Almost a Super Chief

[Herc Driver]

I finally received the first of two Kato Nscale Super Chief 4-car passenger sets. Pulled by an Alco PA1 (temporary power when F-units weren't available early in the Super Chief's days) this is a well done set by Kato. The detailing is great - as is the factory lighting. The Sleeper/Lounge-Observation car has the lighted Super Chief drum with red side lights, and even a back-up light for reversing! My picture taking skills don't do the set justice. Although not the typical power that everyone remembers, the PA1 gives a certain brute-force look to the whole train - and was pictured in several Super Chief promotion shots. I'm thinking about getting another PA1 for an A+A set up to run the full 8 car passenger set.

(Thanks everyone for letting me indulge and post these pics.) :thumb:

 

[cnw1961]

Hey Herc, MORE PICS . Just two shots of your cars is not enough even though this car looks great. I love the lighted drumhead.

 

[COMBAT]

WOW, no kidding, more pics!

 

[Herc Driver]

just a few more Super Chief pics

Wish the quality of the pics were better - didn't have long to set up the shots. This is the Kato Nscale Super Chief "A" Set. Detailing is great, almost better than past Kato passenger car runs. Looks like they were trying to take more time getting the finer details right with this set. The "B" set is due in a week or so, we'll see how good they look too. The Dome car need people and some additional prototypical coloring with the seats and flooring to break up the solid brown if the entire inside. But besides that, I'm really happy with the set.

 

[Nazgul]

HD
SWEET!!!!!!
those are beautiful!!!
Thanks for sharing:thumb:

 

[steamhead]

XLN...!!! Everyone should have a Super Chief...!!!

BTW, why wasn't the red & yellow striping along the sides of the locos extended the whole length of the train??? That would have been super-cool...!!!

 

[MilesWestern]

Well, it was, but not for the superchief. Another early Santa Fe name train, the Valley Flyer, which ran from Bakersfield, CA to San Francisco for the 1939 World's Fair. The train was powered by one of the later semi-streamlined Pacifics, of which there were only two, #1369 and #1376. They had yellow and red striping that ran from the pilot of the locomotive to the last car, and it looked fantastic!

Take a look!

http://www.thecoachyard.com/Pages/Equipment/ValleyFlyer.html
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/ATSF_Valley_Flyer.jpg

 

[cn nutbar]

herc---thank you for posting these outstanding pictures---beautiful shots of an excellent locomotive and consist---please keep them coming,nutbar

 

[doctorwayne]

Great lookin' train, Herc Driver, and a nice job on the photos too.:thumb:

Wayne

 

[UP SD40-2]

Great lookin' train, Herc Driver, and a nice job on the photos too.:thumb:

Wayne

Herc, i AGREE with Wayne:thumb:, and COULDN'T have said it any better then him:thumb:.

 

[Herc Driver]

Thanks a lot guys... I really appreciate it.

On the road flying now - have to wait for some better pics to come later.

Thanks again.

 

[Russ Bellinis]

XLN...!!! Everyone should have a Super Chief...!!!

BTW, why wasn't the red & yellow striping along the sides of the locos extended the whole length of the train??? That would have been super-cool...!!!

None of Santa Fe's stainless lightweight passenger cars ever got paint except for the numbering and lettering. I think it probably had to do with keeping maintainance cost down. I think the Valley Flyer was the only passenger train the Santa Fe ran with the red. black, & yellow stripes down the length of the cars. It used some of the older haveyweight cars painted up silver with the red, black and yellow stripes on the bottom of the car sides, basically older heavyweights painted to look like the then new lightweight streamliners.

 

[joesho]

sweet

grr another train to add to my wish list ,wow thats one beautiful train!!!!!! :thumb:

 

[berraf]

I do believe that it should be every married man´s lawfull right to have a real "super chief"
Thank´s for your pics of a beautifull train.

I live in Sweden and I long for a ATSF warbonnet. Perhaps anyone could inspire med by posting some pics of your warbonnet´s?

 

[Herc Driver]

BerraF - Goddag! (Hope I used that word correctly.)

Having a Super Chief as a lawful right - great idea!

I'm waiting for the "B" set of Kato's Super Chief to arrive, then I'll post some pictures. But I'm sure there must be other "gaugers" that have the same Super Chief or better - they should post their set too.

 

[Russ Bellinis]

Nice pics! If I remember my Santa Fe history correctly, the Alco PA's replaced the old E1 "spot motors" on the Super Chief for about 2 years after WW2 before the Santa Fe got their first order of F3 units from EMD.

 

[Herc Driver]

Thanks Russ..and thanks for the bit of history. I'm hoping the rest of the set arrives via UPS tomorrow and I'll have the right light for some good pictures. My layout just can't support running the remaining set of four cars, I can only handle up to 8 in a consist at one time...12 would be just too many passenger cars for my small layout. As it is, 8 will be more than I should run realistically.

So here's hoping for a timely delivery and good sunshine for the pictures.

 

[Russ Bellinis]

Just a quick up date on the Santa Fe diesel history. I just checked the built dates in "Iron Horses Of The Santa Fe Trail" and found the 2 class spot motors were built in 1937-1938, the Alco DLs and PAs were built in 46-48 as were the F3s. The F7s were built in 49-50. I'm not sure when the Santa Fe started using the F units on the Super Chief. I think the wisdom of the day was that high speed passenger power should be with 6 axle A-1-A trucks and 4 axle bb units should be kept to lower speed freight use. Somewhere during the late 40's to early 50's the Santa Fe discoverd that the F's worked as well for passenger power as the six axle power. The newest passenger power was always put on the Super Chief, and older power relegated to lesser trains. When the Pa's were new they went to the Super Chief until the Santa Fe started having reliability problems with the Alco prime mover. The Santa Fe even converted one Pa to EMD power to try to fix reliability problems, but it never seemed to run right. Later when the locomotive was scrapped, the folks at EMD discovered that it had been wired wrong. Once Santa Fe discovered that F units worked for high speed passenger power, they quit buying the A-1-A passenger engines. The only 6 axle passenger power purchased after 1948 were the E8's that were actually the E1 "spot motors" sent back to EMD for rebuild into E8s. They didn't order anymore 6 axle passenger power units until the early 60's when the ordered the FP45's which were basically SD45s with cowl bodies installed instead of freight hoods.

 

[Herc Driver]

Now that's some history! Thanks for taking the time to research that, I really appreciate it. I finally received the Kato "B" set for the Super Chief and it makes a good looking train running the layout. It's not possible to get the entire train in one picture - but each car was nicely done. I hate to say it - but my favorite cars are the RPO and Baggage, as well as the Sleeper/Lounge/Observation car. I wish I had about 10 more feet of straight track as it would look nice to see the entire train in one long straight line. The only thing is needs now is another PA1 to supply a bit more power for realism. The only two pictures I've seen of the PA's used on the Super Chief had two Alco units pulling, but I need to do more research and look for more prototypical pictures. Here's a close up of the RPO...

 

[Herc Driver]

Finally...the B unit arrives!

Concor makes this dummy B unit for the PA1, colors are a close match to Kato, maybe a bit more vibrant red but a close match. The car seems too light and in need of some weight to avoid derailments - I plan on weighing it soon. Adding a B unit sorta makes the Super Chief complete. Might add one more PA1 for the more classic and practical A+B+A...someday. Until then...

This Super Chief rolls on excursion runs twice daily on the Ballantyne Branch to Ashville and back. Please call the Transportation Museum for times and ticket prices - seating is limited.