• Amtrak Rohr Turboliner with black roof

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.

Moderator: Otto Vondrak

  by Benjamin Maggi
 
In light of Rapido's recent announcement to produce the Turboliner trains in HO, I ordered a "later" painted version which had black roofs on the engine and cars. I was trying to figure out when Amtrak switched over to the black roof but had no luck. Does anyone know when the switch occurred?
Thanks.

I originally posted this in the Amtrak forum but received no response. Since these trains primarily operated in NYS, I figured this would be the next best place to ask.
http://railroad.net/viewtopic.php?f=46& ... 3&start=60
  by lvrr325
 
Best bet would be to hit a site like RR picture archives, pick a number with a lot of pictures and maybe you can pinpoint an idea that way.

I thought about a pre-order on those but they're too rich for my blood.

Edit: Got curious so I looked myself. 1987 seems to be about when the switch, photo of 151 with a set with alternating black roofs, looks to have been done to hide the soot and dirt from showing. Most of the ones I've looked at show all white in 1986 and black by 1988.
  by NYCRRson
 
I would e-mail Rapido. They are known for careful research of the equipment they model. I bet they know the dates that each paint scheme was used.
  by MACTRAXX
 
BM: I will second contacting Rapido Trains to ask questions about the Rohr Turboliners.

I went to a hobby shop here on LI today that had a special Rapido presentation.
A display poster showed the Rohr Turboliner variations (another was for the Horizon Fleet) and from looking at the available color schemes I noticed that the Turboliners
with the black roofs carried a variation of the Phase Three equal parts striping and
black lettering which was distinctly different from the original Amtrak color scheme
that the Rohr Turboliners had. I rode this equipment myself back during the 80s in
the Empire Corridor. Update-From searching the Rapido Trains website I found this:
https://rapidotrains.com/products/ho-sc ... turboliner
Note the differences between Phase Three Early and Phase Three Late
-that scheme includes black roofs on the trainset.

I searched Railroad Picture Archives and found these Turboliner photographs:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoLi ... TK&mid=920

The first line is 69 miscellaneous pictures of the United Aircraft, ANF Francego
and Rohr Turboliners.
51 to 69-ANF Francego (France) Turboliners used in the Midwest - 70s and 80s
150 to 163-Rohr Turboliners primarily pictured in Empire Service
2131 to 2158-Rebuilt Turboliners in later color schemes

These photographs do show changes with the Rohr Turboliner color scheme
along with the addition of black roofs to some equipment sets.
This brought back some memories for me and should help your research...
MACTRAXX
  by lvrr325
 
I mean it seems clear enough from looking at the photos when the change happened there's no need to email Rapido or any of that. Over the course of 1987 as they shopped the individual cars and power units they got black roofs.
  by Benjamin Maggi
 
Thanks!