Walthers September 2024 New Product Announcements

[James Ashley]

Walthers September 2024 New Product Announcements

PDF:

dealers.walthers.com/forms/forms/September_2024_Walthers_New_Product_Announcement.pdf

Video:



Walthers Controls Manual Uncoupler

www.walthers.com/catalog/product/view/id/441119

WalthersTrainline Power-Loc Straight Terminal Rerailer

www.walthers.com/catalog/product/view/id/492129

WalthersTrainline Power-Loc Figure 8 Set

www.walthers.com/catalog/product/view/id/492131

WalthersMainline PS 4427 Covered Hoppers

ADM, Cargill, DRGW, Indiana Farm Bureau, Agway, CMA, Continental Grain, Western Maryland/Chessie

WalthersMainline 89' Channel Side Flatcar

TTX x2, KTTX x2, JTTX

WalthersMainline PS4000 High Side Gondola

BN, COPX, DEEX, JTTX, FPPX, Southern

WalthersMainline EMD SD60

CP, CITX, KCS, NYSW, Oakway, SOO

WalthersProto 70' Heavyweight Baggage Car

Painted/Unlettered w/ Clerestory Rood, Painted Unlettered w/ Arched Roof, C&O green, C&O tri-color, NYC, MOW, UP

WalthersProto 70' Heavyweight RPO-Baggage Car

Painted/Unlettered w/ Clerestory Rood, Painted Unlettered w/ Arched Roof, C&O green, C&O tri-color, NYC, IC, UP

WalthersProto 73' Budd Baggage Car

Amtrak Ph I, Amtrak Ph II, Amtrak Ph III, Amtrak Ph IV (two versions), Amtrak VI - prenumbered or with decals

[crblue]

I'm pretty sure that this Budd Baggage car is going to be one with 2 doors on it. I'd really like them to do a run of single door baggage cars. That's what the Silver Series used to run, but the only run of them is as unobtainable as the Viewliners, AFAIK.

[packer]

It's nice to see the all baggage cars come back. Also the PS4000s (they're only doing 3 numbers?), although I need to renumber my 6 sets.

[grabirons]

I like those 4427 road names, I can see going for one of each.


www.walthers.com/shop-all-departments?productListFilters=manufacturer_name%3AWalthersMainline%3Bnew_product_center%3AJust%20Announced&type=just_announced

[NYSW3614]

The artwork for the SD60s is up; on of the NYSW's might be tempting. What's the intel on the accuracy of the baggages and bag/RPOs? A NYC one might be in my future even though I don't think they're accurate.

Joshua

[cpr4200]

The heavyweight baggage is reportedly a Missouri Pacific prototype. Not close to NYC. I'd like to have an arch roof IC, which I think is close to the model.

[voyager989]

I wish the Phase I Amtrak baggage didn't have skirts. Just how many cars with those even made it with them intact into Amtrak paint?

[riogrande]

Sept 10, 2024 11:04:18 GMT -8 voyager989 said:

I wish the Phase I Amtrak baggage didn't have skirts. Just how many cars with those even made it with them intact into Amtrak paint?

There is photographic evidence that 73' Budd Baggage cars ran in Amtrak with skirts although mostly they were without skirts.


FIXED THE LINKS

www.railpictures.net/photo/535032/


www.railpictures.net/photo/535032/


www.railpictures.net/photo/185137/




I went on a hunt a few years ago for Amtrak baggage cars. I have one of the Walthers Budd phase 1 with skirts and the ex CZ with skirts, also phase 1. I also got the smooth side in phase 1 and 2 in phase 2 without skirts


I needed a former ATSF Budd baggage in phase III for my Superliner CZ and finally found one on Ebay for a pretty penny. I'll probably go for one more of the phase III Amtrak with the plated finish.

[Mr. Trainiac]

The uncoupling tool is interesting. I don't think I would use it on my layout, but it's nice to see companies innovate new mechanisms and come up with new ideas.

[locochris]

The Amtrak Budd baggage cars seem to be the exact same ones released in 2012, with maybe an additional paint scheme or two added. I could definitely use a phase 1 myself as I was not in the market back then.

