The "Silver Shore" A Lionel Amtrak Mashup

Some years back I added passenger service to our Christmas layout via a helpful member of the OGR Forum.   As a child of the 80s, Amtrak is the only long-distance passenger service I've seen or ridden. OGR forum members sussed out the origin of the various components of my mixed consist and I'm finally getting around to posting this, one of my favorite trains.

FA1 Powered Locomotive 8864 from the Lake Shore Limited Train set.

Matching FB1 unpowered locomotive 8667, which would have been sold separately around the same time.

From the Amtrak Silver Spike train set I have:

Combine - 16013

Vista Dome - 16014

Observation - 16015

Included cars that would have originally been sold separately were:

Baggage - 16033

Diner - 16048

I completed the collection of all 16xxx short passenger cars in this livery a month later with the purchase of 

Passenger - 16023

It's a set of cars that looks great together and I actually prefer the AB locomotive arrangement I have vs the AA arrangement that would have come with the Silver Spike set. This livery is notable in that it is basically a Phase I but without the white background that would flank and flow between the red and blue stripes. I actually prefer the simple elegance of the red, blue and silver style I have and with a consist like mine, pulled by Alco locomotives, accuracy takes a backseat. 

Keen eyed readers will note some differences with the width of the separation between red and blue stripes coming in at least 3 different widths.  It's barely noticeable however and not something that bothers me. If anyone has information about this however, I'd love to know.

Those wanting a more accurate Phase 1 scheme can look for 6xxx numbered cars such as those sold with the Lake Shore Limited set.  They look like this, and there may be additional car types in this style as well.  I believe the 6xxx series is notable in that there are multiple Passenger and Dome cars with different numbers so a rather long consist is possible without repetition or or mixing liveries.

If I had a larger permanent layout I'd likely purchase these and run all together, but as things are I'm content with what I have.

I do have one additional car that came in a resale shop lot with a more modern Phase III paint scheme.

The combination may seem odd, but there is precedent for an Amtrak Dome in this livery, an example being AMTK 9401 as seen here in two different schemes.

Pictures of AMTK 9401 (rrpicturearchives.net)

None of the liveries above is particularly expensive (especially if purchased without box) or hard to find so there are plenty of easy options for those who want to add a little Amtrak to their O27 collection. 

It's perhaps a little silly to have a train as long as the layout but this is one that I look forward to running every year.

Merry Christmas and thanks to all who have read the blog this year. I hope you are enjoying trains and the company of your loved ones this holiday season.

Sincerely,

Karl Paulsen