I will assume the scale is HO - the answer is: not as much as you
might like.-depending on your tolerance. Take a Con-Cor dome coach -
that is a TCZ (tho it doesn't have full skirting and some other
details). Compare it to the BLI coach. The biggest issues are the
under-the-dome window patterns. Then two of the TCZ cars had crew
rooms, making more window changes. Then the issue comes to flat top
cars. The coaches were mostly pre-war Budds, which, unless you're in
N scale, have not been done (in plastic). Depending on which series
of coaches one is talking about, the cars are shorter, longer, wrong
roof, wrong skirting, etc. The parlors are another issue - no one
really makes anything that is close. And the problem with the dome
obs is nothing will be close, the dome is in the front, rather the back.
Which basically leaves you the baggage & diner. Diners & obs are the
most difficult cars to get made (only one in a train, sometimes not
even that). So given another outlet for the diner, BLI could still
do it - and the car would be accurate for the CZ in that guise as
well (i.e. BURLINGTON on the train board) - the TCZ diners were on
the CZ a bit. Some smaller details would have to be taken into
account (i.e. no need to include the owner plates on each end). But
very doable. Same with the baggage cars.
BLI would do themselves a lot of good by simply putting out the
diner, baggage & 16 section as BURLINGTON cars. And, perhaps some
foobies of the dome coaches, and obs - heck, the SILVER HOLLY is not
anything LIKE a CZ some obs, but that didn't stop them. Some purists
might make a bad review, but at least it would be closer than the
Con-Cor cars (which, let's face it - are 35 year old toolings).
"Close Enough" varies depending upon who you'd ask. My close enough
may well be your PITA too close for comfort. You'd be closer with a
AK-SAR-BEN or a ARZ/KCZ in some ways, though it really depends on the
day on those trains - sometimes a NP dome sleeper made its way to Lincoln.
Undecorating the CZ cars is a PITA - though, you can use an eraser
and they'll come off, but you're left with a different surface to
decal on and then you have to get close to the correct finish to
blend the plates in with the rest of the car. BLI *MAY* still be
selling blank boards. Then you're left with the train name.
Heck, if they did the 1952 10-6s, that would be good for the CZ (and
the Blackhawk and a few other trains). There are some reasons to be
jealous of N scale. I'm sure Charlie can elaborate more on the
differences and what it might take. I just wouldn't hold your breath...
The BLI business model for the cars is a bit different - finding
certain cars is an exercise in futility. The dome coaches with
conductor window seems to be the one to go out first. Obs are mostly
hoarded in hopes they can be sold for twice their retail. SO... I
don't know if their business model allows for extra baggages & diners
- I got two of the undec diners for that very reason (making them
into BURLINGTON as opposed to CZ diners).
At 08:42 AM 3/26/2010, thommack wrote:
>I met the folks from BLI at the Springfield show and discussed the
>potential for putting together a TCZ from existing CZ equipment. As
>I recall the baggage and diner from the CZ are basically right on for the TCZ.
>
>But what about the domes? How many different floor plans are there
>for the domes in the TCZ? Is one of the existing BLI CZ domes a close stand-in?
>
>The biggest issue, of course, is the dome-ob, because the TCZ dome
>location is opposite the CZ - CZ is rear, TCZ is forward. I
>mentioned this to the folks at BLI and they were not aware that what
>they already have is very close to putting together a whole new
>train, namely the TCZ. I stressed, however, that the dome-ob would
>definitely have to be redone to make it work.
>
>If we can show them that they already have a set of cars that will
>work for the TCZ, except for the dome-ob, they might consider
>running a TCZ dome-ob.
>
>I would like everyone's help on this to determine:
>
>1. What needs to be done to get a "close enough" TCZ? Will
>definitely need a new dome-ob.
>
>2. What needs to be done to get an "intermediate" TCZ? Definitely
>need the dome-ob, but is there a floor plan for a dome-coach that
>would work for most of or the majority of the TCZ dome-coaches?
>
>3. What needs to be done for the "perfect" TCZ?
>
>Of course, the lettering needs to be changed from "California
>Zephyr" to Burlington. (Except that BLI I know ran unlettered
>baggage and diners). So while on this topic, how hard is it to get
>the CZ lettering off the BLI cars? On the Walthers stainless steel
>cars you could put on a little SolvaSet and wait about three minutes
>and the lettering just peeled right off with a fingernail. Does
>anyone have experience getting the BLI CZ lettering off existing cars?
>
>I look forward to your replies.
>
>Tom Mack
>Cincinnati, OH
>
>
>
>------------------------------------
>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
Bob Webber
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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