[lvrr325]

Will probably get multiple of the Agway 4427s.

NYC did have short baggage cars but I believe the doors were equal size. Lots of pictures online. Used to be one on the north side of the Springfield MA yard you can probably still find in Google Street View if you roll back to a previous date.

[hudsonyard]

I'm a sucker for covered hoppers, and those will be 23-25 dollar cars from places like Lombard, I'm sure i'll grab a few to pad out an order.


I hate...hate....HATE uncoupling ramps, but the idea of having one that can be controlled is interesting if you insist on having them. That magnet needs to be hidden though.

[sd80mac]

The guys asking $300+ for the C&O baggage cars on Ebay are punching the air right now.

[cpr4200]

NYC heavyweight baggage car doors were not equally sized. They were 8' and 6' wide on both the 60' and 70' cars, while the Walthers 70' car's doors are vastly different from each other.

[edwardsutorik]

The Walthers cars are 8' and 4 1/2'.


Ed

[DaYooper]

Can anyone comment on the difference between the Walthers baggage car and the Kato version? I still need a baggage car for my all 1990ish phase III Empire Builder which is all Kato. I keep putting off buying the phase VI Kato baggage car and redoing it in phase III because I'm hoping Kato will do it for me, but Walthers might be the answer.

I still need to figure out a transition car too to complete the train because right now that last step is a doozy.

Ryan

[alexandrianick]

Sept 10, 2024 20:24:08 GMT -8 hudsonyard said:

I hate...hate....HATE uncoupling ramps, but the idea of having one that can be controlled is interesting if you insist on having them. That magnet needs to be hidden though.

If those magnets are strong enough or can be popped out and replaced with stronger ones, the mechanism could be useful

[edwardsutorik]

The Walthers "controlled" uncoupler is $18. The Kadee version is $26. The Kadee is invisible.

I would choose the latter.


Ed

[drolsen]

Sept 11, 2024 11:22:55 GMT -8 DaYooper said:

Can anyone comment on the difference between the Walthers baggage car and the Kato version? I still need a baggage car for my all 1990ish phase III Empire Builder which is all Kato. I keep putting off buying the phase VI Kato baggage car and redoing it in phase III because I'm hoping Kato will do it for me, but Walthers might be the answer.

I still need to figure out a transition car too to complete the train because right now that last step is a doozy.

Ryan, the quick answer is that the Kato baggage car more accurately represents Amtrak's former ATSF Budd cars after they were modernized for the HEP era. The main feature that the Kato model has that Walthers doesn't is the newer style baggage doors with the single square window. From what I can tell, those doors started appearing in the 1980s. It looks like all Budd baggage cars had them by 1990, but there could have been an exception out there, if you want to use the Walthers car as-is. Some people have said that the Kato model has updated car ends with marker lights more accurate positioned to match Amtrak's later configuration, but I've seen several variations on the prototype cars, so I need to look at that more closely to draw my own conclusion. The Kato car also includes the later tube-style diaphragms used on the prototype, but they made them with an odd-looking half-round design that doesn't look good to me. I think heat shrink wire insulation can be used for a better appearance.

The drawback of the Kato model is its molded grab irons and the gigantic empty space around the couplers where the car's end sill (including HEP connections) should be. Those two details make it look like an N scale model that was blown up to HO size, in my opinion. I've been away from Amtrak modeling for a while, but I have several Walthers baggage cars that I plan to update with modernized doors, and just by doing that, I think it's a superior model to the Kato version.

For the transition car, your most straightforward answer is the Intermountain transition coach-dorm in Phase III, since the Superliner II transition sleeper offered by Kato didn't appear to 1991 or later (I think):

Train Station Products Coach

I'm not sure what their availability is these days. Walthers released another batch of their high level transition car a year or two ago, but they haven't done it modernized for the HEP era or in Phase III. I have one that I want to update eventually.

