Kato Announces the El Capitan Passenger Set

[kiwi_al]

<Highly inflammatory remarks>
You poor sad Conrail Queens isn't Kato listening to your widdle peeps?? ;D ;D ;D

John I need a violin smilie can you put one in?


They can produce as much BNSF and ATSF stuff as they like, it's not my fault that you guys chose the wrong road to model now is it?

</Highly inflammatory remarks>

[nscalesteve]

<Highly inflammatory remarks>
You poor sad Conrail Queens isn't Kato listening to your widdle peeps?? ;D ;D ;D

They can produce as much BNSF and ATSF stuff as they like, it's not my fault that you guys chose the wrong road to model now is it?

</Highly inflammatory remarks>

[Chris333]

Wasn't Mr. Kato's first personal model a PA-1?

[wes_sutton]

Does anyone have any idea as to relative sales of the Broadway Ltd?

[Nato]

  The popularity of the Santa Fe was clearly shown way back in 1948 when Lionel did an F-3 diesel in Santa Fe Warbonnett colors, even if it did not have a steam generator vent on the B unit introduced two years later and looked partially like an F-7 it was a long lasting model, the NYC Lighting Stripe F-3 introduced in the catalog at the same time was in production for alot less time. Getting back to the El Cap yes the unique Hi Level cars were the drawing card ,Santa Fe drew up plans for Hi Level Sleepers to go on the Super Chief ,but the idea was shelved. If it wasn't for the Hi Level Cars a step in the right direction when other roads were going Low Slung Light Weight and Tubeular Low Slung (P.R.R.) we would not have Amtrak Superliner cars. It will really not be possible to run a Combined Super Chief El Cap train in N unless Kato sells the step down coach as a single car. The combined trains to allow for crew access through the entire train had a step down car at the front to get to crew and baggage cars and one at the rear to access the Supers Cars, Yes one of those folding gates was used to segerate passengers from going between the two trains. Kato's set if I interperate  correctly will just have one step down car which consist had when not combined. Amtrak in its early days still ran a combined train, I rode it in 1976 on a Transcontinetal Rail Pass with my dad.We had sleeper space so were in the Super later Southwest LTD section, there was however no segration between coach and sleepers so we ate breakfast in the Hi Level diner just to say we had done that. I got to ride in Hi Level coaches on the Salt Lake to LA Desert Wind where they were used not only as dorm cars, but full coaches suplementing Super Liners. Their ride was much smoother and the Heywood Wakefield Sleepy Hollow Recling seats much more comfortable then those in Superliners. Nate Goodman (Nato).

[atsf_arizona]

Nato,

The Kato USA web site, in listing the El Capitan cars, shows two step-down cars, one for the front of the train and one for the back:

http://www.katousa.com/N/ElCap/index.html

(see cars 528 and 532).

According to Fred Frailey's "Quarter Century of Santa Fe Consists" (a definitive work on Santa Fe passenger
trains), on page 119, it states that the normal consist of the Hi-Level El Capitan during 1956-58 was
to have exactly as Kato's web site states, i.e. two step-down cars, one for the front of the train and
one for the back.

As to the points as to "this is a 2nd class train"...... I might add that from a business standpoint, this
Hi-Level El Capitan makes sense, as Kato Japan's experience probably seems to be :

* That an 'all coach' train in Europe or Japan is not necessarily a 2nd class train, and on the Santa Fe, the
El Capitan certainly was a top-level train
* That N scale Kato Santa Fe passenger trains tend to sell really, really well
* That they can sell more Santa Fe Warbonnet F7s with the El Capitan
* My guess is worldwide modelers probably tend to be much more familiar with the Santa Fe
Warbonnet than almost any other US passenger train motif, and will like the unusual Hi-Level aspect of El Capitan    
* That many Santa Fe modelers worldwide who bought the Super Chief will buy this one.  You'll note that the Kato web site says:  "Can be paired up with the Santa Fe Super Chief to replicate post-1958 combination trains"

I'll guess we'll wait and see.... being a West Coast USA guy and never having lived back in Eastern US,
I was surprised to hear of of many folks here stating that El Cap might not sell as well.  I'll be educated
by what happens.   My hope, anyway, is that this will sell pretty good, as we all
want Kato to keep producing more name passenger trains in the future.

 

[Bob Bufkin]

I think it will sell.  As for coach trains, wish they would do something along the lines of NYC Pacemaker or the PRR Trailblaze or Jeffersonian.  I would also jump on buying the Southern Crescent.

[Bob Bufkin]

For those of you who might have missed it, Kato has changed what cars are in this set.  Check Chulvis website, that's where I just found the info.

[Sokramiketes]

For those of you who might have missed it, Kato has changed what cars are in this set.  Check Chulvis website, that's where I just found the info.

Looks like they changed the 2-car add-on to one baggage and one coach, and moved a baggage into the 10 car set.  Probably a good move.

[David Leonard]

There are now two step-down coaches in the ten car set. That means I have to reserve a set!

[kiwi_al]

There are now two step-down coaches in the ten car set. That means I have to reserve a set!

There were 2 step down coaches originally, the only change they made was as Mike Skibbe says.
Now you have to reserve 2 El Capitans and buy the F7's as well  ;D ;D.
Further you have to purchase any further Santa Fe passenger trains they might make like the Texas Chief and the San Francisco Chief  ;D ;D

[David Leonard]

I'm interested in the combined El Capitan & Super Chief. So can I just tack on Super Chief cars to the end of the El Cap?

EDIT: Nevermind, I can just look through my own photos.