Horizon and Comet Cars in N & HO - Plus a lot more!

[Wutter]

I don't think anyone has mentioned it yet, but do the ditch lights work on the cab cars? And is there a provision for DCC in the cabs? (Next18 or 6pin/8pin connector)

[peteski]

If you were to replace the large electrolytic capacitor with a lower profile (surface mount) part - perhaps mounted on an extra piece of PCB material installed in the cutout - would it then be possible to mount the lighting board somewhat closer to the roof?

Not really, because the EOT/headlight light pipes and their shields keep the PC board from being able to be moved up into the roof.

[peteski]

I don't think anyone has mentioned it yet, but do the ditch lights work on the cab cars? And is there a provision for DCC in the cabs? (Next18 or 6pin/8pin connector)

The ditch lights work along with the headlight. All the lights are controlled by the magnetic wand (Hall effect sensors and custom-made IC).  No provisions for DCC, which I found surprising in a brand new model of a cab car.





And the light pipes:

[peteski]

So, I cracked open the box of my Amtrak Dinette car for the first time, removed the top part of the nest, and then peeled up the clear film, and the first thing I noticed was . . .



At first I thought "Damn!  If this was a Micro-Trains car, I would have a rare collectible misprint!", but this is just a lowly Rapido Trains model.  Oh well . . .
Then I thought "How could they have messed that up!?"  I took the car out of its nest, and looked at the other side. No errors.  Just one "Dinatte" on the entire car.  That means they have different Tampo set for each side.  Interesting.  Well, this error easily passes the 3-foot rule, so I give them a pass.  But still . . . 

@rapidomike
Now I fully expect Rapido to tell us that they actually duplicated the misspelling on the prototype car, and provide photographic proof!  If that is the case, I'll eat my NCE hammerhead throttle! 

[peteski]

How about some pictures? As usual, RT hasn't updated their website with pictures of the finished product.

Thanks!
-Mark

Here are few shots @spookshow

[RSWController]

Information purposes they have appeared this morning on MBK. Didn’t look at others but all the Amtrak had 20+ in stock this morning…

[MK]

Is Dinatte the French Canadian spelling of Dinette?   

[spookshow]

Thanks, Pete! Got a cab car?

-Mark

[kscessandriver]

Information purposes they have appeared this morning on MBK. Didn’t look at others but all the Amtrak had 20+ in stock this morning…

Thanks for the heads up. I didn't need more, but what's one more train...

[CBQ Fan]

I ordered 2 coaches and a dinette from MBK this morning. Phase III wide stripes. It is what I rode in Illinois to and from college back in the day. Should work in nicely with my Kato amfleets and heritage units.

[peteski]

Thanks, Pete! Got a cab car?

-Mark

I do. Actually all the interior photos I posted earlier were of the cab car.  It is still disassembled. I'll take a photo of the cab when I put it back together.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Pete, have you tried adjusting the position of the brake calipers on your Comets yet? It looks like some may have been glued in crooked. I carefully adjusted mine with tweezers and trimmed some material back from the brake pad. I have not had a chance to compare it with unmodified cars yet but it appears to be more free-rolling on my desk. We might be able to get away with just this and polishing the bearing surfaces.

[peteski]

Pete, have you tried adjusting the position of the brake calipers on your Comets yet? It looks like some may have been glued in crooked. I carefully adjusted mine with tweezers and trimmed some material back from the brake pad. I have not had a chance to compare it with unmodified cars yet but it appears to be more free-rolling on my desk. We might be able to get away with just this and polishing the bearing surfaces.

I have 3 Comets and mine also have crooked brake shoe assemblies.  Some are even loose.  They appear to be just glued in with CA glue.  My plan is to re-glue them and make sure they are not touching the wheels.
It will be interesting to see how much difference polishing the metal surfaces will make.

[brill27mcb]

So, for people actually running their new Rapido push-pull trains, here are some pointers:

1. On New Jersey Transit, at least. the minimum train size for Comet II trains was set at 3 coaches. This was because the coaches were needed to help bring the heavy F40PH-2  loco to a halt under braking, and 3 coaches were enough to do that quickly enough.

2. All of the NJT Comet I and II coaches have to be oriented the same way in a train, so that the smaller "single" window on the sides is located toward the locomotive. (You can just go by the cab car and match it with the other trailer cars.) This is because the 27-point jumper cabling on one side of the cars handles different functions than the 27-point cabling on the other side.

As a side note, on the NJT Raritan Valley and North Jersey Coast Lines, the trains were generally oriented with the locomotive on the "outbound" end leaving Newark Penn Station. The exceptions were the consists used for the first morning "inbound" train on each line which were reversed, with the loco leading inbound to give more head-end protection from possible obstructions left on the tracks overnight.

Rich K.

[kscessandriver]

So, for people actually running their new Rapido push-pull trains, here are some pointers:

1. On New Jersey Transit, at least. the minimum train size for Comet II trains was set at 3 coaches. This was because the coaches were needed to help bring the heavy F40PH-2  loco to a halt under braking, and 3 coaches were enough to do that quickly enough.

2. All of the NJT Comet I and II coaches have to be oriented the same way in a train, so that the smaller "single" window on the sides is located toward the locomotive. (You can just go by the cab car and match it with the other trailer cars.) This is because the 27-point jumper cabling on one side of the cars handles different functions than the 27-point cabling on the other side.

As a side note, on the NJT Raritan Valley and North Jersey Coast Lines, the trains were generally oriented with the locomotive on the "outbound" end leaving Newark Penn Station. The exceptions were the consists used for the first morning "inbound" train on each line which were reversed, with the loco leading inbound to give more head-end protection from possible obstructions left on the tracks overnight.

Rich K.

So 3 trailers and a cab car, or 2 trailers + 1 cab? What power would be common in the recent era? I'm thinking about running them with an ALP-45DP, hopefully this isn't too far out there.