There have been a number of S Scale items that I did not buy or
did not interest me at that time when they first came out for various
reasons. This American Models F40ph and Amtrak train was 1 of them. I was much
more 1957 era focused back then. The F40ph locos are still available new from
American Models but the cars are not currently listed on their website. The
cars were made when American Models was doing business in China which likely
ended with the same company closing that ended S Helper Service being in
business. Some things that bothered me years ago I am little less critical
about now. The cars are about an inch shorter than they should be for full
length 80’ cars. But otherwise are very nice and unlike anything else in S Scale. Also body mounting the Kadee couplers is a
significant job. But finding something that is “new to me” to buy that I don’t already have 1 or more of that is basically “northeast” or “eastern” is getting a bit tougher. A set came up for sale on eBay in November 2021 and I bought it. Most were sold as hi rail so finding a set with scale wheels is somewhat rare. The wheels were not mentioned in the listing but I got really lucky they are scale wheels. I was prepared to flip out the hi rail wheels for scale but I did not have to. The set was never run. |
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With
the exception of adding a Tsunami2, a LED headlight and Kadee couplers the set
as shown below is stock out of the box. I don’t have any intentions of
detailing or changing anything. Getting another set like this with 1 loco and 4
more cars would add to the appearance greatly.
American Models sells a modern boxcar in Amtrak colors so that is a possibility
to buy. For now it is a short Amtrak train.
F40ph
Cars
Adding Kadee Couplers
I
took on changing the truck mounted fixed couplers on an Amtrak train as a job
many years ago. It was extremely time consuming for me back then, and was a
reason why I never bought the set for me. Since this is a unit train that will
always run together as 1 train I came close to leaving the American Models
fixed couplers in place event though they were truck mounted. But I relented
and decided to body mount Kadee couplers instead. For the cars I started with a Evergreen strip .25 x .080 thick. By the time I noticed
they were still high I painted everything silver that matched well. So I added
an additional 5/16 x .030 strip that I slid between
the coupler screws for a total shim of .110. The loco was a complete other
challenge. The frame is recycled from the FP7 and is in the F40ph shell
backwards. I got .125 x .250 brass rectangular tubing and soldered 1 of my
brass draft gear I made for a PRR N8 into a “T”shape.
I cut the tube flat on either side of the draft gear, drilled tapped and
screwed it to the frame. The total shim amount down is .180! I left the truck
mounted fixed coupler to the pilot for now. I cannot think of what I would doublehead this loco with to need a Kadee on the front.
Added 12-18-21
More Amtrak!
My “short
Amtrak train” did not stay short for long – about 3 weeks. I fell into a great deal
of another set with 3 extra cars including the Amtrak boxcar. The Kadee couplers
were already installed. The new set loco had a decoder installed and running in
1 hour flat. I am calling this train complete. Nothing else will be purchased.
Updated 12-18-21
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