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 Posted - December 28 2011 : 10:11:00 AM
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was watching a tv program about stream liners in USA,mainly Budd and the Burlington,and the zephyr in all its guises,the one i liked and thought easy to make up would be the California zephyr,as it had three different companies pulling it, Burlington,western pacific,and the Rio grande which i choose thinking i could do it with a pa-1/pb-1 as i like that loco,but no ho models made in Rio's colours or in rio grande what so ever,would have thought athearn but alas no,only f7/9s,anyway something was said at the end that educated me,the year the California zephyr was pulled from service, Amtrak was invented,which left me puzzled,why would anyone start a passenger railway up if the companies that had been running them were making losses for years,and the government refused to help them,saying that no one wanted railways any more due to the car and air planes,ken
apart from this that goes for $700+$500 for a dummy wow
Edited by - catfordken on December 28 2011 10:15:00 AM
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Posted - December 28 2011 : 10:34:53 PM
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A good point to keep in mind may not be known by all readers...
The Rio Grande, a.k.a. the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, and Southern Railroad were the Last Two railroads to adopt Amtrak for their passenger trains.
This was a hard pill to swallow, 90-95% of your "bread and butter" income, handed over to the government.
The RPO's, were the first government-based income, to be handed over. Now, the famous "Name Trains" followed suit...
And some people thought that circus trains were colorful...
Before "AMTRAK" was pasted in Blue/Red/Silver dress on those cars, could you imagine UP, FEC, GN/NP/CBQ/SPS, Pennsy, NYC... cars in the consists on a single train? GN had at least three different paint-schemes in it's own line of passenger cars.
There were mainline "freight roads" that still served large populations with their own metro-trains... until they, too, were handed over to Amtrak or separate sub-contracted rail companies.
Perhaps more of a response than was expected.  
John
I don't have a one track mind. It depends on the turn-out.
"I love your catenary!"
Is that a power-trip or just another pick-up line?
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Posted - January 03 2012 : 4:02:46 PM
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I'm not an Amtrak historian, but to say its founding and concept was "controversial", and first few decades "colorful" (for better and worse with all nuances of the term) is perhaps the simplest was to put it.
True, the US Govt was not keen on passenger rail. But politics being politics, there was a certain shall we say "incentive" to retaining service for key areas and demographics. For years politicians had regulated railroads with a mandate to provide passenger service, even though it was a money-loser for the private companies.
When Amtrak was formed, the railroads actually had to pay the government for the right to divest their responsibility! I don't know the formula - but notably, the Rock Island did not have the funds to pay into Amtrak, so it was forced to soldier running its own limited routes and commuter service with woefully outdated equipment.
I also believe Amtrak was formed with the intent to be government-run for only a limited time. This same mandate was followed when the government formed Conrail after the PennCentral implosion. Obviously Conrail worked out... but Amtrak still exemplifies what a boondgoggle intercity passenger rail is in this country.
The short of it here is, given the span of the US population and poor city (suburb) planning and sprawl, Euro-style rail networks are infeasible and cost-prohibitive and would rely heavily upon subsidized feeder transport with also does not exist.... yet everyone wants the rail "option" as long as they don't have to pay for it or use it. Nobody wants to relinquish the freedom of their automobile, and not only is flying faster, but it's usually cheaper. Or it used to be. Frankly for the hassle and expense of post-9/11 air travel I would much rather drive. Even that is faster than interstate rail - if you can get to it. If you have the time rail is still the best way to go. But who has that these days?
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Posted - January 03 2012 : 6:03:05 PM
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well there is a movie on the Burlington Route streamliner called Silver Streak
No resemblence to the CP Rail one with Gene Wilder & Richard Pryor 
Also let's not for get about the all aluminum UP M-10000 City of Salina (Kansas)
Recycled during WW2 for the aluminum 
Do want both in HO scale 
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Posted - January 04 2012 : 01:44:54 AM
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Thanks, spiderj76.
I had the outside information sort of for the below-average layman. I was short on substantial weight for my comment. Your input is very helpful.
John
I don't have a one track mind. It depends on the turn-out.
"I love your catenary!"
Is that a power-trip or just another pick-up line?
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Last Visit: January 30 2023
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