N Scale - Model Power - 3033-4 - Passenger Car, Lightweight, Budd - Amtrak - 4-Pack

Model Information: Model Power's Chinese clone of the Minitrix passenger cars. These cars measure 73 scale feet long and hence do not model any particular prototype. That being said, they *suggest* a Budd streamliner of the postwar period.
Sold separately or in a 4-pack comprising 2 Coaches (same #), an Observation and a Dome.

Prototype History: In the post-war period, passenger rail service boomed. In order to increase efficiency, the railroads set to replacing their old wood, steel and concrete heavyweight passenger cars with newer lightweight, streamlined cars. The new cars were made from stainless steel, aluminum and Cor-Ten steel. These cars required less motive power to pull and were cheaper to manufacture. Production was also concentrated in a few manufacturers rather than each railroad making its own. This led to standardization which further reduced costs. The new "lightweight" cars were also given "streamlined" designs to make them more visually appealing. Budd, Pullman Standard and ACF were all well known manufacturers of these cars.

Budd was well known for their corrugated cars (for which they held a patent).

Road Name History: The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak, is a passenger railroad service that provides medium- and long-distance intercity service in the contiguous United States. Founded in 1971 through the government-sponsored consolidation of most of the remaining U.S. passenger rail companies, it is partially government-funded yet operated and managed as a for-profit corporation.

Amtrak operates more than 300 trains each day on 21,300 miles (34,000 km) of track with select segments having civil operating speeds of 150 mph (240 km/h) and connecting more than 500 destinations in 46 states in addition to three Canadian provinces. In fiscal year 2015, Amtrak served 30.8 million passengers and had $2.185 billion in revenue, while employing more than 20,000 people. Nearly two-thirds of passengers come from the 10 largest metropolitan areas; 83% of passengers travel on routes shorter than 400 miles. Its headquarters is at Union Station in Washington, D.C.

The name "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "trak", the latter itself a sensational spelling of "track".

Read more on Wikipedia.

Paint Scheme: Introduced in 1972, Phase I was the first paint scheme to be implemented system-wide on Amtrak's trains. Except for a small number of locomotives that had been painted into experimental and promotional paint schemes, it was the first new paint for most equipment under Amtrak. The scheme was part of Amtrak's larger move to a visual identity featuring the national colors of red, white, and blue.

Locomotives were painted a light gray ("Platinum Mist") with a black roof, the Amtrak "Pointless Arrow" chevron logo on the side, and a red nose (which led to a "Bloody Nose" nickname). Passenger cars were silver (or left bare stainless steel), with a red and bright blue stripe (bracketed by thin white stripes) at window level and the chevron logo at one or both ends. A number of variants were made for non-revenue locomotives, GG1 locomotives, Turbotrain and Turboliner trainsets, and self-propelled RDC and Metroliner railcars.

Brand/Importer Information: Founded in the late 1960's by Michael Tager, the 3rd generation business specializes in quality hobby products serving the toy and hobby markets worldwide. During its 50 years of operation, Model Power has developed a full line of model railroading products, die-cast metal aircraft, and die-cast metal cars and trucks.

In early 2014, Model Power ceased its business operations. Its extensive portfolio of intellectual property and physical assets are now exclusively produced, marketed, sold, and distributed by MRC (Model Power, MetalTrain and Mantua) and by Daron (Postage Stamp Airplanes and Airliner Collection).