version Con-Cor cars would be a good starting point for a free-
lanced commuter railroad.
Athearn offered sets of F59PHI locomotives and Bombardier
cars for many of the railroads that operated this equipment,
including New Mexico Rail Runner, Utah Front Runner and
the Seattle Sounder. Some road names remain out of pro-
duction, but occasionally can be found at shows or auctions.
Others have recently been re-released and remain available,
including Cal Train, West Coast Express (in Vancouver, BC), and
Metrolink. “Leasing” these cars, as VRE did, is an easy way to
add commuter rail to your operations. All VRE did was to add a
blue decal over the Sounder Logo.
The classic brick stations still used by VRE and other commuter
railroads can be easily represented (if they are not already
on the layout) by a suitable structure from Atlas, Walthers or
other supplier. Kato offers a nice kit of the modern “bus stop”
type station. Not particularly attractive, they are nonetheless a
key element of the frequent-stop operation of modern systems
and supplement the older stations.
Commuter rail is a fascinating element of modern railroad
operation. An investment of a few trainsets of varied equip-
ment and perhaps a few commuter stations can add this ele-
ment to most any modern layout, providing a new challenge to
your dispatchers and operators.
Modern Commuter Service - 6
Convention Information
You can visit the Virginia Rail Express at the “Capitol Limited”
N Scale East Convention in Chantilly, VA this August. Hosted by
Northern Virginia NTRAK, the Convention celebrates 40 years
of NTRAK Modular Railroading. The convention will offer a tour
of the VRE shops near Chantilly and provide Railfan maps and
info to attendees.
More information at:
John Drye is our N-scale editor and
columnist. John Drye has been
model railroading since receiving the
traditional Lionel set at age 8. John
is currently building two layouts: an
N scale switching module based on
the modern Norfolk Southern, and
a basement layout based on the
transition-era Pennsylvania Railroad.
When not doing trains, John works as a contractor for the
US Navy and volunteers for the American Red Cross and
Operation Lifesaver.
MRH-Feb 2014
