Walthers 1960s City of Los Angeles Announced


Great photo of the unit ore train...ore unit trains are my favorites.

Pasenger service on the Chicago, Milwaukee & Northern is provided by a SOO doodle bug. Morning and afternoon service to the industries on the line with some freight delivery via a box car coupled to the rear of the bug. I have a new in the box Bachmann which I never have taken out of the box since I purchased it 10+ years ago.

Greg
 
I am with you Joe. This is what I commonly run, especially being that I am modeling a more rural area.
Chet: Have a Bachmann Gas car, I am seriously considering the NWSL re-motor / upgrade kit to improve performance. I'm also considering one of the connecting trains the PRR ran between Harrisburg and Washington. Problem is the General's Washington section consisted of a coach, diner and two sleepers. Add an E8 and we are talking 5' of train.
 
I have tossed the idea of repowering the doodlebug, but I have a lot of other projects that I have been putting off that should get done first. It is not a priority.
 
Chet: What inspired my idea, was a photo of a PRR connection to Wheeling, WV, which included a Gas car, a 10-5 Pullman sleeper (Walthers), a MPB54 baggage - coach (Concor) and a BM62 baggage - RPO (Concor). The PRR gas cars had 600or larger Lima diesels in them, as well as steam generators, so this was plausible. Then again, I have many projects and so little time. :)
 
See the complete 1960s City of Los Angeles name train announcement
OK, so I've looked at the product announcement closer. Who can tell me the difference between the 953x and 954x series of cars. I expected one to be a standard model and one to be a deluxe, or one to be lighted and the other not. But it doesn't say anything about that, nor are the prices different. ?!??
 
Who can tell me the difference between the 953x and 954x series of cars. I expected one to be a standard model and one to be a deluxe, or one to be lighted and the other not. But it doesn't say anything about that, nor are the prices different. ?!??

Horseman:
I can't. My guess is that one number represents the deluxe, bells and whistles with lights and people collector version, limited to 300 models, while the other is the limited stock basic version, that most model railroaders would buy. Walthers has been vague on advertising prices. Yesterday, I was looking at their Friday promo, and not one "sale" item showed a price. Pretty much the emphasis right now is ensuring they get sufficient pre-orders to make money on the project.
 
Different road numbers and car names in the A and B sets.. Make a 20 car set. Oooowie!
Well if memory serves, in the 1950s it was 14 cars. But in the 1960s unless one is modeling California or Nevada it should be more like 24 cars because they combined the trains (City of LA, City of San Francisco, City of Las Vegas).

It should also be pulled by an ABB or ABBB set and yet they aren't offering any separate B units. That is most odd. Rarely did they do the ABA thing, because it was a combined train. The ABA was the earlier E6 units. A more common (than ABA) but boring ABBA could be built with what they are offering. Someone didn't do their research there. I've seen ABBBB sets in photos going through Wyoming.
 
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Someone didn't do their research there.

In the early to mid '60s, the train as I recall, was actually a combination of the City of LA, Challenger, C of SF, and City of St. Louis, right? Maybe also the City of Portland / City of Denver too? Extra or separate sections in the summer. What a logistical challenge.

Walthers gets some of their information from the various historical groups, but the bottom line is they feel B units don't sell as well as A units, so they pair an AB and sell a separate A for each De Luxe consist, and the (for lack of a better description), the limited open stock consist.

Walthers has stuck with one plan of coach for the UP trains and the dome coach. I know some of the UP fans would like other coaches to be built., but tooling is expensive.
 
Walthers has stuck with one plan of coach for the UP trains and the dome coach. I know some of the UP fans would like other coaches to be built., but tooling is expensive.
Not nearly as expensive any more as they would want us to believe. I dissected one of their new cars a while back. The new design is ingenious. The sides are snap on, the roof is snap on, the ends are snap on, the floor is fit in, the interior is fit on. Underbelly components have notches to fit into. Any more they don't need to make all that much tooling for a new car, esp since I am certain they have CAD templates for each of those components. It would be a matter of calling up the template for a car of length x., positioning new windows and hand rail stanchions, molded on vents, etc. 3D print the plug and make the mold. In fact, I am certain that is why they are able to produce so many as they have been in recent years. Remember when they started the named train series? It took about 18-24 months between announcements. Now they are announcing what, 3 or more a year?
 
Another City train? Meh... I have the original Walthers COLA. I also put together a brass 1941 COSF. That one was a stinker! Took years to find all of the cars. Interesting they picked a train that they wouldn’t have to do new tooling for. Layout length passenger trains guys? Why not 60 footers? If you have less than 24” radii they are what you need. Plenty of them out there too. Old MDC all over eBay. Newer updated ones from Athearn. The GGD Harrimans. The rivarossi 60 footers if you don’t care for Arch roofs. 4 to 5 cars make a nice prototypical train.
 
Layout length passenger trains guys? Why not 60 footers? If you have less than 24” radii they are what you need.

My minimum radius is 30" and I am still giving serious consideration to Athearn 72' BB as well as BCW 68' Reading Company cars for my layout. Four to five cars is a sufficient train for a home layout. I have the full 10 car Capitol Limited, and can't run it because it's too long. Not for nothing, you offer a valid point.
 



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