AZL Model: 7002-3 : Amtrak West with Surfliner cars

Hello Alberich,

The answer is a bit confusing: it applies to both the type of car, and the route.

These cars actually represent two car series that are very similar: The first batch were known as "California Cars" and made by Morrison-Knudsen. They were first used on the San Diegian line from Los Angeles to San Diego in about 1995. They had very bad reliability and were rebuilt several times in the first 5 years of operations (cracked frames, and doors that did not function) eventually they became reliable.

The second batch were called "Surfliners" and made by Alstom in about 2000. These were much more reliable and put to use on the old San Diegian line, which was renamed the Surf Line and extended later from San Diego to Santa Barbara. The old "California" cars were re-assigned to the Capitol Corridor.

Both cars are externally very very similar. Typically cars with the word "Surfliner" run from Santa Brabara to Los Angeles to San Diego. The Amtrak California cars run on the Capitol Corridor.

Please note that this is one of our early products. Many of our customers find the F59PHi locomotive to be exceptionally reliable and a good runner. The cars were built before our auto-latch couplers were created, so you must manually couple the cars by lifting the couplers over one another to connect.

They are appropriate to run on any California scene: through canyons, along the beach, or close to Disneyland and Hollywood.