Modeling 1990's - 2000's Era Amtrak Southwest Chief

A typical Modern era consist for Amtrak's Southwest Chief

For those who choose to model the Southwest Chief in the 90's of 00's, have the option to complete a full train easily in HO scale.

The prototype:
A typical train, for the 00's is pulled by 2 or 3 P42DC (AMD-103 Genesis) locomotives, and pulls one, or two baggage cars, followed by a Superliner "transition sleeper" which transfers the the end door & diaphragm height to match that of a single level car.

The train that follows is commonly 100% Superliner in make up, and consists of two sleepers, a diner, lounge, and lastly 3 coach cars.

Current paint is phase V for the P42DC's, Phase III or IVa for the baggage cars, and phase IVa or Phase IVb for the Superliners.  The further you go back the more variance the will have.

What follows is a graphical representation, the P42DC gif's come from Amtrak Prototype & Model, with the rolling stock coming from Dan's Depot.  The Phase II diner is from Frograil.  Please note that there is a Phase II diner, as no Phase IV examples could be found.

Obviously this can change from time to time, but this is general practice, as noted in person and verified by the Wikipedia listing.

Modeling in HO scale:
Walthers "had exclusive rights" to the Phase V scheme (at least as far as I know, though Atlas has run Phase V units, read on to see), and runs two special edition P42's per year or so.  These are Athearn RTR units, sold exclusively through Walthers and its dealers.

Earlier trains can be powered with P40's or P42's from Athearn in Phase III or Phase IV paint.  Walthers and Kato both make decent F40PH's.  Walthers and Atlas both sell the P32BHW, with Atlas selling the Phase V scheme.

Superliner cars are available from Walthers in a decent plated paint, and can be found in the pre-plated version from time to time.  Con-cor sells a cheaper Superliner, and Kato sells Superliner Coaches and Diners in phase III.  Kato sells Superliners in various schemes.

Microscale sells decals for most cars, however does not yet sell Phase IVb decals for Superliners.

The 1700 series baggage cars are now available from Walthers, Kato, as well as Train Station Products.

Trains Station Products also sells replacement trucks for the Superliners.

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