't kept up, but I thought that #39 was further along in the restoration process, i.e. the boiler had been inspected/serviced/repaired.  There used to be talk of running #39 on excursions out to Montauk with old 2900 series coaches, but it doesn't sound like the FRA would allow the G-5 out on the main line.  My info is not current, however.

Mark

Rivarossi made one, up until about 10 years ago.  I have one from the last run (late 1990's), never ran it, sitting in it's box - I never bought any matching coaches for it, almost going for the Con Cor 72 footers but never pulling the trigger.  Since Hornby took over what was left of the Riv/Jouef/Lima/Poucher they've only re-released a few US products.

It's hard to, in good conscience, push Bachmann Industries to produce this locomotive, since it has extremely limited appeal (i.e. it was a special iteration, one road had it, a northeast railroad to boot, only ten were streamlined to this extent, etc.).  Also, the Empire State Express Hudson of 1941 (also done by Rivarossi in HO) was a beautiful locomotive, IMO.  Never cared for the Commodore Vanderbilt (but I did like the Reading Crusader of 1937, which is quite similar to the CV).

Mark

You don't feel that the 1938 NYC Dreyfuss Hudson looked like an imposing armored Roman warrior with the "helmet" over the smokebox ?  I thought that looked pretty cool, and the fact that the drivers were not covered with "armor plating" meant that it still retained it's traditional steam locomotive appearance, from the side, anyway.   This and the streamlined N&W Class J were the finest looking jobs, IMO (sleek but not overdone).  Getting back to the Hudson, it could have been worse, you know - Henry Dreyfuss could have finished off the look with the "garage broom head" sticking out of the top, near where the stack would be.....

A couple of months ago BLI had announced a 20th Century Ltd. Hudson, but now it is gone from their web site.  I believe they instead went with a 3rd run of the J-1e Hudsons, the last ones built, with roller bearings and with the long distance PT/Centipede tenders.
I tried to put the bug in Bachmann's head a long time ago to do a streamlined Dreyfuss Hudson with the 1938 20th Century Ltd. consist, along the competing Broadway Ltd. consist of 1938 with a Torpedo 4-6-2; a la what BLI is doing with the California Zephyr, Daylight Ltd. etc.

We can only suggest, as the manufacturers have their own marketing departments, do their own market research, and allot their new product development budgets according to what they believe will sell.

Quote from: PRRNut on February 17, 2007, 04:39:50 PM
It greatly depends on the year that you prefer to model. If you were to model the years from 1998-2002, you should probably use six Amfleet Acela paint scheme cars, one Amfleet Acela cafe car and one Amfleet Acela business car (Bachmann does not produce business cars, so use an another business car). Of course, from time to time, you'd see Metroliners with only four Acelas.

Now, if you were to model 2003 to 2007, I would suggest that you use the same consist, only with all Phase VI. Of course, you could always add one Phase IV or Acela coach in the consist as an unrepainted car.

Of course, you could always couple up the HHP-8 to a long distance train (Silver Star, Cardinal...). For the Silver star, you could need a 1700 series Amtrak Ph.IV baggage, a 10-6 sleeper in Ph.IV, three Viewliners in IV, a heritage Ph.VI/IV diner, an Amfleet II lounge and three to four Amfleet II Cars (Ph.IV/VI), all of which are produced by Walthers.

Then again, you could use them on the Keystone trains. You'd need only two Ph.VI Amfleets Coaches with one Ph.VI Amfleet Cafe Coach.

I really want to use the Acela Regional Amfleets because they are different and I am not a rivet counter, but if I understand you correctly, the Acela Regional paint scheme on the Amfleets did not last very long.  It appears that Amtrak used "Phase V" for the new wavy scheme on the P40/P42 locomotive fleet, and then they modified the Phase IV Amfleet scheme by (1) adding a red stripe along the lower skirting, (2) using a lighter blue color across the window band (3) placing the new Amtrak logo on the cars, and something else that I do not recall.   Is the end result what is now called "Phase IV B" ?  I read somewhere that for the Amfleets, Phase IV B is now being called Phase VI, since Phase V was already used for the Genesis fleet.  I searched through a lot of Amtrak photo sites on the net and it seems that Phase IV B (or Phase 6, if it's the same thing with a new name) is now the Amfleet scheme of choice.  Will all of the Amfleet Acela Regional paint jobs be re-done in Phase IV B ? That's what I concluded.  The shame of it is that I live about 45 or 50 miles from Sunnyside Yard in Queens, where Amtrak lashes up the real-deal consists, but since 9/11 I can't get near the place without risking arrest.

I have a Bachmann HO Spectrum HHP-8 on order and I was looking for input as to what type of consist this monster pulls in real life, so I can attempt to replicate it on my new layout.  I kind of "assumed" (bad word, I know) that the Acela Regional Amfleets were the proper cars, so I was going to go with three or four of the Amfleet I Acela Regional coaches (item 13109) plus one of the Amfleet I Acela Regional cafe cars (item 13113).  Then I saw the Phase IV-B and Phase V schemes, which do not appear much different from the basic Phase IV scheme (unless the photos on the Bachmann web site are not current).  I had been out of the hobby for a couple of years, which is why I now find myself asking a newbie question.

Any suggestions would be appreciated (if I had to wager on this I would place my bet on Dave Harrison knowing exactly what to do)...

Thanks,

Mark F.