Dave

[riogrande]

Sept 12, 2024 2:45:17 GMT -8 drolsen said:

For the transition car, your most straightforward answer is the Intermountain transition coach-dorm in Phase III, since the Superliner II transition sleeper offered by Kato didn't appear to 1991 or later (I think):

Train Station Products Coach

I'm not sure what their availability is these days. Walthers released another batch of their high level transition car a year or two ago, but they haven't done it modernized for the HEP era or in Phase III. I have one that I want to update eventually.

Dave

I sure wish Walthers would offer the transition care (former ATSF El Capitan bi-level) in straight phase 3 paint. I don't think it has ever been offered in that scheme, yet it ran on the Amtrak Superliner CZ starting in the early 80's and lasted for years in that scheme. The version shown in the link with the stepped phase 3 strips came later, late 80's I'd guess.

[wagnersteve]

September 12, 2024, starting shortly after 2 p.m.

I don't expect to buy any of the latest products Walthers has announced -- I need to reduce my "hoard" of HO models rather than increase it -- but nonetheless will offer a few comments.

The 70' baggage car bodies are not new. I have an IC chocolate and orange 70' baggage car with an arch roof from an earlier run. I would have preferred to buy a 60' arch roof car in the same livery, like the ones Wheels of Time has made in N scale (also lettered for Canadian National, Lackawanna and several other railroads) even if it may not be an exact match to the real cars, since it would fit better on my small layout. I'm not nearly as persnickety about the exact correctness of models decorated for roads other than the D&H and, often, the B&M. I have a soft spot for the IC because of a round trip between Chicago and Champaign-Urbana in the Spring of 1970; I'm sorry I didn't buy one of the Walthers modernized. heavyweight coaches in that gorgeous paint scheme that is quite close to the car in which I rode southbound. I do have one of those decorated for the B&O, prompted by my riding in a similar car from Cumberland, MD to St. Louis in 1963.

The NYC baggage cars that ran in D&H trains in the 1950s and 1960s were mostly 60' ones. As others have pointed out, the two doors on each side of them were of different widths. Thanks for the data about the ones on the real cars and on the models Walthers is making. Like other baggage and/or express cars, they were far more likely to travel really widely than RPO cars, which mostly stayed on their normal routes, of which some did involve more than one railroad, particularly in the northeastern US. Walthers has sold plenty of 60' baggage cars used mostly by the PRR; I've tried from time to time to convince that firm that proper NYC ones would probably also sell well. For many years, sleepers were also far more likely than coaches to show up very far from their home roads, particularly when used for special moves such as trains taking Boy Scouts to national Jamborees.

I'll also add my opinion that the see-through roofwalks on some of the Walthers Mainline series freight cars, particularly the relatively modern covered hoppers, are very nicely done.

[edwardsutorik]

I gave up a long time ago that anyone would produce a plastic NYC baggage car. I bought a brass one. Turns out these cars traveled on my railroad (SP&S) pretty frequently.

Walthers DOES/DID make a 60' heavyweight baggage:

www.walthers.com/trainline-r-60-heavyweight-baggage-car-ready-to-run-undecorated

a C&NW car, IIRC.

Note that the grabs are not cast on--a pretty nice model, I think!



Ed

[DaYooper]

Sept 12, 2024 2:45:17 GMT -8 drolsen said:

Ryan, the quick answer is that the Kato baggage car more accurately represents Amtrak's former ATSF Budd cars after they were modernized for the HEP era. The main feature that the Kato model has that Walthers doesn't is the newer style baggage doors with the single square window. From what I can tell, those doors started appearing in the 1980s. It looks like all Budd baggage cars had them by 1990, but there could have been an exception out there, if you want to use the Walthers car as-is. Some people have said that the Kato model has updated car ends with marker lights more accurate positioned to match Amtrak's later configuration, but I've seen several variations on the prototype cars, so I need to look at that more closely to draw my own conclusion. The Kato car also includes the later tube-style diaphragms used on the prototype, but they made them with an odd-looking half-round design that doesn't look good to me. I think heat shrink wire insulation can be used for a better appearance.

