As much as I enjoyed your review of Walthers’ Superliner I diner, I must beg to differ with three of its comments. First, life aboard a Superliner is NOT confined to the upper level. Drinks, snacks, souvenirs, and sundries are sold by the attendant on the lower level of the lounge, where additional lounge seating is also available; in the sleeper, the lower level carries the handicapped bedroom, four (4) standard bedrooms, and the five-passenger family bedroom, as well as the restrooms and shower; and coaches may include a handicapped seating area or the smoking section on the lower level.
Second, virtually all of the food on the diner is prepared fresh and cooked to order. Only some desserts, such as cakes and pies, are brought on ready-made.
Last, there are other spotting features to differentiate the two series of Superliners. The Superliner I has an unusual, fabricated truck unlikely to be mistaken for any other. The Superliner II uses a General Steel Castings truck similar in design to those used under most Budd, Pullman-Standard, and ACF “golden-era” lightweight passenger cars. Another spotting feature on revenue cars is the line-number board. The first series has the traditional white-on-black, rolling-scroll backlighted line numbers, while the second series utilize a liquid-crystal, black-on-greenish white display. Hope this is useful.
—Jack Batton
Amtrak train attendant,
Director, Meridian (Mississippi)
Railroad Museum
I’m sorry if you misunderstood my comments about life on Amtrak trains. I didn’t use the word “confined” nor did I intend to give that impression. I came back from Chicago on the lower floor of a sleeping car. Most people prefer rooms on the upper level so the lower rooms were empty more often. Our train was 95% occupied and most of those people were on the upper deck most of the time. They went down to the bathrooms or the snack bar. Some folks just stood down by the doors and looked out, but few of them remained downstairs for long. No smoking was allowed anywhere on our train; smokers had to wait until they could detrain. Coach passengers are not allowed downstairs in sleeping cars.
Between Portland and Spokane, #8 has no dining car so our dinners were served in a Styrofoam container. It was hugely better than airline food, however. The dining car steward and our servers informed us that certain items were prepackaged and heated on demand. I could never tell which was prepared on the train and which was done in advance, so they did it well. Midway to Chicago, the dishwashing machine broke down, so we ate out of Styrofoam after that. To see more about my trip, check out the Amtrak section on www.trainchaser.com.
— John Sipple
Dear Roy:
I have just entered the life of model railroading. Almost 3 years ago, at the age of 56, I had a sciatic nerve attack and was forced into retirement. I began modeling at that time by building a small HO scale layout. We use the porcelain buildings and, obviously, found that HO is too small. Last year, for Christmas, my wife bought me a Bachmann On30 train set. The fit is perfect!! The only problem is that I found that the RailKing figures (only seated or standing figures; no walking or other postures) are the only ones that fit the scale. I have subsequently found that S-scale figures fit just as well. The problem with that is that I have found no manufacturers that make S-scale figures in affordable plastic such as they do in the other scales. We are on fixed, limited income and would love to populate our layout with S-scale figures if we could find them in plastic. In the words of Princess Leia, “You’re our only hope!” I have written to everyone I could that deals in S-scale without any satisfaction. Can you help?
Don Courliss
doncarol@naxs.net
Bachmann ON30 is roughly equivalent to S standard scale in size. It’s still O scale and would require 1:48 figures to be correct. However with the HO track, etc. it’s not too much of a reach to go with S scale figures. It’s probably too late, but you might go with all S scale for the layout. That way you wouldn’t have to handle HO track, etc. With that aside, I’ll try to answer your question the best way I can.
S scale has many sources of figures. They are mostly metal, however, the price doesn’t seem to vary much between metal and plastic. It’s difficult to find figures plastic or metal that would be as inexpensive as you desire. Here are some ideas. Fun & Games makes a line of S scale figures in both metal and plastic. They run $4.25 painted and $2.25 unpainted. Arttista metal figures are $4.50 apiece for painted action S scale figures. At last count they had 44 different people in various poses. Railmaster Exports from New Zealand has several 6-figure sets available for $8.00 unpainted and $20.00 painted which would come to $3.33 per figure. American Models has metal figures for $3.95 painted and $1.98 unpainted. Preiser makes an extensive line of plastic figures in many scales. Their 1:72 scale figures come relatively close to S scale’s 1:64. S Helper Service has sets of two train crewmen for $4.95 painted.
I hope this list helps a bit. Don’t hesitate to contact me for more specific information about any of these sources if you decide to get any of their figures. Best Wishes,
— Roy Hoffman
We have two kinds, our line of plastic figures from Scenery Unlimited includes dozens of sprues of about 5 figures each for $1.25 per sprue. We have 8 sets available such as “Waiting Passengers”, “Old-Time Set”, “Train Riders” (all sitting), and “Newspaper Set”. Each is unpainted. We also have two sets of plastic horses for $1.00 a set (include $7.95 shipping per order.)
Also, Roy, we have our new 2002-2003 264-page illustrated S/Sn3 Scale Model Railroad Catalog and Reference Manual available now for $10.95 postpaid in USA or $14.95 elsewhere. It lists thousands of S scale products and supplies from Scenery Unlimited, 7236 West Madison St., Forest park, IL 60130.
— Don Heimburger
(708) 366-1973
That was a terrific page on S-scale model railroading. I found it interesting and I can believe it will be useful to potential S modelers. It had information on S scale producers — which is hard to come by. It showed the variety of material that is available to S modelers, attracting converts.
The NASG membership was a further show of solidarity and strength. Also, I think you sold me the S-scale Loco & Supply Mogul. All we need now is more pages — one page out of forty-six just doesn’t seem adequate.
Art Armstrong
NASG #96R0251W
To the editor
I just received my renewal notice for Model Railroad News, and wanted to let you know that I am very pleased with your publication and am not bothered in the least to have to pay a bit more to see the quality of the product maintained. Enclosed is a check in the amount of $20.00. I look forward to another year’s subscription to the Model Railroad News, and hope I may ask a favor.
When I relocated from Pocatello, Idaho to Sherwood, Oregon in June of this past year, I somehow misplaced my June 2001 issue of the News. I have been unable to find it since. I would please request that the $5.00 extra I’ve submitted might be applied toward having a replacement copy of the June 2001 issue sent to me. Any extra funds can be considered a “donation to the cause.” I know it’s not much, but I hope every little bit helps! Again, your efforts with regard to the News are very much appreciated!
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
Anthony P. Dell
Sherwood, OR
— Ed
To the editor:
After reading the February MRN Product Review of Full View Display cases, as company President, I am both happy with the overall coverage and concerned about some statements made near the end of the story. The author’s use of the phrase, “…quite frankly, we’re reluctant to place anything inside the cases, even for photographic purposes.” could give the reader the impression that the cases are unsuited for their intended purpose! If the intention was to say that the cases couldn’t be test mounted and used because of the fear of damaging a product to be returned, why not use those terms, or better yet, ask to perform the tests in addition to taking the photographs?
Unfortunately, the next paragraph reinforces this message. I understand the point made about how many mounting screws to use on our larger cases. We immediately updated our printed drilling instructions to specify more holes for those cases. Our advice to customers has always been to use multiple mounting points. The recommendation to your readers to use “fender washers to spread the load area” is in direct contradiction to the mounting instructions. Pulling the case tighter to the wall with any type washer is unnecessary and may cause the back panel to fail locally. The case is supported by the shear force across the shank of the screws not the clamping action of the screws or added washers.
In rebuttal, we have never had a case mounting failure. We have never had a case returned for any product-related reason. We have not had one product complaint of any kind, only product praise from our customers, and our many repeat customers!
— John Zoller
Full View Display Co.
— Ed.
