Kato post 1955 Olympian Hyawatha, the UP color one.

[thomasjmdavis]

Hello,

does anyboday know if some (or all) cars can be used in early Amtrak trains?

E.g. the North Coast Hiawatha? Or the Cannonball (not an Amtrak train)?

Cheers

Javier

I'm curious about which Cannonball are you considering?  The only ones I know about are the Wabash and LIRR Cannonballs.  When I looked it up, I also found a "Lackawanna and Pittsburgh" railroad Cannonball.  But none of those seem likely candidates for Milwaukee Road equipment.  The Wabash had some cars painted in UP yellow as their part in the City of St. Louis, and these and some UP cars occasionally made appearances in other Wabash trains.  Did one of the railroads in the Pacific Northwest also have a Cannonball?

[Mark5]

I'm curious about which Cannonball are you considering?  The only ones I know about are the Wabash and LIRR Cannonballs.  When I looked it up, I also found a "Lackawanna and Pittsburgh" railroad Cannonball.

Thread drift ... 

The N&W had a Cannon Ball (Train #22) - it ran from Norfolk to Petersburg VA, then from Petersburg to Richmond VA on the ACL. I believe the train dates back to 1892. I believe the last run was around 1967 - so at that point the N&W also had the Wabash Cannonball. 

There was a devasting wreck on the ACL portion in 1903 -  a fellow named Cleburne Meeks later penned a song about it under the title "The Wreck of the N&W Cannonball".

https://crazycrashes.wordpress.com/2007/11/17/the-cannonball-express-head-on-with-another-train/

Mark

[nickelplate759]

Wikipedia claims it was nickname for a Milwaukee commuter train: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonball_(Milwaukee_Road_train)

Notwithstanding the photo (which shows Budd bi-levels) it says the train usually had two circa-1942 ex-Hiawatha coaches, and a single E9 or FP7.

[learmoia]

Hello,

does anyboday know if some (or all) cars can be used in early Amtrak trains?

E.g. the North Coast Hiawatha? Or the Cannonball (not an Amtrak train)?

Cheers

Javier

The coaches for sure..

The Observation and Superdome probably went to the CN
Sleepers, Diner and Dorm I'm not sure.

[Mark5]

MILW sold six super domes to CN in 1964.

They kept four of them:
55  to Amtrak 9380
57  to Amtrak 9381
58  to Amtrak 9382
59  to Amtrak 9383

Amtrak sold them sometime in the late 70s (still on the roster in 1976 per my Amtrak roster).

I think Amtrak re-acquired two or three of them around 1990 for use on the early 90s AutoTrain service.

Mark

[OldEastRR]

Looking at the loco parts diagram --- what is that part sitting on the back of the light board? Looks like a cab interior.

[milw156]

I don't recall seeing that on the orange & Maroon version

[cjm413]

When did MILW change the number font?

96A and 96C have two different fonts

[cjm413]

I ordered everything just to be able to run it complete, but honestly more excited abut the cars themselves. Quite a few are interchangeable on the MILW/UP/SP City trains.

I'm gonna assume this train still had mixed Orange and Maroon cars until they were all painted Armour Yellow.

Also, its too bad they didnt take the chance to rerun MILW E9s A or Bs in Armour Yellow.

A release with original 200 series roadnumbers would also be useful for their 1956 combined COLA/Challenger set.

[cjm413]

The coaches for sure..

The Observation and Superdome probably went to the CN
Sleepers, Diner and Dorm I'm not sure.

5 of the 10 10-6 Sleepers went to CN with all of the Creek series Skytops and 6 of the 10 Superdomes.

7 of the 15 14 section Touralux Sleepers were converted to head end or MOW cars

[nkalanaga]

The MILW Superdomes did run in the North Coast Hiawatha, and may have run in the Empire Builder.  I never saw them in Pasco, but I didn't see every EB by a long shot.  I did see an ex-SP dome lounge, which almost certainly didn't belong on the Chicago-Seattle routes, so a Superdome wouldn't have been surprising.

I have one of the Centralia Shops N scale cars for my Amtrak EB, as no one makes a good GN Great Dome Lounge.

[peteski]

Looking at the loco parts diagram --- what is that part sitting on the back of the light board? Looks like a cab interior.

Check out http://spookshow.net/loco/katofp7.html There are photos of the loco's chassis.

[OldEastRR]

Check out http://spookshow.net/loco/katofp7.html There are photos of the loco's chassis.

What I'm seeing on the diagram is there's a cab interior on the A end of the loco, and another on the B end (the back). Take a look and let me know what you think. (Kato's website diagrams page)

[peteski]

What I'm seeing on the diagram is there's a cab interior on the A end of the loco, and another on the B end (the back). Take a look and let me know what you think. (Kato's website diagrams page)

Yes, it does show 2 interiors but it is likely an error.  No need for the interior in the rear, and I'm not even sure it could fit there (the chassis in that area is a big tall slab of metal).  I own the FP7 from the original run and it the internals look just like what is show on spookshow's site.  I would trust a photo of the actual loco internals more than a drawing.

[Roger Holmes]

Regarding the Milwaukee Road's Cannonball, it was indeed a commuter train on the Chicago to Elgin commuter line that my Dad rode in the mid- 50's through late 60's.  When we moved to Roselle in 1956 (I was 5) steam had just been replaced on commuter trains (which the Milw called "scoots") with GP's which probably had torpedo tubes but I was way too short to see the roof of the engines.  There were about 15 or so stations between Chicago and Elgin but the Cannon ball only stopped at about three of them (Bensenville and Elgin for sure) so it was a much faster train.  The mainline was double tracked with numerous crossovers allowing the Cannonball to pass the trains that made all of the stops.  I don't remember if "Cannonball" was an official name or just what the commuters called it.

The Milwaukee Road was using old heavyweight coaches in the orange with maroon window bands when my Dad started commuting.  In 1962 they began using the Budd corrugated bi-level posh/pull cars. 

My favorite station was Mars which stopped at the very large candy factory at the end of the platform.  We got to ride the train there for school field trips.  Each kid left with a six pack of full-sized Mars candy bars, some of which are no longer made.