The drawback of the Kato model is its molded grab irons and the gigantic empty space around the couplers where the car's end sill (including HEP connections) should be. Those two details make it look like an N scale model that was blown up to HO size, in my opinion. I've been away from Amtrak modeling for a while, but I have several Walthers baggage cars that I plan to update with modernized doors, and just by doing that, I think it's a superior model to the Kato version.

For the transition car, your most straightforward answer is the Intermountain transition coach-dorm in Phase III, since the Superliner II transition sleeper offered by Kato didn't appear to 1991 or later (I think):

Train Station Products Coach

I'm not sure what their availability is these days. Walthers released another batch of their high level transition car a year or two ago, but they haven't done it modernized for the HEP era or in Phase III. I have one that I want to update eventually.

Dave

Dave,

Thanks for the great information. I missed the obvious difference in the windows between the Walthers and Kato. I'll have to ponder the choices a little more before making a decision. Fixing the ends on the Kato model should be fairly easy, but I hate carving off molded on grabs.

I've been watching for a TSP/Intermountain on eBay for years with no luck. I might just fudge the dates a little bit to 1993 and add a Superliner II transition sleeper until something else comes along.

Ryan

[slowfreight]

Sept 12, 2024 11:41:10 GMT -8 DaYooper said:

Sept 12, 2024 2:45:17 GMT -8 drolsen said:

Ryan, the quick answer is that the Kato baggage car more accurately represents Amtrak's former ATSF Budd cars after they were modernized for the HEP era. The main feature that the Kato model has that Walthers doesn't is the newer style baggage doors with the single square window. From what I can tell, those doors started appearing in the 1980s. It looks like all Budd baggage cars had them by 1990, but there could have been an exception out there, if you want to use the Walthers car as-is. Some people have said that the Kato model has updated car ends with marker lights more accurate positioned to match Amtrak's later configuration, but I've seen several variations on the prototype cars, so I need to look at that more closely to draw my own conclusion. The Kato car also includes the later tube-style diaphragms used on the prototype, but they made them with an odd-looking half-round design that doesn't look good to me. I think heat shrink wire insulation can be used for a better appearance.

The drawback of the Kato model is its molded grab irons and the gigantic empty space around the couplers where the car's end sill (including HEP connections) should be. Those two details make it look like an N scale model that was blown up to HO size, in my opinion. I've been away from Amtrak modeling for a while, but I have several Walthers baggage cars that I plan to update with modernized doors, and just by doing that, I think it's a superior model to the Kato version.

For the transition car, your most straightforward answer is the Intermountain transition coach-dorm in Phase III, since the Superliner II transition sleeper offered by Kato didn't appear to 1991 or later (I think):

Train Station Products Coach

I'm not sure what their availability is these days. Walthers released another batch of their high level transition car a year or two ago, but they haven't done it modernized for the HEP era or in Phase III. I have one that I want to update eventually.

Dave

Dave,

Thanks for the great information. I missed the obvious difference in the windows between the Walthers and Kato. I'll have to ponder the choices a little more before making a decision. Fixing the ends on the Kato model should be fairly easy, but I hate carving off molded on grabs.

I've been watching for a TSP/Intermountain on eBay for years with no luck. I might just fudge the dates a little bit to 1993 and add a Superliner II transition sleeper until something else comes along.

Ryan

As others have mentioned, some of these cars wore the Phase I scheme before skirts were removed and 480v wiring added. In general, the Phase II and Phase III cars are pretty accurate for SOME of the Amtrak cars, if the ATSF lettering panels had not been removed.

I picked up a Phase II plated model from the first go-round and it looks like Walthers will repeat the same mistake this second time on the Phase I and Phase II cars. In the 2-stripe era they were equipped with GSC-41-N11 trucks, not the GSC-41-NDO trucks used under the rest of the ATSF passenger cars. Fixing this was simple, as was adding a little extra paint in key places. Originally I used a CNS-11 truck off a sleeper (seen here) until I scrounged the right ones from another car.

[lvrr325]

Sept 11, 2024 6:26:59 GMT -8 cpr4200 said:

NYC heavyweight baggage car doors were not equally sized. They were 8' and 6' wide on both the 60' and 70' cars, while the Walthers 70' car's doors are vastly different from each other.

I just don't remember but what I do remember is they didn't look like these cars.  

Crazy part is I was on one a couple times.  

[edwardsutorik]

This is a typical NYC heavyweight baggage car:





60' long, with an 8' and 6' door per side.

The model I bought was imported by Metro Models, apparently built in Korea by F. M. Models. Mine came painted in Pullman green with Imitation Gold lettering and numbered 8258.



Ed

[wagnersteve]

2/12/24, starting about 8:37 p.m.

The HO plastic 60' passenger cars offered by both Walthers and Rivarossi at various times, like the O scale ones offered by Atlas, are based on the same C&NW cars as the very old Walthers cars that had stamped metal bodies that were easier to assembled than the same firm's older kits wwith stamped metal sides but cast meetal ends, wood floors and most often wooden roofs, replaced with cast plastic ones on some of the last ones made before Walthers changed to offering cars made mostly of high impact polystyrene. One of the odd features of the C&NW cars was that the RPO and baggage cars had 6-wheel trucks and the coaches 4-wheel ones. NYC's 60' baggage cars had 4-wheel trucks. NYC had no 60' steel coaches at all; I think the D&H and B&M didn't have any either. The Walthers / Rivarossi RPO car is reasonably close to some B&M RPO cars, perhaps except for the trucks.

JC Models had wood and metal kits comparable to the older Walthers ones. The 60' baggage car had sides that were better matches to real NYC cars than any Walthers had then, but their cast metal ends were crude, with very oversized simulated rivets. I bought a used one years ago and hope to letter it for the NYC.

The former Penn Line mostly plastic models of heavyweight 60' coaches were based on a cast metal model made by its predecessor John English Co. that really were heavy! Not particularly realistic, but in more car types of the same length.
[Now resuming at 9:55 after other tasks.] The same tooling was later used by Life-Like, I think.

I do have several unprotypical Walthers and Rivarossi 60' standard cars nicely factory painted for the NYC in both the older green and the post-World War II two-tone gray liveries, both with black roofs and underbody parts. They fit my layout well. They are appropriate for my small layout. I bought at least one such coach and combine used online that came with passengers installed in them.

[champagnetrail]

Sept 10, 2024 19:42:07 GMT -8 lvrr325 said:

Will probably get multiple of the Agway 4427s.

Me too...

The Agway covered hoppers were frequent visitors to the east end of the EL, carrying loads of feed to the many Agway feed mills on the line.  I suspect they also showed up on the LV and D&H as well.

I was after Exactrail for years to release their PS 4427 in the Agway scheme, but they never got around to it.  Glad that Walthers has stepped up.  It's a Mainline model, so the details won't be up to the old Exactrail level, but you take what you can get.

-pat

[grabirons]

I'm wondering if Walthers could sell the roofwalks for the 4427 as a seprate part to retrofit their older kit cars. I know theres etched parts on the market, but I'd prefer a cheaper, one piece version I can just slap on and call it a day. Also that plastic walkway is pretty nice for what you get. I still have my original three pack limited edition ADM cars from thirty years ago, I cherrish them, plus a lot of other ones.

[lvrr325]

Sept 13, 2024 13:53:21 GMT -8 champagnetrail said:

Sept 10, 2024 19:42:07 GMT -8 lvrr325 said:

Will probably get multiple of the Agway 4427s.

Me too...

The Agway covered hoppers were frequent visitors to the east end of the EL, carrying loads of feed to the many Agway feed mills on the line.  I suspect they also showed up on the LV and D&H as well.

I was after Exactrail for years to release their PS 4427 in the Agway scheme, but they never got around to it.  Glad that Walthers has stepped up.  It's a Mainline model, so the details won't be up to the old Exactrail level, but you take what you can get.

-pat

I have one Exactrail and both red box kit and more recent RTR Walthers PS 4427s in LV.  I should get them all out and take pictures together.